Photos: The Jerry Bendl Collection

[Steve Holmes]

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love the original SCCA Canadian-American Challenge Cup. This series, which ran from 1966 to 1974 for Group 7 sports cars has been a lifelong fascination of mine, and something I've studied from a young age. The Can-Am was really the ultimate formula, which, for much of its life, was not hindered or strangled by endless rules designed to make every car on the grid essentially identical in order to fabricate close, controlled racing. Indeed, it was quite the opposite. The Can-Am allowed free expression, and it seems every car designer had a different theory as to the ultimate racing sports car. This wonderful creativity led to some of the most ground breaking race car designs that were well advanced of those even seen in Formula 1. It also led to some of the most disastrous.

As enthusiasts of motor racing history, we tend to view that history through rose tinted glasses, and to really study the Can-Am soon reveals this was not a series in which there was a lot of close, intense, and unpredictable racing. Indeed, most races were processional, and predictable. The only real unknown was reliability.

In the nine seasons the Can-Am was contested, the championship was won by just four teams. Perhaps, for pure good old fashioned racing, the first year was the best. John Surtees wound up as champion, in his Lola T70, and from the seven heats held over six rounds, there were five different race winners. Once Team McLaren domination took over, so the results became mostly predictable. By 1969, McLaren had a complete stranglehold on the series. That year, a factory McLaren was first across the line in each of the eleven races. Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme claimed the front row in every round, except the final at Texas Motor Speedway, where Mario Andretti managed to sneak his customer M6B up alongside pole man Hulme. That year, the two Team McLaren M8Bs crossed the line first and second in eight of the eleven races, and when Dan Gurneys customer McLaren M6B ‘McLeagle’ broke in practice at Michigan, Bruce loaned him the spare M8B, with which Gurney placed third in the race, behind Bruce and Denny.

But somehow, the racing itself almost played a secondary role to the creativity, the noise, the colour and wonderment of the cars themselves. This is what made the Can-Am so special, and why Can-Am cars at historic events today are such a draw-card. There really is nothing else like them, and there has never been and could probably never be, another series like the Can-Am. It was the right formula at the right time, and despite its faults, it shone brightly for nine short, wonderful seasons.

This beautiful set of photographs was taken by Jerry Bendl, during the Edmonton rounds of the Can-Am in 1971 and 1972. That Jerry was able to gain access to and get up so close and personal to these cars, and their teams, is something we can enjoy and study. For Jerry's photos really show the Can-Am in its best light, as the creative monster it was. I have to say a huge thanks to Roaring Season member Bryan Colechin, who approached and gained permission from Jerry to post these stunning photos. We're lucky to have members like Bryan on our team.

[Steve Holmes]

Kicking things off, the first several photos are from the Edmonton 1971 Can-Am race. This was Round 8 of the '71 championship. Pictured here is a car I wrote about recently for The Roaring Season, the Lola T260. By Edmonton, the McLaren team had really gotten into their stride, and after Jackie Stewart had taken the fight to them in the early rounds, so they improved as the series wore on, to build a performance buffer over the stubby little Lola, which even Stewart couldn't overcome.

However, Edmonton was wet, and the conditions suited the Lola, and Stewart's driving style, and he soon forged ahead from his third grid spot to lead, and draw comfortably away from Denny Hulme's McLaren, to hold a lead of 45sec by half distance. However, it all came unravelled late in the race when Stewart left the track while lapping Lothar Motschenbacher's customer McLaren, and after which, the Lola appeared not to be handling as well. Gradually Hulme reeled Stewart back in, and when the Lola driver spun once more, The Bear charged ahead. Stewart ultimately finished second.

Here Jackie Stewart prepares himself just before race start. Note the front nose treatment on the Lola with protruding lower point and end-plates, as the team tried various different nose styles in the later races to improve front downforce.

Alongside Stewart on the grid is Motschenbacher's beautiful McLaren M8D.

[Steve Holmes]

It’d probably be fair to say this modest looking little Porsche 917/10 didn’t strike the fear of God into any of the top teams in the Can-Am in 1971. This car, fitted with a 5 litre normally aspirated V12, and good for about 630hp at best, was raced season-long by Jo Siffert, and never really troubled the faster big block Chevy machines throughout the season. Siffert usually qualified the car on the third, fourth, or fifth row at most rounds he entered, although he did manage an impressive fourth fastest at Mid Ohio. His best race results were a pair of second placings at that same Mid Ohio race, and at Elkhart Lake, after the big block Chevy cars had broken.

However, those at McLaren, Lola, Shadow etc would certainly have been well aware of its presence, and no doubt even pondered if this could be a ‘toe in the water’ experiment by Porsche, that could lead to bigger things. Indeed, this car was a full factory entry, and although never an outright threat in 1971, Porsche were really testing the waters in the Can-Am, for a planned full-scale attack for 1972. They were already well advanced in building a twin turbo-charged version of the 5 litre V12 that sat in the back of this car, and as 1971 wore on, so the rumours that Porsche had combined forces with Penske Racing intensified.

From his book “The Unfair Advantage”, here is what Penske driver/engineer/race developer Mark Donohue had to say about the Siffert driven machine: “I saw the first version of what we were going to race at the 1971 Watkins Glen Can-Am (July 1971). Jo Siffert was there with a roadster version of the 917 coupe series. My immediate reaction was, “If we’re gonna race it, why does Siffert have it?” I didn’t know him very well, but I had the impression that he didn’t know much about setting up a car. Since Don Cox (Of Penske Racing) was involved in the engineering, he was there to have a look also, and we quietly scoped the car over. If nothing else, it had to be the ugliest car in the entire world. Not only was it a patch-up job of putting a stub-nosed roadster body on a coupe, but it was very, very dirty. It had a big air-cooled engine, an aluminium space-frame, and heavy looking suspension.

“Then we looked at the McLaren, with its modern monocoque and aluminium Chevrolet engine, and I said to Roger (Penske), “I wonder if this is such a smart thing to do after all?” We knew that McLaren’s were good for 750 horsepower, and the best we could hope for was about 650 out of a normally aspirated, five-litre air-cooled engine”.

In fact, this car was more than just a roadster version of the coupe, it featured a wider, lighter, stiffer chassis, than that of the 917 coupe. However, it was still around 50kg heavier than that years McLaren M8F, with a lot less power, so Siffert’s efforts were quite impressive, all things considered. But its amazing how much work was done once Penske Racing/Donohue got involved with the program to take this basic package, and eventually end up with the incredible 917/10K they raced in 1972, which will appear later in this thread.

Here Siffert chats with a couple of the Porsche mechanics, while alongside, on the fourth row of the grid, is the second of the two-car Motschenbacher team, the McLaren M8E/D driven by Chuck Parsons.

[Steve Holmes]

A rugged up Denny Hulme chats with his guys prior to race start. The conditions look atrocious, and you wonder if he has pulled on his balaclava a little earlier than he might normally have done, just to try and stay warm. Hulme sat on the outside front row, next to team mate Peter Revson, and after chasing Stewart for much of the race, came through as the surprise victor.

[Steve Holmes]

This car first appeared in the Can-Am as a factory built Ferrari entry at the final round of the 1968 season, driven by Chris Amon. It was a project being pushed along by Amon himself, and although factory built, it didn’t receive a lot of factory funding. Unlike previous Ferrari forays into the Can-Am, this car, designated a 612P, was built from the ground up specifically for the Can-Am. It featured a swoopy alloy body, sitting on top of a hefty steel space-frame chassis. And it was wide!

Propulsion came from a 6.2 litre, quad-cam V12, fitted with Lucas fuel-injection, which was good for about 620hp. It featured a nifty centrally located wing mounted to the chassis, with an engine driven hydraulic system in which Amon could adjust the wings angle of attack while racing around the track.

The Ferrari underwent a massive rebuild for the 1969 season, which included getting a good deal of weight out of the chassis. It also featured a revised body, which now followed the wedge shape used by many other Can-Am teams. Power was also up, the 48 valve V12 now producing just over 640hp. Again, the Ferrari suffered delays in its completion, and finally appeared for the first time in 1969 at Round 3, at Watkins Glen, and instantly became the main challenger to the dominant McLaren team for much of the remainder of the season. Initially, the 1968 rear wing was gone, and the only rear downforce was a small tab at the rearward point of the bodywork. However, by Round 5 at Road America, a tall, suspension mounted aerofoil, as adopted by most other teams that season, had sprouted up through the bodywork.

Throughout 1969, Amon usually qualified on the second row, behind the two McLaren M8Bs, and took a best race result of second, behind Denny Hulme, at Edmonton, in just the 612B’s second race. But the big V12 failed to go the distance on several occasions, and at Laguna Seca, after having qualified third (again), the motor failed in the morning warm-up session prior to the race. So Amon wandered down pit lane to catch up with his old buddy Bruce McLaren, who loaned him his spare M8B for the race. Dan Gurney had borrowed this same car the previous round at Michigan after the Chevy in the back of his ‘McLeagle’ gave him endless problems in practice, and, after starting the race from the rear of the grid, drove through the field to finish third, behind McLaren and Hulme, making it a McLaren 1-2-3. Amon, however, had no such luck at Laguna Seca, and retired just short of full race distance with diff failure.

Late in the season Amon’s Ferrari was fitted with a longer stroke crank to one of its V12 motors, bringing capacity up to 6.9 litres.

The Amon Ferrari was run in the Can-Am by Chic Vandagriff’s Hollywood Sport Cars team, headed by Doane Spencer, and when Amon left Ferrari to join March in 1970, so Spencer got his good mate Jim Adams back out of retirement to drive the car at selected races throughout 1970 and 1971 (more on HSC’s previous Can-Am foray with their McLaren-Elva can be found here).

Spencer, as he did with all the cars he was involved with, set about a big rebuild on the Ferrari, which included everything from redesigning the body, to making the engine a stressed-member, to redesigning the tub. In this photo you can see some of the changes made, which include the addition of a small rear spoiler, after the tall suspension mounted aerofoils were banned following the 1969 season. Also seen here is the very different looking lower tub, which now takes a more squared shape than it did in 1969. I believe the car still remains in this guise to this day, rather than being rebuilt to its 1969 guise.

Some expert advise is probably required here, but I’d guess that’s Jim Adams in race suit standing next to the car, while tending to the front wheel nuts looks like it might possibly be Doane Spencer?

[Steve Holmes]

Jackie Stewart and Jo Siffert share a pre-race joke with Jackie Oliver.

[Steve Holmes]

If Jackie Oliver is looking for his Shadow, he's heading in the wrong direction! Its lined up on the grid directly behind Jackie Stewart's Lola, pictured on the right. Oliver was a some-time McLaren driver in F1 during 1971, so perhaps he was heading off to talk team tactics with Denny Hulme. The 1971 Edmonton Can-Am race was a pretty good one for Oliver and the difficult Shadow, he came home third behind Hulme and Jackie Stewart, recording the best race result in 1971 for the Shadow team. In fact, this would be the best result yet for Shadow in the Can-Am, since their arrival to the series in 1970.

[Steve Holmes]

Siffert helps push his Porsche back into its pit garage. This would be either following practice or qualifying.

[jamie]

Exlent Pitcs Steve Almost as good as beein there Jamie

[Steve Holmes]

Jackie Stewart gets pushed out into pit lane in the Lola. Note how the nose is different here to the photo posted earlier in the thread, of it sat on the grid. This photo must be from a practice session or qualifying, but it appears Jackie requested more to be done to keep the nose down and pointing straight prior to the race, hence the end-plates and slight changes to the lower tip by the time of the race.

[Steve Holmes]

Jackie Stewart shares a joke prior to race start, while Stirling Moss has a look about him like he'd prefer to be driving a race car rather than watching everyone having fun. Or maybe he is thankful he isn't about to get strapped into a 750hp monster and sent out on a wet Edmonton race track? Johnson Wax were one of the sponsors of the Can-Am, and Moss had been their spokesman, although I can't say for sure this is why he was at Edmonton.

[GD66]

He drove the pace car for some of the early Can-Am events. Wonder who the dude is in the Leo Geoghegan cap and red poncho ?

[Steve Holmes]

Hopefully someone can ID him, I assume he is with the Lola team.

[Steve Holmes]

Shadow first entered the Can-Am in 1970, with its mad little MkI. It was designed essentially to slice through the air creating as little turbulence as possible, so was built around tiny 10" diameter wheels. It was a radical concept, that really didn't pan out with any success. It was essentially a go-kart with a big block Chevy bolted in the back, and its tiny size threw up a myriad of design and practicality issues. It was fast in a straight line, but suffered issues with engine and brake cooling, and was very sensitive to drive when pushed hard.

So Shadow returned in 1971 with its slightly more conventional MkII, designed by Peter Bryant, who’d created the very effective Bryant Ti22 in 1969. The Shadow MkII wasn’t totally conventional. Why would it be? To beat McLaren took some thinking outside the box. The MkII was still based on the small scale concept of the MkI, but wasn’t taken to the same extremes. The MkII was, again, built from the tyres up, this time on 13” diameter wheels, which were more commonly produced by Goodyear for F5000 and Formula 1 than the special one-off Firestones produced for the MkI. Power came from Chaparral built big block Chevy’s. The injector trumpets were mounted as side-draughts, rather than the commonly seen down-draughts utilised by most other teams, to better improve air flow over the car. The Shadow often ran a cover over the motor to further smooth air flow.

The MkII still had its share of gremlins, but made steady progress as the season went on. It was based on an alloy semi-monocoque tub, with inboard front brakes. Compared to the cars it shared the track with, the MkII was still small in size, and cut through the air extremely well. It started the season painted black, but soon had the upper part of the body painted white, and eventually, as seen here, the entire body was painted white in an effort to reduce under-body temperatures.

This is a really nice photo of the Shadow MkII, as it shows the efforts that were made to try and manipulate the air passing over and around the car. From the nose-mounted radiator, deep trenches are used to guide air out either side of the cockpit, while fences along each side steer it straight towards that large rear wing, and Naca ducts.

A pretty car, nicely finished, and a top quality addition to the Can-Am in 1971. And here at Edmonton driver Jackie Oliver steered the little MkII to Shadow’s best result in the Can-Am since arriving the year before, when he came home third behind Denny Hulme and Jackie Stewart.

[Steve Holmes]

This side profile of the Shadow better shows its relatively diminutive scale.

[Steve Holmes]

Here is Denny Hulme sat on in pit lane, in the McLaren box, probably during practice or qualifying. For the life of me I can't figure out what that pole or rod like thing is thats running across the body in front of Denny. Could it be an air-hose, for tyre pressures maybe?

[Frosty5]

Here is Denny Hulme sat on in pit lane, in the McLaren box, probably during practice or qualifying. For the life of me I can't figure out what that pole or rod like thing is thats running across the body in front of Denny. Could it be an air-hose, for tyre pressures maybe?

Steve, there is a photo somewhere on this forum that shows that rod, bar whatever at the same angle as above. Just looks to small in diameter to be a roll bar, but seems to be above his head so could be. This isn't a roll bar as we know it anywhere there, maybe it's his drink tube. LOL!!! However, some of the previous photos on this thread show a similar sort of thing although partly obscured. But you're right, it's at an odd sort of angle without any additional bracing.
Dave Graham

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Dave.

[Steve Holmes]

Not the prettiest rear end of all time. The stubby little Porsche 917/10 owned by Porsche dealer Vasek Polak, and driven by Milt Minter, with its awkward alloy mud-flaps. Surrounding Minter on the grid are the #55 McLaren M8E of Roger McCaig, who has Japanese driver Hirosho Kazato's Lola T222 directly in front of him, while the Chuck Parsons McLaren M8E/D is ahead of Kazato. Bob Browns McLaren M8E is parked up ahead of the Minter Porsche.

The Kazato Lola was a 1971 customer car, based on the Lola T220 run in 1970 by the Carl Haas team, who were the US Lola agents. The Haas team, who were running the latest Lola T260 in 1971, driven by Jackie Stewart, also race prepared the Kazato customer T222.

[Steve Holmes]

Jo Siffert chats and enjoys a hot drink while his Porsche, which has drawn quite a crowd, gets some attention.