The 1973 Canadian-American Challenge Cup was the eighth season of the Can-Am auto racing series. It consisted of FIA Group 7 racing cars running two-hour sprint events.
It began June 10, 1973, and ended October 28, 1973, after eight rounds. The season was dominated by two of the turbocharged Porsche 917/10 and then by the improved /30 version of Team Penske driven by Mark Donohue.
The last two races came amid the Oil Crisis, which ended interest in performance cars after an already-declining market over a several-year period. The golden age of the Trans Am Series had ended after the 1972 season, leaving Can Am and Formula 5000 as the frontrunners of the SCCA. The season was also the penultimate season of the CanAm series, which would fold after 1974 before being revived in an entirely reworked series based on F5000 a few years later.
Schedule For 1973, the schedule was altered as the season continued on, one reason being the Porsche dominance. The first race ran in a standard, single race format. Rounds two through four ran as two heats, with the results being determined by combined results. Rounds five through eight ran a Sprint qualifying heat first to determine the starting order for the Cup event. The results of the Sprint and Cup were not combined.
Rnd Race Circuit Date 1 Labatt's Blue Trophy Mosport Park June 10 2 Carling Can-Am Road Atlanta July 8 3 Watkins Glen Can-Am Watkins Glen International July 22 4 Buckeye Cup Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course August 12 5 Road America Can-Am Road America August 26 6 Molson Cup Edmonton Speedway Park September 16 7 Monterey Castrol Grand Prix Laguna Seca Raceway October 14 8 Los Angeles Times Grand Prix Riverside International Raceway October 28
Entries Team Chassis Engine Tire Number Drivers Rounds Vasek Polak Racing, Inc. Porsche 917/10 Porsche 5.0 L Turbo Flat-12 0 Jody Scheckter All Porsche 5.4 L Flat-12Porsche 5.0 L Turbo Flat-12 3 Steve Durst 1–5 Brian Redman 7–8 Wilson Racing McLaren M8E Chevrolet 7.6 L Turbo V8 2 Gary Wilson 4–5, 8 Hans Wiedmer Porsche 917/10 Porsche 5.0 L Turbo Flat-12 4 Hans Wiedmer 1–4 William Cuddy McLaren M8E Chevrolet 7.6 L V8 4 Bill Cuddy 7 Willi Kauhsen Racing Porsche 917/10 Porsche 5.0 L Turbo Flat-12 5 Willi Kauhsen 4 Roger Penske Racing Enterprises, Inc. Porsche 917/30 Porsche 5.4 L Turbo Flat-12 6 Mark Donohue All U. S. Racing McLaren M8F Chevrolet 8.1 L V8 8 Scooter Patrick All William Overhauser Racing Team, Ltd. McLaren M8D Chevrolet 7.4 L V8Chevrolet 7.6 L V8 9 John Cordts All Motschenbacher Racing Enterprises McLaren M8F Chevrolet 8.1 L V8 11 John Cannon 1, 3 Lothar Motschenbacher 2, 6 Derek Bell 4–5 Steve Durst 6–8 Warren Agor Racing Enterprises McLaren M8FP Chevrolet 8.1 L V8 13 Warren Agor 1–5 Artemis International, Ltd. Ferrari 512 M Ferrari 5.0 L V12 13 Sam Posey 8 Racing Specialties Lola T260 Chevrolet 7.6 L V8 14/39 Tom Heyser 2–5 John Gunn 6–8 William M. Wonder McLaren M8C Chevrolet 7.6 L V8 15 Bill Wonder 1 Rinzler Motoracing-Royal Crown Porsche 917/10 Porsche 5.4 L Turbo Flat-12 16 George Follmer All 23 Charlie Kemp 1, 3–8 Nagel Racing Lola T260 Chevrolet 8.1 L V8 17 Bob Nagel All Bailey Speed Shop Lola T222 Chevrolet 7.6 L V8 18 Gene Fisher 2 Müller Motors Corporation KMW SP20 Porsche 2.6 L Flat-6 20 Bob Earl 8 22 Hans Müller-Perschl 7–8 Charles P. Semple Lola T163 Chevrolet 7.0 L V8 27/77 Tony Settember 7–8 Midwest Racing McLaren M12 Chevrolet 8.1 L V8 30 Frank Kahlich 1, 8 Otto Zipper Racing Team Alfa Romeo T33/3 Alfa Romeo 3.0 L V8 33 Milt Minter 7–8 Burmester Racing McLaren M8R Chevrolet 7.4 L V8Chevrolet 8.1 L V8 34 Tom Dutton All Harry Bytzek Porsche 908/02 K Porsche 3.0 L Flat-8 39 Harry Bytzek 1 Jim Butcher Racing McLaren M8C Chevrolet 7.4 L V8 41 Jim Butcher 1–2 Dick Durant 5 Ennerdale Racing Costello SP7Costello SP8 Oldsmobile 4.4 L V8 45 David Saville-Peck 1, 4–8 Blue Magic Corporation McLaren M8E Chevrolet 8.1 L V8 47 Ed Felter 1–5, 7 Pete Sherman Racing McLaren M8F Chevrolet 7.6 L V8 51 Pete Sherman 1–4 Lodestar Enterprises McLaren M6A Chevrolet 7.0 L V8 57 Dave Causey 5 Monte's Motors Lola T162 Chevrolet 7.0 L V8 57 Monte Shelton 6 Brumos Porsche-Audi Corporation Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Porsche 3.0 L Flat-6 58 Peter Gregg 3 Porsche 917/10 Porsche 5.0 L Turbo Flat-12 59 Hurley Haywood All Peckham Engineering McLaren M8C Chevrolet 7.4 L V8 64 Bob Peckham 4–5, 7–8 Roy Woods Racing, Inc. McLaren M20 Chevrolet 8.1 L V8 73 David Hobbs All Kampo Enterprises Lola T220 Chevrolet V8 74 Dan Kampo 5 R. D. Klempel Lola T163 Chevrolet 7.5 L V8 77 Bob Klempel 1 Durant Racing Lola T163 Chevrolet 7.0 L V8 81 Dick Durant 1 R. S. Racing Enterprises McLaren M6B Chevrolet 7.1 L V8 91 Leon Sirois 5 Commander Motor Homes Racing Team McLaren M20 Chevrolet 7.6 L Turbo V8 96 Mario Andretti 2, 7–8 John Cannon 7–8 McLaren M8F Chevrolet 7.6 L V8 97 Milt Minter 2 Bob Brown 3–8 98 Danny Hopkins 2–6 John Cannon 7–8 Don Nichols Shadow DN2 Chevrolet 8.1 L V8 101 Jackie Oliver 1–4, 6–8 James Hunt 5 Chevrolet 8.1 L Turbo V8 102 Jackie Oliver 5 Vic Elford 7–8
Season results
Rnd Circuit Winning team Results Winning driver 1 Mosport #23 Rinzler Motoracing Royal Crown Results Charlie Kemp 2 Road Atlanta #16 Rinzler Motoracing Royal Crown Results George Follmer 3 Watkins Glen #6 Roger Penske Enterprises Results Mark Donohue 4 Mid-Ohio #6 Roger Penske Enterprises Results Mark Donohue 5 Road America #6 Roger Penske Enterprises Results Mark Donohue 6 Edmonton #6 Sunoco Porsche+Audi Results Mark Donohue 7 Laguna Seca #6 Roger Penske Enterprises Results Mark Donohue 8 Riverside #6 Roger Penske Enterprises Results Mark Donohue
Drivers Championship Points are awarded to the top ten finishers in the order of 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1.
Pos Driver MOS ATL WGL MOH ROA EDM LAG RIV Pts 1 Mark Donohue 7 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 139 2 George Follmer 13 1 20 2 3 2 11 20 62 3 Hurley Haywood 15 5 21 3 14 DNS 3 2 47 4 Charlie Kemp 1 4 DNS 12 8 13 3 45 5 Bob Nagel 3 6 11 13 6 7 6 4 44 6 Jody Scheckter 16 3 3 20 2 12 16 13 39 7 David Hobbs Wth 4 2 19 Wth 4 9 18 37 8 Scooter Patrick 4 18 10 18 4 6 8 10 31 9 Jackie Oliver 20 19 17 8 DNS 3 2 17 30 10 Steve Durst 5 7 7 10 DNS 5 10 8 29 11 Bobby Brown 16 5 5 11 4 19 26 12 Milt Minter 17 5 5 16 13 Hans Wiedmer 2 16 15 23 15 14 Tom Dutton 12 11 6 7 15 10 21 7 15 15 John Cannon 6 5 17 15 14 16 Derek Bell 4 DNS 10 17 Bob Peckham 11 Wth 7 6 10 18 Danny Hopkins 13 13 6 9 15 8 19 Tom Heyser 8 8 16 10 7 20 Gary Wilson 9 7 DNS 6 21 Ed Felter 8 10 18 12 16 20 4 22 John Cordts 9 12 19 14 Wth 9 14 14 4 23 Warren Agor 19 14 12 15 8 3 24 Pete Sherman 10 9 14 17 3 25 Peter Gregg 9 2 25 Hans Müller-Perschl Wth 9 2 Brian Redman 12 11 0 David Saville-Peck 18 21 11 14 22 Wth 0 William Wonder 11 0 Frank Kahlich Wth 12 0 John Gunn 13 23 Wth 0 Jigger Sirois 13 0 Jim Butcher 14 Wth 0 Vic Elford 15 21 0 Lothar Motschenbacher 15 0 Sam Posey 16 0 Dick Durant 17 DNS 0 Bill Cuddy 18 0 Tony Settember 19 Wth 0 Gene Fisher 20 0 Willi Kauhsen 22 0 Mario Andretti DNS DNS DNS 0 James Hunt DNS 0 Dan Kampo DNS 0 Dave Causey DNS 0 Monte Shelton DNS 0 Bob Earl Wth 0 Pos Driver MOS ATL WGL MOH ROA EDM LAG RIV Pts Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th-6th place Light Blue 7th–10th place Dark Blue Finished(Outside Top 10) Purple Did not finish Red Did not qualify(DNQ) Brown Withdrawn(Wth) Black Disqualified(DSQ) White Did not start(DNS) Blank Did notparticipate(DNP) Driverreplacement(Rpl) Injured(Inj) Race not held(NH) Not competingIn-line notationBoldPole position
References