Can-Am Challenge Race

Watkins Glen, 5 Jul 1980

All cars are 5-litre Can-Am unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Lola T530 [HU2] (Patrick Tambay): Built March 1980. New to Haas Racing for 1980 and raced by Patrick Tambay, winning the Can-Am championship. Retained for 1981 when it was fitted with a taller rollhoop and raced by Jeff Wood but wrecked in practice at Watkins Glen in July 1981. Race reports say that Haas acquired VDS's backup T530 to replace it, so this car effectively ceased to exist at this point.
2. Lola T530 [HU3] (Geoff Brabham): Built March 1980. New to VDS Racing for 1980 and used as Geoff Brabham's main race car until it was destroyed in his accident in practice at Road America in July 1980. In 2006, the chassis plate to this car was auctioned on Ebay by Ben Severin and sold to Shayne Windelburn (Auckland, New Zealand), who had previously acquired some surviving components of HU3 that had been brought to New Zealand by ex-VDS mechanic Ian Algie.
3. Chevron B27 (Bertil Roos): Having raced a Chevron B27 with a 1.6-litre Cosworth BDD and fenders in Can-Am in 1979, Bertil Roos (Blakeslee, PA) acquired another Chevron B27 for 1980, and fitted a full sports car body and a 2-litre Hart 420R engine. He raced this six times in Can-Am in 1980, finishing in the top 10 every time. According to Doug Waters, this 1980 car was sold to someone in Pennsylvania for regional racing. Subsequent history unknown.
4. Marguey CA80 [March 782] (Richard Guider): Rad Dougall's T-car at Thruxton 27 Mar 1978 and presumably the one he uses after wrecking 782-2 at the Nürburgring 30 Apr. Used by the Toleman team in early 1979 and for Needell at Donington. Sold to Richard Guider (Ben Lomond, CA), and fitted with Tony Cicale's original blue 1978/79 body from the Cicale-Ralt Can-Am car. Guider named this creation the Marguey CA80, and raced it in Can-Am in 1980 and 1981. Guider shared the car with Bertil Roos at the August 1981 Lumbermens 500. Guider crashed on the final lap at Trois-Rivières in September 1981 and the car was extensively damaged.
5. Lola T332 [T330 HU2] (Horst Kroll): See full history: Lola T330 HU2.
6. Chevron B21 [72-3] (Ray Petry): Sold new to Peter Smith and raced by him and co-driver David Welpton through 1972 and 1973 primarily in distance events across Europe but also in some short British events. Updated to B23 specification for 1974 and raced by Smith with various co-drivers including Rupert Keegan. Co-drivers in 1975 included John Turner. The car was replaced by the ex-KVG/John Hine Chevron B31 for 1976 and was sold to Ray Petry (Boston, MA) for SCCA racing and then for the new Can-Am series that started in 1977. Ray used an ex-Rondel 1840cc BDE engine that he'd bought from Tony Cicale. Raced in Can-Am 1978 to 1980. Ray later sold the car to dealer Mike Gue of Essex Racing, who sold it to Canada. Subsequent history unknown.
7. March 744/CF1 [74B-10] (Bob Roy): The early history of this car is unknown, but it may be the car raced by Gilles Léger (Lachute, Quebec) from Mosport Park in July 1974 onwards. By 1980 it was owned by Bob Roy ( Montréal, Quebec, Canada) and was being used in Can-Am. The car later went to Mauro Lanaro (Montréal, Quebec), and was raced by him in Can-Am then CAT races from 1984 to 1987. At some point, Lanaro found the monocoque had bent due to the Can-Am car's downforce, and replaced the tub with that of 74B/12. The tub and associated parts from 74B/10 remained with Lanaro until he sold his remaining stock to David Clubine (Brantford, Ontario) in 2018.
8. Lola T294 [T292 HU40] (Steven Payne-Herbert): Described consistently as the "prototype" T292, HU40 first appeared at Jarama 5 Nov 1972 where it was raced by Richard Scott. It was then Guy Edwards' works car throughout 1973 after which it was updated to T294 specification and sold by Lola to Martin Raymond for 1974. It went to Stewart Chubb for 1975 and continued to race in the European series. In 1976, Chubb sold the car to Steven Payne-Herbert and it was used in Can-Am and SCCA BSR racing until 1980. Payne-Herbert kept the car until 1989 when it was sold for vintage racing and, three owners later, it was being offered for sale by Grand Prix Classics in February 2011.
9. Lola T530 [HU5] (Elliot Forbes-Robinson): Built April 1980. New to Budweiser Newman 1980 and raced by Elliot Forbes-Robinson as the team's #2 Budweiser entry. Unknown after 1980 until sold by Mike Brayton to Burke Ratcliffe (UK) 1986 to be used in the Thundersports series. Referred to as one former Burke Ratcliffe crew member as "the Budweiser show car", it is unclear when this car was raced. Sold with the other BRR cars to Mike McComas (Pampa, TX) in 1989 and then via Michael Duncan (Los Altos, CA, later Colchester, CT) to Shayne Windelburn (Auckland, New Zealand).
10. Lola T530 [HU7] (Stephen South): Built April 1980. New to Budweiser Newman 1980 and raced by Stephen South as the team's #4 Budweiser entry. Crashed heavily by South in practice at Brainerd in August. The team bought another T530 from RJ Nelkin so this car presumably destroyed. However, this car is said to be one of the cars sold by Mike Brayton to Burke Ratcliffe (UK) 1986 to be used in the Thundersports series. Reported to have been built up as a show car for the team and then to have been sold to Peter Kaus's Rosso Bianco Collection (Aschaffenburg, Germany) in 1990. However, no mention has been found of the car in this connection and it seems more likely that it ceased to exist after South's accident..
11. Lola T530 [HU8] (Robert J. Nelkin): Built May 1980. New to RJ Nelkin (Roslyn, NY/Woodbury, NY) for Can-Am in 1980 and rebuilt on fresh tub after an accident. Sold by Nelkin to Newman Racing August 1980 but they changed their mind and the car quickly passed to Garvin Brown Racing for Danny Sullivan in the last half of 1980. Retained for 1981. Sold to Mike Brayton and raced in Can-Am in 1982. Later sold to Burke Ratcliffe to be used in Thundersports in England in 1986 but wrecked in a testing accident at Brands Hatch in June 1986. Retubbed and rebuilt by Jack Smith of VDS. Believed to be the car raced by Andy Ratcliffe (Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire), Mike Wilds and David Leslie in 1986, winning the last two races of the season. Also then likely to be the car shared by Wilds and Ian Flux through the 1987 season, winning two races, and then by Flux and other in 1988, when it dominated the series. Then to Mike McComas (Pampa, TX) 1989 and then to Bud Bennett of RM Motorsport (Wixom, Michigan) 1996. Completely restored by Bennett to Garvin Brown livery. It then went via either Scot Kennedy or Ron Coburn to Norm Goldrich (Cincinnati,OH) 1998 and was still with him in September 2001. Sold to Gregg Jackson (El Paso, TX) 2002 then to Kim Baker 2009 or 2010 and then to Larry Galbo (Buffalo, NY) 2011.
12. Wolf-Brayton 001 (Michael Brayton): Michael Brayton (Newport Beach, CA) acquired a Talon Formula 5000 car for 1977, but previous history of the car is unknown. During 1977, he rebodied the car for SCCA A Sports Racing, and then raced the car, as the "Wolf-Brayton 001" in Can-Am from 1978 to 1981. The car was later acquired by Mike McComas, who was then under the impression it was the Wolf-Dallara WD1. He sold it to Tony Roberts and Duncan Fox in New Zealand in 2003, where it was restored to F5000 specification. Raced by Roberts in the F5000 Tasman Revival from 2003 to 2005, when it was sold to Aaron Burson, then raced by him from 2005 onwards.
13. March 73S/77S [14] (E. B. Lunken): Sold new to Henry Candler (Lakewood, CO) and used by him in a few British sport car races in May and June 1973, before he took it back to the US for SCCA racing in the BSR class. Candler soon decided the car was too quick for him, and he sold the car to his cousin, Edmund Backus Lunken (Cincinnati, Ohio), who entered his cars as E. B. Lunken, and was known to his friends as Ebby. Lunken first raced the car in 1977, then used it in the Can-Am series from 1978 to 1982. There has been some debate over the engine used in the 73S during this time, with some reports that it was a Ford, and others that it was a BMW. Irv Zwicker, who built engine for Ebby, says Lunken used BMW engine with Heidegger rods, Kugelfischer fuel injection and a proprietary intake cam. Lunken still had the car in 2006.

Sources

Note that the identification of individual cars in these results is based on the material presented elsewhere in this site and may in some cases contradict the organisers' published results.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen (allen@oldracingcars.com) if you can help in any way with our research.