McLaren M16E car-by-car histories
Rob Dyson's Gatorade McLaren M16E in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum in May 2018. Copyright Ian Blackwell 2017. Used with permission.
The fifth and final iteration of the M16 theme, the McLaren M16E was introduced for Johnny Rutherford to drive in 1975. Due to delays to the new McLaren M24, Rutherford drove it again in 1976 and won the Indy 500.
Team McLaren picked up sponsorship from Gatorade for 1975, and, as in 1973 and 1974, focussed on running a single car for Johnny Rutherford. The new M16Es were only used on the long tracks at Ontario, Indianapolis, Pocono and Michigan, and Rutherford used his 1973 McLaren M16C, the car in which he'd won the 1974 Indy 500, at Phoenix, Trenton and Milwaukee. At the Indy 500, Lloyd Ruby did a deal to run the second M16E with sponsorship from Allied Polymer.
Rutherford was highly competitive in 1975, winning at Phoenix in March and finishing second in four races, including the Indy 500. He again finished second in the championship, but a long way behind AJ Foyt. The Cosworth-powered McLaren M24 was due to be produced for 1976, but was delayed, so Rutherford had just two cars to use that year, the ex-Ruby M16E and his faithful M16C. He won at Trenton in early May in the M16C and then won again at Indianapolis in the M16E. He led the championship all season and a win in his home state of Texas in October, after a race-long duel with his championship rival Gordon Johncock, left him on the verge of his first USAC title with only one race to go. He again dueled with Johncock in the final race but an oil line came adrift from the McLaren and he had to retire, leaving Johncock to take the title.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
Larry Dickson in Russ Polak's McLaren M16E at Michigan in 1976. Copyright Richard Deming 2016. Used with permission.
New in 1975 for McLaren Cars main driver Johnny Rutherford as the #2 Gatorade entry. Raced at Ontario and in the Indy 500, where he finished second, but the badly damaged when he "lost it" on the oopening lap of his qualifying run at Pocono. Rutherford then took over the less used M16E-2 that Lloyd Ruby had driven for the two Michigan races but used his older M16C/D elsewhere. At the end of the season, M16E-1 was sold to Bob Fletcher's team, but McLaren stipulated that it could not be driven by Fletcher's main driver, Bobby Unser, until the new McLaren M24s were ready. As the M24 was delayed, Fletcher sold the M16E to Russ Polak's Polak Racing for Larry Dickson to drive as the #80 entry. Raced by Dickson from Michigan in July 1976 to the end of 1977. Not seen in 1978. Then almost certainly the McLaren entered by Jack L. Rhoades as the #20 Scientific Drilling Controls car for John Martin at the 500 mile races in 1979 and for Dana Carter at Indy in 1980. Returned to Indy in 1981 as the #52 Rassey Engines car for Larry Rice. Then unknown until advertised in the late 1980s by Stephen A. Schwartz (Westport, CT), totally restored and in its original Gatorade livery. It was reacquired by McLaren and put on display in the Donington Museum for many years. It was at McLaren HQ in Woking in 2010. By May 2018, the M16E was owned by Rob Dyson and was briefly on display in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. In July 2020, it was on display in the Saratoga Automobile Museum together with other Dyson Racing cars.
Driven by: Johnny Rutherford, Larry Dickson, John Martin, Dana Carter and Larry Rice. First race: Ontario Motor Speedway (R2), 2 Mar 1975. Total of 20 recorded races.
Johnny Rutherford in the Hy-Gain McLaren M16E at Michigan in 1976. Copyright Richard Deming 2016. Used with permission.
The McLaren M16E in the Samsung Transportation Museum in August 2011. Licenced by Seongbin Im under Creative Commons licence Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0). Original image has been cropped.
New in 1975 for McLaren Cars and raced by Lloyd Ruby at the Indy 500 as the #7 Allied Polymer car. Johnny Rutherford took over this car after crashed M16E-1 at Pocono and used it for the rest of the season as his #2 Gatorade entry. Used again at long tracks in 1976 as the #2 Hy-Gain car, and won the Indy 500 as well as finishing second at Michigan and at Ontario, and winning at TWS. Sold to Cliff Hucul and his chief mechanic Bob Katke for 1977 and run as the #29 Hunter Racing or Team Canada entry, and in 1978 as the Wendy's Hamburgers entry. Raced again by Hucul in 1979 but described then as a M16C/D. Not raced again but seen in Aat Groenevelt's garage at Indy in 1985 still in Hucul livery. Then unknown until loaned to Ken Behring's Behring Auto Musem (Danville, CA) in 1988 but the museum, now called the Blackhawk Museum, cannot recall who owned it. It left the museum in mid-1990s and nothing further is known until 2004, when a fully restored M16E in Hy-Gain livery was on display in the Samsung Transportation Museum (Yongin, South Korea). Still on display in August 2013. Also photographed in the museum in February 2015 and October 2015, but there was then a long gap until photographs in November 2023 and March 2024 in what was then called the Samsung Mobility Museum.
Driven by: Lloyd Ruby, Johnny Rutherford and Cliff Hucul. First race: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (R6), 25 May 1975. Total of 28 recorded races.
The McLaren M16E show car at Don Smith's "500 Museum of Wheels" in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 2017. Copyright Ian Blackwell 2017. Used with permission.
Built at some stage as a show car, and fitted with a Bruce McLaren Motor Racing chassis plate that gives its chassis number as "16E-003" and its Type as "16E/SC". A second plate on the car states "This chassis and all Parts are for Show Purposes only. NO RESPONSIBILITY ACCEPTED. McLaren Racing.". By November 2012, the car was on display at Don Smith's "500 Museum of Wheels" (Terre Haute, IN). It was in Miller livery and wearing #1, suggesting that it was connected to a plan in early 1977 for James Hunt to drive for Team McLaren at the Indy 500 with sponsorship from Miller Beer. Jim Hurtubise, who is the driver most closely associated with Miller at the Indy 500, had lost the Miller sponsorship after 1976. Perhaps a show car was quickly put together from spare parts intended for a press release that never happened. At present, very little is know about this car.
Acknowledgements
The histories of the M16-series McLarens has been the result of the collaborative research of Allen Brown and Simmo Iskül, with additional information from Michael Ferner, Ian Blackwell, restorer Duncan Fox, and researchers 'gbl', Luis Mateus, Tom Schultz and Gerry Measures. Thanks also to Ian Blackwell and Richard Deming for their photographs.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
These histories last updated on .