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Can-Am Challenge Race

Watkins Glen, 10 Jul 1977

ResultsLapsTime/Speed
1 Patrick Tambay Lola T333CS [HU3] - Chevrolet V8
#1 Carl A. Haas Racing Teams, Ltd.
49 1h 29m 31.967s
110.891 mph
2 Peter Gethin Lola T333CS [HU2] - Chevrolet V8
#4 Racing Team VDS
49 1h 30m 17.956s
3 Elliot Forbes-Robinson Lola T333CS [HU4] - Chevrolet V8
#40 Bill Freeman Racing
49
4 Don Breidenbach Lola T333CS ["33-790"] - Chevrolet V8
#77 Briggs Racing
48
5 John David Briggs Lola T333CS ["33-673"] - Chevrolet V8
#71 Briggs Racing
48
6 Bob Nagel Lola T332/Riley [HU33] - Chevrolet V8
#9 Nagel Racing (see note 1)
47
7 Horst Kroll Lola T300 [HU15] - Chevrolet V8
#37 Team Canada
46
8 Bobby Brown (Can-Am 2l) 2-litre March 77S [77ST-1] - Hart 420R
#79 Bob Brown Racing (see note 2)
44
9 Tony Cicale (Sports racing) 2-litre Chevron B26 - Hart 420R
#47 Anthony Cicale
44
10 Tex Arnold (Sports racing) 2-litre Lola T294 [HU78] - Hart 420R
#99 Car Shop Enterprises
42
11 Gary Hirsch (sports racing) 3-litre Porsche 908/02 [017]
#39 R & H Racing
42
12 Dave Johnson (Sports racing) 2-litre Lola T290 [HU34] - Ford BDG
#60 Dave Johnson
42
13 T. Patrick McGonegle Chevron B24 [24-73-02] - Chevrolet V8
#38 McGonegle Racing (see note 3)
41
14 Brian Burgess (Sports racing) 1.6-litre Chevron B21/B23 [72-27] - Ford BDA
#13 Brian Burgess
40
15 Tom Klausler Schkee DB1 [1] - Chevrolet V8
#6 Schkee Cars
14 Differential
16 S Peter Smith (Sports racing) 2-litre Chevron B19 [71-6] - Ford
#54 Red Roof Inns
11 Broken shock
17 Leonard Janke (G6) 5-litre McLaren M6B/M8 [M6B 50-09(B)] - Chevrolet V8
#56 Janke Auto Co. (see note 4)
7 Overheating
18 Gilles Villeneuve Wolf WD1 - Chevrolet V8
#2? Walter Wolf Racing
6 Gearbox failure
19 Chris Bender McBender "McLaren" [Matich A50-003] - Ford Boss 302 V8
#41 Chris Bender
5 Heating
20 John Gunn Lola T332 [HU47] - Chevrolet V8
#11 Racing Consultants (see note 5)
0 Accident/suspension
DNS Evan Noyes Lola T332 [HU51] - Chevrolet V8
#24 Evan Noyes, Jr. (see note 6)
Did not start
(Mechanical)
DNA Randy Lewis Shadow DN4B - Dodge V8
#0 Phoenix Racing
Did not arrive
DNA Warwick Brown Lola T333CS [HU1] - Chevrolet V8
#3 Racing Team VDS
Did not arrive
DNA Doug Schulz Schkee DB1 [1] - Chevrolet V8
#6 Schkee Cars
Did not arrive
DNA Bruce Langson (G7) 5-litre Lola T310 [HU1] - Chevrolet V8
#22 Bruce L. Langson
Did not arrive
DNA Graham McRae McRae GM3 [01] - Chevrolet V8
#36 Jongbloed Racing Wheels
Did not arrive
DNA Jeff Jones (G7) McLaren M1C - Ford
#78 Jeff Jones
Did not arrive
DNA Mike Roche Lola T332 [HU42] - Chevrolet V8
#80 Roche Racing (see note 7)
Did not arrive

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

Qualifying
1 Patrick Tambay (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T333CS [HU3] - Chevrolet V8 1m 44.635s
2 Tom Klausler (Can-Am) 5-litre Schkee DB1 [1] - Chevrolet V8 1m 45.934s
3 Peter Gethin (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T333CS [HU2] - Chevrolet V8 1m 47.251s
4 Gilles Villeneuve (Can-Am) 5-litre Wolf WD1 - Chevrolet V8 1m 47.394s
5 Elliot Forbes-Robinson (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T333CS [HU4] - Chevrolet V8 1m 48.518s
6 Don Breidenbach (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T333CS ["33-790"] - Chevrolet V8 1m 49.68s
7 Bob Nagel (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T332/Riley [HU33] - Chevrolet V8 1m 52.451s
8 John Gunn (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T332 [HU47] - Chevrolet V8 1m 52.579s
9 John David Briggs (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T333CS ["33-673"] - Chevrolet V8 1m 52.87s
10 Horst Kroll (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T300 [HU15] - Chevrolet V8 1m 54.745s
11 Tony Cicale (Sports racing) 2-litre Chevron B26 - Hart 420R 1m 55.601s
12 Bobby Brown (Can-Am 2l) 2-litre March 77S [77ST-1] - Hart 420R 1m 55.885s
13 Chris Bender (Can-Am) 5-litre McBender "McLaren" [Matich A50-003] - Ford Boss 302 V8 2m 03.114s
14 Leonard Janke (G6) 5-litre McLaren M6B/M8 [M6B 50-09(B)] - Chevrolet V8 2m 03.301s
15 S Peter Smith (Sports racing) 2-litre Chevron B19 [71-6] - Ford 2m 03.319s
16 Dave Johnson (Sports racing) 2-litre Lola T290 [HU34] - Ford BDG 2m 04.267s
17 Gary Hirsch (sports racing) 3-litre Porsche 908/02 [017] - Porsche 2m 04.56s
18 Tex Arnold (Sports racing) 2-litre Lola T294 [HU78] - Hart 420R 2m 05.533s
19 T. Patrick McGonegle (Can-Am) 5-litre Chevron B24 [24-73-02] - Chevrolet V8 2m 06s
20 Evan Noyes * (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T332 [HU51] - Chevrolet V8 2m 09.459s
21 Brian Burgess (Sports racing) 1.6-litre Chevron B21/B23 [72-27] - Ford BDA 2m 13.477s
 
* Did not start

Notes on the cars:

  1. Lola T332/Riley [HU33] (Bob Nagel): See full history: Lola T332 HU33.
  2. March 77S [77ST-1] (Bobby Brown): Built new for 1974, fitted with a BMW engine and entered by March Engineering for Jean Ragnotti in the European 2-litre Sports Car championship, with Antar sponsorship. Fitted with a Richardson FVC after the first few races, and later with a Cosworth BDG. Retained by March for 1975, fitted with a Hart 420R engine, updated to 75S specification and plated as '75S-U2' for John Lepp to race. The car was retained again for 1976, now to 76S specification and reportedly using the identity '76S-1', now raced by Lepp as part of the Ultramar team. Sold to Bobby Brown (Hicksville, NY) for the 1977 Can-Am season, now using the identity '77ST-1'. Sold to Greg Sorrentino (Troy, Michigan) and raced in 1979. In 1980, it was converted to centre-seat specification with a new body fabricated by Dave Craddock and campaigned in this form by Sorrentino in 1981, described as a March 802. To Charlie Monk (Sarnia, Ontario) for 1982, and then via John Adams Racing & John Kalagian to J. Byron Walker (Detroit, Michigan). Raced by Walker in 1983 and 1984 before being stored. Walker later acquired the 1977 bodywork from EB Lunken, who had used it on his March 73S, and found Lepp's Ultramar livery under the layers of paint. In 2013, Walker was in the process of restoring the car to its 1975 specification.
  3. Chevron B24 [24-73-02] (T. Patrick McGonegle): New for 1973 season. Doug Shierson for Peter Gethin: raced in UK 1973 (won Race of Champions) and US 1973. To Roger Bighouse (Eastlake, OH): raced in US 1974 (7 races); US 1975 (4 races + 1 DNS) - Pat McGonegle (Cincinnati, OH): raced in US 1976 (1 race) and Can-Am 1977 (4 races + 1 DNS); probably the car entered by McGonegle as 'Mannix MX-2' in Can-Am 1978; advertised April 1979 - Danny Johnson (Kewanee, IL) 1979: raced in Can-Am 1979 (1 race), Can-Am 1981 (5 races), Can-Am 1982 (6 races) - Brian R Taylor (now Clive, Iowa) for Mike Engstrand (Des Moines, Iowa): raced in Can-Am 1985 (3 races) - Chuck Haines (St Louis, MO) - Anthony Taylor (Blackburn, UK) 2001: due to be rebuilt and raced in FORCE Historic F5000 series (UK) 2001. Then unknown until owned by Greg Thornton in 2011 and raced in UK and New Zealand 2011/12. Badly damaged in a fire at Thornton's garage in June 2012 but completely reconstructed.
  4. McLaren M6B/M8 [M6B 50-09(B)] (Leonard Janke): One of two cars to have stemmed from a McLaren M6B chassis 50-09. This car was originally raced by Jerry Titus in 1968 but wrecked prior to the Fuji race and rebuilt on a new M6B tub. This second iteration was then crashed by Jay Hills and rebuilt on a M12 tub. The tub from Hills' crash was later sold Keith Germane and built up as a M12 and then rebuilt as a M8 before being sold to Leonard Janke for the 1974 Can-Am. Janke drove this car again in the 1977 Can-Am. It is described as 50-09(B) here as was the second iteration of this divided car.
  5. Lola T332 [HU47] (John Gunn): See full history: Lola T332 HU47.
  6. Lola T332 [HU51] (Evan Noyes): See full history: Lola T332 HU51.
  7. Lola T332 [HU42] (Mike Roche): See full history: Lola T332 HU42.

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.