Can-Am Challenge Race

Road Atlanta, 7 Sep 1980

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

Notes on the cars:

1. Lola T530 [HU4] (Geoff Brabham): Built April 1980. New to VDS Racing for 1980 and used as Geoff Brabham's T-car for the first part of the season, becoming his race car after HU3 was destroyed in a practice accident at Road America in July. Retained for 1981 and raced by Brabham until the team's new T530-based VDS-001 was ready. Sold to Rex Ramsey 1982 but very heavily damaged in an accident at Laguna Seca in October. The damaged and disassembled car sold to Mike McComas (Pampa, TX) 1988 and sold by him to Paul Sauer (Woodside, CA). In 2002, the car was still completely apart with the new tub still under construction.
2. Lola T530 [HU9] (Danny Sullivan): Built July 1980. New to Garvin Brown Racing for driver Danny Sullivan, replacing the Intrepid GB1. Raced for the rest of 1980 but Garvin Brown then acquired the ex-Rosberg car from Newman Racing and Sullivan raced that car instead at the start of 1981. Assumed for now that HU9 remained as Sullivan's backup car through the 1981 season. Sold to Mike Freberg (Toronto, Ontario) and raced by him through the 1982 Can-Am season but heavily damaged at Laguna Seca in October 1982. Mike Brayton is reported to have bought this car, repaired it and sold it to Burke Ratcliffe but the exact details are not known. Subsequent history unknown.
3. 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.
4. Lola T332 [HU47] (John Gunn): See full history: Lola T332 HU47.
5. 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.
6. Chevron B36 [36-76-06] (Chris Strong): New to Mort Platt (Kansas City, MO) and used in SCCA BSR racing from 1976 to 1978, qualifying for the Run-Offs each year. Also used in Can-Am races at Road America in July 1977 and July 1978. Then to Chris Strong (Lawrence, KS) and used in Can-Am in 1979 and 1980. Then probably the car raced by Dick Leppla in Can-Am in 1981 and still being raced in BSR several years later. Then via Ed Henning (early 1990s), Rudy Junco and Steve Fusillo to Brian Stark (Mequon, WI) by around 2004. Still with Stark in 2013.
7. 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).
8. Cicale-Ralt (Hugh Kleinpeter): Hugh Kleinpeter (Key Biscayne, FL/Hiawassee, GA) had a Cicale-bodied Ralt RT1 for Can-Am in 1979, but only appeared once, at Road America in July where he failed to start. He retained the car for 1980, again appearing only once in Can-Am, at Road Atlanta in September, but also appeared at least once in SCCA Nationals, scoring six points in Southeast Division A Sports Racing. For 1981, the car was sold to John Graham (Willowdale, Ontario) and entered by Midland Racing Enterprises for him in three Can-Am races that season. He returned for 1982, but after competing in two early-season races, the car was not seen until driven by Scott Goodyear at Mosport Park in September. The Cicale-Ralt then went to Chuck Storrie, who installed a Chevrolet V6 engine for the 1983 Can-Am season. Mike Freberg drove the car for Storrie Racing but it did not prove competitive with the 5-litre cars in its class. Freberg drove it again in early 1984 as a Mike Freberg Racing entry. Subsequent history unknown, but this may be the ex-Cicale Ralt RT1 that later turned up in Northern Ireland.
9. Lola T530 [HU6] (Ricardo Londoño): Built April 1980. New to Ricardo Londoño (Medellín, Columbia) and raced in nine out of ten of that season's Can-Am Challenge races. He almost always qualified in the top ten, and his best results was fifth place at Mosport Park in June. Londoño progressed, briefly, to F1 for 1981, and the Lola went to an unknown Columbian, spenind some time abandoned and used as a flower bed. It was rescured in the late 1980s by Oswaldo Farjado and restored for racing by 1990. Farjado and José Clopatofsky Londoño (Bogotá, Colombia) raced it in the Bogotá Six Hours in 1990, 1991 and 1992, with guest drivers Rob Wilson the first two years and David Sears in 1992. The team won the race in 1991, but retired the other two years.
10. Bazeley Mk.3 (Andrew Bazeley): Andrew Bazeley (San Diego, CA) returned to the Can-Am series in 1980 with the Mk 3, a very well presented single-seater monocoque car powered by a 4-litre Repco engine and fitted with a Hewland DG300 gearbox. He was slowest qualifier at Road Atlanta in September, and was the first retirement, completing just one lap. At Laguna Seca in October, he was listed as 24th of 25 qualifiers, but did not start, and at Riverside a week later he was listed 23rd in qualifying, with the slowest time, and again did not start.
11. March 74A [1] (Thomas C. Jones): Dempster Developments UK 1974: for Mike Wilds at R1 (second), then retubbed for R2 (second). Tested by Taylor prior to R3 Silvestone 6 Apr. For Wilds at R3 (sixth) then replaced by newer 74A/2 and returned to Bicester. Probably for Wilds again after destruction of 74A/2: three or four races (R10, R11, R13?, R14). To Mick Hill UK 1975 - Bill Blackledge (then based in Jamaica) 1976 and then via John Gunn Feb 1977 to Tom Jones: raced in Can-Am 1977 (2 races), SCCA FA 1978, Can-Am 1979 (2 DNS), Can-Am 1980 (1 DNS); retained 2010.
12. 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.
13. Marguey CA80 [March 782] (Richard Guider): Richard Guider (Ben Lomond, CA) bought a March 782 from the Toleman team at the end of 1979, and fitted it 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.
14. Lola T496 (Jeff Miller): Four Lola T496s were built in 1976, intended for SCCA C Sports Racing with Cosworth BDH engines. Jeff Miller bought one of the cars but fitted a two stroke Kohler engine, originally developed for snowmobiles. Miller won the Run-Offs in this CSR car in 1978 and also competed in Can-Am between 1978 and 1980, running the car with a 6-cylinder 1600cc engine. Many years later, Miller bought the car back from the man he'd sold it to and continues to run it in vintage events in the Midwest.

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.