OldRacingCars.com

Can-Am Challenge Race

Edmonton, 16 Aug 1981

ResultsLapsTime/Speed
1 Geoff Brabham VDS 001 - Chevrolet V8
#3 Racing Team V.D.S. (see note 1)
60 1h 25m 40.837s
106.176 mph
2 Danny Sullivan Lola T530 [HU8] - Chevrolet V8
#4 Garvin Brown Racing (see note 2)
60 1h 26m 18.13s
3 Rocky Moran Frissbee - Chevrolet V8
#10 American Spirit Racing
60
4 Jeff Wood Lola T530 [HU2 or HU10] - Chevrolet V8
#1 Carl Haas Racing Team (see note 3)
59
5 Dan Johnson Chevron B24/B28 [24-73-02] - Chevrolet V8
#38 Danny Johnson (see note 4)
57
6 Jim Trueman (Can-Am 2l) 2-litre Ralt RT2/79 [153] - Hart 420R
#25 Red Roof Inns
56
7 John Morton Frissbee - Chevrolet V8
#8 U.S. Racing [Herb Caplan]
55 Engine
8 Richard Guider (Can-Am 2l) 2-litre Marguey CA80 [March 782] - Hart 420R
#68 Elite Racing (see note 5)
55
9 Horst Kroll Lola T300 [HU15] - Chevrolet V8
#36 Horst Kroll Racing
54
10 John Graham (Sports racing) 2-litre Chevron B26 [74-08] - Ford BDG
#77 Midland Racing (see note 6)
51
11 Robert Goulet McKee Mk 18C ['1'] - Chevrolet V8
#92 Robert Goulet Racing (see note 7)
50
12 Teo Fabi March 817 - Chevrolet V8
#6 Paul Newman Racing
48 Spun
13 Joe Salyer (Sports racing) 2-litre Chevron B26/B31 - Ford
#73 Systems Mechanical Contractors
47 Engine
14 Leonard Janke Lola T332/Riley - Chevrolet V8
#56 Janke Auto
31 Accident
15 Al Unser March 817 - Chevrolet V8
#5 Paul Newman Racing
25 Engine
16 Greg Sorrentino (Can-Am 2l) March 77S/802 [77ST-1]
#41 Greg Sorrentino (see note 8)
22 Linkage
17 Al Holbert Holbert CAC-2 - Chevrolet V8
#14 CRC Chemicals
18 Accident
18 Gerre Payvis Lola T332 [HU53] - Chevrolet V8
#31 Gerre Payvis (see note 9)
7 Overheating
DNS Duane Eitel Chevron B24/B28 - Chevrolet V8
#23 EKR Racing ('MLR')
Did not start

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

Qualifying
1 Geoff Brabham (Can-Am) 5-litre VDS 001 - Chevrolet V8 1m 19.741s
2 Teo Fabi (Can-Am) 5-litre March 817 - Chevrolet V8
3 Al Unser (Can-Am) 5-litre March 817 - Chevrolet V8
4 Rocky Moran (Can-Am) 5-litre Frissbee - Chevrolet V8
5 Al Holbert (Can-Am) 5-litre Holbert CAC-2 - Chevrolet V8
6 Danny Sullivan (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T530 [HU8] - Chevrolet V8
7 John Morton (Can-Am) 5-litre Frissbee - Chevrolet V8
8 Jeff Wood (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T530 [HU2 or HU10] - Chevrolet V8
9 Dan Johnson (Can-Am) 5-litre Chevron B24/B28 [24-73-02] - Chevrolet V8
10 Jim Trueman (Can-Am 2l) 2-litre Ralt RT2/79 [153] - Hart 420R
11 Richard Guider (Can-Am 2l) 2-litre Marguey CA80 [March 782] - Hart 420R
12 Leonard Janke (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T332/Riley - Chevrolet V8
13 Gerre Payvis (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T332 [HU53] - Chevrolet V8
14 Horst Kroll (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T300 [HU15] - Chevrolet V8
15 Duane Eitel * (Can-Am) 5-litre Chevron B24/B28 - Chevrolet V8
15 Greg Sorrentino (Can-Am 2l) March 77S/802 [77ST-1]
17 Robert Goulet (Can-Am) 5-litre McKee Mk 18C ['1'] - Chevrolet V8
18 John Graham (Sports racing) 2-litre Chevron B26 [74-08] - Ford BDG
19 Joe Salyer (Sports racing) 2-litre Chevron B26/B31 - Ford
 
* Did not start

Notes on the cars:

  1. VDS 001 (Geoff Brabham): New for the VDS team in 1981 and raced by Geoff Brabham, winning from pole first time out at Edmonton in August 1981. Raced with great success by Geoff Brabham in 1981 and then by Al Holbert in 1982 alongside a new car VDS-002. Sold to Jerry Hansen for 1983 and 1984, winning the ASR class at the Runoffs both years. Bought by John Foulston for 1985 but presented by him at the time as a rebuild of the standard T530 that he had raced in 1984. As part of this, it was fitted with the chassis plate of Foulston's previous Lola T530 HU10. VDS-001 then raced by Foulston and his co-drivers in UK Thundersports from 1985 until his death in 1987. Sold at auction by the Foulston estate in 1997 when the car still wore the HU10 chassis plate and no mention was made of its life as VDS-001. Bought by dealer and racer Nick Whale (Evesham, Worcestershire) 1997 and run by him at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 1998. Sold to Don Braaten (Janesville, WI) 2000.
  2. Lola T530 [HU8] (Danny Sullivan): 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.
  3. Lola T530 [HU2 or HU10] (Jeff Wood): Built July 1980 and invoiced to Bobby Rahal for Herb Caplan's U.S. Racing but the team decided to focus on their existing Prophet Can-Am cars and HU10 was returned to Carl Haas. It then appears to have gone to VDS as a backup car after their HU3 was wrecked at Road America in July 1980. If so, it is not known whether it was raced. Carl Haas then acquired the car again to replace HU2, after that car was wrecked at Watkins Glen in 1981 by Jeff Wood. Sold to John Foulston (Dunsfold, Surrey) in 1982 together with HU1 for use in Thundersports. When Foulton's car first appeared, it had red livery almost identical to Wood's usual car and with the same high rollhoop that only appeared on Wood's 1981 car(s). In September 1983, this car was observed to be wearing the HU10 chassis plate. Raced by Foulston and co-drivers HSCC Chairman Brian Cocks and John Brindley in Thundersports during 1983 and 1984. At that point Foulston wanted to modify the T530 to VDS form but too many modifications were required and the project was abandoned. Instead Foulston bought VDS-001 from Carl Haas and transferred the T530 HU10 plate onto it, inferring that he had modified HU10. After Foulston's death, his family sold the car to David Brazell (Towcester, Northamptonshire) 1996.
  4. Chevron B24/B28 [24-73-02] (Dan Johnson): 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Chevron B26 [74-08] (John Graham): After the closure of Red Rose Racing, Roger Hire struck a deal to run works-assisted Chevron B26s in 1974 under the name Forge Mill Racing. John Lepp ran the main car and Rafael Barrios joined the team to run a second B26, now positively identified as chassis 74-08. This car only raced once in 1975 but was then bought by Robin Smith to be used in endurance and Interserie in 1976. Gary Gove (Tacoma, WA) acquired it for Can-Am in early 1977 and raced it for three seasons, winning the Pacific Coast title in 1978 and the last BSR title at the Run-Offs. It went to John Graham in Canada for the 1981 season and then to Luc Behar-Bannelier for 1982. The B26 was sold to Gil Baird for Thundersports in England in 1983 then to Richard Piper for another three seasons during which time it was converted to DFV power before moving to Ireland in the late 1980s where it stayed for nearly 15 years. It was sold back to the US again around 2003 and has raced in US vintage racing.
  7. McKee Mk 18C ['1'] (Robert Goulet): New for Dick DeJarld (Joliet, IL) in 1972, and raced in SCCA Formula A events. Appeared at the Michigan Pro F5000 event in 1973 but did not qualify from the heat. Raced by DeJarld until sold to Ed Midgley (Geneva, IL) for 1976, when it was also raced by Jerry Hansen at Blackhawk Farms. To Robert Goulet (Wauwatsoa, WI) for 1977, and raced in SCCA Formula A. Goulet converted the McKee to sports car bodywork for 1979, appearing at Brainerd in July that year in the ASR class. Raced in Can-Am in 1980 and 1981, then renamed the "Sabre 001" for Can-Am again in 1983, and again in 1985. To Bob McKee and raced by Bill Scott in CAT races in 1986 and 1987. Then restored to its original specification for new owner Tom Simpson (Peoria, IL), and used in vintage racing, appearing at the Chicago Historic Races at Road America in 1988. It ran alongside several other McKee cars in historic races at Road America in the early 1990s, and also ran at HSR Mid-Ohio in August 1993. After a 20-year gap, Simpson ran the Mk 18 again in historic events in 2006.
  8. March 77S/802 [77ST-1] (Greg Sorrentino): 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.
  9. Lola T332 [HU53] (Gerre Payvis): See full history: Lola T332 HU53.

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.