Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières

Trois-Rivières, 4 Sep 1977

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

Notes on the cars:

1. Lola T296 [HU88] (Bobby Rahal): Sold new by Carl Haas to James Trueman of red Roof Inns (Columbus, OH), and supplied with a Swindon BDX engine. Raced by Trueman in Can-Am but also by Bobby Rahal in two Canadian Can-Am events. Raced again by Trueman in Cam-Am in early 1978. Sold at some point to Rahal's father Michael G. Rahal who sold it to John Timken (Lyme, CT) in July 1978. Timken raced it for the rest of that season and into 1979. Marcus Pye recalls that Timken crashed it at some point but kept the damaged car for many years. In the late 1990s, Timken sold it to Fred Kaimer (Concord, CA) who raced it in vintage events. Still being raced by Kaimer in 2013. Sold to Bobby Rahal in 2021.
2. Lola T332/Riley [HU33] (Bob Nagel): See full history: Lola T332 HU33.
3. Lola T332/Riley [HU49] (Jerry Karl): See full history: Lola T332 HU49.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Lola T332 [HU30] (Randy Lewis): See full history: Lola T332 HU30.
7. Elfin MR8A-C [8772] (Vern Schuppan): New to Vern Schuppan (Adelaide, Australia) and raced as part of Ansett Team Elfin in 1977 Australian Internationals. Converted to Can-Am form, and raced by Schuppan in the Can-Am series in late 1977, and again in 1978 and 1979. Next seen when advertised by Stuart Bradbury (Phoenix, AZ) in July 1984. Advertised by Chuck Haines in 1990. To John Wales and Ron Gouttman (NSW, Australia) in 1990, and raced by Gouttman in Australia in Can-Am form in 1992/93. To Laurie Donaher (NSW) 1998, then to Aaron Lewis (Cessnock, NSW, Australia) in 2001. Restored to F5000 form, and raced in the F5000 Tasman Revival series in 2003/04. To Bill Hemming (Victoria, Australia) 2005, who raced it in the Tasman Revival series from late 2006 onwards.
8. Lola T292 [HU60] (James Gutfreund): Only one T292 was invoiced to US agent Carl Haas and the car was 'viking orange' identifying it as the car Jerry Hansen used with great success in SCCA racing in 1973 and 1974. In late 1974, Hansen sold the car to James Gutfreund who raced it 30 times in SCCA events over the next five seasons, winning 23 of them. He also entered the car for Gordon Smiley at the Mid-Ohio Can-Am race in August 1977 who won his class easily. Gutfreund retained the car until 1994 when he sold it to an owner in New York state. Research is ongoing into this car.
9. Lola T332 [HU51] (Evan Noyes): See full history: Lola T332 HU51.
10. 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.
11. Lola T330 [HU20] (Arlon J. Koops): See full history: Lola T330 HU20.
12. Lola T294 [HU75] (Mike Hall): Mike Hall bought a new Lola T294 in 1974 for use in SCCA BSR racing. He was highly successful in the car at National level, winning the Run-Offs in 1975, and also competed in the Can-Am series from 1977 to 1980. The car was then sold to Chuck Storrie in Quebec and entered for 'Uncle' Jacques Villeneuve in Can-Am in 1982. It was bought from Storrie by Bob Roy for the 1983 season. Bob recalls selling it back to the US to somewhere in the Great Lakes area. The SCCA log book next records it being raced by Joe Graziano in vintage racing in Oct 1993. Sold by Graziano to Peter Read about 2008 and then to Steve Read in 2010. Prepared by Pete Racely (Sports Racing, Inc.) for the 2011 season. At the beginning fo the 2012 season, HU75 was being raced by Mike Thurlow (Kingsburg, CA).

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.