Can-Am Challenge Race

Sears Point, 25 May 1980

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

Notes on the cars:

1. Lola T530 [HU1] (Patrick Tambay): Built December 1979. New to Haas Racing 1980 but only used as a test car. Team mechanics Tony Dowe and Don Harper both recall that there was only one race car used and that the test car was not raced. Retained for 1981 and photographs show that it kept its usual low rollhoop when HU2 was fitted with a taller rollhoop. Jeff Wood drove HU1 at the opening race but photographs show he drove HU2 elsewhere. The Haas team did not continue in Can-Am in 1982 and all the equipment, including both cars, was sold during the season to John Foulston (Dunsfold, Surrey) to be used in the forthcoming Thundersports series. Sold to Alan Fowler and used in libre racing at Castle Combe in 1984. By this time Foulston's usual car was yellow and had the high rollhoop but Fowler's was red and had a low rollhoop. Later to Pieter Baljet (Duncan, British Columbia, Canada), and Gerry Charlesworth reports that it was never fitted with the higher rollhoop.
2. 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).
3. Lola T530 [HU3] (Geoff Brabham): Built March 1980. New to VDS Racing for 1980 and used as Geoff Brabham's main race car until it was destroyed in his accident in practice at Road America in July 1980. In 2006, the chassis plate to this car was auctioned on Ebay by Ben Severin and sold to Shayne Windelburn (Auckland, New Zealand), who had previously acquired some surviving components of HU3 that had been brought to New Zealand by ex-VDS mechanic Ian Algie.
4. Lola T332 [HU39] (Randy Lewis): See full history: Lola T332 HU39.
5. 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.
6. Marguey CA80 [March 782] (Richard Guider): Rad Dougall's T-car at Thruxton 27 Mar 1978 and presumably the one he uses after wrecking 782-2 at the Nürburgring 30 Apr. Used by the Toleman team in early 1979 and for Needell at Donington. Sold to Richard Guider (Ben Lomond, CA), and fitted 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.
7. Lola T332 [HU29] (Rocky Moran): See full history: Lola T332 HU29.
8. Lola T430 [HU3] (James Woodruff): Haas Racing spare car for Brian Redman US 1976 (qualified 4th at Road America but not raced during the season). Duane Smith (Milwaukee, WI) and used in SCCA Formula A in 1978. Converted to Can-Am specification and raced in a handful of Can-Am races in 1979 and 1980 by James Woodruff (Ravenna, OH), better known as guitar maker "Woody James", who died in 2015. The car evidently returned to Duane Smith, as it was sold by him to Chuck Haines (St Louis, MO) in 1988. To Todd Stewart (Christchurch, NZ) late 2002 and won on its historic racng debut in the 2003/04 F5000 Tasman Cup Revival series race at Sandown Park Nov 2003.
9. Lola T530 [HU7] (Stephen South): Built April 1980. New to Budweiser Newman 1980 and raced by Stephen South as the team's #4 Budweiser entry. Crashed heavily by South in practice at Brainerd in August. The team bought another T530 from RJ Nelkin so this car presumably destroyed. However, this car is said to be one of the cars sold by Mike Brayton to Burke Ratcliffe (UK) 1986 to be used in the Thundersports series. Reported to have been built up as a show car for the team and then to have been sold to Peter Kaus's Rosso Bianco Collection (Aschaffenburg, Germany) in 1990. However, no mention has been found of the car in this connection and it seems more likely that it ceased to exist after South's accident..
10. Lola T332 [HU30] (Larry Johnson): See full history: Lola T332 HU30.
11. Wolf-Brayton 001 (Michael Brayton): Michael Brayton (Newport Beach, CA) acquired a Talon Formula 5000 car for 1977, but previous history of the car is unknown. During 1977, he rebodied the car for SCCA A Sports Racing, and then raced the car, as the "Wolf-Brayton 001" in Can-Am from 1978 to 1981. The car was later acquired by Mike McComas, who was then under the impression it was the Wolf-Dallara WD1. He sold it to Tony Roberts and Duncan Fox in New Zealand in 2003, where it was restored to F5000 specification. Raced by Roberts in the F5000 Tasman Revival from 2003 to 2005, when it was sold to Aaron Burson, then raced by him from 2005 onwards.
12. 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.