OldRacingCars.com

Can-Am Challenge Race

Watkins Glen, 11 Jul 1981

ResultsLapsTime/Speed
1 Al Holbert Holbert CAC-2 - Chevrolet V8
#14 CRC Chemicals
55 1h 39m 03.7s
89.888 mph
2 Danny Sullivan Lola T530 [HU8] - Chevrolet V8
#4 Garvin Brown Racing (see note 1)
55 1h 39m 17.5s
3 Rocky Moran Frissbee - Chevrolet V8
#10 American Spirit Racing
55
4 David Kennedy Frissbee - Chevrolet V8
#8 U.S. Racing [Herb Caplan]
53
5 Randy Lewis Holbert CAC-1 - Chevrolet V8
#2 Cribari Wine
52
6 Jim Trueman (Can-Am 2l) 2-litre Ralt RT2/79 [153] - Hart 420R
#25 Red Roof Inns
51
7 Richard Guider (Can-Am 2l) 2-litre Marguey CA80 [March 782] - Hart 420R
#68 Elite Racing (see note 2)
49
8 Roman Pechmann (Sports racing) 2-litre Lola T290 [HU34] - Ford
#58 Roman Pechmann
47
9 Dave Hoover Lola T300/T333 [HU5] - Chevrolet V8
#20 Broccoli
45
10 Greg Sorrentino (Can-Am 2l) 2-litre March 77S/802 [77ST-1] - Ford
#41 Greg Sorrentino (see note 3)
43
11 John Graham (Sports racing) 2-litre Chevron B26 [74-08] - Ford BDG
#77 Midland Racing (see note 4)
40
12 Geoff Brabham Lola T530 [HU4] - Chevrolet V8
#3 Racing Team V.D.S. (see note 5)
39 Gearbox
13 Gerre Payvis Lola T332 [HU53] - Chevrolet V8
#31 Gerre Payvis (see note 6)
28 Broken fuel line
14 Jake Jeppeson (Sports racing) 2-litre Chevron B23 - Ford
#99 Jeppeson Motorracing
27 Oil leak
15 Teo Fabi March 817 - Chevrolet V8
#6 Paul Newman Racing
21 Blown engine
16 E. B. Lunken (Can-Am 2l) March 73S/77S [14]
#61 Team 61 (see note 7)
21 Broken cable
17 Al Unser March 817 - Chevrolet V8
#5 Paul Newman Racing
16 Rear end
18 Mike Freberg Lola T300 [HU15] - Chevrolet V8
#36 Race Safe Racing (see note 8)
10 Off course
19 S Peter Smith (Can-Am 2l) 2-litre Bobsy - Hart 420R
#54 Red Roof Inns
7 No power
20 Paul Macey (Sports racing) 2-litre Lola T294 [HU78] - Ford
#74 Intercicle
6 Fuel pump
21 John Sorbello (Can-Am) Sorbello GM5 [005]
#49 John Sorbello (see note 9)
5 Overheating
22 Horst Kroll Lola T300 [T330 HU2] - Chevrolet V8
#37 Horst Kroll Racing (see note 10)
3 Blown engine
DNS Graham McRae McRae GM9 - Chevrolet V8
#22 Skoal Bandit
Did not start
(Chassis)
DNS Gary Gove (Can-Am) 3-litre Williams FW07B [6] - Cosworth DFV V8
#54 Pete Lovely VW
Did not start
(Wrecked)
DNSC Jeff Wood Lola T532 [T530 HU2] - Chevrolet V8
#1 Carl Haas Racing (see note 11)
Did not start (crashed)

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

Qualifying
1 Teo Fabi (Can-Am) 5-litre March 817 - Chevrolet V8 1m 39.27s
2 Geoff Brabham (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T530 [HU4] - Chevrolet V8
3 Rocky Moran (Can-Am) 5-litre Frissbee - Chevrolet V8
4 Danny Sullivan (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T530 [HU8] - Chevrolet V8
5 Al Unser (Can-Am) 5-litre March 817 - Chevrolet V8
6 Al Holbert (Can-Am) 5-litre Holbert CAC-2 - Chevrolet V8
7 David Kennedy (Can-Am) 5-litre Frissbee - Chevrolet V8
8 Jeff Wood * (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T532 [T530 HU2] - Chevrolet V8
9 Randy Lewis (Can-Am) 5-litre Holbert CAC-1 - Chevrolet V8
10 Jim Trueman (Can-Am 2l) 2-litre Ralt RT2/79 [153] - Hart 420R
11 Mike Freberg (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T300 [HU15] - Chevrolet V8
12 Richard Guider (Can-Am 2l) 2-litre Marguey CA80 [March 782] - Hart 420R
13 Horst Kroll (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T300 [T330 HU2] - Chevrolet V8
14 S Peter Smith (Can-Am 2l) 2-litre Bobsy - Hart 420R
15 Gerre Payvis (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T332 [HU53] - Chevrolet V8
16 Roman Pechmann (Sports racing) 2-litre Lola T290 [HU34] - Ford
17 Paul Macey (Sports racing) 2-litre Lola T294 [HU78] - Ford
18 Graham McRae * (Can-Am) 5-litre McRae GM9 - Chevrolet V8
19 John Sorbello (Can-Am) Sorbello GM5 [005]
20 John Graham (Sports racing) 2-litre Chevron B26 [74-08] - Ford BDG
21 Jake Jeppeson (Sports racing) 2-litre Chevron B23 - Ford
22 Dave Hoover (Can-Am) 5-litre Lola T300/T333 [HU5] - Chevrolet V8
23 E. B. Lunken (Can-Am 2l) March 73S/77S [14]
24 Greg Sorrentino (Can-Am 2l) 2-litre March 77S/802 [77ST-1] - Ford
 
* Did not start

Notes on the cars:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Lola T332 [HU53] (Gerre Payvis): See full history: Lola T332 HU53.
  7. March 73S/77S [14] (E. B. Lunken): Sold new to Henry Candler (Lakewood, CO) and used by him in a few British sport car races in May and June 1973, before he took it back to the US for SCCA racing in the BSR class. Candler soon decided the car was too quick for him, and he sold the car to his cousin, Edmund Backus Lunken (Cincinnati, Ohio), who entered his cars as E. B. Lunken, and was known to his friends as Ebby. Lunken first raced the car in 1977, then used it in the Can-Am series from 1978 to 1982. There has been some debate over the engine used in the 73S during this time, with some reports that it was a Ford, and others that it was a BMW. Irv Zwicker, who built engine for Ebby, says Lunken used BMW engine with Heidegger rods, Kugelfischer fuel injection and a proprietary intake cam. Lunken still had the car in 2006.
  8. Lola T300 [HU15] (Mike Freberg): Invoice date 30 Mar 1972 (sold to 'Haas', colour 'Yellow'). Horst Kroll (Canada) US 1972-1974; driven by Bert Kuehne US 1975 (5 races); Kroll US 1976; damaged in crash at Watkins Glen but rebuilt and converted to Can-Am. Kroll Can-Am 1977; rental car thereafter: e.g. Marcel Talbot Can-Am 1978 (1 race: Trois-Rivieres - 04 Sep 1978), Can-Am 1979 (1 entry in "T300": Road Atlanta - 06 May 1979, entry list only); Mike Freberg 1981; Duff Hubbard 1982; John Macaluso 1983; Walter Lechner 1984; Joe DeMarco 1985 and 1986; John Graham 1986. Rebuilt as "Frissbee KR5" for 1986. Mike Engstrand recalls driving Kroll's T300-based Can-Am car at St Louis and Hallet in 1986; used until 1987 - Chuck Haines (St Louis, MO) 1989 - Don Jensen (US) about 1998: used extensively in vintage racing still in Can-Am specification until 2007 - Andrew Kluver (Sydney, Australia) August 2007.
  9. Sorbello GM5 [005] (John Sorbello): See full history: McRae GM1/005.
  10. Lola T300 [T330 HU2] (Horst Kroll): See full history: Lola T330 HU2.
  11. Lola T532 [T530 HU2] (Jeff Wood): 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.

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.