Can-Am Challenge Race

St Louis International Raceway, 3 Aug 1986

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

Notes on the cars:

1. Frissbee-Lola KR3 [Lola T330 HU2] (Horst Kroll): See full history: Lola T330 HU2.
2. March 74B/77B [10] (Mauro Lanaro): The early history of this car is unknown, but it may be the car raced by Gilles Léger (Lachute, Quebec) from Mosport Park in July 1974 onwards. By 1980 it was owned by Bob Roy ( Montréal, Quebec, Canada) and was being used in Can-Am. The car later went to Mauro Lanaro (Montréal, Quebec), and was raced by him in Can-Am then CAT races from 1984 to 1987. At some point, Lanaro found the monocoque had bent due to the Can-Am car's downforce, and replaced the tub with that of 74B/12. The tub and associated parts from 74B/10 remained with Lanaro until he sold his remaining stock to David Clubine (Brantford, Ontario) in 2018.
3. Photon JH2 [March 78B-15] (Jeremy Hill): Jeremy Hill's 1984-86 'Photon' was based on a March 78B Formula Atlantic car but fitted with a 2-litre Hart 420R engine, and a Frissbee-inspired body. A later advert for the car on Race-cars.com gives the car as March 78B/15, an ex-Brack car used for a season by Hill in Formula Atlantic before being converted to Can-Am spec.
4. Marzda 'Banana Crate' [March 71BM-3] (Bill Hill): New to Chuck Willis's CRW Racing (Anaheim, CA) and leased to Jean de la Bruyere (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) for Max Mizejewski (Woodland Hills, CA) to race in SCCA Formula B in 1971 as "The Edmonton Flyer". De la Bruyere then split from CRW and Ron Dykes (Marina del Rey, CA) then took over the 71Bm for Pro Formula B races and SCCA Nationals for the rest of 1971. Sold to Bob Newton (Cupertino, CA) and run in Pro FB and SCCA Nationals in 1972, 1973 and 1974. It was also raced by Craig Fraser (Santa Cruz, CA) in 1973 and 1974 before Newton's last known appearance in it in late 1974. To Jim Van Horn (Orange, CA) and raced in Cal Club Regionals in late 1975. Van Horn bought a newer Chevron B27 for 1976, but returned to the March for 1977, which was rebuilt to 76B specification by Marc Bahner and fitted with a BDA engine. The car was registered with the SCCA in September 1977, but curiously used the chassis number of a March 722, 722-38. Van Horn raced this car up to 1980. To Bill Hill (Olympia, WA) in 1981, fitted with a Mazda engine and a sports car body and raced the car in SCCA ASR and in Can-Am as the "Marzda" or the "Banana Crate". Crashed in an SCCA Regional (NW Region) at Olympia Airport in September 1986. Hill then bought a Lola T360 and the March chassis stayed in the rafters of his garage for many years. After Hill died, the car was sold to Phil Creighton (Georgia) in mid-2017, and then by him to Kevan McLurg (Brighton, UK) in 2018. Sold to Bruce Balchin (Southampton) in July 2019.
5. March RX10-B [73B-17] (Seann Burgess): New to Bruce MacInnes (Sharon, CT) and raced as part of a two-car team with Ron Cohn. Raced in the Players Canadian FB series and in the SCCA Pro FB races at Road America and Watkins Glen. Retained for 1974, and raced in the Players Canadian series again, and in the US GP support race at Watkins Glen in October. Sold to Joe Ostrowski (Trenton, NJ), and raced in NEDiv SCCA Nationals in 1975 and 1976. Presumably the March he raced in NEDiv in 1977 and 1978. Retained by Ostrowski until early 1982 when it was bought by Seann Burgess (Caledon, Ontario). Burgess won the CASC Ontario Formula Atlantic championship and the BARC Drivers Championship in 1982 as well as appearing in 'pro' events. After two more seasons of Atlantic, he converted the car to Can-Am specification at the end of 1985 and then fitted a McLaren M1B body and a Mazda 13B rotary engine for 1986. This "March RX10-B" was raced through the 1986 season. Burgess kept the Can-Am body after the car was retired from racing and sold the March to Richard Smith (Barrie, Ontario) who raced it in 1989 and 1990, still with the Mazda engine, and fitting 1975 bodywork for 1990. He sold it to Chuck Sieber (McLean, VA) who imported it back to the US in January 1991. He raced it in Solo events in 1991, and maybe in one or two more seasons until selling it back to Seann Burgess. Burgess initially restored it to MacInnes' 1973 livery, but at the request of the Villeneuve Museum traded his 73B bodywork to Marchives for a set of 1975 bodywork, and rebuilt the car to resemble Gilles Villeneuve's Skiroule March 75B. By May 2010, it was on display in the Musée Gilles Villeneuve (Berthierville, Quebec).
6. Watson 82 (Buddy Lazier): For 1982, AJ Watson built a copy of a March 82C. The car was only used rarely but became the team's only remaining option when the 1981 car was rolled into a ball in Dick Simon's massive accident at Riverside late 1982. This is presumably the Watson-DFX that appeared rarely in 1983. Three years later the car reappeared as a single-seat Can-Am car entered by Texas American Race Teams.
7. Rondel M1 [201] (Randy Zimmer): The prototype Rondel was used for testing in late 1972, before the first production cars were built. It was taken to Hockenheim 8 April 1973 as team spare, and to Pau as a spare for Tim Schenken, but not raced. Its history is then unknown until 1974, and it appears it has been acquired by Fred Opert to use as a set of spares. After Mike Rand crashed his car, wrecking the monocoque, 201 was supplied to Ron Ignatowski (Milford, CT), who rebuilt Rand's car on 201's tub with a BRM 1-litre engine and used it in SCCA Formula C. In 1980 it was sold to Randy Zimmer (Buffalo, NY) as the basis for his Can-Am car. He raced it with a Volkswagen engine in 1982 and then with a Mazda rotary engine from 1983 to 1986. Zimmer then entered it for Jim Del Russo in the 1987 CAT championship, and raced it a few more times himself in 1989, 1990 and 1994. Then retained for many years until Zimmer sold it to Seann Burgess (Markdale, Ontario) in 2019.
8. Osella PA9B/84 [126] (Tony LaRosa): Martin Spetz observed the number 'Osella PA9B/84-126' on Trentini's Osella at Road Atlanta in 1984. As Mancini's car was also entered by Fiorano Sports Cars of Houston, as Trentini's had been, it is assumed to be the same car.
9. Frissbee GR3 [Lola T330 HU19] (Gerre Payvis): See full history: Lola T330 HU19.
10. Lola T333CS [T332 HU45] (John Macaluso): See full history: Lola T332 HU45.

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.