ModernMuscleCars.net - Modern Muscle Cars Archive - The time October 1968. The Place, Riverside, CA

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The time October 1968. The Place, Riverside, CA
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Posted by: Mr. P

jjj

Posted by: BigBluOx

I love this history stuff, especially the stuff that I was around for but too young to pay attention to (this was a year after I was born).

Great stuff...

Posted by: Mr. P

well it was well worth the time it took to gather the info and make the post of someone out there enjoyed the post, and I appreciate you saying so. It was an era when racing was really exciting, and there were people like Jim Hall, just to drop one name, out there building specials of their own, and LOTS of great engines (and cars) to choose from.

Back then if you had the bucks, you could run a Ford 427 in a Lola. Now that would be dangerous, eh?

Mr. P

Posted by: Mr. P

Actually, here "is" a pic of a Lola with a 427 in it, but this one, being in 1968 is a Chevy 427, and the series was the CAN AM, which stood for Canadian / American. It was a lot of fun, but the series soon found themselves just running against each other, without factory support from the likes of Ford, and the series turned out to not be "profitable", sadly.

The cars were fast, but in my humble opinion, none of them could have won the 24 hours of LeMans, which Ford did on 4 consecutive years. Yeah, I know, it's "an opinion" and everyone has one, but here's what I base mine on. Ford was involved in endurance racing since the early 1960s in NASCAR and had honed their "system" to a razor's edge battling Chrysler toe to toe. They were battle hardned, with untold millions of dollars spent on R&D. To think Chevrolet could come along and match them at LeMans just didn't compute. Ford on the other hand, knew enough to detune their NASCAR engine downward from their reliable 540-hp version which could go 500 miles at WOT, to 500-hp for LeMans, and limit it to 6000 RPM. It worked and they finished 34 miles ahead of the next nearest car, heh heh

Mr. P

Posted by: The OLE MAN

Hey p,

I've spent MANY a day at that very track. Les Richter got me a job there in the VIP lounge, as a Bar Tender. I told tell you many stories of the GIRLFRIENDS of the drivers. I was also in the BOOSTER CLUB for R.I.R. Those pics bring back alot of memories.

The OLE MAN

Posted by: Mr. P

Ever see Jerry Hanson run in a CAN AM car? He "owned" the Road Atlanta course. In any case, if you want to see em run, better get a plane ticket to Atlanta, rent a car, head for the track. Stay at the Swissotel in Buckhead (or whatever they call it these !

Mr. P

Posted by: Brootal

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. P


	The winner of this race was Bruce McLaren, who sat in first place on the grid, with a qualifying lap time of 1:38.51. You’ll note this car was receiving sponsorship from Gulf at the time, which meant they undoubtedly outspent the Shelby privateer entry. The CAN AM series was eventually dominated by Chevrolet, due in part to their fine motor, but also due to what I believe in large part to be the lack of Ford factory support for this particular racing series.

Interesting... Notice that little sticker just above the McLaren name? That's a Kiwi, what we affectionately call New Zealanders.

I should know this, but was McLaren a Kiwi or was there just some involvement somehow?

Posted by: skeezix

From what I've read. Mclaren was in fact a kiwi.

Posted by: 3SuperSports

Chaparral cars are going to be featured at Laguna Seca, August 19-21.

Nice post P.

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