THE RACING MACHINES, PART II.

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. They can be testaments to brilliant, visionary thinking, or they can be ideas that never panned out. They can be magnificent beasts that ruled the day, or they can be evil-handling failures that slunk away into motorsports history. But many of the machines that have been raced over the decades brought something significant to the sport, and even more important, etched into our memories a time and a place that will never be forgotten. Anyone who has grown up in and around the sport has developed a list of favorite racing cars from the time they were kids. It usually started along the way with favorite model building kits or slot car sets, but we all developed our favorites, which we've all added to over the years. I am no exception. As a matter of fact, my list is extensive and at times convoluted. But by no means is it meant to be some sort of be-all and end-all. They're just significant to me. 

(Dave Friedman photo)
First of all, I neglected to post a picture of a Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport last week, so here is a shot of Jim Hall (No. 67 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport) running ahead of Augie Pabst (No. 2 John Mecom Racing Zerex Ferrari 250 LM) through Thunder Valley during the Road America 500 in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, September 13, 1964. 
(All American Racers)
Dan Gurney on his way to the win in the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix in the No. 36 All American Racers Eagle T1G Gurney-Weslake V12. Gurney's victory at Spa is the first and only time that an American citizen built and raced a car of his own construction and put it into the winner’s circle of a World Championship F1 race. Yes, there have been many beautiful open-wheel machines - the aforementioned Ferrari 156; Colin Chapman's Lotus 49-Cosworth; the McLaren-Ford MP4/8A; the McLaren M16C Indy car; Jim Hall's Chaparral 2K Cosworth Indy car; the All American Racers Indy cars, especially the Boundary Layer Adhesion Technology (BLAT) Eagle-Chevy, and on, and on, and on* - but for my money Gurney's beautiful midnight blue 1967 Eagle F1 machine, designed by Len Terry and constructed in Santa Ana, California, remains my favorite open-wheel car of all time and is still absolutely stunning in person. (*As you may have noticed, I have no contemporary open-wheel machines on my list. That's because - particularly in F1 - the cars are cold, devoid of beauty, emotionally un-involving and eminently forgettable.)
(Dave Friedman photo) 
Speaking of Lola, I think the T70 coupe is one of the most beautiful racing machines of all time. But if asked to pick one Lola over all of the many great ones, it would be the gorgeous No. 30 All American Racers Lola T70 Mk.2 - powered by a Gurney-Weslake 305 Ford - that Dan Gurney drove to victory in the second Can-Am race of the inaugural season for that legendary racing series, at Bridgehampton, New York, September 18, 1966. 

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention another group of my all-time favorite racing machines, those beautiful - and brutal - Can-Am machines from Bruce McLaren and McLaren Cars. I have four 1/18 scale racing car models on my desk currently. A Chaparral 2A, the Hall/Penske Corvette Grand Sport as run at Road America in 1964, my brother Tony's 1969 OCF Corvette 427 L88 roadster and Dan Gurney's No. 1 McLaren M8B Chevrolet that he ran in the Can-Am at Michigan International Speedway in a guest drive in 1969. I was fortunate to see the Can-Am series in-period, and the kaleidoscope of great racing machines from that era deserves the term "legendary." Machines from Chaparral, Ferrari, Lola, Porsche and Shadow, along with a long list of "one-offs" are seared in my memory. To see - and hear - a Can-Am car flat-out at Road America was simply the best of the best racing experiences one could have. And I relish those experiences to this day. So following are a few classic images of the McLaren Can-Am machines. 

Michigan International Speedway, 1969. Dan Gurney in the No. 1 McLaren M8B Chevrolet finished third behind teammates Bruce McLaren (No. 4 McLaren M8B Chevrolet) and Denny Hulme (No. 5 McLaren M8B Chevrolet) in a guest drive.
(Photo by Pete Lyons)
Riverside International Raceway, 1969. Bruce McLaren (No. 4 McLaren M8B Chevrolet) during practice for the Can-Am. 
(Photo by Pete Lyons)
Peter Revson on his way to the win in the Can-Am at Laguna Seca in his McLaren M8F Chevrolet, 1971.

(Pete Lyons)
Riverside International Raceway, 1968. Bruce McLaren (No. 4 McLaren M8A Chevrolet) during Can-Am practice.


Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, 1969. Bruce McLaren (No. 4 Gulf/Reynolds Aluminum McLaren M8B Chevrolet) during practice for the Can-Am at Road America, with Tyler Alexander looking on.
(Pete Lyons photo)
Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, 1967. Bruce McLaren in his No. 4 McLaren M6A Chevrolet - with Tyler Alexander - during practice for the Can-Am at Road America.
(Pete Lyons photo)
Watkins Glen, New York, 1972. Peter Revson (No. 4 McLaren M20 Chevrolet) qualified on pole for the Can-Am but finished second to teammate Denny Hulme (No. 5 McLaren M20 Chevrolet) in the race. 

Yes, I know, too many photos of the McLarens, but these were seminal machines emblematic of that run-what-you-brung era. Are there other favorite race cars? Absolutely. The Vanwall Grand Prix machine. The Jaguar D-Type. The Lotus 25 Grand Prix car. The Lotus-Ford Indianapolis cars, both the first machines in 1963 and Jim Clark's Lotus 38-Ford winner in 1965. Mario Andretti's John Player Special Lotus 78/79 F1 World Championship machines. Jackie Stewart's 1971 Lola T260 Chevrolet Can-Am car. The 2003 Le Mans-winning Bentley Speed 8. Andy Granatelli's 1967 STP Turbine Indy car driven by Parnelli Jones, and the updated "wedge" design turbine cars. As I said, the list goes on and on and on. I will cover more ground when I get to Part III.

And that's the High-Octane Truth for this week.

Spa Francorchamps, May 1, 1967. The No. 1 Chaparral Cars Chaparral 2F Chevrolet driven by Phil Hill and Mike Spence qualified on the pole for the Spa 1000 Kilometers but did not finish due to gearbox issues.

Editor's Note: Click on "Next 1 Entries" at the bottom of this page to see previous issues. - WG