CanAm 1967 Road America (part1)

[Ulleval73]

Absolutely great footage. What a race!

[Masca79]

Damn hell if those cars were fast!

[mark4tk]

the big block chevy hammered them all

[dizzypilots1]

@mark4tk amen they do the same thing in nhra pro stock drag racing

[torg1]

Was just at the historic races. Some these Can-Am cars are still running around it awesome to see them out. I wish I had been alive to see these races run originaly. Its also intresting to see how much the track has changed. Practically no fences anywhere, no barriers and few and traps. Of course there really wasnt much in the way fo fences in back in the 90's. I still remember there just being a snow fence and a chain link fence being all that was between me and the cars.

[150grnballistictip]

Man those McLarens sound great! Would love to see a kit with an LS7!

[GeoJ]

This is awesome! Man, I loved Can-Am when I was a kid, still do ... McLaren was SO dominant, but I'll be a Chaparral guy forever.

These drivers had some SERIOUS guts, and the builders were constantly pushing the envelope. THIS is REAL racing!

[I8ASUPRAforLUNCH]

Thunder valley.

[lugeeman]

Thumbs up if you've been to Road America :D

[ReaperCheGuevara]

@lugeeman thumbs up every year :D

[MrMogwa]

This generation of post war drivers and designers were the greatest of the breed.

[ItsMrWinters]

i see chaparral!

[avensis92]

What speeds was theese cars racing in? Looks bloody fast!

[327yellow]

NASCAR is boring plus cup cars are incredibly ugly and dull.

[rdopso]

I was lucky enough to have been a spectator at that Sept 1967 CanAM race and still have some black and white photos I took during the race. That race series certainly must be ranked as one of the very best of all time because it attracted so many of the planets very best drives from all over the world. I again saw one of those thundering orange McLaren cars at a vintage race in Portland, OR in about 1990 where we were all thrilled by a fantastic track dual between Phil Hill and Augie Pabst.

[f1eng]

This was one of the finest racing series of all time, certainly the best US series ever. Brings back great memories, I was at Elkhart Lake in 1970, fantastic.

[danthemanpatrick]

I know this is ESPN2, but watching this makes me think back to the sweet, sweet days before FOX decided to buy/ruin SPEEDVISION. Maybe they saved it, maybe we wouldn't even have SPEED if it weren't for FOX, but at the same time I just wish they'd keep the NASCRAP to a minimum. Just show the races. Don't stop showing a MotoGP race to show someone TALKING about NASCAR! And, uh, one more thing: "The Racing Chef?" WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? Is the Food Network going to start covering FIA GT races? NO!!!

[poopypenisfagfag]

bad ass

[alceuzinho]

All I have (and want) to say is: Fuck Nascar.

[mackinl]

thanks for sharing.

[Shinin111]

My fav racing of all lime

[cortesbugslayer]

Better than Autopia at Disneyland!

[volumeguy]

Jim Hall: master.

[Spidergeise]

Great!!

Best racing series ever!!!

Thanks for posting!

Chaparral was the best!!!

[GulfE30M3]

@Spidergeise

Ahh..not quite. McLaren was the best, as they utterly dominated the entire CanAm series... until Penske teamed up with Porsche and started showing up with turbo panzers.

[kyle3108920]

man that track looks nothing like that... there stuff call barriers now and fences that makes the fans feel even further away 8) make it to the brian red man special every year and this year nationwide race and trans am race... its nice like 20 mins from such a historic yet beautiful unknow track. (most people that live around here doesnt even know it exist... its a shame)

[ffmotorsports51]

R.I.P. Bruce McLaren :(. Oh and SPEED has GOT to show the CanAm series again. These cars are awesome! It's like Super F1!

[ballplayer1799]

↓ p.s. Thanks though for not showing more racing, because then I would have absolutely no life

[ballplayer1799]

Dear Speed Channel,

This is racing, not most of your "original" programming like Jacked, Wrecked, Bullrun, and Livin the Low Life.

(You used to know this)

-Sincerely,

90% of your viewers

[eldo500]

Amen to that!

[torg1]

@ballplayer1799 I wish they would just show the smaller race series.. or hell something thats actually racing.

[WorldChallenge]

@ballplayer1799 Well, apparently, you are actually in the minority, as the majority actually watches NASCAR. Your comment of "90% of your viewers" is like saying "Who watches that?! Nobody!". It's really annoying. Thumbs down this comment if you wish, but you are ignorant in saying that most people actually watch this stuff. Granted, I'd love to see Speed show stuff like this, but most people apparently either don't care or don't know about this.

[tazio2]

Golden Days and Legendary Drivers, great to see the wonderful Dan Gurney and Sir John Surtees . These were men ..and this was racing

[193322009]

BEST RACING SERIES . . . EVER !

(former race driver)

[mg94133]

Isn't '67 the year they starting calling Bruce and Denny the "Big Orange Elephant Parade"? This era was my introduction to racing. And CanAm, to this day, my favorite series. The "bring what ya got" and "race it until it breaks", era. While just a few rules and guidelines. And, NO whining if you're not as fast as the rest. It's your fault you're not fast so just hush.

[Crashbroke23]

Man, Dave Despain has changed over the years. I almost didn't recognize him if it didn't say his name.

[Dogboy27712]

How many folks' first hot wheel car was the McLaren, followed by the Chapparal? I have been a Can Am fan ever since I chose those cars at the age of five.

[Skellyman99]

I like to think Can Am as the ONLY Canadian racing tradition.

[SyvetheShairks]

I almost forgot how much I loved CanAm. All those names! And they REALLY had to drive.Shifting and everything!

[porterchas]

My first memory of racing was as a ten year old at this race. I'll never forget the first time I saw Bruce McLaren bring that caramel orange M6 into Turn Five at Road America. The next year I was fortunate enough to meet him and get his autograph. He's still my favorite driver of all time.

[seabass0591]

i watch these guys every year at the Laguna Seca Historic Races. btw, there are no speakers that do these cars justice

[WorldChallenge]

I wish they'd show these old races more often. Rebroadcasting them commemorates the golden age of American racing, back when it wasn't just NASCAR.

[MarbleheadsFC]

What a brilliant road course :-)

[lordieuan777]

just imagine what would happen with a modern Can-Am series. 'Unlimited' cars with todays know how and materials. My god...

[default1976]

The toughest drivers wouldn't pass out in the corners...

[BMWizardofOz]

I think they would, with modern unlimited ground effect cars, modern wide slicks, etc. and easily more than 2000 hp in a quite small and light car the speeds and forces would be unbelievable.

[default1976]

I don't know if I'm right but weren't there problems with too high cornering speeds already in the beginning of the 80's with the ground effect F1 cars? Like you wrote it would be possible to build a car impossible for a human to drive.

[BMWizardofOz]

problems started back then, but the forces and cornering speeds of modern race cars are still with all it´s restrictions normaly higher than back in the days of ground effect.

[default1976]

I remember that James Hunt in some interview said that the ground effect skirts made races a test of physical strength, but I don't know how many G:s those old cars had in corners.

[BMWizardofOz]

yes in these times the G forces started to really get bigger. That was one of the main reasons why beginning in the late 70s to early 80s the drivers started to get fitter and fitter.

But you have to just look at the cornering speeds and especially braking distances of these cars, compared to modern F1 to see some difference in G forces.

Before the Sebring race this year it was said that the drivers have still trouble with short loss of sight for a short time (kind of like a jet pilot)

[default1976]

Do you know how many G forces there are in Indy 500? I could imagine that quite many because the cars can be optimized for one type of a corner and one cornering speed.

[lordieuan777]

An LMP1 car can pull ~3g

A top fuel dragster can pull ~5.5g when braking and accelerating

An F1 car does about the same round a corner, I think.

Compare to the best road cars, they can barely manage 1.2g!

I know that humans can withstand up to around 9g before passing out if they are physically fit enough, as there are modern jet fighters that can pull around that. I can't ever imagine a car being capable of that, though.

[default1976]

Perhaps a wide car with eight wide wheels, active suspension, ground effect skirts, and a vacuum system to remove air underneath the car could do that?

[lordieuan777]

You don't really need active suspension on a race car, its to make sports cars both ride and corner well above other things (the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano has active dampers, as well as other 'everyday supercars'), and I rekon having eight wheels would hinder a cars ability to corner, but, y'never know... All I know is that a car would have to be properly fast to generate that kind of acceleration.

[default1976]

Williams F1 cars had an advanced active suspension system in the beginning of the 90's and it made the cars very successful.

[lordieuan777]

Well then I stand corrected, sir.

[Karibanu]

At the end of the group C era some of the cars were pulling 3g lateral... Andy Wallace's Toyota broke some of his ribs in a corner at some point.

[karnivore275]

the mclarens look beautiful as usual just like the models i hav

[cosmicdingo]

Look at how the growd creeps up to the edge of the track. Different rules, different world back in the 60s no?

[BFTHIELE]

We had a camp site we stayed at every year. 3 guys - Ginger, Eric and The Hook walked over and asked to join us, at our fire.

Next morning, guys from another site asked us if we were with the band and advised us we had spent most of the night drinking beer with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker of Cream. Maybe the Hook was a roadie. But, if bass player, Jack Bruce was around, we never saw him. Dont remember much about the race that weekend. But, we concluded it was the coolest Can Am ever!!!

[twonine3]

Absolutely spectacular.

[kartroadracer]

The best footage and sounds I have seen yet. The only thing that is better is seeing them in person at the historic car races.

[marathonofdestructio]

How about the sound of those old CanAm cars? Just brilliant!

[peapod61]

Priceless footage. Racing will never be as good as it was in late 1960s early 1970s. Can Am, Trans Am, F/A (F-5000), awesome!

[gcmc2]

About my favorite race era and category. Such great footage is rare. Just fabulous.

[fitz715]

This was the beginning of the domination of the series by Bruce and his team. 5 seasons , from 1967 to 1971 it was a works Mclaren driven by Bruce, Denny, or Peter Revson that was the Can-Am champ. Beautiful cars, and this was a great video.

[XXXEntertainment]

Yes, and then Porsche came and dominated the shit outa everybody. To bad the Americans couldnt stand that Europe hauled ass at their homeground, and canceled the whole serie

[FormulaOneSpy]

Stupid comment. Porsche dominated yes, but costs started to rise and the series had to make radical rule changes.

[Tiptoetherat]

Very stupid comment the Americans never cared that Mclaren won everything and his team was from Europe. The reason the series folded was due to costs and lack of spectator interest after the Porsche domination. No spectators means no money, no money no series, point blank!

[VooDooRocketry]

Much of the series' demise had to do with the 1974 oil embargo added to the spiralling cost. Porsche dominated because Porsche had a fast car with a motor which had been outlawed in Europe. It took many things to kill Can-Am. After Can-Am's demise auto racing was never again unlimited.

[Tiptoetherat]

Very well said.

[PeterMayer]

I have this on VHS somewhere. I liked Despain's "Glory Days". He's changed a bit!

[williamshatnerspants]

Great Video! If only the commentator had spent less time talking about bees, honey & flowers and more working on pronunciation of driver's names. Denny HULME, not Hume. RIP Denny and Bruce.

[cosmicdingo]

No guard rails, people just standing next to the course, ready to die just to be a part of the experience. Still, it WAS a great series, the likes of which won't be seen again.

[iestyn16]

Just breathtaking.. The sound.. The slide on lap 1 from Hulme.. Gurney perenially unlucky..

[How5by5]

I was alive and it was the best racing ever. No dumb ass rules. Just hall ass.

[WASPTexas]

shit I wish I was alive back then

real drivers racing real cars

Can-Am would never have worked today sadly.

[zwolfen]

GREAT to see of the greatest racing cars and drivers. Even the "winged" Chaparral

[WhiteWisconsin]

Thanxs for such a cool video. Gotta love the announcer around the 5 min. mark. Having a tire change in such a short race is very time consumming. It's 200 miles!!! See ya at the track in MAY.

P.S. NASCAR SUXS

[CycolacFan]

Especially having to use manual tools (no air powered equipment) to jack the car up and remove lug nuts.

Ahh the days when spectators could stand a few feet from the edge of the track and dodge the debris

[jdb47games]

Well done for posting these Can-Am films. I didn't know so much good footage survived. Terrific!

[mickd01]

This is so great! What a treat! I've lived in the Milwaukee area all my life and just a bit too young to have seen the original Can Am. Regularly go to RA, first started when I was in college around '75. Saw the resurrected Can Am in the 80's but no where near the greatness of the original Can Am. I guess my favorite series at RA had to be IMSA with the Porsche 935's and 962's in the prototypes and BMW M1's in GT. Thanks so much for the video, I must have missed this on ESPN2.

[equipeclaudefrancois]

i love to come and lisen to the bloc. the driving. i wasnt born but my dad was there with my mom. got pictures. love the yellow. the clear. the shape. its a race car a fast car. a pilot could win le mans with this race can am car with a touch here and there breaking sytem and cardan boltjionts and all. but the can am is very fast very very fast.

[equipeclaudefrancois]

driver represent 3% of the succes of a team

men 100%

[equipeclaudefrancois]

F1 1997 European GP: Schumacher hits Villeneuve (MTV3)

after watch the next video

Flying Toca Formula1

DO YOU THINK WHAT I THINK ?

[colpow11]

Just a reminder that the CANAMs will be racing at the Southern Festival of Speed in New Zealand this month coming. The first race on the calendar is 2/Feb/08 at Powerbuilt Raceway, Ruapuna, Christchurch.

[equipeclaudefrancois]

coming here is making me feel alive. its cold today in montreal, the blocs would give us more but the track would be covered of snow.

ps. number 4 won in mt tremblant. great cars

great brains... smile, love the video...

[equipeclaudefrancois]

My Father was there... what a race

[equipeclaudefrancois]

Interests and Hobbies: winning the fom championship raising 1 billion for cancer research designing the fastest car honnoring my fathers memories formula1 for ever Intel is the key. Sincere regards Sir Bernie Bernard Ecclestone for the fom Long life Joseph claude francois simard sun of f1 photographer FERNAND SIMARD equipeclaudefrancois f1 formula1 pilot

[L8Apexz]

Such a great time before the age of concrete barriers and catch fences everywhere. A racing spectator's field of dreams...

[Mr911cerrera]

Great video!!!! Saw them lots of times at Leguna Seca the Bruce and Denny show was somthing else.Did you here the commentator say there were thirty cars in the field now IRL sixteen cars what a joke! If anyone is on the west coast in june the race at Infinion Raceway Wine Country Motorsports is a very nice vintage race not as big as Montrey but still a very nice event.Thanks much nice video!

[Zeezy]

Now THESE are real race cars! All the old racers like these were the best. Vintage ftw.

[289shelby]

What an age: the end of the "gentlemen racers" era as motor racing became more filled with politics, power struggles (ex: USAC vs. CART vs. Indy Cars). The idea of a basically "rules free" Can-Am racing series will never happen again. So, enjoy seeing these videos or attending "vintage racing" events! Ah, the old days of the McLarens, 917s, Cobras vs. Ferrari. (Today's racing, especially endurance racing, still gives me goosebumps.)

[Aztecs91]

Excellent ! ! Thank You

[OCofthe3]

wow! you can even see the wing on the chaparral flip up and down when hes in the straight! Such innovation for its time, only to be banned.

[Driftithard]

Thanks alot mate. Its hard to find footage like this. Bruce and Denny are two of my all time Motorsport heroes.

[PeterMayer]

My older brother who still live in Chicago were there! Before my time.

[prostreet572]

wow! what a collection of awesome cars. ure right im 18 and would have loved to see them in there heyday. i only see f5000 now at the gold cup at oulton park every bank holiday.

[mabadedicki]

I went to the Monterey Historic races and got to see these beautiful CanAm cars up close in the paddock and race. What an awesome sight they were! Thanks for the video ... great to see them when racing in their heyday!

[adrenachrome1964]

The 'Bruce @ Denny Show'!. Those guys were unstoppable for years, even after the tragic death of Bruce. Took Porsche cheating with turbos to stop the Mclarens @ that wasn't until 1972/3 !!.

[YEP321S]

It wasn't cheating to use turbocharged engines in Group 7 racing. The rules allowed practically any type of engines and multiple engines as well. Gas Turbine and multiple engines were used by experimental Can-Am cars....

[adrenachrome1964]

I know the history,I was using a bit of English 'tongue in cheek' humour, it was a joke !.

[YEP321S]

Heh, okay. 8) I have to constanly explain the whole Can-Am concept to younger people who are more used to NASCAR and a spec-type racing rather than one with aggressive innovations.

[adrenachrome1964]

No problem, I'm only 42, though I know what you mean, younger people don't know what they are missing today unless they go to see historic racing. CanAm, F5000, Group C all gone.......

[BMWizardofOz]

I am only 24, but I know what you mean.

I saw a group C race when I was 6, and I was at Jim Clark Revival at Hockenheim the last 3 years, to see the CanAm cars racing.

Sad that motorsport has changed so much.

[cwill5151]

I'm a 19 year old. I watched the CanAm cars the last 2 summers at Road America. Also watched alms, champ car, and many other races at RA. The new cars have such fascinating and sophisticated technology but the CanAm cars are incredibly powerful and innovate..like beauty and the beast rolled into one. Innovation isn't dead though, the audi R10 TDI, for example, is an absolutely wonderful machine that uses diesel instead of petrol and sounds more like a space ship than a race car.

[cwill5151]

Thanks for posting the vid.

its great to see how racing and RA have changed.

Canada corner/thunder valley is still the most exciting place to watch a race in my opinion.

[klassiekerrally]

Love those ally V8s. 1st week of Oct '07 they'll gun down SpaF again. I'll be there.

[alexander1485]

WOW, thank you!

[FM77]

Superb video...rare...thank you.

[BlatzBeer]

Great stuff! Probably the best Can-Am footage I've come across here. Thanks!

[stevekach]

Great video!!!!!

[ProfessorIgor]

OMG, that place was scary back then.. no wall outside of the kink ?? heck, no walls anywhere really... can you imagine hitting the trees in a Can-Am car at 180mph ?? ugly. Despain with hair is vintage in and of itself !!!

[Juihi]

Awesome!!! thanks for uploading

[BMWizardofOz]

thx for the nice comment