A New Can-Am Series? Can it Match Up?

By Larry Edsall
Once upon a time, boys and girls -- and this is no fairy tale, because I was there and I saw it with my own eyes -- there was road racing in America that was so spectacular, so intriguing, and with such a cast of characters that there were more spectators in the grandstands and on the hillsides than there were participants in the paddock and pits. Honest! If you don?t believe me, you can look it up in the history books.
It was the heyday of pro racing sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America, and believe it or not, it was every bit as big a deal as NASCAR stock car racing, which was still running on, ahem, red dirt tracks, and almost as big a deal as U.S. Auto Club Indy car races, except, of course, for the Indy 500, which was, I know this may be hard for youngsters to believe, but Indy was the biggest race not just in the United States but on the entire planet Earth.
I know, I know, this is all very hard for many of you to accept, but it is true.
Oh, and not only was there one road racing series of such stature, but, count ?em, three such series:
*  Can-Am, with Group 7, open-cockpit (and pretty much an open rule book), big-block sports-racers from McLaren, Chaparral, Porsche, Shadow and others, with a who?s who of motorsports behind the wheel -- Bruce McLaren, Denis Hulme, Dan Gurney, Mario Andretti, Phil Hill, Jackie Oliver, Jo Siffert, Jackie Stewart, Jack Brabham, John Surtees.
*  Trans-Am, with factory-backed pony cars -- Mustangs, Camaros, Challengers, Javelins, etc. -- prepared by the likes of Roger Penske, Dan Gurney and Bud Moore, and driven by guys named Mark Donohue, Parnelli Jones, Swede Savage, Sam Posey, Peter Revson, George Follmer.
*  Formula 5000, with five-liter American stock block engines mounted in open-wheel Formula A racers to create a sort-of all-American grand prix for drivers such as Jody Scheckter, Brian Redman, David Hobbs, Derek Bell and Tony A2Z Adamowicz.
Why, you wonder, am I bringing this up now? It?s because the web was all atwitter recently with news of a ?new? Can-Am series, to be launched in 2012 by the American Le Mans Series.
?The new series that will save auto racing in America,? one website proclaimed the news of the ?Heritage? series for new Unlimited Racing Championship cars that look like the classic Can-Am racers. The ?Heritage? series will be open to owner-drivers who can spend $485,000 on what is basically an arrive-and-drive spec series.
The ALMS press release said the NuArt Can-Am cars are ?reminiscent of the ?glory days? of the Canadian-American Challenge Cup from the 1960s-70s.?
 
 


Photo courtesy of the American LeMans Series
I have nothing against ALMS, which has succeeded the SCCA and the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) as the source of what remains of professional road racing in the U.S. And I?ll even grant you the Unlimited Racing Championship cars may be terrific vehicles.
But while they may look like real Can-Am racers, they and their series are cubic zirconia to the diamonds of the real Can-Am.
To paraphrase Sen. Lloyd Bentsen during his 1988 vice-presidential debate with Dan Quayle: ?I covered the Can-Am series. I knew the Can-Am series.  You, sirs, are no Can-Am.?
 You can read more of Larry at www.izoom.com.
 

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