THE RACING SERIES OF THE 1960S AND ’70S IS CELEBRATED FOR INNOVATION AND GREAT RACING
At the Tribute to the Can-Am Saturday night at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, California, drivers, crews, photographers, heck, even the PR guy recalled the Can-Am racing series as the best times of their lives.
It’s not hard to imagine why –- the Canadian-American Challenge Cup offered unlimited horsepower, unlimited aerodynamics and unlimited speed on the greatest tracks in North America. As long as your car had two seats and fenders, you could do anything you wanted.
“It’s still in our hearts,” said journalist Pete Lyons, who covered the series and who has written and published several excellent books on it. “We remember it and tell stories about it, and we just love it.”
I never saw Can-Am when the series was running, but seeing the cars at vintage races, particularly at Road America, is an enduring memory.