October 12, 2020
The weekend of August 26th,1973 at Road America was the Can-Am Championship race. Some of the fastest cars ever made were running and Roger Penske had a new car that was taking race win after race win!
Mark Donohue was Roger Penske's driver and a great engineer. The car they had was the McLaren beater with the help of Porsche and Audi and was called the Porsche 917/30TC. McLaren had dominated Can Am racing for a few years until Roger and Mark brought the Penske Racing Sunoco out to play!
Mark Donohue won this race and the championship at the end of the year in the beautiful blue and yellow car!
The Shadow cars of Jackie Oliver and James Hunt were breaking down a lot. James is seen here driving Jackie Oliver's car. James' car blew a fuel metering gasket and Jackie blew an engine.
Jody Scheckter and George Follmer finished second and third in Porsche 917/10TC's. The McLarens finished fourth and fifth.
Hurley Haywood had another Porsche 917/10TC but did not finish because of a tire puncture issue.
Enjoy a look at my second visit to Road America!
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
September 28, 2020
I always thought that the first race I photographed at Road America was in 1973. After doing some digging in the files for something from 1972, I found some black and white negatives of the 1972 Can-Am race at Road America on August 27, 1972! That was three days before my eighteenth birthday!
It's interesting to look at what Road America looked like in 1972!! It was quite different but the pavement is in the same place. Road America is a beautiful race course with a rich history.
About a month ago, I was with George Follmer at Road America for the Shadow Racing car 50th reunion. Wish I had known that I had these photos to show to George! I will be sending him a few copies this week of this race he won for Penske Racing in a Porsche 917/10 TC.
The George Follmer car is the #6 car. The #22 car of Francois Cevert finished second. The #59 car of Peter Gregg finished third.
David Hobbs raced the #1 car but did not finish. Others that didn't finish were Peter Revson in the #4, Denny Hulme in the #5, Carlos Pace in the #101 Shadow and Jackie Oliver in the #102 Shadow.
The McLaren cars had been dominating the Can-Am series but Porsche and Audi were starting to make a nice move in winning with their beautiful cars.
Enjoy a look at Road America and the men in 1972!
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann
Blog #353- 50th Shadow Racing Anniversary at the Brian Redman Vintage Festival at Road America 2020
August 3, 2020
What a crazy, busy and fun weekend at Road America! It was the 50th Anniversary of the Shadow Racing Team and all of the magnificent cars!
George Follmer, one of the original Shadow drivers, was there to sign things and to say hi. Plus it was the release of the Shadow book. I have a photo in it of James Hunt driving Jackie Oliver's Shadow in 1973. It's on page 203, just in case you need to check it out!
I'll let the photographs do the rest of the work here because I've gotta get ready for IMSA at Road America!!
Thanks,
Rich Zimmermann