Like many racing magazines,
Motor Sport has been through some challenging times and changes in format over the past few years. Recently bought from Haymarket by Stratfield Ltd, the magazine's famous green cover has been restored and new editor Richard Robinson seems like a genuine, enthusiastic fellow. I wish him good luck on rejuvenating the magazine and told him I'd be delighted to write a story from Road America about the Can-Am. My own career as a writer and reporter goes back to those days and there was a certain wistfulness in writing about the Can-Am for the next issue of
Motor Sport because I covered the last two years of the series in 1973 and '74, and was at Road America for the Can-Am's final race in August of '74, a sad end to one of North America's greatest racing series.
Those memories aside, I'd always wanted to go to Road America's mid-summer historic weekend, but never had the opportunity until this year. I'd heard about the fabulous collection of race cars of all types and kind that gathered at the track for the races and the parade of cars and concours in nearby Elkhart Lake. It was a pleasure to discover that the reality exceeded my dreams as more than 450 cars took to the track for the ten races on a hot, sunny weekend - perfect for consuming the track's famous brats and rootbeer floats!
They say variety is the spice of life and it's certainly there to enjoy in historic racing with everything from
F1 and Can-Am cars to Mini Coopers and MGAs. A tour of the paddock revealed plenty of superb cars, and it would not be fair to give special recognition to any of them because the general level of preparation and finish was so high. Unfairly, my eye was caught by three cars that were only on show rather than racing - a couple of magnificently-restored Watson-Offy sprint cars from the early sixties, which had been driven by Rodger Ward and Elmer George, and Harold Higgins' stunning '429er' Ford-powered
McLaren M6B Can-Am car built in 1969 by the Agapiou brothers for
Mario Andretti to drive in a few races.
