Photos: The Walt Etten Collection - Part 1

[Steve Holmes]

Another really exciting historic photo collection here to be shared. Bryan Colechin has done another great job in sourcing this one. This collection of amateur photos is by Walt Etten. It spans from 1970, right through to the early 1990s, and covers some great US and Canadian racing events, including Can-Am, Formula 1, World Championship For Makes/Trans-Am, and IMSA.

Walt's collection is big! So I've broken it into several chapters, kicking off with the two Can-Am events. These are from the 1970 Mid Ohio race, and 1971 Mosport race. Enjoy these folks, these are good!

[Steve Holmes]

What better way to kick things off, than with this beauty of the magnificent Denny Hulme McLaren M8D at Mid Ohio, Round 5 of the 1970 Can-Am. Denny started from pole, and won the race. Peter Gethin was having his second start as Denny's team mate, after sponsorship clashes forced Dan Gurney to step out of the second car. Gethin started in 4th, but retired with engine failure.

[Steve Holmes]

Coming under the bridge on the rolling start, pole-man Hulme has Lothar Motschenbacher alongside, while on the next row are Peter Revson in the Lola T220, and Gethin. 26 cars took the starters flag.

[kiwi285]

The start of another great collection of historic photos. Really looking forward top seeing more of these.

[Steve Holmes]

Another shot of Hulme and Motschenbacher on the formation rolling start. Lothar impressed many with his excellent performance in qualifying, which he carried through to the race, finishing 3rd behind Hulme and Revson. Then again, Lothar was driving a pretty good car, as this was Hulme's M8B from 1969, which finished 2nd in the championship. This is the car he later fitted with M8D bodywork, and which was later gifted to Hulme when he retired. It started life as a 1968 M8A, and has been restored back to this configuration by the Bruce McLaren Trust in New Zealand.

[Steve Holmes]

This is Peter Revson, belting along at speed in the Lola T220. Revson finished a very good second here at Mid Ohio. This is the first T220 chassis, with its incredibly stubby 88" wheelbase. This car was destroyed two races later, at Road Atlanta, and Lola built a new version, with an extra 10" added to the wheelbase to make it more stable.

[Steve Holmes]

This is Chuck Parsons in the Lola T163. I believe this is the car built up at Penske in 1969, and raced just once before they realised they would never beat McLaren unless they had a proper factory deal. So the Lola was sold, and in 1972 they returned armed with the magnificent twin-turbo Porsche 917/10K.

[bry3500]

Cheers Steve - I've been waiting for this one...

[Ellis]

You can almost feel the thunder still......

[Steve Holmes]

Here is Jim Adams in the Ferrari 512S endurance sports racer, chasing Dave Causey in the Lola T163. Adams qualified an excellent 6th against the lighter, more powerful Can-Am cars, and alongside Pedro Rodriguez in a similar car. The Ferrari was the car that reunited Adams with his good buddy Doane Spencer, as the pair had worked together previously at Hollywood Sport Cars running a Sunbeam Tiger and McLaren M1A, this being the car featured here

Chad Raynal put together a fascinating article on Doane Spencer and Jim Adams recently for Vintage Motorsport magazine. On this Mid Ohio race, he had Cris Vandagriff (Cris was crewing on the car) relate his version of events:

"Pedro Rodriguez drove a super trick NART 512 at the same race (Mid Ohio). Our car was basically stock. Pedro and Jim set the same lap time, and were 5th and 6th on the grid - with 5.0 litre engines. Jim got food poisoning and didn't tell anyone. He got so sick he passed out, came into the pits - unconscious! We had to grab the car as it rolled by to stop it. I pulled Jim out, I stayed with him until the ambulance arrived. He had a core temp of 105".

The team managed to get Bob Bondurant to jump in and finish the race in the Ferrari. This was chassis #1040, later sold to Penske Racing.

[Steve Holmes]

Its hard to tell exactly who this is, as the cars are quite some distance away, but at a guess, I'd say it was Motschenbacher, Revson, and Gethin fighting over second.

[Steve Holmes]

Another neat shot of the sleek little Lola T220 of Peter Revson as he thunders by on his way to finish second to Hulme.

[Steve Holmes]

And here is Motschenbacher again, blasting along beneath the pedestrian foot bridge. I imagine walking through that bridge with its tin walls would be quite exciting as those bellowing Can-Am cars roar past underneath.

[Steve Holmes]

How magnificent these machines are at full flight.

[Steve Holmes]

Here is Hulme thundering along beneath the foot bridge.

[Steve Holmes]

This is the last one from Mid Ohio. I LOVE this shot. Here one of the factory McLaren's blasts around the back of the track, with nothing but open fields around it. Just beautiful! And imagine the noise of the open piped big block Chevy as it has this part of the track all to itself. Gently feeding the throttle as it clips each apex, then back on the power again and off down the next shoot. Just awesome cars, and an awesome series.

[Oldfart]

You missed out, awesome photos Steve.

[Steve Holmes]

OK, so moving right along, and we've jumped forward a year, from Mid Ohio, 1970, to Mosport, 1971. Mosport, in Canada, held the opening race of the 1971 Can-Am Championship. And we're starting off with this beautiful photo of the Mosport car park/camping ground, with hot air baloon floating over the top. I really love this photo, as although there are no Can-Am cars pictured, it captures a very laid back scene in the early morning still, and something missing from todays modern racing, and many modern racing venues.

[Steve Holmes]

First of the car shots. This is a McLaren M12. The M12 was the 1969 McLaren customer model. In the Can-Am, both George Eaton and Lothar Motschenbacher raced M12s throughout the duration of the season, while Jim Hall also bought an M12 for John Surtees to drive while trying to get the difficult Chaparral 2H to work. Both the Eaton and Chaparral cars were fitted with the tall rear suspension mounted aerofoils.

The M12 was essentially an M6, but with different bodywork, and was quite inferior to the latest M8B factory McLaren's that were being raced in 1969. That said, if you were a privateer racer in 1969, this was a good option. Eaton scored the best result for an M12 in 1969, finishing 2nd at the final race in Texas, after a few of the usual front runners had dropped out. Actually, this was the best Can-Am result ever for an M12.

The M12 is one of my all-time favourite Can-Am cars, as although it wasn't terribly successful, it was a really beautiful looking car, in which there are elements of the M6 road car in its design.

The car pictured here at Mosport in 1971 is Stanley Szarkowicz. Stanley qualified well down the field in about 25th position, and finished 13th. Does anyone have any clues as to the chassis history of this car? Could it possibly be the George Eaton car from 1969? Either way, a neat looking car. I love the blue perspex screen.

[Steve Holmes]

OK, Can-Am historians Larry Fulhorst and Tom Schultz have been able to give me some great info on the above pictured M12. Turns out the car actually started life as chassis M6B-50-12, a 1968 McLaren M6B run by Shelby for Peter Revson in the '68 Can-Am, and later updated with M12 bodywork. Here is what Tom says:

"This car is M6B-50-12. It originally was raced by Shelby for Peter Revson. This is the car with which Revson won the Mt Fuji pseudo Can Am race in 1968. Stanley Szarkowicz raced it with an M12 body. It currently is owned by Judge Joe DiLoreto, who has it restored to its M6B specs".