The 1971 Ontario Motor Speedway Questor GP (merged)

And here for a discussion at TrackForum Nostalgia:

http://64.224.33.174...ic&f=6&t=000601

http://8w.forix.com/questor.html

The results of the Questor GP is at my webpage in the non-championship races in 1971.

Ah, the Questor Grand Prix. I have fond memories of the event because it was the first time I had seen Formula 1. I was only 6 at the time, but I remember seeing Andretti, Ickx, Stewart & Peterson race. As you have already mentioned, Andretti did win in his 312.

I have Alan Johnson's book, "Driving in Competition," and it has the configuration of Ontario Motor Speedway in it.

While I'm on the topic, I need to tell you guys a story that happened to me 6 weeks ago. I was attending an Porsche Owners Club driving instructor's class that was held in Torrance, Ca. It was held in Parnelli Jones' private office & warehouse. What we didn't know was the he had a personal museum upstairs. We received a tour of it after the class and it was spectacular. Besides his USAC Indycars, he also had his F1 cars there, too.

Okay, so what does this have to do with the Questor GP? I'm getting there. As I've just mentioned, the Questor race was my first F1 event. After all of these years, I have never seen a picture from that race. However, as I was walking out of Parnelli's museum, I saw a big, black & white picture of Mario Andretti. He was driving the 312 at the Questor Grand Prix! It was awesome! Mario, in fact, came by the museum this past May to sign it. I've had to wait 30 years to see a picture from that event!

911

I found a map (although not that great) of the circuit here.

http://www.silhouet....ks/ontario.html

Did anybody else on this list attend the "Questor GP" at the ill-fated Ontario Motor Speedway outside of Los Angeles in 1972 or so? It was a money race for F1 and F5000 cars which drew works Ferrari and Matra entries as well as a lot of Chevy F5000 cars.
Frank S.- you must have been there? Probably even have a program.
There were some funny stories going around after that event.
Anton

Race day was on the 28th of March 1971 and there were 2 heats of 32 laps each. Overall winner was Mario Andretti in the Ferrari 312 B. In second place came Stewart followed by Hulme, Amon, Schenken, Siffert and Ron Grable who was the first Formula A (Lola T190-Chevrolet). Fastest lap was given to Pedro Rodriguez in his chase for second place.
I have a full report from Motoring News in case you're interested......

If it's results you want, try here.

Allen

Originally posted by antonvrs
Did anybody else on this list attend the "Questor GP" at the ill-fated Ontario Motor Speedway outside of Los Angeles in 1972 or so? It was a money race for F1 and F5000 cars which drew works Ferrari and Matra entries as well as a lot of Chevy F5000 cars.
Frank S.- you must have been there? Probably even have a program.
There were some funny stories going around after that event.

I was there on March 27 & 28, 1971. Main memories are the ear-splitting whine of the Matra (more pronounced since my brother and I had seats where Amon hit peak rev in high gear) and getting a sunburn that was literally second degree burns as the sun shone through the smog.

All works F1 teams save for Surtees had at least one car there along with Formula A (F5000) cars provided for U.S. Champ Car stars (the Unsers, Foyt) and a few of the F/A regulars.

Even though it was a run through in hopes of hosting a second USGP, we had the feeling it might be our only chance to see F1 cars run near by. Who would have thought of Long Beach?


Jim Thurman

Quite few earlier treads about the Questor GP, e.g.
http://www.atlasf1.c...ghlight=Questor
http://www.atlasf1.c...ghlight=Questor
and the most extensive:
http://www.atlasf1.c...ghlight=Questor

Seems like there were more TNF'ers who were there
;)

Interesting results for AJ Foyt...Heat one:gave up. Heat two: deliberately blew engine.
Anyone have any information on this?
Also, Jackie Stewart practicing in a McLaren M10B - Chevrolet V8 ?

Originally posted by WGD706
Interesting results for AJ Foyt...Heat one:gave up. Heat two: deliberately blew engine.
Anyone have any information on this?
Also, Jackie Stewart practicing in a McLaren M10B - Chevrolet V8 ?

When you think you're the greatest driver who ever lived and you've been given an uncompetitive car then some Scottish funny-car driver tries out your car and takes six and a half seconds of your time and puts it in the heart of the grid, the temptation to drop the clutch and end your pain must be hard to resist.

Stewart couldn't find anything wrong with the McLaren. It had always been well maintained by Young America. I think Foyt was just in a sulk that the F1 cars were too quick rund the twisty bits.

Allen

Wasn't there some in-depth discussion on this Foyt exercise in a previous post?

Originally posted by WGD706
Interesting results for AJ Foyt...Heat one:gave up. Heat two: deliberately blew engine.
Anyone have any information on this?
Also, Jackie Stewart practicing in a McLaren M10B - Chevrolet V8 ?

I was told by a friend who was crewing on one of the F5000 cars that Stewart, as a favor for a friend, tried Foyt's car in practice 'cause Foyt couldn't get it up to speed. When Stewart came in after a few laps in which he was turning very competetive times he took off his helmet and said to the little crowd around the car "nothing wrong with the car- must be your bloke".
Foyt went out, got his start money, blew up the motor in front of the pits and went home.
Anton

Foyt and the Unsers were not F5000 regulars so cars were rented for them by the management of OMS and set-up by local firms.
Looking at the qualifying and results, I don't think they were very well set-up.

R&t had some marked section, main straight-away times that were recorded by AAR.
Donohue in his personally set-up F5000 was fastest at 13.65 seconds.
Team Lotus and McLaren averaged 14.38.
Stewart's Tyrell at 14.43.
Savage in his AAR Eagle at 14.49.
Ferrari average 14.6.
Amon's Matra 14.62.
The Marches 14.64.
Posey's Surtees 14.73
And Bobby Unser in the best of the rentals 15.18.

Foyt ,the Unsers, Savage, Andretti and Donohue had all raced the day before at Phoenix while the others were practising and tuning.

Foyt won the NASCAR Atlanta 500 the next weekend from pole.

I was there, and the sound of the Matra was wonderful....one of the best sounding cars ever..

Originally posted by Gerr
Foyt and the Unsers were not F5000 regulars so cars were rented for them by the management of OMS and set-up by local firms.
Looking at the qualifying and results, I don't think they were very well set-up.

Foyt ,the Unsers, Savage, Andretti and Donohue had all raced the day before at Phoenix while the others were practising and tuning.

Foyt won the NASCAR Atlanta 500 the next weekend from pole.

Precisely Gerr. Not regular F/A drivers in cars that weren't F/A regulars. Donohue at least had some seat time in Penske's car (even though he and Roger were beginning to concentrate more on Champ Cars). No co-incidence that Donohue was the class of the F/A entries.

I seem to recall Andretti and some of the others arriving back at OMS late Saturday having flown in from the Phoenix USAC Champ Car race (perhaps not as spectacular as watching Bobby Allison land his small plane on the backstretch at Riverside).

And don't get me wrong, the Matra made a wonderful sound, it simply hurt my ears. As I wrote, it was even more pronounced where we were sitting since Amon hit peak revs and then throttled and geared down for turn 1 (turn 4 of the oval).


Jim Thurman

Jim was that a bad hurt or "oh! mommy! hurt me good'?

If you have never heard that engine live, you just can't appreciate the
piercing effect it has!

I was there on race day. I was 6 at the time and it was my first F1 event. I remember watching Andretti take the checkered flag (#5 Ferrari) from the infield. I'd have to wait another 5 years to see the cars return to Long Beach.

911

I was there, still working corners as an Observer in Cal Club. My highlight was talking with Henry Manney from R/T on the Thursday or Friday during practice. Also remember a difference in the ways we handeled oil on course. We were used to using cement to cover and remove the oil, the European way was to leave it, and let them drive around it until it dried.
Somehow, the oil memory came back when I thought of the BRM team, if not mistaken.

Originally posted by David M. Kane
Jim was that a bad hurt or "oh! mommy! hurt me good'?

If you have never heard that engine live, you just can't appreciate the
piercing effect it has!

Well, since I wasn't yet a teen...it was a bad hurt right when it went by with Amon maxing the revs and then easing back for the turn.

But, until it got to that point...it was a really, really good non-hurt

Interesting that the Ferrari sounded cool without the ear hurting.

There were only two cars that ever bothered my ears, the Matra and one guy that had a '57 Chevy at a local short track. I never could figure out how he got such a high engine note out of that! (wonder if the tech inspectors ever did? ).


Jim Thurman

The Alfa GTA we had here hurt the ears...

Especially the ears of those of us five feet from the inside edge of the track in the middle of a fast left hander, exhaust side of the car, just on the apex.

Good job KB always came through sideways!

I didn't go for the race, but spent all day on Saturday at qualifying.

Mario thrashed the Ferrari into the wall, and my HERO, GIULIO BORSARI practically rebuilt the car by hand that night in the garage. Mario won, and BORSARI got a nice placque and a bit of change for the honor of MECHANIC OF THE RACE.

When I visited him for the first time at his home right outside Maranello, I saw the placque on the wall and didn't have the heart to tell him what the 'TINKER TOY" company made !!

Those were the good old days as there was very little security and you could talk to drivers and crew quite easily. I took some great pictures.

Mark Valsi
Pasadena California

Originally posted by BorsariG
... Those were the good old days as there was very little security and you could talk to drivers and crew quite easily. I took some great pictures.

Mark Valsi
Pasadena California

Hello Mark!!

Any pictures you could share with us? There were several cars there that day that Wolfgang, Chris and I have been unable to sort out. In particular:

#29 Ron Grable - Lola T190/T192 - Chevrolet V8 (entrant: Charlie Hayes)
#38 Bobby Unser - Lola T190/T192 - Chevrolet V8 (entrant: Charlie Hayes)
#35 Bob Bondurant - Lola T192 - Chevrolet V8 (entrant Competition Developments, IIRC)

Do you have pictures of those cars? They could prove extremely helpful.

Regards

Allen

I was at that race. I well remember the incredible mix of cars and drivers. One memory is of Jacky Ickx, sitting aloof in the pits, not fraternizing with the other drivers, having a Gitanes. It was a flawed premise (F5000 vs F1), but it was a great weekend.


I was in California for a year, and it was a great year for racing. Some of the Can Am cars that year were the Chapparal 2J (Elford), Ti-22 (Oliver), Lola (Stewart?), McLaren (Hulme and Gethin), Porsche 908 (Tony Dean), and I believe the Ferrari 612 and original UOP Shadow, if my failing memory isn't playing tricks on me!

Jack

We all know that the first US Grand Prix West was run at Long Beach in 1975, after a trial run for F5000 cars the year before.

But I recently came across an article on the 1971 non-world championship Questor Grand Prix, which was run at the the Ontario Motor Speedway in California in early '71. The track (which no longer exists; I remember an article on it in Motor Sport a few years ago) was supposedly a direct copy of Indianapolis - which makes this race, which combined parts of the oval with a road racing track through the infield, a direct predecessor of the current USGP which uses this very format at Indy.

However, "my" article explicitly refers to the upcoming US GP "West" of 1972, to be held at the OMS. This of course never happened - does anybody know why ?

The race itself - open to F1 and FA cars - was won by Mario Andretti in a Ferrari 312B from Jackie Stewart's Tyrrell-Ford; given that Mario had already won the South African GP (and that Clay Regazzoni won the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch the previous week) a good start to the season for Ferrari. Things went downhill after that.

Apparently Mario won US$ 39,000 in prize money; a tidy sum in 1971, I would think.

The highest-placed FA qualifier was Mark Donohue, who started his Lola-Chevy T192 from seventh place on the grid; highest-placed FA finisher was Ron Grable in a Lola T190, who was seventh. Donohue faded to 14th.

But why was the race only run once - and what happened to Questor Inc, the race sponsor ? Have never heard of them, before or since.

Denny Hulme was third in a McLaren M19A - and, Keir, apparently Chris Amon received US$ 14,500 in prize money for coming home fourth in a Matra-Simca MS120B. But I guess you already knew ?

Merged

Originally posted by Frank S
URL to the Questor GP program and course diagrams



Frank S

I remember well the Questor Grand Prix, but had my memory awakened by seeing Ron Grable's name in the list as the highest F5000 finisher. I was a fan of his because he wrote a very funny and entertaining column in Competion Press called "Behind the wheel". His Lola was a very vivid Chartruese and he was quite a character, I saw him race at Lime Rock and he was very friendly in the paddock for pictures and autographs. Anyone else remember that column?

"Autoweek and Competition Press" !! You are showing your age there, Marty!!

I remember Grable's column well, in fact, that was the best era for Autoweek's racing coverage.

It's a shame that Autoweek became a watered down version of itself later!!

Yes Keir, sorry to say my 50th is in 3 months ! I see you remember Competion Press and Autoweek as well.....I guess that makes you a member of the geezer club also! I never thought I'd hear myself say " I remember back when......" Oh well, it could be worse I suppose!

Rich

Originally posted by Allen Brown
When you think you're the greatest driver who ever lived and you've been given an uncompetitive car then some Scottish funny-car driver tries out your car and takes six and a half seconds of your time and puts it in the heart of the grid, the temptation to drop the clutch and end your pain must be hard to resist.

Stewart couldn't find anything wrong with the McLaren. It had always been well maintained by Young America. I think Foyt was just in a sulk that the F1 cars were too quick rund the twisty bits.

Allen

Foyt was driving NASCAR for the Woods Brothers that year and won the Daytona 500. Sometime in between Daytona and Ontario, he was quoted as saying something to the effect of "Now that I've beaten the hillbillies at their game, I'm going to do the same to the long-haired European fags."

This caused some hard feelings in NASCAR and AJ later apologized for the remark, denying he'd called anyone a "hillbilly". Having such a bad outing at Questor undoubtedly did not sit well and you wonder if Stewart's comments weren't a bit of payback.

According to Quintin Cloud's source the Questor GP was the first outing for The Brabham BT42 driven by the lucky Tim Shenken, and the very rare BRM P155 of Howden Ganley.

Well, what does that tell you?

Pedro at Ontario : looks like he had a brand new BRM and helmet:


Photographer unknown / my collection

Originally posted by Huw Jadvantich
According to Quintin Cloud's source the Questor GP was the first outing for The Brabham BT42 driven by the lucky Tim Shenken, and the very rare BRM P155 of Howden Ganley.

Come again ?

The BT42 was the triangular monocoque car, designed by Gordon Murray, of 1973.

At the Questor GP in early '71, Tim Schenken was fifth in a BT33 having started 14th. Ganley finished in 9th place in a BRM P153, having started 18th.

You may be thinking of the Tauranac-designed "lobster-claw" BT34, driven by Graham Hill ('71 Brabham team leader). Hill raced the BT34 for the first time at the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch the week before the Questor GP - and set the fastest lap at that race, although he didn't finish (Schenken was 4th in the BT33; although 2 laps down on the winner, Clay Regazzoni's Ferrari).

Hill won the International Trophy at Silverstone (also non-championship) in the BT34, but generally had a poor season elsewhere and only scored 2 points all year (5th in Austria). But the BT34 cannot have been that bad; Carlos Reutemann put in on pole position in his very first GP in Argentina the following year. And it looked different, too.

Even though it was turned into the front-radiator BT37 later in '72, Murray of course reverted to the split front radiator layout for the BT42, BT44 and BT45.

Yes, i realise that, which is why I pointed it out - If the source is to be believed (and I didn't) Tim Schenken drove the car some years before Wattie broke his bones testing the prototype.
Like you it did get me to thinking about the BT33 and 34, and wondering which was the best car, as Hill and Schenken never swapped to my knowledge, and niether did Wilsonho, Carlos and Graham Hill the following year.
Any body have an opinion or knowledge?

I'm not sure if this footage has been posted; perhaps it's on the Youtube thread. Anyway, here goes:

Watching the first practice from the infield, it was interesting to see that by lap 3 or so, the F-1 drivers were tossing the cars around like rally cars. Ahhhhhh.....the days of low downforce. Taking to the track a little later in a formula ford for a support race, I was comlpetely lost. Very hard to tell where you were on the 19 turn track. The turns all looked the same and had very few useful reference points. I think for the F-1 guys, it was an easy track.

I reckon there must be another Questor thread somewhere here: I know I posted a couple or more paragraphs about my experiences at the event, and my several Solo One time trials there.

Link to my Web page about the track.

At the risk of contradicting prior versions of my Questor stories:

I had worked dozens of SCCA races in various capacities, and was pleased to find I wasn't needed in any of them on this weekend, but had earned enough "points" to be awarded a full-access pass. I don't think I had a camera to bring along. I was invited to join the starter in his aerie, accessed by means of a tunnel from the main tunnel entry, and a ladder up a substantial pole. I didn't quite get there before activity ceased on Saturday. I was told by one of the starter-tower occupants that they all wore serious ear protection to save themselves the pain of a Matra passing. One of the high-up guys leaned over the ladder and pulled the headphone style ear protectors away from his head in order to hear a message from someone at the bottom of the ladder, and did it a just the wrong moment, as Amon rocketed by. Ouch.

We were leaving the track during a practice session, walking to the West parking lot through yet another access tunnel under the Southwest turn (one of the road course, four of the Indy-car oval). I looked back as we exited the ramp outside the course, and saw that you could walk up to the outside wall of the track. Having done that, I stood for a very short time as the F1 guys came within touching distance at their top speed, before arcing down into the infield and the esses. It was exhilarating and terrifying, and was corrected before the race.

On-trackly speaking, it was very difficult to find identifying features to differentiate the turns. Sometimes it was a matter of background rather than trackside features.

Can't believe I didn't reply in the original thread.
Yes I too was there as I pestered my Father,as soon as the first California 500 was announced, to get us tickets.
Dad worked in the movie business and as it turned out knew that his company, National Screen Service, had purchased some land 'out there in the orange groves'.When OMS was in it's planning stages said land was bought from the company and a few of his colleagues added a request for free entry to all events staged there.
Unbeknownst to me I was in the catbird seat as the first race approached I asked Dad to get us tickets.
He said he would 'work on that'. Must have been rather easy for him because we went to almost every event there from 1970-1980 barring the years I was at theatre school in England including the inaugural Pro-Am celebrity race a month before the first 500.

I was incredibly pumped up for the Questor GP race and thought this was the future of racing (cars and drivers from different formula racing against each other) For me the event was mind blowing. Seeing all these world class drivers in cars I read about in Road and Track. I'd seen them in their own series, Monaco in '67 and Riverside from 65-76, but never together!!! We went both Saturday and Sunday. Wish I could recall more personally but this thread sure does help..Thanks to all the respondents here

As a total aside I have a, somewhat, clearer memory of attending the legendary Cal Jam at the track in 1974 with my friends from High School. For those with time to waste please find my hazy recollection HERE

Jp

I reckon there must be another Questor thread somewhere here: I know I posted a couple or more paragraphs about my experiences at the event ...

This might be it, I think (from the 'On this day in motorsport history...' thread:

1971 - Ontario

Questor passes were a reward offered by the organizers to many of us who had worked hard and long in aid of amateur and professional road racing in Southern California, and who had no assignment for the weekend. On Friday and Saturday we had free access to everything Ontario had to offer, and it was considerable. I hadn't thought of photography in conjuntion with a racing event for quite a while, busily official-ing with little opportunity for pointing and shooting, so all I have is the (fading) memory of my second view of Genuine F-1 Machines in action.

As opposed to the 1960 Riverside racers, these 1970s cars were quick and noisy, turning out twice the RPM of what seemed by comparison to be very deliberate, narrow-tired, earlier cars. The Matra was most remarkable in that respect. One of our friends was assisting in the starter's stand. He was wearing communications-net head phones, and lifted one earcup to hear a nearby coworker at the moment a Matra changed gears passing under his perch. The sound caused severe pain.

We spent a little time in the Press box, where a Babel of journalists were stacked in several rows nearly on top of one another, so steep was the incline their desks were stepped upon.

Loitering and gawking in the garages and pits left me with the impression that the F-1 contingent were enjoying the event, were confident they would dominate, and had nothing to prove. Most of the FA racers had this spirit, too, or at least maintained that appearance. Others seemed intent and tense, and eventually a little desperate.

Observation of on-track action was easy from the pits, grandstand, and from the infield, but not very fufilling. The most exciting view I encountered was from outside the track. It was run clockwise, and the highest-speed section included the front straight and most of the oval's "Turn Four".



This portion was a mile or so in length, and while I have no recollection of anyone announcing terminal speeds at the point where braking and turning-in to the esses took place, I'd guess it had to be nearing 200MPH.

Making the Speedway-to-roadcourse transition as gentle as possible meant taking an apex on the right side of the oval's pavement (oval Turn Four, road course Turn One), a drift out to the wall on the left, and a turn to apex on the entrance to the esses section of the track (road course Turn Two).

You had your Formula One missile decellerating and turning within inches of the wall and within a small fraction of its inertial maximum. And you could walk from the infield through the cool shade of a tunnel under the track, and stand on the outside of the wall near the cars' closest approach. Get sprayed with rubber dust. Inhale hot, unburned fuel fumes. Feel the heat of physics and spirit radiating from the red, blue, white, and black projectiles, as they bent space and time and trajectory, successfully, for the most part. Literally see the whites of their eyes.

After a few seconds of being steeped in the most sensually satisfying brew possible external to a racing car, some other physical and spiritual circumstances bubbled to the surface: a couple of molecules out of place could send a car through the pig-fence and cables and our location; I was afraid. Whites of MY eyes became THIS BIG, and I took them out of there, quickly.

A real high point in many ways. I have to admit a bit of my motive in describing it to race officials—apart from having access to that dangerous area restricted (and it was)—was to maintain the exclusivity of the experience.

Any road, if you haven't been around Ontario Motor Speedway, you can have a tiny, tiny taste at these pages: OMS 8mm frames lap



Frank S

I attended the Questor Grand Prix with a couple of friends. Because of a flight mixup during my return from the previous day's Champ Car race Phoenix, we were late in arriving at Ontario. We could hear the cars going out for what I would guess was a warm-up session and, as I trolled the largely empty west parking lot looking for the best spot, I noticed this large, four-sedan being driven somehat erratically and at high speed back and forth across the lot. I decided to stop and wait this bozo out. When the car passed within about 20 feet of us, I amused to see that the front seats contained one Mr. Fitipaldi and one Mr. Wisell. There were two other people in back, but I can't recall who they were. It then became very clear that Fittipaldi couldn't find the entrance to the infield/garage area, which was through a tunnel under the exit of Turn 4. I'm sure Mr. Chapman was not too thrilled with the lack of punctuality of his drivers.

I later ran a couple of club races at Ontario and agree that the infield road course was pretty bland and nondescript. If you took a glance at your gauges or your mirrors on the short straights connecting a couple of the corners, it was possible to lose track of just where you were.

I found this today on Racer Magazine.The story of its origins

This pretty much mirrors my early attempts at sneaking into venues and race No-Go race areas.

 

"But this story really began 50 years ago on Sunday September 6, 1970 when my late father took me to Ontario Motor Speedway’s inaugural 500 mile USAC Championship race called the California 500. The reason I am sharing this now is that these two races at OMS played pivotal roles in determining my life’s direction"

 

https://racer.com/20...y-origin-story/

 

But Paul Pfanner parlayed it into a lifetime career.

 

 

 

 

Here is Chapter 1 of the story on Video

Edited by jonpollak, 05 September 2020 - 13:00.

Unfortunately by 1971, there really wasn't parity between FA/5000 and F1....those days had passed.   The US racers were parachuting into unfamiliar cars, and onto a road course.  The F1 drivers were in faster cars, and had skills refined to a knife edge for this type of racing.

 

AJ was one of the best drivers to sit in a car, and had he concentrated on road racing, he would have succeeded. By 1971, he was more or less a circle track driver.   He later added more road races to his schedule, later competing in F5000, the IROC (winning several times, and acquitting himself quite well on the road course races), and endurance racing (Daytona 24 and Sebring 12, where he surprised many with his speed and consistency).

 

He didn't want to compete a Questor, but sponsorship commitments meant he had to.   He quickly realized his car was not at the front of the grid, and he was shown up by JYS.  Not mention his combustible personality.....    Irony is he and JYS later became friends and had a high regard for each other.

Unfortunately by 1971, there really wasn't parity between FA/5000 and F1....those days had passed.   The US racers were parachuting into unfamiliar cars, and onto a road course.  The F1 drivers were in faster cars, and had skills refined to a knife edge for this type of racing.

 

Point 1 is true. The F1 cars were just plain faster. As for US racers in unfamiliar cars, the qualifying list shows:

 

Donohue
Follmer
Posey
Sell
Grable
Bondurant
Revson
Adamowicz
Al Unser
Bobby Unser
Hutchison
Savage
Foyt
 

Plus Hobbs (GB) and Cannon (CN) driving F5000 cars, all of whom except for Foyt and the Unser brothers were pretty much full-time road racers, most running SCCA's F5000 series and for the most part in the same cars they entered here - and the Unsers and Foyt were successful on road courses as well as ovals. So, doubtful the cars were unfamiliar.

 

Question - why wasn't Lloyd Ruby interested in running this event? He certainly had the skill set.

When I interviewed Beaky Sims for my Lotus 72 documentary he said he couldn't believe that Team Lotus were taking 2 cars, all the spares etc. etc. halfway round the world for a non-Championship race, when they  would have been better off staying at home and try and make the 72 work. The moolah spoke to Chapman I suppose.....

Point 1 is true. The F1 cars were just plain faster. As for US racers in unfamiliar cars, the qualifying list shows:

 

Donohue
Follmer
Posey
Sell
Grable
Bondurant
Revson
Adamowicz
Al Unser
Bobby Unser
Hutchison
Savage
Foyt
 

Plus Hobbs (GB) and Cannon (CN) driving F5000 cars, all of whom except for Foyt and the Unser brothers were pretty much full-time road racers, most running SCCA's F5000 series and for the most part in the same cars they entered here - and the Unsers and Foyt were successful on road courses as well as ovals. So, doubtful the cars were unfamiliar.

 

Question - why wasn't Lloyd Ruby interested in running this event? He certainly had the skill set.

 

 

Fair enough.....the US stars were undoubtedly Foyt and the Unsers, and maybe Donahue.    The later drove his familiar Penske prepared car, while the 1st 3 were essentially dropped into unfamiliar cars to attract spectators and viewers.  The remaining drivers all had some degree of familiarity with the cars they were driving and road racing.  But they were handicapped by driving a style/type of car that was inferior to the F1 cars that also competed.  

I agree with most of what has been said before but I thing it prudent to make a couple of points.  Sam Posey had only received his Surtees a few weeks before the event.  He had tested the car but I cannot recall if he had actually raced it at that time.  Peter Revson had not even sat in his car until he arrived at the OMS on the morning of the first practice session.  His car had not even been fully completed unit the previous evening, when it was transported to the track.

 

The plain fact was that the F1 cars and drivers were faster than the F5000 establishment and everybody I spoke to had no illusions that a F5000 could win the race even before practice started.  

 

The plain fact was that the F1 cars and drivers were faster than the F5000 establishment and everybody I spoke to had no illusions that a F5000 could win the race even before practice started.  

I can recall TV coverage of the event when it happened.  Mark Donohue was being interviewed, and the issue of the performance difference between FA/F5000 and F1 was brought up.  I can recall Donohue's response quite clearly:  "Yes, but ours are 10 times cheaper", or words to that effect.   His point being that the stock-block FA/F5000 cars were far more accessible to new competitors than the clubby, exotic world of F1.   By the standards of that day, FA/F5000 was close to being a cost-controlled spec series.  Given the complaints about F1 costs and lack of competitiveness nowadays, his remarks are perhaps prescient.