A Lola T70 Mark 3 with an interesting history
As he wandered through the garages at the CSRG Charity
Challenge at Sonoma Raceway the first weekend of October 2019 , the author found this Lola T70 Can-Am car that
competed in the famous Group 7 Sports Car Club of America (SCCA)
Canadian-American Challenge Series in 1967 and 1968 owned by a famous mechanic,
sponsor and with a pair of well-known drivers.
This car, chassis number SL73/127 was originally sold to
famed racing mechanic George Bignotti sometime during the middle of the 1967
season. Bignotti at the time was
employed by Texas oil man and racer John Mecom, who was the Lola Cars importer
for the United States. In 1967, Bignotti had already amassed three Indianapolis
500-mile victories – two with AJ Foyt in 1961 and 1964, and a third in 1966
with rookie driver Graham Hill in a career that would eventually total seven
Indy ‘500’ wins.
While the Ford Motor Company was very successful in
Indianapolis-type car racing with Indianapolis 500-mile race wins in 1965, 1966,
and 1967, as well as United States Auto Club (USAC) national championships
those years, along with victories at LeMans in endurance racing in 1966 and
1967, Ford struggled for success in Can-Am racing.
Despite well-funded efforts with Dan Gurney’s All-American
Racing team, Shelby American, and Holman & Moody, as well as its own G7A
program with the unique three-valves per cylinder Calliope V-8 engine, Ford had
been unable to break the McLaren/Chevrolet stranglehold in the Can-Am series.
The 1967 Bignotti effort was another innovative Ford effort that used the
proven-at-Indianapolis Ford double overhead camshaft DOHC "four cam" V-8 engine bored out to
305 cubic inches of displacement.
The Bignotti Lola T70 with race number #98 was initially
entered for the third round of the1967 SCCA Can-Am series, the ‘Player’s 200’
at Mosport Park in Canada in late September for driver Al Unser, but the car
did not appear as the engine was not yet ready. The car appeared finished in
metallic blue at the series’ fourth round in mid-October at Laguna Seca Raceway
carrying race number 21 for driver ‘Parnelli’ Jones with sponsorship from
American Rubber and Plastics Corporation.
American’s owner John Chalik Junior from LaPorte Indiana had
raced at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 1961 through 1964, with his first
year the most successful. Veteran Hoosier midget car racer Gene Hartley started
the 1961 ‘500’ in fifteenth place in a Floyd Trevis built machine and finished eleventh,
two laps behind winner AJ Foyt.
In 1962, Chalik expanded his efforts to two cars, a new Quinn
Epperly-built laydown for driver Paul Goldsmith and the previous years’ Trevis
built chassis was assigned to Eddie Johnson. Both entries made the starting
field, but both cars retired early in the race within laps of each other with
magneto failure.
For 1963, Chalik contracted with famed car builder Frank
Kurtis to build the final Kurtis Kraft chassis built for the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway, the KK500L roadster, which incorporated three innovations – first, a
roll cage around the cockpit to reassure the driver, NASCAR stock car star
Robert “Junior” Johnson, second, fully independent suspension on all four
corners and finally, the car’s Offenhauser engine used a battery and distributor
ignition system, as Chalik now mistrusted the common magneto ignition system
after the team’s Indianapolis 1962 debacle. Chalik remained a two-car team
owner, as he also entered the Epperly laydown roadster for New Mexico rookie
driver Bobby Unser.
Johnson was never comfortable in the Kurtis-Kraft and stepped
out of the car before his completed his rookie test and was replaced by Colby
Scroggin. The battery system in the KK500L did not allow the Offenhauser engine
to develop full power, and Scroggin could not generate enough speed to qualify
for the 33-car starting field. Unser successfully completed his rookie test, then
spun and afterwards, Chalik asked Unser to buy his own tires. After Unser
landed a Novi ride and left the team, Chalik replaced Unser with Bob Harkey,
who crashed in practice and the seriously damaged car could not be repaired in
time.
In 1964, the repaired Epperly was entered for journeyman
driver Chuck Rodee, but early in the month, Rodee ran over some debris and
crashed. Later in the month, the engine blew during practice and car owner Chalik
elected not to repair the damage.
Chalik’s Indianapolis efforts ended with a
whimper, and most historians assumed that was the end of Chalik’s involvement
in racing. While it is unclear on how (or why) John Chalik Jr. became involved in the Bignotti Can-Am effort
it is without question as the American Rubber and Plastic Corporation sponsorship was
(and still is) emblazoned on the Lola’s front fenders.
At the 1967 Laguna Seca Can-Am race, Parnelli Jones qualified
the metallic blue #21 fourth for the ‘Monterey Grand Prix’ behind pole sitter
Bruce McLaren, a Weslake Ford-powered Lola T70 Mark 3 driven by Dan Gurney, and
Denny Hulme. On race day, October 15, Jones dropped out after
14 of the 106 scheduled laps with fuel vaporization issues.
Two weeks later, at Riverside International
Raceway, Jones qualified sixth for the ‘Los Angeles Times Grand Prix’ and
finished in fourth place, one lap behind winner Bruce McLaren.
At the 1967 Can-Am season finale, held in early November at
the Stardust International Raceway outside Las Vegas Nevada, Jones qualified
fourth only ½ second behind pole-sitter Bruce McLaren. In the October 12th
‘Stardust Grand Prix,’ Jones jumped the start from the second row and surged
into the early lead, but the Lola was eliminated after just four laps when the
gear selector linkage broke at the shifter. This race marked Parnelli’s final
appearance in North America’s famed Group 7 racing series.
For 1968, the driver of the Bignotti DOHC Ford-powered Lola
T70 Mark 3 for the Can-Am series was two-time USAC National Champion Mario
Andretti, who had appeared at five 1967 Can-Am rounds behind the wheel of the
fast but unreliable Holman & Moody ‘Honker II.’ At the opening round of the
1968 Can-Am series at Road America in Elkhart Lake Wisconsin, Andretti
qualified eighth and was running in third place on lap 48 of 50 when the DOHC
Ford engine lost oil pressure and grenaded in spectacular fashion.
Two weeks later, on September 17th at the ‘Bridgehampton
Grand Prix’ held on the Bridgehampton Road Course on Long Island, Andretti again
qualified the metallic blue #21 to start eighth on the grid, but this time during
the race the DOHC Ford Indy engine lost oil pressure on the fourth lap and
Andretti retired in the car’s final SCCA Can-Am race appearance.
Andretti and Bignotti skipped the next two rounds of the
1968 Can-Am series but reappeared at the final two rounds with a new car, the red
#3 Lola T160, chassis number SL160/1 which was powered by a Ford 427 cubic
engine built by Holman & Moody that carried STP Oil Treatment sponsorship. The
Lola blew its engine during the qualifying session at Riverside, but in the
season finale at Las Vegas, Andretti qualified the red T160 sixth and finished twelfth
after a lengthy mid-race pit stop.
The appearance of such a historic machine as Lola chassis
SL73/127 that appears as it did in 1967 and 1968, even though it is now equipped
with a small block fuel injected Chevrolet engine at the CSRG Charity Classic highlights
the importance of vintage car racing in keeping racing history alive. It was
true joy to watch car owner Carl Moore of Alamo California put this restored
beauty through its paces.
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