The Can-Am championship, which full name was originaly Canadian-American Challenge Cup, was established in 1966. There were two separate periods in its history. The first period was from 1966 to 1974. It was the most famous Can-Am era. Eligible group 7 sports racing cars were almost totally unrestricted and they were the quickest cars in the world at the time - quicker then F1 or sportscars running in the World Championship. Many top F1 drivers took part in the Can-Am of those days. It was the best-feed series. The first title came to John Surtees with his Lola. But then became a McLaren era. Works team with Denny Hulme and its founder Bruce McLaren was almost unbeatable and won most of the races between 1967 and 1971. But before 1970 season was Bruce killed during testing of his new Can-Am car. The new McLaren management lost their interest about Can-Am after dominance of Porsche-Turbo in 1972. Soon after Can-Am began slowly to lose its importance and interest of public. This situation came into crisis in 1974 when the series ended after only five races and the winner Oliver with Shadow wasn't accepted by the FIA.



Jackie Oliver, (born 14 August 1942 in Chadwell Heath, Essex) is a British former Formula One driver and team-owner from England. He is perhaps better known now as the founder of the Arrows team rather than as a racing driver, although during his driving career he won both the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and the Can-Am championship.



The 8 Can-Am images originally were shot with a Pentax Spotmatic and a 135mm f/3.5 Takumar lens ... I believe the film was Fujichrome.