1973 Canadian Grand Prix – Race Profile

1973 Canadian Grand Prix – A Study in Firsts and Lasts

Report and photos by Al Wolford

The Canadian Grand Prix for 1973, held at the Mosport circuit on September 23, involved a number of firsts and last involving the Grand Prix circus and my photojournalism career.

I’ll start by saying that the event was my first Formula One race and my first attempt — albeit with a used, off-brand 35mm camera — at photographing a road race. The quality of the attached photos will attest to my rookie status and the quality of the camera. I’m hopeful that the significance of the subjects will make up for my shortcomings.

A co-worker and I left Cincinnati after work at 5 PM on Friday and arrived in the wee hours of the morning and parked in the circuit infield. Our plans to put our sleeping bags to use were foiled by waves of mosquitos only slightly smaller and less noisy the WWII fighter planes.

We awoke in the car to fog so thick that we couldn’t see the racing surface 50 feet away. The morning practice, after a significant delay, involved the cars being sent out one at a time and working their way through the fog in a clearly lower gear at about 50 MPH. Viewing consisted of seeing a barely visible racer appearing through the fog, within eyesight for about 100 feet and then disappearing into the fog again.

The weather cleared for the afternoon practice, interrupted only by a brief thunderstorm and a Jackie Stewart spin with light Armco contact at the exit of Moss Corner on the back of the circuit. Ronnie Peterson sat on the pole for Lotus 72 with Peter Revson’s McLaren M23 alongside.

1973 Canadian Grand Prix – Saturday Practice Photo Gallery

 

Race day was heavily overcast with periodic rain resulting in a wet start. It was an era of racing when many of the cars were of comparable quality with a good deal more on-track passing than in recent decades. The 80-lap event proceeded smoothly as the track dried and the rain held off until lap 32 when Francois Cevert’s Tyrrell 006 and Jody Scheckter’s McLaren M23 tangled and struck the Armco with significant force. Unknown to Cevert at the time, Scheckter had been signed to be his teammate with Tyrrell for the following season. Sadly, it was also Cevert’s final Grand Prix since he was fatally injured in practice at the next Grand Prix in Watkins Glen.

That accident brought about the first use of a safety car in Formula 1 and former driver Eppie Wietzes became the first safety car driver.

Unfortunately, he picked up the Williams of Howden Ganley, who was not the leader, throwing the scoring of the event into chaos. Several of the racers, including eventual winner, Peter Revson, were believed to have gained almost a full lap on the rest of the field based on the safety car mistake.

We, along with the rest of the crowd around us, had no real sense of who was the leader and after the finish, we assumed Emerson Fittipaldi’s Lotus had one since on his cool off lap he was waving and saluting the crowd and track marshals. It was initially announced that Howden Ganley had won for Williams, which would have been that marque’s first Formula One victory; but he declined the honor saying he knew he hadn’t been the winner.

Extensive scoring checks resulted in Peter Revson being declared the winner after much of the crowd had left the circuit for the multi-hour traffic snarl to try to get back to a highway major enough to get away from the area. It was my first and last traffic jam that would take three hours to crawl two miles.

In addition to the first use of a safety car, the 1973 Canadian Grand Prix was the first Grand Prix in which a car #0 raced, the third McLaren of Jody Scheckter.

It was the first year on the Grand Prix circuit for several constructors including Williams, Shadow, and Ensign.

It was the first season for future champion James Hunt and the one and only driver from Lichtenstein, Rikky Von Opel.

It was the final Grand Prix race for Cevert and Jackie Stewart, who had not announced it; but planned to retire at the end of the season. After Cevert’s crash, the Tyrrells were withdrawn from the Watkins Glen event.

Before the Canadian Grand Prix, Tyrrell had held a slight constructors point lead over Lotus and had brought Chris Amon in a third car to try to gain additional points. The effort failed and Emerson Fittipaldi’s runner-up finish moved Lotus into the lead which they held when Tyrrell did not compete in the final event at Watkins Glen.

It was the last of two Grand Prix wins by Peter Revson and to date, the last Formula win by an American-born driver (remember Mario was born in Italy).

Canada 1973 was the last podium finish by Grand Prix veteran Jackie Oliver and it was the last season that George Follmer competed in Formula One.

With the wet conditions and safety car the race was the slowest/longest of 1973 taking 1:59.04 to finish and almost as long to figure out who was the winner.

Of the 25 drivers who competed at Mosport, by the end of the next season, 12 had competed in their last Grand Prix event.

1973 Canadian Grand Prix – Sunday Race Photo Gallery

[Source: Al Wolford]