Months late, BRM finally delivered a V12 engine for McLaren's M5A to debut at the first-ever Canadian GP at Mosport in August 1967. Bruce showed competitive speed, but lack of an alternator forced a mid-race pit stop. However, McLaren had turned the F1 delay into a positive for its Can-Am team, using the time for thorough development of the Chevy-powered M6A sports car. Photo: Pete Lyons www.petelyons.com
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Bruce’s Legacy

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Bruce Leslie McLaren won the first-ever Grand Prix of the United States in 1959, but really established his life’s legacy eight years later. It was September 3, 1967, at Road America, when his Can-Am team began a five-year run of dominance in the fastest kind of road racing the world had ever seen. So strong and so solid was the foundation laid then that McLaren remains one of the greatest names in motorsports today.

Pete Lyons
Pete Lyons

Kiwis can be crusty (they’re not alone in this), but Bruce was blessed with one of the sunniest natures ever to venture north from New Zealand. Open of face, friendly of manner, self-effacing and always on the brink of a laugh, he had a gift for bringing talented and ambitious racers—not the easiest of personality types—together in a loyal, tight-knit, intensely competitive team.

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