1974 Shadow DN4-1P – Machiavelli’s Shadow

In retrospect, the end of the 1973 Can-Am championship was the pinnacle of the series. Porsche’s turbocharged “Panzer” 917/30 had handily claimed the championship, though Don Nichols’ dark and mysterious Shadow cars were finally beginning to live up to the promise they had shown over the preceding three years. No one would have guessed, however, that over the course of the following 12 months Shadow would build arguably one of the best Can-Am cars of the series, or that the series would completely implode due to political machinations, both internal and external. Even more strangely, the rise of enigmatic team owner Don Nichols’ Shadow cars and the near simultaneous collapse of one of the world’s greatest racing series share an extremely bizarre 16th century connection…Niccoló Machiavelli. In order to fully appreciate how all these disparate pieces fit together—along with an internecine battle between three designers and two drivers—it’s necessary to start with the single shadowy figure who unifies them all, Don Nichols.

Spooks & Shadows