A couple of days ago in a different thread of mine, CRG Member "Pacecar" asked about any 1969 pictures from Mosport and I replied that, "I believe that Mosport was using Ford products during the 1969 race season. I have several pictures showing that a 1969 Ford Torino GT convertible was used as the pace car for the F5000/Continental event, Canadian Touring Trophy race and the Can Am race. I also have a picture showing that at least one 1969 Mustang convertible was used for the driver introduction lap prior to the Formula One race that year. I'll keep looking though."
Well, it turns out after I did some more research I found photographic evidence that a 1969 Indy Pace Car Camaro was used to pace the rainy Gulf Canadian Road Racing Championship event held at Mosport Park on May 18, 1969. The cool thing about this date is that it preceded the 1969 Indy 500 by twelve days. The 500 was run on May 30th. There are only a few other race events that used a 1969 Camaro Indy Pace Car prior to the Indy 500, several more were used after it. (Threads on all of these cars to follow) I can only surmise that the powers that be at Mosport Park severed their ties with Chevrolet immediately after this event was held because the Can Am race and it's support races took place on May 31st and June 1st of 1969. Those events were paced by a 1969 Ford Torino GT convertible. Another plausible explanation is that possibly the Camaro was used by the Series itself to pace all of their races across Canada but I haven't been able find any other images to confirm this. I wonder if this is the same Camaro that was used at St. Jovite during their 1969 race season? See my thread on that car here:
http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=16186.0The Gulf Canadian Road Racing Championship was for Formula A & Formula B race cars. According to the Old Racing Cars web site, "The Canadian Road Racing Championship was first organised by CASC as a series for sports car racing in the early 1960s but it achieved little coverage or recognition until the end of the decade when Gulf Canada stepped in to sponsor a revised championship. CASC were persuaded by Peter Broeker to move to single-seater racing for 1969 and to adopt the SCCA's 1600cc Formula B class, but after pressure from the Ontario region, the new 5-litre Formula A cars were also included. A number of Canada's top drivers entered the series, Bill Brack, George Eaton and Eppie Wietzes proving the most competitive but they were ably supported by Horst Kroll, Al Pease and Nat Adams. Wietzes won the first title in his Lola T142 and swapped to a McLaren M10B for 1970, winning more comfortably that season. Brack acquired a new Lola T142 and Ludwig Heimrath a McLaren but there was insufficient depth on the Formula A class and most of the exciting racing was in the cheaper and flourishing Formula B class. In Formula A, the prize money available wasn't enough to cover expenses. For 1971, CASC dropped Formula A and continued just with the 1600cc cars."
http://www.oldracingcars.com/canada/ According to Canadian Racer web site, "Over 4,500 fans showed up in very rainy conditions for that first race. George Eaton jumped out into the early lead but spun in Moss Corner (corner 5) and Bill Brack slipped past to take a 25 second lead. Eppie Weitzes had a broken rear wing, forcing him to pit to have it removed. Without the wing he was not competitive. George Eaton charged back through the field and taking advantage of Brack's faltering engine, caught the leader on lap 25 and passed him to retake the lead. Tony Simms lost a wheel on lap 32 and crashed hard causing considerable damage to his car; fortunately he was not hurt."
http://www.canadianracer.com/formula-a.asp I found the first picture at the "Remembering Mosport" Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/mosport/?hc_ref=ARR7SmjodX8X2Zte7o4xtjBQX8RFEDZSKw8WqWPiSb8VM-veOz2C6FQC52s1HicfPzw2nd picture was posted by Robert Barg in the Trans Am section of this web site. It shows the Torino in front of the grid for the Canadian Touring Trophy race, which was a support race for the Can Am event. I believe Robert participated in this event.
3rd picture shows the same Torino above the big wing of the victorious #4 McLaren Chevy M8B of Bruce McLaren. It came from here:
http://library.revsinstitute.org/digital/collection/p17257coll1/id/185598/rec/90
