The 1982 Can Am Series season was the fifteenth running of the Sports Car Club of America's prototype series, and the sixth running of the revived series. 1982 brought new competition for Chevrolet in the form of Hart and Cosworth. Hart would podium in three races while Cosworth would podium in two. The most dominant chassis were Frissbee, Marguey, March, VDS-001, and Ensign. Al Unser Jr. would win at Road Atlanta, [1] Laguna Seca, [2] and Mosport [3] twice, [4] with a podium at Mid Ohio, [5] at Riverside, [6] and at Caesar's Palacae. [7] Unser would be declared champion.
Bertil Roos would take the two liter class in his Hart.
The scoring system was 90-60-40-30-20-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 points for the first fifteen classified drivers. All results counted.
Round | Circuit | Winning driver | Team | Car |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Road Atlanta | Al Unser Jr. | Galles Racing | Frissbee-Chevrolet |
2 | Mosport | Al Unser Jr. | Galles Racing | Frissbee-Chevrolet |
3 | Mid-Ohio | Al Holbert | Racing Team VDS | VDS-Chevrolet |
4 | Road America | Al Holbert | Racing Team VDS | VDS-Chevrolet |
5 | Trois-Rivières | Al Holbert | Racing Team VDS | VDS-Chevrolet |
6 | Mosport | Al Unser Jr. | Galles Racing | Frissbee-Chevrolet |
7 | Caesars Palace | Danny Sullivan | Newman/Budweiser | March-Chevrolet |
8 | Riverside | Al Holbert | Racing Team VDS | VDS-Chevrolet |
9 | Laguna Seca | Al Unser Jr. | Galles Racing | Frissbee-Chevrolet |
Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industries. Cosworth is based in Northampton, England, with facilities in Cottenham, England, Silverstone, England, and Indianapolis, IN, US.
Denis Clive Hulme was a New Zealand racing driver, who competed in Formula One from 1965 to 1974. Nicknamed "The Bear", Hulme won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1967 with Brabham, and won eight Grands Prix across 10 seasons.
The Surtees Racing Organisation was a race team that spent nine seasons as a constructor in Formula One, Formula 2, and Formula 5000.
Alfred Unser Jr. – nicknamed "Little Al" to distinguish him from his father, Al Unser – is an American retired racing driver. Known primarily for his Championship car career, Unser won two CART championships, and is a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500.
The DFV is an internal combustion engine that was originally produced by Cosworth for Formula One motor racing. The name is an abbreviation of Double Four Valve, the engine being a V8 development of the earlier four-cylinder FVA, which had four valves per cylinder.
Roberto Pupo Moreno, usually known as Roberto Moreno and also as Pupo Moreno, is a Brazilian former racing driver. He participated in 75 Formula One Grands Prix, achieved 1 podium, and scored a total of 15 championship points. He raced in CART in 1986, and was Formula 3000 champion before joining Formula One full-time in 1989. He returned to CART in 1996 where he enjoyed an Indian summer in 2000 and 2001, and managed to extend his career in the series until 2008. He also raced in endurance events and GT's in Brazil, but now works as a driver coach and consultant, and although this takes up a lot of his time, he is not officially retired yet, as he appears in historic events. Away from the sport, he enjoys building light aeroplanes.
Ilmor is a British independent high-performance motor racing engineering company. It was founded by Mario Illien and Paul Morgan in November 1983. With manufacturing based in Brixworth, Northamptonshire, and maintenance offices in Plymouth, Michigan, the company supplies engines and consultancy to the IndyCar Series and MotoGP.
Emilio de Villota Ruíz is a former racing driver from Spain, born in Madrid. He entered 15 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix between 1976 and 1982, qualifying twice. He entered most Spanish Grand Prix between 1976 and 1982 and became a major force in the short-lived Aurora AFX Formula One Championship for F1 cars, winning the title in 1980.
Connew Racing Team, commonly known as Connew, was a short lived British Formula One constructor. Founded in 1971 by Peter Connew, the team constructed a single car, the PC1. The first monococque had to be aborted due to a change in regulations and the second tub was known as PC2. However, record books show the car driven by Migault and others as PC1. The intent was to compete in the Formula One World Championship in 1972, but a lack of financial and technical resources meant that the car only managed to start in one championship race, the 1972 Austrian Grand Prix, with French driver François Migault at the wheel. Following the Austrian race, the car competed in a handful of non-championship races before being converted to meet Formula 5000 specifications for the 1973 season. The chassis was damaged beyond repair during the season finale at Brands Hatch and the team closed.
Formula 5000 was an open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel racing cars that no longer fit into any particular formula. The '5000' denomination comes from the maximum 5.0 litre engine capacity allowed in the cars, although many cars ran with smaller engines. Manufacturers included McLaren, Eagle, March, Lola, Lotus, Elfin, Matich and Chevron.
Chaparral Cars was a pioneering American automobile racing team and race car developer that engineered, built, and raced cars from 1963 through 1970. Founded in 1962 by American Formula One racers Hap Sharp and Jim Hall, it was named after the roadrunner, a fast-running ground cuckoo also known as a chaparral bird.
Team Penske is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona, the organization has also competed in various other types of professional racing such as Formula One, Can-Am, Trans Am, and Australia's Supercars Championship. Altogether, Team Penske has earned over 500 victories and over 40 championships in all of auto racing. Team Penske is a division of Penske Corporation, and is owned and chaired by Roger Penske. The team president is Tim Cindric.
Doug Shierson Racing is a former racing team that competed in the CART Indy car series from 1982 to 1990. The team was sponsored by Domino's Pizza for its entire run in CART. Shierson Racing won 7 Indy car races, with their biggest victory coming at the 1990 Indianapolis 500, with driver Arie Luyendyk. The team finished runner-up in the 1985 CART Championship with driver Al Unser Jr. losing the title by one point.
The 1979 Can-Am season was the twelfth running of the Sports Car Club of America's prototype-based series and the third running of the revived series. Formula One legend Jacky Ickx was declared champion, winning five of the ten rounds and finishing second at Road Atlanta. Chevrolet again dominated the season. The top chassis builders were Lola, Prophet, and Spyder, with Vern Schuppan finishing third at Watkins Glen in an Elfin and Al Holbert finishing third at Road America in a Hogan.
The 1981 Can Am series season was the fourteenth running of the Sports Car Club of America's prototype-based series, and the fifth running of the revived series. Geoff Brabham was declared champion, despite only winning two races. Chevrolet again dominated the season. The dominant chassis manufacturers were March, Lola, Holbert, Frissbee, and VDS. IndyCar drivers Al Unser and Bobby Rahal also podiumed at Road America and Mosport, respectively.
The 1983 Can Am season was the sixteenth running of the Sports Car Club of America's prototype series and the seventh of the revived series. 1983 marked the second year of Chevrolet having major competition, with Cosworth taking second at Mosport, first at Lime Rock, second at Trois-Rivières, first at the second race at Mosport, and second at Sears Point. Hart would take third at Lime Rock and third at Trois-Rivières. Porsche would get its first podiums this season, with a win at Road America and third at the second race at Mosport. The dominant chassis were Frissbee, Ensign, Lola, VDS, Scandia, and Ralt. Jacques Villeneuve, Sr. was declared champion, with podiums in almost every race. He would, however, become the final major racecar driver to win a Can Am championship.
The 1984 Can Am season was the seventeenth running of the Sports Car Club of America's prototype series, and the eighth running of the revived series. 1984 would mark a major downturn in the series, as Juan Manuel Fangio II would become the last major driver to podium in a Can Am Series race, finishing third at Dallas. The dominant manufacturers were Chevrolet, Hart, BMW for the first time with a third-place finish at Brainerd, Cosworth, Lola, Ralt, and March. Dominant chassis were VDS, March, Frissbee-Lola, Ralt, and Williams with their first podium with a third-place finish at Lime Rock. Michael Roe was declared champion, with seven wins. The final race at Green Valley would feature the final truly notable driver in series history, John Andretti.
The March 817 was a British sports prototype racing car, built by March Engineering in 1981 for the Can-Am series. As with all other full-size Can-Am cars of the time, it used a mid-mounted 5-litre, naturally-aspirated Chevrolet V8 engine. Two cars are known to have been built. Paul Newman Racing won the Team's championship of the Can-Am series in 1981 with the March 817, whilst their main driver, Teo Fabi took second in the driver's standings.
Ian Grob is a former English racing driver. He raced in a number of events, including European Formula 2 and Le Mans 24 Hours. He retired from international motor sport after his last race, 1980 24 Hours of Daytona.
The Penske PC-10 is a CART open-wheel race car, designed by Penske Racing, which was constructed for competition in the 1982 season. Designed by Geoff Ferris, it is considered possibly the most dominant Penske race car design ever and that from a team that typically dominated. Rick Mears has been quoted as acknowledging this was his favorite racecar chassis ever. Twelve total were made (1-12), six raced by Penske (1-6), with four confirmed destroyed. They were manufactured at Penske Cars, Ltd. in Poole, England during 1982, and delivered to Penske Racing, Inc., in Reading, Pennsylvania. So outstanding was the PC-10's design, it won the prestigious Louis Schwitzer Award for innovation and engineering excellence in the field of race car design at the Indianapolis 500 in 1982. The PC-10s were active in the years 1982–1984. In fact, the PC-10 was ultimately much better than the following year PC-11, so Roger Penske bought back one of the PC-10s he had sold to another team for the 1983 season, and which then won another race for his team.