The 1973 Canadian-American Challenge Cup was the eighth season of the Can-Am auto racing series. It consisted of FIA Group 7 racing cars running two-hour sprint events. It began June 10, 1973, and ended October 28, 1973, after eight rounds. The season came amid the Oil Crisis, which ended interest in performance cars after an already-declining market over a several-year period. The golden age of the Trans Am Series ended after the 1972 season, leaving Can Am and Formula 5000 as the frontrunners of the SCCA. The season was also the penultimate season of the series, which would fold after 1974 before being revived in an entirely reworked series based on F5000 a few years later.

Schedule

For 1973, the schedule was altered as the season continued on. The first race ran in a standard, single race format. Rounds two through four ran as two heats, with the results being determined by combined results. Rounds five through eight ran a Sprint qualifying heat first to determine the starting order for the Cup event. The results of the Sprint and Cup were not combined.

Season results

The start of the Molson Cup at Edmonton Speedway Park. Mark Donohue's Sunono Porsche started in pole position.

Rnd	Circuit	Winning Team	Results
		Winning Driver
1	Mosport	#23 Rinzler Motoracing Royal Crown	Results
		Charlie Kemp
2	Road Atlanta	#16 Rinzler Motoracing Royal Crown	Results
		George Follmer
3	Watkins Glen	#6 Roger Penske Enterprises	Results
		Mark Donohue
4	Mid-Ohio	#6 Roger Penske Enterprises	Results
		Mark Donohue
5	Road America	#6 Roger Penske Enterprises	Results
		Mark Donohue
6	Edmonton	#6 Sunoco Porsche+Audi	Results
		Mark Donohue
7	Laguna Seca	#6 Roger Penske Enterprises	Results
		Mark Donohue
8	Riverside	#6 Roger Penske Enterprises	Results
		Mark Donohue

Drivers Championship

Points are awarded to the top ten finishers in the order of 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1.

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Engine	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Total
1	Mark Donohue	Roger Penske Enterprises	Porsche 917/30	Porsche	4	15	20	20	20	20	20	20	139
2	George Follmer	Rinzler Motorracing Royal Crown	Porsche 917/10	Porsche		20		15	12	15			62
3	Hurley Haywood	Brumos Racing	Porsche 917/10	Porsche		8		12			12	15	47
4	Charlie Kemp	Rinzler Motorracing Royal Crown	Porsche 917/10	Porsche	20		10			3		12	45
5	Bob Nagel	Nagel Racing	Lola T260	Chevrolet	12	6			6	4	6	10	44
6	Jody Scheckter	Vasek Polak Racing	Porsche 917/10	Porsche		12	12		15				39
7	David Hobbs	Roy Woods Racing	McLaren M20	Chevrolet		10	15			10	2		37
8	Scooter Patrick	U.S. Racing	McLaren M8F	Chevrolet	10		1		10	6	3	1	31
9	Jackie Oliver	Don Nichols	Shadow DN2	Chevrolet				3		12	15		30
10	Steve Durst	Vasek Polak Racing Motschenbacher Racing	Porsche 917/10 McLaren M8F	Porsche Chevrolet	8	4	4	1		8	1	3	29
11	Bobby Brown	Commander Motor Homes	McLaren M8F	Chevrolet				8	8		10		26
12	Milt Minter	Commander Motor Homes Otto Zipper Alfa Racing	McLaren M8F Alfa Romeo T33/3	Chevrolet Alfa Romeo							8	8	16
13	Hans Wiedmer	Hans Wiedmer	Porsche 917/10	Porsche	15								15
14	Tom Dutton	Burmester Racing	McLaren M8C	Chevrolet			6	4		1		4	15
15	John Cannon	Motschenbacher Racing Commander Motor Homes	McLaren M8F McLaren M20	Chevrolet	6		8						14
16	Derek Bell	Motschenbacher Racing	McLaren M8F	Chevrolet				10					10
17	Bob Peckham	Bob Peckham	McLaren M8C	Chevrolet							4	6	10
18	Danny Hopkins	Commander Motor Homes	McLaren M8F	Chevrolet				6	2				8
19	Tom Heyser	Tom Heyser	Lola T260	Chevrolet		3	3		1				7
20	Gary Wilson	Gary Wilson	McLaren M8E	Chevrolet				2	4				6
21	Ed Felter	Blue Magic Corporation	McLaren M8E	Chevrolet	3	1							4
22	John Cordts	William Overhauser Racing	McLaren M8D	Chevrolet	2					2			4
23	Warren Agor	Warren Agor Racing	McLaren M8FP	Chevrolet					3				3
24	Pete Sherman	Dave Causey	McLaren M8F	Chevrolet	1	2							3
25=	Peter Gregg	Brumos Racing	Porsche Carrera RSR	Porsche			2						2
25=	Hans Müller-Perschl	Hans Müller-Perschl	KWM SP20	Porsche								2	2

References