It's a quiet late 1960's Friday morning at any road-racing track in North America; the smell of fast food cooking permeates the peaceful, though expectant, atmosphere. Suddenly an unholy sound shakes the earth in an ear-splitting, headache-inducing roar; the Can-Am cars have begun practice!

The cars pictured here represent the pinnacle of big-bore sports car racing in North America. The Can-Am series dominated motor sport on this continent from 1966 through 1974. The cars were monsters, true dinosaurs who made the ground tremble! Falling under the FIA's Group 7 regulations, they had no maximum engine capacity, no minimum weight, no maximum tire size, and wide-open use of any structural materials. Un-like LeMans cars, CanAm racers featured open cockpits. They were actually faster than the Formula One cars of the era.

The most successful models, like the McLaren M8F by Ertl pictured here in correct Gulf Orange color, were powered by big-block Chevy engines from 350 to 427 C.I. (5 to 7 liters). Fords were also in use.

Virtually all of the top-name drivers of the era participated at one time or another: F1 world champions John Surtees, Denny Hulme, Phil Hill, Jackie Stewart, and Mario Andretti were joined by Dan Gurney, Mark Donohue, Peter Revson, George Follmer, Jackie Oliver, and or course, the great Bruce McLaren.

The series began in '66 with a battle finally won by John Surtees over Jim Hall's innovative Chaparral 2, very well done here by Hot Wheels. The next five years were dominated by McLaren, Bruce and Denny Hulme alternating championship years until Bruce's untimely death in a testing accident in 1970. At times 1/3rd to 1/2 of the field would consist of McLarens or their clones; the team drivers in the latest cars, the rest in last years models. The cars pictured here make good examples from a typical grid of this period; a blue #3 McLaren M8F by Siku, a red McLaren M6A by Hot Wheels, a blue #28 by Summer, a white #3 by Zee Toys, and a green-colored model from Hot Wheels.

In 1972, Porsche moved into the series with a version of its LeMans-winning model 917. Powered by a turbocharged engine with unlimited boost, this car won almost every race it could finish. Many small-scale examples of this famous car are available; pictured here are a silver #5 by Galgo, a white #5 by Matchbox, a blue #28 by Siku, and a very nice #22 L&M sponsored model by Yatming.

McLaren gave up on the Can-Am series after this, knowing that as a small, privateer team they could not keep up with the unlimited resources of the Porsche factory. Porsche then quit after dominating the series for two years. The final championship of this era was won by the Shadow team in 1974; shown here is a beautiful model of this UOP sponsored car by Polistil.

The series died after this, a victim of the gas crisis. These cars and their racing venue died as the dinosaurs might have, from a cataclysmic change in the environment!