Since joining up with this motley bunch at the end of 2005, I've wanted to post some vintage pics of my day at the long-gone Riverside Raceway. Only problem was, I needed a scanner that would talk to my computer in order to get my ancient 35mm snapshots digitized. Only took me 8+ years to join the 20th century.

In July of 1973 I was fresh out of a tour in Viet Nam and treated myself to the only new car I've ever owned, a Sunflower Yellow 1973 1.7 914. I named it KELTY because it was like a little motorized backpack with all the nooks and crannies to hold my stuff. was living in SoCal at the time so when I read about the new IROC (International Race of Champions) series coming to Riverside I had to go. The initial concept was to put the best drivers in the world into identically prepared 911 RSRs and have them compete on road courses. Ultimately this proved difficult as it was expensive to prepare thecars and many of the drivers had a tough time handling the potent tail draggers. This was the only year that 911s were used with the series switching to Camaros after year one.

These pictures were shot with an old Yashica point and shoot camera on Kodacolor film. I'd never shot a race before so you'll see that my panning technique was in the developmental stages.

The parking lot had a wide selection of cars including many Porsches. Notice KELTY with her chromies (loved those wheels). During the day I ran out of film and went back to the car to reload, only to discover that I'd locked my keys in the car! I could see them laying on the passenger seat and hunted up a couple of coat hangers to try and hook them and pull them out of the barely cracked window. While ultimately succeeding at this, many Porsche owners came by and tried their keys in the lock.

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Positioned on the straight between turn 6 and 7 for the start.

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Cool pace car!

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Into Turn 7

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The list of drivers for this event was incredible: Petty, Foyt, Fittipaldi, Revson, Follmer, Donohue, Unser, Allison, Pearson, Hulme, McCluskey, Johncock. A virtual Hall of Fame on wheels.

Richard Petty actually bought his own 911 just to learn how to drive one prior to the race. Turn 6 was an exciting spot with the drivers powering out of the exit with their RF wheels off the ground.

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Mark Donohue proved what an amazing driver he was, winning two of the three races run that day.

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Gordon Johncock may have been a winner at Indy, but at Riverside he showed he could only turn left. Seems like every time he came around the track he'd found some new adventure.

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WOW! That's really cool and even cooler that you remember the events that occurred so well. I can't even remember the month I purchased my car and it was only 2 years ago.

Those old IROC 911s are really cool cars. I have a buddy who has an orange one - in fact it was my first ride on a track ever at PBIR. Phenomenal brakes!

There was also a Can Am race that weekend and Saturday was qualifying and practice.

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The most awesome race car I've ever seen was no match for the rest of the field with Mark Donohue behind the wheel. The Sunoco #6 917-30 screamed thru the course with the crowd cheering every time he passed by. Breathtaking!

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Anybody recognize this short lived relic of the 70s?

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The parking lot had some attractions also.

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Fresh off the showroom floor.

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THE END

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Thanks for the pictures. That really takes me back. Donahue was simply amazing. I grew up back East and that was his stomping ground early on. My older brother and I watched him at an early Lime Rock Trans Am race and he gave all the other drivers a clinic on driving in rain. That was when he was running the Javelin. I think he lapped the entire field, or came very close.

Think Penske prepped all the IROC's ?

I spent some time there myself. Riverside was one of the best tracks for spectators. Most of the fences weren't more than 4 ft. high. SLITS spent a LOT of time at the track as well.

I think that's correct.

So you're saying he could see over the fences?

That would be a Brubaker Box!

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Absolutely Correct & Donahoe Tested every car

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!

Hey, I was at that race too! It was from a time when you could freely walk the pits and talk with the drivers. Way more casual in those days. The Brubaker Box is a no-brainer if you're from that era.

My most fond memory was watching Foyt out-deep Fittipaldi into 7a. Fittiplad locked the brakes and slid past Foyt and into the dirt. I can still see Foyt's huge grin! I gained a new respect for Foyt's ability against the F1 champ.

Andys

Thank you. I was 3. That is one of the races I feel deprived about not being of age for, I'm a huge Donahue fan as I also own my grandfathers 71 javelin sst . Go figure a javelin and a Porsche nut.-G
Guys please share more pics and even more importantly the memories for those of us that missed out on the golden age of road racing. When driving took monster balls . Back before the fia squashed them.

Harruumph .... didn't have to. I was in the pits as a member of a 914/6 race team. Later a McLaren MK8E team.

WOW!

My brother in law is a professional photographer and was at the IROC race at Daytona where he took tons of pix, including my sister with David Pearson and Peter Gregg- and of course, Mark and all the others including Revson etc around the paddock. Still have a pile of those prints- priceless!!

Remember the first time I saw Donohue at Road America back in the late 60's- marveled at how precise he was at 5 going up under the Corvette bridge, lap afte lap... never forget it.

Must be a few of us old to remember this stuff when it actually happened!!

I have the full coverage on DVD,..yup

Great pics Kelty, about time you shared..

I would love to see that. I still remember watching them power through Turn 6 and the view looking back from 6 towards the the esses was amazing to watch a line of RSRs snaking through there. Wish I had pics of that but I think that was when I ran out of film.

Anyone know if the pace car is still around?g

You wouldn't be hijacking if you posted some of those pics here. Love to see them.

The Donohue car was racing at the Phillip island historics last weekend.

The pink car went off track?!?

Yeah, it didn't know how to go straight. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Nice photos Marc!! Thanks for sharing them.

1973 huh?? You're even older than I thought. . .

So you probably thought I don't look a day over 40....thanks....it's not easy looking this good without having any 'work' done.

Thanks,

Brings back great memories at Road America, Brainerd and Daytona.

Kelty360,

Really cool stuff and great commentary. Amazing cars with quite the pool of talent driving them.
Thanks for sharing. I let the Pelican crew in on it.
This stuff is just too good ! I am sure they will appreciate it.

I was at that race and others at RIR...boy does that bring back memories! I was a senior in high school and had just gotten an SLR camera and went to RIR and shot several rolls of slide film at this event. I have several boxes of these that I have to digitize. This might give me the push to finally do it!

I remember as a kid watching these races whenever they were on tv (Wide world of sports usually). It was awesome. I was a big Penske/Donahue fan in my early years. Just my opinion but those years in racing have never been duplicated. Maybe it's because as a kid I was in awe then, especially the Can-am cars.

If anyone is into reading find a copy of "The unfair advantage" by Mark Donahue & Paul Van Valkenburgh

Yes, by all means do it! I stayed up by Turn 6 & 7 all day so my view was limited to those two plus looking back from 6 towards the esses. It would be great to see some different angles. Turn 6 with the uphill entrance, then hairpin with downhill exit was really exciting watching the drivers power through into the straight. It's a shame this track doesn't exist anymore.

The start finish line, just before turn 1 now exists on a homeowners front lawn. There was a bronze plaque set there that is dedicated to the brave men+women that raced (and died )at RIR.
Marty

1973 Riverside Iroc, Can Am Program.
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1973 Can Am + IROC, and the new '74 914 that goes to the first place winner Can Am race. Talk about the value of prize money back then ! Click to view attachment

'73 IROC lineup and 911 specs.Click to view attachment

And the mighty #6 917/30 for all of us Mark fans !Click to view attachment

Incredible find Marty! Where did you come up with that? I'm pretty sure I never got a program or I'd certainly have saved it. Too cheap to spend a buck. Thanks for posting that.

Wonder what Donohue did with the 914 he won?

I meant to post all of this earlier in the week, but had server issues.
My '73 program was loaned to a friend of mine in Geneva. I was in Switzerland some years ago on vacation. ..and he handed it back to me. Now it's parked in my library right next to Donohue's "Unfair Advantage", first print, autographed .
I think that there was an old Panorama with a story on his 914 ?
Marty

So were you also at the race?

I went to RIR that year for the L.A.Times Gran Prix with neighbors from L.A .
in a motorhome. We parked along the big back straight (turn 8 to 9) best views around ! When the 917 panzers were banned, I didn't visit the track for a couple years. After I bought my '74 914, I joined POC in '75 and was back at Riverside at least 3 times a year. I also spectated during the IMSA gtp days, open pits and all !
Marty

Mark Donohue IROCClick to view attachment

Getting around the Hot Pits cost about $10.00Click to view attachment

How about this 911R for return- on -investment in 2014 dollars?
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Great pic! I could be in that one, standing along the fence line. That's the top of the hill going into Turn 7 I think. To bad they didn't get the Pace Car in that shot.

Found a pic of the prize car in a recent 914World thread.

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