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Originally Posted by Marcus Mussa
Allen
I do not think Formula racing was taken seriously in Canada until the first real Canadian GP in 1967. The SCCA organized a race at St Jovite in September 1967 with a large field of FB cars. A British driver came over – nobody knew him, except for me, and nobody believed me when I said he would win. His name was Peter Gethin – he was on pole but broke down in the race sadly. Most of the other cars were from the States. I suppose Broeker, Brack and Couture are really the ones responsible for getting Formula racing going in Canada. Then there was this young driver from Quebec who started up in Formula Ford in 1973. According to Donaldson he came to spectate at a race (1968?) at St Jovite and thought most of us were ******s – probably a very accurate observation!
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Interesting stuff!
I dug through my memorabilia and discovered a couple of things. The 1967 CGP had no Formula car race other than the F1 crowd. They ran Touring car and Sports car support races only. Maybe they didn't want to embarrass the FJ/FV guys!
More likely they had bigger grids with the other cars and time constraints.
I have the program which shows the entry for the Sept. '67 race mentioned dubbed the "Grand Prix St. Jovite". Gethin was entered in a Brabham. I could scan this and send it to Allen if you'd like to see it.
I don't know about GV watching that particular race but I do know he was there in '70 because he did some novice races in an Alfa Romeo (GTA I think) in which I participated. I'm pleased to be able to say, like so many others, there's no shame in being beaten by him!
Cheers.