The penultimate race in the 1973 Formula One World Championship season at the Mosport Park circuit near Toronto marked the first occasion on which a safety car was used in a Grand Prix. It was not exactly an auspicious beginning, the car’s introduction creating wholesale confusion which lasted until long after the chequered flag had been shown.
With Jackie Stewart having already clinched his third drivers’ title, the outcome of the Canadian Grand Prix was academic apart from whether Tyrrell or Lotus would take the constructors’ title. In misty, damp conditions Ronnie Peterson put his JPS Lotus on pole, ahead of the McLarens of Peter Revson and Jody Scheckter. Race morning produced heavy rain, turning the untimed practice session into a lottery as a succession of cars spun off. The conditions were so appalling that the organisers allowed three exploratory laps before the race finally got under way 40 minutes late.
Peterson was first away in a plume of spray but the Swede was on Goodyear tyres, and judging by the way that Niki Lauda on Firestones had come through from the fourth row on the grid to be third at the end of the opening lap, it was quickly clear that these were better suited to the wet track. On lap three Lauda’s BRM calmly went past Scheckter and Peterson to take the lead and proceeded to draw away at the extraordinary rate of four seconds per lap. With cars spinning at regular intervals, Peterson lurched into a guard rail on lap 17 because of a deflating tyre, but as the track began to dry out, Lauda dived into the pits three laps later to change to intermediate tyres. When the Austrian rejoined the race, he had dropped to eighth behind Emerson Fittipaldi (JPS Lotus), Jackie Oliver (Shadow), François Cevert (Tyrrell), Scheckter, Stewart (Tyrrell), Howden Ganley (Williams) and Carlos Reutemann (Brabham).
The pits were now full of drivers changing from wets to intermediates, with the result that it became difficult to know who was actually leading the race. When the leaders came in, Jean-Pierre Beltoise’s BRM took over briefly until he, too, pitted. In this state of confusion when some of the front-runners had come in and others hadn’t, Scheckter and Cevert collided going into Turn Two on lap 33 while battling for fourth place. Although neither driver was badly injured, their damaged cars partially blocked the track, bringing the safety car into play for the first time. The driver of the safety vehicle waved a number of cars past until, to the surprise of just about everyone, it took up station immediately ahead of Ganley. The New Zealander had started three rows from the back of the grid and was not leading by anyone’s calculations … except, apparently, those of the safety driver. Stewart and Fittipaldi were tucked in behind Ganley and an orderly queue duly formed. Those who capitalised most from the situation were Revson and Oliver who, being just ahead of Ganley, were able to continue at normal race speed until they fell in at the back of the 21-car queue. Meanwhile argument was raging in the pits as to who was leading. Was it Fittipaldi? Or Oliver? Or Revson? The only thing the teams seemed to agree upon was that it definitely wasn’t Howden Ganley.
When the safety car eventually turned off, Ganley proceeded to drive an inspired race, holding Stewart and Fittipaldi at bay for eight laps. By now the general consensus of opinion was that the real race leader was Oliver, with Fittipaldi second nearly a lap behind, but nobody could be sure. Fittipaldi soon passed Stewart and began to rein in Oliver, who lost precious seconds on lap 47 when the Shadow developed sticking throttle slides. By lap 76 – with just four to go – excitement was high as Fittipaldi and Oliver ran nose to tail. But what neither they nor any of the spectators knew was that they weren’t battling for the lead at all – they were competing for second place.
On the penultimate lap Fittipaldi managed to pass Oliver and held on to what he thought was the finish. As the Brazilian crossed the line, Lotus team chief Colin Chapman threw his cap into the air in celebration … but there was no sign of the chequered flag. Half a lap later the flag was suddenly waved at a gaggle of cars comprising Ganley, Revson, James Hunt, Reutemann and Mike Hailwood. With Lotus still claiming a Fittipaldi win, it emerged that the flag was meant for Revson who had gained virtually a whole lap when the safety car picked up the wrong car! Fittipaldi had, in fact, been a lap behind when the safety car left the track.
Amid much discussion, interspersed with occasional acrimony, the winner’s trophy was presented to Revson. Three hours later, when all the drivers’ lap times had been examined and re-examined, the American was confirmed as the winner with Fittipaldi second and Oliver third. Having tasted his 15 minutes of fame, Ganley was officially placed sixth.
At the inquest into the confusion, it was generally accepted that the safety car principle was fine … but that it would help if in future it picked up the right car.