Review - Lost in Time F5000

[@andrewprentice8857]

Great review! Thanks! Formula 5000 has legendary status here in Australia. The very fact that it thrived here (down-under) for several years indicates that it was a financially viable category for a short while. Eventually F5000 lost out to touring cars as the tin-tops (as they were called then) became more recognizable to Joe Public. The loss of F5000 in Australia, by the early 80's, has been mourned ever since.

[@haroldosmer9803]

Thank you! Family and i were just out your way. Did the Sydney-New Zealand-Sydney cruise. Couldn't get up to North Island for the midget races. Maybe next time. FYI: I've created the Turkey Night Grand Prix program for over 20 years. [Your] Super Cars put on a terrific show.

[@jimcooke7147]

Kenny Smith - Down Under F5000 King

[@chriswirges5202]

I was at the Riverside Grand Prix and the Long Beach Formula 5000 race. The cars were amazing and all the big names drove.

[@westhillswood51]

Excellent! A Vels-Parnelli F5000 sold at auction recently and the guy brought it to the local cars & coffee one Sunday. Surprising how small those awesome cars are/were.

[@haroldosmer9803]

Ah, yes, before the days of strict series focus for drivers.

[@davidcummings2020]

I think we need another Formula 5000 series kick off internationally If done right it would attract big names and cool tracks

[@haroldosmer9803]

Indeed. There are many local groups with the old spirit but top teams and names are all vying for the tv dollars, which tend to flock together. This book tells much of that story in reasonable (early) detail.

[@AOrr-e4i]

Saw Mark Donahue drive away from everyone else at Road Atlanta! Made me want to go open wheel racing and I did. Hold record at Chimney Rock hillclimb! F440!

[@haroldosmer9803]

Excellent! Inspiration comes in many forms.

[@williammitchell4195]

I lived near Watkins Glen, and always went to all the races between1967 to 73. I always thought F5000 was one of the best shows of the year. I was very disappointed when the series was cancelled, like the CAN/AM, Trans Am, the early 70's were a great time for racing !

[@westhillswood51]

Yes, it was just ahead of the times. Had they been around a couple of more years when the tv boom hit...

[@paulschweigert1572]

We always camped outside of corner one , spent most of the race at the toe of the boot taking pictures from 68 to mid 80s

[@dgomes265]

Great series , saw Mario run away with the wet race at Mosport in 74 until his engine started to go away and then Brian Redman went on to win the race They also races against F1 cars at Brands Hatch in the non points race

[@haroldosmer9803]

It was indeed an exciting time for motorsports. There were many opportunities for innovation.

[@buckodonnghaile4309]

Mosport (or whatever they're calling it now) is such a great track.

[@o2benaz]

Was at Watkins Glen (F1, Can-Am) during the early seventies and saw Jackie Oliver in his UOP shadow Fittipaldi in his Lotus, Lord Hesketh, and Niki Lauda, who only missed his braking point by a cars lenght.

[@westhillswood51]

Racing memories stay with us!

[@FabianofNazareth1968]

Thanks for this, brought to light a subject that I'd only heard in passing. Keep up the good work!

[@westhillswood51]

Thank you. F5000's timing was just a bit off. Too bad as it was a fantastic series.

[@WayneMartin6WksTo6Figrs]

My friend's dad bought him an F5000 Car. It was called a Spartan, and I think it was constructed in Sacramento, CA. It was so long ago that I may have the name wrong. It was very basic by today's standards. What a great time to be at the track!

[@haroldosmer9803]

F5000 was a great idea and produced some wonderful racing. This book tells the tale well.

[@Michael_Lorenson]

Cool, thanks

[@terrystokes3577]

Great info. But as a Team memeber in 1975 with VPJ Racing, there is another facit to the story. The US Gov. passed a new advertising ban on the mass media advert. of Cigaretts effective January 1, 1976. This caused several teams to loose big money sponsers like Viceroy. A lot of teams shut downs or dropped the second car and released team members and supprt The 1976 Season was very thin.

[@haroldosmer9803]

Yes. Unfortunate timing. As mentioned, NASCAR finally broke through the tv barrier in 1979. That could have helped F5000.

[@WA-eg7ft]

I grew up down the street from the main gate of Riverside on Eucalyptus. The F 5000 cars were always my favorite. I could tell you when it was a F 5000 car from our house. Even the gear and corner the car was running through. Best sounding of any cars out there.

[@haroldosmer9803]

Wonderful. There's nothing quite like the sound of fully wound V8!

[@_JimS]

And don't forget Mario Andretti, Al Unser Sr. Al Unser Jr., Bobby Rahal, Danny Sullivan raced this series too. What a wonderful series but so short lived....such a shame. These cars were Monsters!!!

[@haroldosmer9803]

Yes sir! Keep in mind that the race calendar wasn't as tight then as now. Pay was alos lower so drivers were in a bind to get as many good finishes as they could. Plus it was great race with the best in all disciplines.

[@w.peterroberts9624]

All of the F5000 drivers were brave as Dick Tracy. The cars were fast !!

[@michaelholley5023]

Stumbled across you today...Glad I did. Sub'd ;) (Then I stumbled over the price of the book. Wish listed for now)

[@haroldosmer9803]

Thank you!. Yes, book prices are right up there with everything else over the past three or four years now. The history is wonderful and this book is a good place to keep it safe.

[@fintonmainz7845]

F1 brought in a rule that no F1 race could be held at a track which held races for single-seater cars over 2 litres. Protectionism. Motorsports (particularly Europe) needs an alternate single-seater option.

[@haroldosmer9803]

Sooooo many behind the scenes machinations still take place with top level motorsports.

[@fintonmainz7845]

@@haroldosmer9803 that rule was brought into f1 because of f5000

[@donaldfedosiuk1638]

I got to see a few F5000 races, mostly at Lime Rock and I'm here to tell you, the cars were VERY impressive! As were the rosters of name drivers that showed up to drive them. But I have to take serious issue with your contention that they were faster than the F1 cars of the day. In the UK, there were a number of non-championship races at venues like Brands Hatch, Silverstone and the like in which F5000 machines competed against F1 cars, and to the best of my recollection, the F1s were always quicker in qualis and always beat the stock-blockers. In the US, there were seldom many (if any) F1 cars available to run against F5000 competition, but one such that did was a Brabham ( a BT26 tube-framer?) with a DFV Cossie driven by a Texan named Gus Hutchinson that was always seriously faster -- reliability issues and (if I'm remembering it right) small fuel tanks kept it from winning as often as it should have.

[@haroldosmer9803]

It's just a book review. Another comment complains on the same point and I replied with this: A quick search of "F1 vs F5000 lap times" shows they were nearly even on the same circuits. Mechanical failures were common in both series in that era. Then there's this quote found during the quick search: “I tested the Formula 1 car at Riverside before the 1975 season, and I couldn’t match the Formula 5000 times. God, I was so disillusioned!” Andretti laughs. “That Lola really suited me. Eric Broadley was a magician when it came to suspension geometry, and I understood what the car needed to hit the sweet spot. I don’t think anybody could beat me in that Formula 5000 car.” Suffice to say, had F5000 stayed in operation, it would have been a lot more fun at the race track.

[@donaldfedosiuk1638]

It wasn't meant as a personal attack. Simply an observation that -- to the best of my knowledge and in the UK at least -- F1 cars always beat F5000s in actual head-to-head races.

[@haroldosmer9803]

@@donaldfedosiuk1638 No worries here. F1 and F5000 of the era varied widely in design so pitting one versus another often produced different results. Failures were common, tracks favored some aspects over another, and memories are point specific. The Mario Andretti quote still stands.

[@donaldfedosiuk1638]

@@haroldosmer9803 And for the record, I LOVED F5000. And enjoyed your review -- it brouht back good memories.

[@haroldosmer9803]

​@@donaldfedosiuk1638 Thank you. I talk more in a video than I do in a typical day.

[@buckodonnghaile4309]

They used to race Formula 5000 at Mosport in my ptovince in Canada. I dont remember much of it as i was in diapers, but my dad and uncles thought it was great racing.

[@haroldosmer9803]

Yes, much like my own situation. But as a kid, I could somehow relate to the cool looking F5000 over Indy Cars of the time.

[@johncunningham4820]

Over here in Australia we also ran an F-5000 series . Our Local cars ran the 308 Holden V-8 . Only engine specified . Nor 302 Fords . At 5044 cc's , they would have been Illegal in the American series . The " Big Bangers " as they were known . Big " Proven Product " relatively low tech Engines did make the Racing " Cheaper 😂" for sure . And GOD YES , they were F A S T .

[@haroldosmer9803]

Oh yes! There is a lot of fun to be had with a "stock block" racing series.

[@amelierenoncule]

My God-father, mon cheri, attended the QUESTOR GP at Ontario SW...and the F5000's were NOT quicker that the F1's that they competed against. Look it up.

[@haroldosmer9803]

A quick search of "F1 vs F5000 lap times" shows they were nearly even on the same circuits. Mechanical failures were common in both series in that era. Then there's this quote found during the quick search: “I tested the Formula 1 car at Riverside before the 1975 season, and I couldn’t match the Formula 5000 times. God, I was so disillusioned!” Andretti laughs. “That Lola really suited me. Eric Broadley was a magician when it came to suspension geometry, and I understood what the car needed to hit the sweet spot. I don’t think anybody could beat me in that Formula 5000 car.” Suffice to say, had F5000 stayed in operation, it would have been a lot more fun at the race track.

[@paulbrookes5365]

F5000 ended because there was to be no threat to F1...

[@haroldosmer9803]

The whole of professional auto racing faced a crossroads in this era. The old guard was changing again, technology brought more opportunities, and television hadn't yet provided trunk loads of cash to the game.

[@413TomaccoRoad]

David Hobbs in Brian Redman's car?

[@haroldosmer9803]

The opening narration is the words of David Hobbs as quoted from the book. The opening image is of Brian Redman as seen on the hardcover of the book. The dust jacket has a different image. Still following? A twisted tale, to be sure.

[@413TomaccoRoad]

@@haroldosmer9803 I saw Redman drive the Group 44 Jags in the 80s with Bob Tullius. 3x at Lime Rock. I never saw D5000 there but Hobbs won. I did see a Trans Am race there in 1970. Parnelli Jones won in the Boss 302 and Sam Posey came in 3rd with the bright green Challenger. Hobbs has always been one of my favorite racinf commentators. I only knew of Hobbs as the F1 broadcaster, (among other racing series in the US) when I heard Murray Walker for the first time..I thought ".oh - that's awful. Varsha and Hobbs are much better." 😆

[@westhillswood51]

Racing seemed more accessible back then. With that comes great memories! - H.O. @@413TomaccoRoad

[@marisagarcia7046]

I bought a storage unit, and there is a lot of f5000 and other motorsport racing photos and ephemera from the late 50s to early 70s even 3 racing helmets anyone interested im in california

[@haroldosmer9803]

email me at [e-mail] and I'll see what we can do.

[@marisagarcia7046]

@@haroldosmer9803 sent you an email already