The groundwork for the first-ever USAC Indy Car race in Canada was laid in 1966 during the Kawartha 250 USAC Stock Car race at Mosport. Canadian Billy Foster was competing in that race and also brought his Indy Car for a 10-lap demonstration. The demonstration also served as a test to see how the Indy Cars would handle Mosport. With the test a success, work began on getting USAC officials to schedule a race for the following year.

Mosport

The Indy Car visit was scheduled for June 16-17, 1967 in a 200-lap event called the Telegram Trophy Race. This was only the second time in history that the USAC Indy Cars had raced on a road course. The previous autumn they had competed at the Mount Fuji circuit in Japan.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, the weekend was filled with rain. Since the series normally only raced on ovals, there was no provision for a rain event. The rain cut into the scheduled practice time so that when the cars rolled out for qualifying the drivers still had little experience with the Mosport course. Mario Andretti crashed into the turn 10 guardrail during qualifying when he hit oil dropped by Jim Hurtibise. At the end of the qualifying session only 17 cars had taken a qualifying run. The remaining five spots would be filled by any drivers in the top-10 USAC points. Any remaining positions would be filled by a draw. Car owner Gordon Van Liew pulled his two drivers Ronnie Bucknam and Larry Dickson from the event in protest. Bobby Unser took the pole position with a time of 1:26.22.

Race day on Satuday, June 17, 1967 was overcast and threatening rain. The day began with two races for the local racers. The first race was a 12-lap Production Sports Car event won by Al Pease. The second was also 12 laps and was for sedans. This race was won by Craig Fisher.

After lunch, the 22 starting cars were rolled onto the grid in front of 39,500 fans. Tony Hulman, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, gave the command to start engines. The rain started falling immediately after and the start of the race was put on hold. As the afternoon wore on and there was no sign of the rain letting up, a quick race was put together consisting of the production sports cars and sedans that raced earlier in the day. That race was won by Ray Gray.

Finally at 5:15 pm the race was officially postponed and rescheduled for July 1.



The event was to be split into two 40-lap, 100 mile heats. The crowd was even larger this time - over 52,000 fans in attendance. Bobby Unser started on the pole for the first heat with Lloyd Ruby along side. Some of the top drivers had not completed their qualifying two weeks before. Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Bob Harkey, Joe Leonard and Art Pollard obtained their starting positions based on their USAC points and would start at the back of the field.

Llolyd Ruby got the jump on Unser at the drop of the green flag and took the lead and held it for the first 15 laps. Ruby had to pit due to a cut tire which gave the lead to Unser. Mario Andretti snapped a half-shaft on lap 5 and spent most of the first heat in the pits getting it replaced. Foyt had rad problems and despite moving up to ninth place, was never in a position to challenge for the lead.

Mario Andretti rejoined the race on lap 38 and put in the fastest speed of the weekend at over 178 MPH. Roger McCluskey made a charge in the final six laps and made up 6 seconds on leader Bobby Unser. He didn't have enough time and ended only a car-length behind Unser for second spot. Gordon Johncock took third, Lloyd Ruby came back from his pit stop to finish fourth and Arnie Knepper was fifth.

The skies were darkening and were looking very threatening so the time between heats was reduced. The cars were quickly refueled, new tires put on and lined up again for the second heat. The starting order of the second heat was the finishing order of the first heat. That meant that Bobby Unser and Roger McCluskey would start on the front row.
The second heat was quickly under way and Bobby Unser took the lead. The rain started falling on lap two and the yellow flag came out. The cars held position for the next four laps and on lap six the race was red-flagged and the checkered was shown.

Unser was the overall winner of the event and picked up $17,750 for his win. Roger McCluskey was second and Gordon Johncock, third.

After the race Bobby Unser defended USAC's decision to call the event, "We try to give the people good, hard racing. We feel we can't do that in the rain. Sure, we could run in the rain, but it wouldn't be a race."

Admission Prices for this Event
General Admission: $5.00
Paddock Access: $5.00
Grandstand Seat: $2.00

Telegram Trophy Race - Heat 1
July 1, 1967

Fin	Start	Num	Driver	Chassis-Engine	Laps	Status
1	1	6	Bobby Unser	Eagle-Ford	40	Running
2	10	12	Roger McCluskey	Eagle-Ford	40	Running
3	3	3	Gordon Johncock	Gerhardt-Ford	40	Running
4	2	25	Lloyd Ruby	Mongoose-Ford	40	Running
5	5	20	Arnie Knepper	Mongoose-Ford	40	Running
6	6	5	Al Unser	Lola-Ford	40	Running
7	17	14	A.J. Foyt	Eagle-Ford	40	Running
8	9	90	Jim Hurtabise	Watson-Ford	39	Running
9	16	16	Art Pollard	Gerhard-Offy	39	Running
10	18	4	Joe Leonard	Eagle-Ford	39	Running
11	12	33	Rick Muther	Lola-Offy	38	Running
12	13	54	Wally Dallenbach	Huffaker-Offy	38	Running
13	22	10	Bud Tinglestad	Gerhardt-Ford	38	Running
14	11	45	Johnny Rutherford	Eagle-Ford	38	Running
15	7	41	Carl Williams	BRP-Ford	37	Running
16	21	35	Ralph Ligouri	Watson-Ford	29	Running
17	8	78	Jerry Grant	Eagle-Ford	25	Spun out
18	19	57	Bob Harkey	Gerhardt-Offy	17	Oil leak
19	20	22	Larry Dickson	Lotus-Offy	10	Fuel problems
20	14	96	Gary Congdon	Eisert-Chevrolet	6	Spun out
21	15	1	Mario Andretti	Hawk-Ford	3	Broken half-shaft
22	4	29	Bob Hurt	Gerhardt-Offy	2	Broken rod
-	NS	2	Jim McElreath	Moore	-
-	NS	23	Ronnie Bucknam	Gerhardt-Ford	-
-	NS	98	Ronnie Duman	Shrike	-

Telegram Trophy Race - Heat 2
July 1, 1967

Fin	Start	Num	Driver	Chassis-Engine	Laps	Status
1	1	6	Bobby Unser	Eagle-Ford	6	Running
2	2	12	Roger McCluskey	Eagle-Ford	6	Running
3	3	3	Gordon Johncock	Gerhardt-Ford	6	Running
4	4	25	Lloyd Ruby	Mongoose-Ford	6	Running
5	5	5	Al Unser	Lola-Ford	6	Running
6	6	20	Arnie Knepper	Mongoose-Ford	6	Running
7	7	14	A.J. Foyt	Eagle-Ford	6	Running
8	10	33	Joe Leonard	Eagle-Ford	6	Running
9	9	4	Jim Hurtabise	Watson-Ford	6	Running
10	11	33	Rick Muther	Lola-Offy	6	Running
11	20	1	Mario Andretti	Hawk-Ford	6	Running
12	12	54	Wally Dallenbach	Huffaker-Offy	6	Running
13	13	10	Bud Tinglestad	Gerhardt-Ford	6	Running
14	14	45	Johnny Rutherford	Eagle-Ford	6	Running
15	15	41	Carl Williams	Eagle-Ford	6	Running
16	10	22	Larry Dickson	BRP-Ford	6	Running
17	18	57	Bob Harkey	Gerhardt-Ford	6	Running
18	21	23	Ronnie Buckham	Gerhardt-Ford	6	Running
19	16	35	Ralph Liguori	Watson-Ford	6	Running
20	17	78	Jerry Grant	Eagle-Ford	4	Throttle
21	8	16	Art Pollard	Gerhardt-Offy	3	Hit by rock

Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant

The USAC Indy Cars returned to Canada a little over a month later for the Labatt Indy at Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant on August 6.

Bobby Unser took the pole with a time of 1:39.38. Like Mosport, the Tremblant race was ran in two heats. The heats were 36 laps each this time. There were about 41,000 fans in attendance.

One of the supporting races that morning was for production sports cars. Bill Brack started at the back of the 22 car field and charged to a second place finish behind winner Francis Favreau.

The start of the first Indy Car heat was delayed by an hour to clean the track of oil left over from the supporting races. In the first heat, Mario Andretti started third but took the lead on the first corner and led every lap on his way to victory. Bobby Unser was running in second until his engine blew on lap 10. Bill Vukovich, Jr dropped out due to a broken fuel line. Bruce Jacobi broke a front axle at the entrance to Namerow Corner and one his wheels bounced into the crowd, slightly injuring two spectators.

Only seven cars finished the first heat on the lead lap. Following winner Andretti were A.J. Foyt, Ronnie Buckham, Lloyd Ruby, Al Unser, Joe Leonard and Gordon Johncock.

The second heat was lined up according to the finishing order of the first heat. Bobby Unser was able to enter the second heat when he borrowed Johnny Rutherford's car. Rutherford loaned the car so Unser would have a chance at maintaining his USAC points lead.

Andretti dominated the second heat as well, eventually taking a 30 second victory over A.J. Foyt. Lloyd Ruby was third. Andretti picked up $13,000 for his win.

Labatt Indy - Heat 1
August 6, 1967

Fin	Start	Num	Driver	Chassis-Engine	Laps	Status
1	3	1	Mario Andretti	Hawk-Ford	36	Running
2	7	14	A.J. Foyt	Coyote-Ford	36	Running
3	2	23	Ronnie Bucknam	Gerhardt-Ford	36	Running
4	4	25	Lloyd Ruby	Mongoose-Ford	36	Running
5	12	5	Al Unser	Lola-Ford	36	Running
6	6	20	Joe Leonard	Mongoose-Ford	36	Running
7	8	3	Gordon Johncock	Gerhardt-Ford	36	Running
8	11	54	Wally Dallenbach	Huffaker-Offy	35	Running
9	10	22	Larry Dickson	Lotus-Ford	35	Running
10	16	29	Bob Hurt	Gerhardt-Offy	35	Running
11	19	33	Rick Muther	Lola-Offy	35	Running
12	13	2	Jim McElreath	Moore-Ford	35	Running
13	17	85	Al Miller	Gerhardt-Offy	35	Running
14	14	41	Carl Williams	BRP-Ford	35	Running
15	21	47	Johnny Rutherford	Eagle-Ford	34	Running
16	22	96	Gary Congdon	Eisert-Ford	32	Running
17	23	90	Jim Hurtibise	Watson-Ford	29	Running
18	5	78	Jerry Grant	Eagle-Ford	27	Running
19	18	67	Jim Malloy	Vollstedt-Ford	20	Running
20	20	73	Bruce Jacobi	Gerhardt-Offy	16	Slid off track
21	15	20	Bud Tinglestad	Gerhardt-Ford	13	Rear end
22	1	6	Bobby Unser	Eagle-Ford	10	Blown engine
23	24	98	Bill Vukovich Jr	Shrike-Offy	8	Running
24	9	12	Roger McCluskey	Eagle-Ford	4	Accident

Labatt Indy - Heat 2
August 6, 1967

Fin	Start	Num	Driver	Chassis-Engine	Laps	Status
1	1	1	Mario Andretti	Hawk-Ford	36	Running
2	2	14	A.J. Foyt	Coyote-Ford	36	Running
3	4	25	Lloyd Ruby	Mongoose-Ford	36	Running
4	7	3	Gordon Johncock	Gerhardt-Ford	36	Running
5	5	5	Al Unser	Lola-Ford	36	Running
6	6	20	Joe Leonard	Mongoose-Ford	36	Running
7	16	90	Jim Hurtibise	Watson-Ford	35	Running
8	17	78	Jerry Grant	Eagle-Ford	35	Running
9	10	29	Bob Hurt	Gerhardt-Offy	34	Running
10	11	33	Rick Muther	Lola-Offy	34	Running
11	18	98	Bill Vukovich Jr	Shrike-Offy	31	Running
12	3	23	Ronnie Bucknam	Gerhardt-Ford	31	Ignition
13	19	47	Bobby Unser	Eagle-Ford	30	Fuel pickup
14	13	85	Al Miller	Gerhardt-Offy	26	Water leak
15	8	54	Wally Dallenbach	Huffaker-Offy	23	Crankshaft
16	12	2	Jim McElreath	Moore-Ford	17	Spun off track
17	14	41	Carl Williams	BRP-Ford	15	Broken valve
18	9	22	Larry Dickson	Lotus-Ford	10	Spun off track
19	15	96	Gary Congdon	Eisert-Ford	2	Spun off track
-	DNS	67	Jim Malloy	Vollstedt-Ford	-
-	DNS	73	Bruce Jacobi	Gerhardt-Offy	-
-	DNS	10	Bud Tinglestat	Gerhardt-Ford	-
-	DNS	47	Johnny Rutherford	Eagle-Ford	-
-	DNS	12	Roger McCluskey	Eagle-Ford	-