1967 Camaro SS convertible show car

[StealthBird]

Awesome photos of the Chaparral 2J! Thanks for posting!

The 2J was actually a Chevrolet Test Vehicle. At the end of the 1969 Can-Am season, the governing body was concerned about all the flippers, movable wings, and other knick-knacks being developed, so they banned "movable aerodynamic devices" for the 1970 season. That left Chaparral up the creek without a paddle, because Jim Hall based their entire operation on aerodynamics, wings, and innovation.

Jim Hall worked closely with Chevrolet on engine development and suspension technology. One day when visiting the Chevrolet engineers, he explained the new Can-Am rules and how it would affect Chaparral. They showed him this test vehicle they were using that created artificial downforce by pulling the air out from under the car, creating a vacuum that would suck the entire body to the track. Jim Hall asked if he could borrow it to study, and to his surprise, Chevrolet told him to just take the car. Hall had to make it race worthy, but he knew he would have an enormous advantage over the McLarens if he could make this odd looking shoebox of a vehicle reliable enough to endure a Can-Am race.

When it first appeared, drivers and crews all walked down pit lane to examine it. They said the two-stroke engines that operated the fans in back would fire up, making a loud, steady whine. They watched in disbelief as the entire car then squatted down a couple inches. Then they fired up the Chevy V8, then drove out on the track.
It was ridiculously fast.

The McLaren team had absolutely dominated Can-Am for the past few years. In fact, in 1969, they came in 1-2 at every single race (seriously, all 11 races of the 1969 season). There was no catching them.

But during qualifying, it was obvious this Chaparral 2J was not on the same planet as the other cars. Bruce McLaren was pushing as hard as he could to get pole position, to the point of crashing. And during a practice session, McLaren was taking a sweeping corner as fast he he could, and the Chaparral 2J went around McLaren, on the OUTSIDE of the turn. Crew members said that McLaren came into the pits, jumped out his car, and threw his helmet in frustration. The 2J was proving to be almost 2 seconds a lap faster than the rest of the field.

Teams protested (McLaren the loudest) that Chaparral violated the rules about "movable aerodynamic devices". The 2J had Lexan skirts (which you can see in the excellent photos above) that rode on slider rollers. When the car was sucked down, the Lexan pieces maintained a tight seal against the road. McLaren claimed these were "movable aerodynamic devices" which violated the rules. The teams held a meeting WITHOUT Jim Hall and the Chaparral Team. McLaren stated that if Chaparral were allowed to continue, they would dominate the series (an odd thing to say, considering McLaren had totally dominated the series up to this point). The Can-Am governing body sided with McLaren, and the Chaparral 2J was banned.

Jim Hall and Chaparral left the Can-Am series in disgust, and never came back. With innovation now strangled, Chaparral out of the picture, and the untimely death of Bruce McLaren, the Can-Am series died in 1974.