I thank my dad for taking me and my brother to the 1969 Riverside Grand Prix Can-Am event, while listening to the Rams game at the same time. Got to meet Bruce and Denny before the pre-race driver parade. Wish I'd been able to go into the pits that day, I might have then pursued my dream of being a race mechanic, or at least a glorified go-fer.
the Number 5 McLaren M8D was Denis Hulme, and he was from New Zealand, like his compatriots Chris Amon (in the STP March) and the late Bruce McLaren. Bruce died earlier in 1970 while testing the M8D when the rear bodywork fasteners failed and the wing pressure caused the rear body to fly off, losing control and hitting practically the only structure in the area, a marshal station. The wings pressure was then changed to directly push down on the chassis structure. I still remember the shock and depression I had in high school hearing about the accident early in the morning.
Peter Gethin in McLaren #7 filled in for McLaren from race 4 till the end of the season. Dan Gurney had filled in for the first 3 races admirably while Hulme was still recovering from burns suffered at Indianapolis that year.
The Number 1 BRM P154 Chevy was driven by Pedro Rodriquez of Porsche endurance racing fame. Sadly, he would also perish not long afterwards in a racing accident. Another car, #98, was driven by George Eaton of the Canadian Eaton stores family and DNF'ed due to accident on lap 11..
Elford took the pole IIRC, but suffered an engine failure in warm up and DNS.
Not seen yet, but probably in the picture files was the very interesting Autocoast Ti-22 mk. II driven by Jackie Oliver, a very quick and well sorted, well engineered car which placed 2nd. The car was later written off and burned in a race accident at the last event in Texas IIRC.
There were over 30 cars that started.
http://www.racingsportscars.com/race/Laguna_Seca-1970-10-18.html
http://www.racingsportscars.com/results/Laguna_Seca-1970-10-18.html
The photo gallery in the above website is missing alot of pics from this race. Your find will certainly fill in a few of those if you share them. Man, I'd sure go back and see if there were more slide boxes to check.