24 Hours of Daytona
February 6, 1977
Ferrari 365 GTB/4 S/N16407
Did Not Start
John was teamed up with Bobby Carradine and Roy Woods for this race.
“The team (Modena Sports Cars) had started out splashy in 1977 with three cars and between Daytona and Sebring having movie actor drivers Bobby Carradine and Paul Newman, also Dick Smothers along with drivers Bob Bondurant, Elliott Forbes-Robinson, John Cannon and Milt Minter. They had fancy uniforms from Ferrari of San Francisco and people wearing gold chains falling over people in the pits also wearing gold chains. Carradine stuffed our car in a guardrail at Daytona.”
racingsportscars.com photo
12 Hours of Sebring
Ferrari 365 GTB/4 S/N16407
March 19, 1977
3rd in class
John teamed with Bobby Carradine. They finished eighth overall and third in class.
Morton collection – photo courtesy of autosportsltd.com
Hallett Motor Racing Circuit
Tulsa, Oklahoma
July 24, 1977
IMSA (Round 10) GTU
Oldsmobile Cutlass
DNF
Can-Am
When the SCCA decided to revive the Can Am Series in 1977, they did so with a new rules package, converting old F5000 cars to closed bodywork. John converted his car and race it in the Can Am series. Despite operating on a shoestring budget, John was able to finish 3rd twice in 1977.
Lola T333 Can-Am Willow Springs testing
After a rule change in 1977, the T332 F5000 car was converted to Can-Am specifications with a wide body and single seat. “The first letter from the SCCA on the body change hit me like a bad joke,” Morton remembered. “In 1977 I had just scrapped together enough money for a Lola and now I had to find six grand more to buy totally untested bodywork from Carl Haas. The first remakes took off like airplanes with Brian Redman and Elliott Forbes-Robinson. That’s what happens when committees draw pictures of race cars. Trevor came by my shop, scratched his head then took a roll of masking tape and marked off the places to cut holes in the body to let the air out from under it.”
Morton remembered: “We did all-nighters trying to get ready for the first race, cutting holes in the bodywork. “Yes,” Trevor chuckled. “It did go from skateboard to resembling a fiberglass hunk of Swiss cheese.” To the surprise of many, Carl Haas included, it kept its wheels on the ground and eventually evolved into a stable of successful second wave Can-Am cars: the Prophet, the Spyder, as well as Trevor’s own very successful Frissbee.
Below John test drives at Willow Springs with yarn on the car so Trevor Harris can evaluate the car’s aerodynamics.
Morton collection
Morton collection – Sylvia Wilkinson photo
Mid Ohio Can-Am
Lola T333
August 7, 1977
DNF (12 laps)
Mosport
Lola T333
August 21, 1977
17th
In the inaugural year for the “new” Can-Am in 1977 Morton appeared at Mosport driving a converted Lola 332 with a conversion kit paid for with his movie stunts. He qualified third in the car he had single-handedly prepared but lost his motor in the race.
Qualifying results:
Morton collection
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
Camel GT Challenge
Holbert Racing DeKon Monza
August 28, 1977
15th
Morton collection
Sears Point Raceway
September 25, 1977
Lola T333 Chevrolet
3rd
John put his Lola on the front row at Sears Point beside Patrick Tambay’s factory entry, still preparing the car himself. That feat — racing a professional series without a paid team to take care of the car — could not be duplicated in today’s professional racing.
“I ran the car on prize money. About $17,000.”
Morton collection
Morton collection
Qualifying results:
Race results:
“I kept doing my own preparation during the week and had a friend mechanic, Jonesy Morris, help me on weekends when I was driving. A high point for me was qualifying second at Sears Point beside the factory Lola with Patrick Tambay driving.”
John Morton collection – Autoweek
John Morton collection – Vacaville Reporter
Riverside Raceway
Lola T333 Chevrolet
October 16, 1977
3rd
Morton collection
John Morton collection – LA Times
Morton collection
Morton collection
Daytona Finale (250 Miles)
Camel GT Challenge (round 15)
November 27, 1977
Oldsmobile Cutlass
DNF (16 laps)
Photo gallery
Morton collection
Morton collection
Morton collection
Morton collection
Morton collection
Morton collection
Greased Lightning
John: “Every stunt guy on Greased Lightning got one big one to do because the big ones paid the big money. The cannon, where they rig gunpowder to blow a driver-activated telephone pole down a tube to the ground at an angle, rolls the car multiple times depending on the size of the charge. It was the only stunt left that nobody wanted to do, so I did it. The first time nothing happened when I pushed the button because nobody connected the wires to the battery. I had to get my nerve up all over again. The second time it went big and I rolled it six or seven times down the middle of the track. I had a headache for two days.”
Morton collection
John flipping a flathead Ford in a cannon roll
John jumping off a barn in Greased Lightning with a chicken under each arm
“In the collapsing barn stunt, I wasn’t in a car. I had to jump out of the loft as a car ran through and the barn collapsed. When it was about to happen, I suddenly realized I didn’t really want to jump but I was committed because the off-camera bulldozer was going to pull the barn out from under me whether I jumped or not. I never saw those two chickens I was holding again.”
Morton collection
Morton collection
Morton collection