The Canadian Grand Prix on 23 September of 1973 will go down as one of the most chaotic Formula 1 races of all time, as the sport employed safety car for the first time in very wet conditions at Mosport Park which created a lap scoring nightmare at a time when it was all done manually.
The race was the penultimate one of a season fraught with tragedy - promising driver Roger Williamson perished in a fiery accident at Zandvoort and the dangers of the sport becoming mainstream headline news.
It was a rainy Sunday at Mosport Park in Canada when twenty-five cars lined up behind the pole position man, Ronnie Peterson, for the second last race of the 1973 Formula 1 season.
With Jackie Stewart having won the Drivers' World Championship in Italy two weeks earlier, in the spotlight were Tyrrell and Lotus who were fighting for the constructors' title.
By lap 24, the track started to dry resulting in heavy traffic in the pitlane which only added to the chaos in a time when pitstops were not de rigeur.
The historic moment came when the bright yellow Porsche 914 safety car driven by former F1 privateer Eppie Wietzes, was deployed after Jody Scheckter and François Cevert crashed on lap 33, but it only added to the confusion by picking up the wrong car as the leader.
The pit stops caused significant confusion, with some believing the leader to be Iso-Marlboro driver Howden Ganley had won the race. Others, including Team Lotus chief Colin Chapman, believing it to be Emerson Fittipaldi.
Chapman even went as far as to perform his traditional victory celebration of tossing his cap in the air at the end of what he believed to be the 80th lap, even though Fittipaldi was not shown the checkered flag.
McLaren’s Peter Revson was declared the winner after three hours of deliberation and confusion which included protests from Ganley's then-girlfriend (later wife) who had been keeping the team's lap chart. Ganley maintains he feels he won the race, citing the fact official lap charts have him pitting when he did not.
Sadly it was also Francois Cevert's final grand prix, a couple of weeks later he was killed in qualifying for the season finale at Watkins Glen.
The sports ever pace car driver Wietzes recalled, "I was only told what to do by the two-way radio, so any confusion that there was came from the control tower. It wasn't down to me
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