Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca wraps Classic Car Week with historic race car ... - Monterey County Herald
The three-time Formula 5000 champion shared the stage with 1969 F5000 champion Tony Adamowicz, Don Nichols, owner of the Shadow formula 5000 car, John Morton, Vern Schuppan, and Howden Ganley. “The main reason Formula 5000 came about was that it cost less than half the cost of a Formula One car,” Redman said. At Watkins Glen in the U. S. and Mosport in Canada, where the two types of cars raced in North America, there was less than a half a second between them. “Back in the 70’s there wasn’t much difference between what a Formula One driver and Formula 5000 driver could earn,” Redman said. For me, I was earning about $150,000 per year which was pretty good money in the 1970’s. That was just about as much as I could get in Formula One. His first Formula One drive was with Cooper in 1968. He finished third in his second race and crashed in the next outing at the Belgian Grand Prix. Redman thought it wasn’t until the 1980’s when Formula One salaries started to climb into the stratosphere. Driving sports cars for Ferrari in 1972, Redman discovered Ferrari doesn’t pay its drivers except in Formula One. “The first year Ferrari paid their sports car drivers was in 1972. I got $45,000 for the year for 10 races. Source: www.montereyherald.com
