John Cordts (born 23 July 1935 in Hamburg, Germany) is a former racing driver from North Bay, Ontario. He emigrated from Germany to Sweden at the age of two with his family, and then to Canada when he was in his early twenties.Cordts participated in one Formula One World Championship Grand Prix, the 1969 Canadian Grand Prix on 20 September 1969. He qualified 19th, but retired his Brabham after 10 laps with an oil leak, while lying 16th. Info from Wiki
Bio by Stephen Lathmaq
Although born in Hamburg, Germany on 23 July 1935, John Cordt’s family emigrated to Sweden when he was two years old and from there on to North Bay, Canada, when he was in his twenties. He had an interest in machinery from an early age ‘and making things go fast’ and had raced motorbikes before moving to Canada. After competing in Winter ice events he got into car racing at Green Acres circuit and once he moved on to an MGA in amateur road racing events he caught people’s attention. In 1960 he came second with it at Harewood Acres and the following year took first and third at races at Green Acres. He won again at Green Acres and was third in a 4 hr relay event at Harewood in 1962 while in 1963 drove in a 4hr Relay event at Harewood plus also took a win there. 1964 saw a switch to an Elva Courier and he contested a number of races at Mosport, with his best results being two podium finishes there during the Summer.
Dave Billes then offered him a drive in his Performance Engineering’s Chevrolet Corvette and he went on to win 1965’s Canadian Championship for big bore sports cars against strong opposition. During the year he won at Harewood plus took second and fourth at Mont-Tremblant and an Indian Summer Mosport race.
In 1966 he started off with a fifth at the Player’s 200 at Mosport and once he got his hands on a McLaren M2B results in the USRRC Championship improved, winning twice in the Mosport Spring Trophy. The following year was a busier season, now racing the McLaren at venues including Mosport, Watkins Glen, Road America, and Bridgehampton. He started off the year with a win at Harewood Acres, then fourth at Mont-Tremblant, followed by victory again at Harewood in the August and he rounded his season off with victory at Mosport.
1968 saw him contesting USRRC rounds at Bridgehampton, St.Jovite, Kent, Watkins Glen and Mid Ohio plus Can-Am rounds at Road America and Edmonton. He took podiums at Bridgehampton and Kent, plus fourth and fifth at Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio though took victory again at Harewood Acres, which he must have felt was his most successful circuit. He also teamed for a 500 mile race at Road America with Phil Seitz though they retired their Elva MkV111. During the season he set a track record of 101.8 mph at Harewood Acres that stood until the track closed in 1970.
Although he started the next year with the McLaren Elva and took fourth at Mosport, he switched to a McLaren M6B for the next race at St.Jovite and was fifth. However, there were retirements in his following Can-Am rounds at Watkins Glen, Texas and Riverside and he only had a sixth place at Laguna Seca with the Young American Racing team. He was given the opportunity to compete in 1969’s Canadian GP with Paul Seitz’s Brabham BT23B-Climax, though after qualifying nineteenth he had to retire after 10 laps with an oil leak, while running sixteenth.
Unfortunately 1970 would prove to be a disappointing season with retirements at most of the races, though in a sole outing in a Lola T160 he finished at Donnybrooke plus was second with a Firebird at the SCCA Regional at Watkins Glen. He continued with a McLaren M8C in 1971 and the Lola plus drove in the Sebring 12 Hours and Daytona 24 Hour with a Camaro and Firebird though there were no major results. The following year brought another full Can-Am schedule, plus he was now in one of John Greenwood Racing’s spectacular Corvettes, with Don Yenko, for the 24 Hour Daytona and Sebring 12 Hours. He campaigned a McLaren M8D in 1973 then later drove Performance Racing’s McLaren M8F, with his best result second place at Elkhart Lake in a 1-2 for the Kaplan team in 1974. There was a final race with a US Racing McLaren M8F in the Road America Handicap race though a crankshaft issue saw him retire.
He was fortunate to escape unhurt after a crash on one occasion at Mont-Tremblant and he found himself trapped inside the car, which was upside down with a fire in the engine compartment. He told how “both fuel tank lids opened up and the gas was running all over me and the ground. With the fire behind me, I was just waiting for the big boom! Then, after a while, I thought: “Well, I’m not dead yet.” I undid the belts and I must have lifted the car as there was hardly an inch clearance for me to get out.”
Interestingly, while competing in the Trans-Am Series he became involved with the BF Goodrich-sponsored Pontiac Firebird, known as the ‘Tirebird’. B.F. Goodrich’s Radial T/A tyre was the first American-made tyre that was DOT rated, and also had SCCA approval for track competition and to prove its worth they wanted a team and a series to run a street tyre in professional competition. That teamed with Terry Godsall and Jerry Titus’ T/G Racing, who had built a trio of Pontiac Firebirds for the 1970 season and the cars became ‘Tire Birds’. Titus had been Carroll Shelby’s number-one driver in his Terlingua Racing team in 1966, 1967, and 1968’s Trans-Am series but tragically died during a practice session in 1970 at Road America. Alongside John Cordts, the cars were also raced by Don Pike and Larry Dent in Trans-Am, the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring and SCCA events. The first time the new T/A tyre was used in a race came in a Trans-Am race at Mosport Park and John had a third place finish and the Firebird went on to became the first production car to win a race using radial tyres with a class win at Watkins Glen. At the Daytona 24 Hours they moved up 14 places in the first 5 hours but had to retire when the engine failed but despite this it was allegedly the first street tyre ever to run at Daytona.
After retiring from racing John retired to Vancouver Island and became an accomplished artist, known for his beautiful wood carvings and in 2003 was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.
Many drivers face hardship or lack of funds when racing but he had nothing, building a log cabin in the bush and eating turnips and rabbits and when he went to the track he lived in a tent behind the pits. He eventually began earning from prize money but said he “did a lot of freeloading and sponging off friends, but I survived.” He later wrote his autobiography entitled ‘Blood, Sweat and Turnips.’
Bio by Dave Wheeler
Born in Hamburg, Germany.
John emigrated from Germany to Sweden at the age of two with his family, and then to Canada and settled in North Bay, Ont.
Cordts participated in one Formula One World Championship Grand Prix, the 1969 Canadian Grand Prix on September 20, 1969. He qualified 19th, but retired his Brabham after 10 laps with an oil leak, while lying 16th.
In addition to his Formula One appearance, Cordts had been successful in Canadian and U.S. sports car racing, particularly with various McLarens run by Dave Billes’s Performance Engineering. He competed in many events, ranging from Harewood Acres, where he still holds the track record when it closed in 1970, Mosport, Mont-Tremblant, and Westwood in Canada to various tracks in the US and even Japan. He later became a regular participant in the CanAm series, in which he raced until 1974, mainly in McLarens and Lolas. His best Can-Am finish was second at Road America in 1974. He was also known for his participation in the SCCA Trans-Am Series, where he had, at one point, piloted a BF Goodrich-sponsored Pontiac Firebird, known as the “Tirebird” and also several FIA events with the Greenwood Corvette team.
Cordt has since retired to a private life in Western Canada where he is well known for his beautiful wood carvings and recently wrote his autobiography entitled “Blood, Sweat and Turnips”.
John was also inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 2003.
