Iconic race car reborn in Santa Rosa for Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

Inside a garage just south of Santa Rosa, Bob Lee and his team are resurrecting a monster, one that met a fiery end in 1973. On April 7, they’re set to unveil their creation, a 900-horsepower, titanium-framed 1970 Ti 22 Mark II race car, at the Can-Am Challenge Race at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The one-of-a-kind machine, which goes from 0 to 60 mph in 2 seconds, according to Lee, hits a top speed of just over 200 mph. It was designed for the short-lived, yet influential, Canadian-American Challenge Cup, which ran from 1966 to 1974. Better known as Can-Am, the series featured cars with unlimited horsepower, four wheels covered by fenders and two seats as the only restrictions during the first four years.

“There’s a certain romance associated with Can-Am racing,” Lee said, standing in the garage where nearly every piece of his car has been fabricated by hand and built from scratch. “The cars were faster than the Formula 1 and Indy cars of the day and the lack of restrictions led to numerous innovations.”

The 1970 Ti 22 Mark II is the second titanium ?Can-Am car designed by Peter Bryant; the first was built in 1969. They were the only cars made to race in the series that used titanium, Lee said, and the Mark II was the first to incorporate fences on the nose of the car to create additional downdraft - a feature quickly copied by the competition, he noted.

In 2013, Lee, a former tech entrepreneur, purchased the original drawings of the Ti 22 Mark II from Bryant’s widow. He also bought the historical rights from the car’s final owner, Nick Dioguardi, who crashed the car into a wall at Riverside International Raceway. With a full tank of fuel onboard, that car burned to the ground, Lee said, and the driver broke both ankles, suffered severe burns and never raced again.

The Ti 22 was one of the only United States-made race cars in the Can-Am series to give a serious challenge to their European counterparts, Lee said. In 1970, the car placed second in its first two races at Riverside and Laguna Seca raceways, being beat out by McLaren. The legendary driver Bruce McLaren died testing a Can-Am car in England earlier that year, but his company has continued to be a force in motor racing.

Lee got into Can-Am vintage racing when he retired. Over the years he has raced a few McLaren restorations, but the uniqueness and originality of the Ti 22 draw him back to the car.

Two years ago the 73-year-old moved to Santa Rosa from Palos Verdes, outside of Los Angeles. Lee then rented a garage in an industrial park and hired his stepson, Ilja Burkoff, to build the car.

While the Chevrolet Aluminum Big Block V-8 and a few other pieces of the car weren’t built in-house, the titanium frame and the fiberglass body panels were all made in shop from drawings that turned out to be incomplete, adding another challenge. A commercial pizza oven was even used to heat sheets of titanium to 750 degrees so they could be bent to shape.

Others employees have joined Burkoff to work full time on the car, totaling more than 8,000 hours of combined work between them. Burkoff, the crew chief, also will be the driver at the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

In the garage, with much work still to be done, Burkoff didn’t want to reflect all that much on the progress he has made or the fun he might have in the driver’s seat.

“When we put on the painted body panels it was really nice to see,” said Jordan Coonrad, who has worked on the car for a year straight.

“Yeah, we have had some good moments,” Burkoff added with a smile.

Lee shied away from talk about the price tag of his new car, but he did say skyrocketing costs were part of the demise of Can-Am. McLaren and Porsche dominated the series. The muscle of some cars topped 1,500 horsepower, making for expensive engines to maintain. Race teams with the most money were the ones who would dominate, and the lack of competition caused the series to lose popularity. The gasoline shortages of the mid-1970s finally put an end to the series.

“When there’s no rules and no restrictions, it’s the guy with a lot of money who wins,” Lee said.

When the car finally does hit the track in Long Beach, the race won’t be nearly as competitive as the Can-Am races of the past.

“It will be more of a parade,” Lee said. “The track is in a concrete canyon; hitting a wall will cost hundreds of hours of work.”

You can reach Staff Writer Nick Rahaim at 707-521-5203 or nick.rahaim@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @nrahaim.