Singles bars, discotheques and go-go dancers were all the rage. And a lovesick Benjamin Braddock, played by Dustin Hoffman, took a desperate drive to head off girlfriend Elaine's wedding in The Graduate, making a star of his red Alfa Romeo "Duetto" Spider in the process.

We celebrated Canada's centenary with Expo. The Toronto Maple Leafs won their fourth, and last, Stanley Cup in six years.

Of course, none of this ran through my mind in late August of that year as I headed to Mosport race circuit, about an hour's drive east of Toronto.

The weather looked dark and foreboding, with rain in the forecast, but the promise of seeing Canada's first true Formula One Grand Prix washed away any gloomy thoughts.

As part of the country's Centennial Year celebrations, the FIA-sanctioned event was viewed as a "one-off" race by F1 old hands, as a Canadian Grand Prix was not included in the following year's calendar. For '67, it was wedged between the German and Italian GPs, which created logistical problems for the teams and threw the expense of transporting the F1 cars and crews onto race organizers the Canadian Racing Drivers Association (CRDA) and the Imperial Tobacco Company's sponsoring Player's brand.

None of this dampened the "buzz" generated by the knowledge of what lay ahead.

Reigning World Champion Jack Brabham had entered a pair of BT24s for himself and teammate Denny Hulme, the latter fresh off a German GP win.

Two-time champ Jim Clark was teamed with Graham Hill, reckoned to be one of the strongest driver lineups yet seen, and their Lotus 49s had exclusive use of Cosworth's new DFV V8, which Clark had debuted with a stunning win earlier in round three of the championship chase. The DFV went on to become the most successful F1 engine of all time.

Much was expected from Dan Gurney in his V12 Weslake-powered Eagle. He was on a hot streak too. In May he'd put his new Ford-powered Eagle on the front row at the Indy 500. In June, he won the Le Mans 24 Hours classic (with AJ Foyt) driving a Ford GT40 Mk IV, establishing a new race record and (inadvertently) starting the winner's champagne spraying tradition. A week later came his historic victory in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, setting the fastest race speed ever recorded for a Grand Prix at the time and becoming the only American to put an F1 car of his own construction in the winner's circle of a World Championship GP.

The supporting cast for the Canadian race included three works BRMs for Jackie Stewart, Mike Spence and Chris Irwin. Cooper had a pair of cars for Jochen Rindt and Richard Atwood, powered by Maserati V12s. Young New Zealander Chris Amon had a V12 Ferrari at his disposal, while fellow Kiwi Bruce McLaren was in the last of the factory cars, his brand-new McLaren M5A with a BRM V12 in the engine bay.

Cooper-Maseratis driven by Swede Jo Bonnier and Swiss Jo Siffert, plus BRMs for David Hobbs and American Mike Fisher made up the privateer ranks.

Canadian interest was heightened by Mosport 'hotshot' Eppie Wietzes, strapped into a spare Team Lotus 49, and Al Pease in his first outing behind the wheel of Gurney's original Eagle chassis with 2.7-litre Climax power.

It stayed dry as I settled in at my perfect viewing spot for the day's earlier support races. But as the F1 driver's parade (all in identical white and blue Camaros) concluded and the cars were pushed to their grid spots the first raindrops fell. A last second flurry of activity saw the Brabhams switch to rain tires, a move that would pay off later.

Just as the flag dropped, so did the heavens. Clark led into turn one, the rest of the field following in a cloud of spray. Siffert retired right at the start as a welded-up ring gear exploded under the strain. Meanwhile, Al Pease found his Eagle's battery had no juice and he was pushed back to the pits for a replacement.

In a later interview, Pease would recall, "We got it started and after a few laps the engine stalled, locked the rear end up, and it spun. I got it going again and tried to settle down." Despite the wet conditions, he felt the car was running strongly, but then, at the Moss Corner hairpin, about as far away from the pits as you can get, the battery went flat again. So, Pease had to run up the 2.45-mile circuit's rolling hills to the pits, get a battery, run all the way back to his car, put in the new battery and set off ... many laps behind.

As this was transpiring, Clark's Lotus held the lead for a few laps, then Hulme slipped by to stay in front for the next 50 laps or so. Early on, Bruce McLaren found his car better suited to the treacherous conditions and, despite a third-lap spin while trying to pass 'Black Jack' Brabham, carved his way from 12th to 4th spot by the eighth lap. In the process, he passed Rindt's Cooper so fast that the Austrian wheeled into the pits to have his rear roll-bar disconnected. When he tried to restart, his Maserati engine wouldn't fire.

Some 30 minutes later the rain eased off and, on a drying track, Clark closed in on the leaders, passing Hulme on lap 58. Then the rain began again in earnest and that was Clark's undoing. Water began to collect between his V8's cylinder banks and the car began to splutter. Jimmy stopped at one point at Moss Corner to try to dry out his electrics and was joined shortly by our own 11th-place Eppie Wietzes, experiencing the same malady in his Lotus 49.

Wietzes had enough battery left to refire the car and go on. "Twenty laps on," he later recalled, "it cut out again in front of the pits. The mechanics restarted me and I drove to the finish." But he was disqualified for being pushed.

By this time Clark had retired, Hill had spun at turn nine, got out, pushed the Lotus and restarted to eventually finish fourth. Jackie Stewart went off at turn three, chewed up the landscape and got enough dirt in the throttle slides to force his retirement.

McLaren lost his chance to do well when, due to a pre-race decision to run without an alternator, his battery weakened and he lost places while pitting for a new one. Gurney had a chance but missed out too, partly because of the rain but also due to misting goggles. To save time during a rolling stop to pick up fresh goggles, a crew member threw them at Dan, who missed them and they ended up caught in his front suspension.

Gurney waded home third, holding up a hand in front of his face to protect his eyes from the high-speed spray.

Brabham eventually rooster-tailed across the finish line to starter Wally Branston's flag-waving dance, a little over a minute ahead of teammate Hulme.

The traffic jam that I endured later as 55,000 race fans combined with weekend cottagers to cause a monumental traffic snarl on the way home was a less notable memory.

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MOSPORT TO HOLD 40TH ANNIVERSARY REUNION

If you want to revive memories of the original Grand Prix or get a feel for what it was like to be there in 1967, make plans to head to Mosport on the June 22 - 24 weekend. The Vintage Automobile Racing Association of Canada (VARAC) plans to make a celebration of Canada's GP the centerpiece of its 28th Annual Vintage Racing Festival at the storied racetrack.

VARAC plans to have cars such as Bruce McLaren's M5A, drivers, officials and even support race participants from the 1967 event in attendance. A display area will be set up to act as a meeting place and to house posters, programs, photos and other race-related memorabilia. This is a "don't miss" opportunity to see what the spectacle of real F1 racing was all about.