The Mirage prototype had its first public showing during a Can- Am race at Riverside Raceway in the Fall of 1973. Brad LoVette was crew chief of a Lola that crashed in practice and to make room on their trailer for the Lola, Brad pulled a cover off the car that had been sitting on that trailer and rolled it off on to the asphalt of the paddock area. Rumors had been circulating about a new "street McLaren" that was in the offing and the crowd that gathered around the Mirage was convinced that this was that new McLaren. Brad told the assembled multitude that it was his new kit car but few believed the story. Everyone was impressed by the prototype Mirage that afternoon.