He achieved considerable success in Formula 5000 racing, winning the Tasman Series each year from 1971 to 1973,[1] and also at the 1972 L&M Continental 5000 Championship in the United States.

[2] McRae's single outing in the Formula One World Championship was at the 1973 British Grand Prix on 14 July 1973, where he retired in the first lap.

He also ran in the four NZ rounds of the Tasman Series,[1] and McRae proved surprisingly competitive at the tight Levin circuit where McRae, 160 hp down on power qualified 1.8 seconds slower than Jochen Rindt and almost equalled the time of GLTL Team Leader Graham Hill in a mishandling Lotus 49.

This performance secured McRae the NZ Driver to Europe scholarship for a few 1969 F2 races where he ran in the upper midfield in an ageing Brabham BT23.

[12] He won a number of rounds, but was hindered by some accidents, one serious, and impatience which earned him the nickname, 'Cassius' (after the boxing champion) reflecting his strut and belief in the greatness of his own talent.

McRae was Tasman Series Champion three years in a row, from 1971 to 1973,[14][15] also taking the US F5000 Championship crown in 1972, with three race wins.

[17] In the combined F1/F5000 International Trophy, McRae finished seventh, the first F5000 car and for a while had run ahead of Graham Hill in a F1 Brabham BT34 and kept up with the F1 McLarens of Denny Hulme and Peter Revson, this reflected the very good race car set up skills of McRae on his Leda F5000.

In 1973, he faced much stronger competition in US F5000 with F1 drivers James Hunt and Jody Scheckter having far better financed efforts and more support.

[20] After writing off the GM2 in practice for the Oran Park, the Tasman round at the start of 1975, McRae contested the US F5000 National Travellers Cheque series, in a Lola T332 which showed promise in the heats, finishing fourth behind J.P Jarier at Watkins Glen and second in a heat at Laguna Seca to Al Unser, ahead of Warwick Brown and qualifying eighth at Long Beach, but never finished better than eighth in the main race during the series.