Mosport Continental

Mosport Park, 25 Aug 1968

All cars are 5-litre F5000 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Eagle Mk 5 [502] (George Wintersteen): See full history: Eagle 'Mk 5' 502.
2. Lola T140 [SL140/8] (Jerry Hansen): New to Jerry Hansen for the 1968 US series, then to John Mahler (Bettendorf, IA) for the 1969 series. Subsequent history unknown but believed to be the car acquired by Wayne "Bing" Sherer (Buffalo, NY) in 1972 and raced in SCCA Nationals. To Phil "Butch" Hollenbeck for 1973, then to Art Cross (Auburn, NY) who ran it in to Florida for several years. Via Owen Starr, Lou Pavesi and Rick McLean to Mark Rincon (Redding, CA) and Hal Williams by 1994, for historic racing. Later sold to Richard Cross, then via Rincon to John Bryant (Adelaide, Australia) at the Monterey Historics in August 2007 and imported into Australia. Crashed at Philip Island March 2008, but rebuilt and raced in the 2011/12 Tasman Revival series. More information about Lola T140 SL140/8
3. Chevron B14 [FB-68-13?] (Joe Grimaldi): Joe Grimaldi acquired one of four late 1968 Chevrons to arrive in the US. At least three of these were described by Chevron as B14s, including Grimaldi's. He debuted the car at Mosport Park in Aug 1968 and raced it twice more in Pro events. Grimaldi reappeared in August 1969 with what was reported to be a Chevron B15B which he raced three more times. Larry Wright then acquired a Chevron from Grimaldi for the 1970 season which was described to him as a B15 but when Wright advertised the car in 1971, he called it a "late-1968 Chevron FB" which identifies it as a B14. Wright traded the Chevron to Charlie Hayes in May 1971 for a new Brabham BT29.
4. McLaren M4B (Brian Robertson): Brian Robertson (Brockville, Ontario) bought a McLaren M4A for 1968 and raced it in both the US SCCA Pro series and in local Canadian races, generally as #35 and with support from Indusmat Inc. He reappeared with the car in July and August 1969 before replacing it with a new Brabham BT29. To Kris Harrison (Montréal, Quebec) for a handful of events in September 1970 at Trois-Rivières and Mont-Tremblant. Harrison would later found Ecurie Canada, the team that launched Gilles Villeneuve's career. Subsequent history of the McLaren unknown
5. McLaren M4B [200-27B] (Chuck Dietrich): For Chuck Dietrich (Sandusky, OH) in Formula B in 1968, replacing the similar 200-10B that he had raced in 1967. Subsequent history unknown until bought from Joe Zuniga (St. Paul, Minnesota) by James Harayda (Bloomington, Minnesota) in April 1978 as a FB car. Harayda raced it in FB in 1978 then converted it to FC for 1979. Traded to Scott Livingston (St Louis, MO) in 1980 then on to Jon Rhodes (Webster Grove, MO) 1981 who converted it to CSR with an Alfa engine and qualified for the Run-Offs in 1982. Sold to Scott Holman (Frederick, MD) July 1983 and continued in CSR until 1989 when sold to Henry Alexander and Wes McNay. Rebuilt with a new Marc Bahner tub which was modelled on Jim Brown's 1967 monocoque. Restored to Formula B specification and sold to Harry Mathews (Arvada, CO) March 1996 for his Mathews Collection of McLarens. Sold to Shigeru Motohashi (Japan) 2004 and raced in the Japanese Interclub Historic Car event at Tsukuba in 2009.
6. Brabham BT21C [12] (Charlie Adams): New to Charles W. Adams (Springfield, IL, but then living in Manhattan Beach, CA) via Jim Russell, who then had a racing school at Willow Springs. Charlie Adams was a regular in Formula B with this car from mid-1968 to 1971, his car being green, and entered as #64. Adams won the Southern Pacific Division FB title in 1969 but did not score any points in 1970 and his appearances in the Pro series ceased after the Laguna Seca race in June. In 1971, he scored just two points in the SPDiv championship, for fifth place at the Riverside National in July, and only appeared at one Pro race, the Edmonton round in August. Subsequent history unknown, but the BT21C was bought in the US by Australian Gary Simkin who was working there, and returned with him to Australia in March 1983. It was sold to George Goodare (Sydney, NSW), rebuilt and used in historic racing. It was owned by Peter Addison (Sydney, NSW) then sold to Howard Blight (Sydney, NSW) 1989. and then via Rob Bailey (Victoria) 1998 to Nereo Dizane (Sydney, NSW) December 1998. Dizane died in 2004, aged only 53, but his collection of cars has been kept together by his wife Anna Dizane (Wantirna, Victoria).
7. Brabham BT16 (Carson Baird): Carson Baird (Birmingham, AL or Beltsville, MD) drove a Brabham in Formula B in 1968, racing in three Pro events and also scoring 15 pts in NEDiv Nationals. His car was identified at Mosport Park 25 Aug 1968 as a BT18 but when he traded the car to Fred Opert for a new Chevron, Opert described it as a 1965 F2/FB, indicating a BT16. He entered a Chevron for the Run-Offs but did not start and evidently gave up on the car as he was in a Brabham again at the start of the 1969 season. He upgraded to a Winkelmann WDB2 mid-season. Nothing more is known about the Brabham.
8. McLaren M4B [200-26B?] (Martin Sellers): Sold to Martin Sellers (Columbus, OH) for Formula B in 1968. The sale was arranged by Chuck Dietrich (Sandusky, OH) who had run a M4A in 1967 and was now buying a new car for himself as well. Dietrich and Sellers ran together as a team in 1968. Retained by Sellers for 1969 but he had engine troubles through that season and after that only raced the car rarely. In the 1990s, he brought the car out again for historic racing and ran at Sears Point with the SCCA in 1997. More recently a member of the CSRG. Chassis 200-26 is a very rare 1960s racing car that has only had one owner from new.
9. Brabham BT21A [4] (Fred Opert): Sold new to Lou Sell (Fullerton, CA) and first seen in the Pro Formula B race at War Bonnet in late June where Sell qualified on pole and finished second. Then raced in SCCA Regionals and occasional Nationals in California, and in the pro races at Mont-Tremblant and Lake Tahoe at the end of the season. Sold to Sell's backer Dick Smothers (Woodland Hills, CA) for 1968, although Sell also raced it in one SoPac National early that year. To Fred Opert late 1968 in part-exchange for a new Chevron and from him on to Ken Duclos (Boxboro, MA) for 1969. Duclos believes he returned it to Opert at the end of 1969 when he acquired his new BT29 and it next turns up in 1971 with John Sorbello (Lafayette, MA) who widened the cockpit section into a two-seater and added a Chevron B16 body. However, it is possible that the dates of this are wrong and that Bob Isnor (Newton, MA) raced it as a FB before it went to Sorbello. Later to John Kauffman who thought he had bought a Chevron and then to Joe Maria (White Plains, NY) in the early 1990s. It was restored by David Irwin to BT21A spec and was still with Maria in 2007. To Bob Lima (Meadowbrook, PA) by October 2009 and later repainted in Sell's colours.
10. Brabham BT15 (Ted A. Clark): Ted Clark (DeKalb, IL) raced a Brabham BT15 in Formula B in 1968, equipped with a Cosworth Mk 13 engine and running as #56 and typically entered by Team Nappi of Rockford, Illinois. Clark advertised the car in April 1969, saying that it had a Hewland 5-speed gearbox and 7" and 9" wheels. Nothing more known.
11. Caldwell D8B ['001'] (Brett Lunger): Entered by Autodynamics Corp. for Brett Lunger, and first seen in an SCCA National at Lime Rock on 6 July 1968, where Lunger crashed. Later appeared in the Us Pro series driven by Lunger (at Mosport Park 25 Aug 1968, Donnybrook 22 Sep 1968 and Laguna Seca 12 Oct 1968) and by Sam Posey (at Lime Rock 2 Sep 1968). Delano Trott, who was Chief Engineer at Autodynamics at the time the D8 was built, commented in 2019 that one of the team's mechanics, Fred Whittier, "ended up owning the car". He used it as a supermodified at Bryar Motorsports Park and destroyed it in an accident. Trott added "as I recall, he had a head-on with a tow truck running the wrong direction!".
12. LeGrand Mk 7 (Sam Posey): A new car sold to Pete Botsford (Boulder, CO), after he saw the first car on display at the New York Automobile Show (at the New York Coliseum, 30 March - 7 April 1968). The car was used in the 1968 SCCA Continental Championship, starting at Elkhart Lake 27 Jul 1968, where driver Ron Holmes did not start. It was raced by Bob Betts at Thompson 18 August 1968, but he was well off the pace in practice and retired early. Sam Posey then drove it at Mosport Park and was fastest in qualifying, but withdrew after just two laps. Peter Revson was available for the Lime Rock on 2 September but hated the car and quickly disappeared when a ball joint failure curtailed practice. Posey returned to the cockpit for Brainerd on 22 September 1968), and was fourth in practice, but refused to start the race as the car was too dangerous. Barry Blackmore was then brought in for the Ken Miles Memorial Race at Laguna Seca on 12 October but, in his words, destroyed it in practice. The car was stripped at Red LeGrand's shop and the carcass towed back to base, but Botsford had lost interest in the car and it was not repaired.
13. LeGrand Mk 7A [002] (Jerry Entin): A new car replacing the original works Mk 7 sold to Don Richardson, and shaken down by Bruce Eglinton at Whitman stadium June 1968 where he crashed and was badly burnt. The car was rebuilt and loaned to Jerry Entin, fitted with his Chevrolet engine and ZF gearbox, and taken to Road America for the Badger "200" on 27 July 1968, but the timing gear broke before the race, and Entin did not start. Entin won a National at Riverside in August and two Regionals later in the year. Dick Guldstrand took over the car for the Laguna Seca 'Pro' race in October and it was then driven by Rex Ramsey at the ARRC, and at the Monaco International Trophy in New Zealand at the end of December. Ramsey continued to drive the car in 1969, winning three SCCA Nationals but was well off the pace in Pro races. It was then shared by Chuck Elliott and Bruce Eglinton in SCCA Regionals and Nationals respectively in 1970 and 1971. Then sold to Mal Patterson (San Jose, CA), who entered it for the Pro race at Laguna Seca 7 May 1972, but does not appear to have raced it very often. It was then sold to Ken Owen (Union City, CA) and used in local SCCA racing in 1975 and 1976. Then sold to Skip Pack (Hollister, CA) and Dennis McLaughlin , who autocrossed the car in the late 1970s and early 1980s before they sold it to Butch Gilbert in October 2009. Sold to John F Boxhorn (Mukwonago, Wisconsin) in October 2010, and restored during 2011 and 2012. Sold to David Zavetsky (Wellesboro, PA) in 2019. See full history: LeGrand Mk 7 002.
14. Lola T140 [SL140/12] (David Pabst): Invoice date 5 Apr 1968 (sold to 'Haas'). David Pabst (Oconomowac, WI) who debuted at the Milwaukee SCCA National on 30 June then raced it in the Pro Badger 200 at Road America in July. After finishing second in an SCCA National at Brainerd on 11 August, the car was wrecked during another SCCA National at Blackhawk Farms two weeks later when Pabst wrapped the car around a large tree. Pabst bought SL140/17 as a replacement and any surviving parts would have gone onto that car.
15. Eisert 65 (Stew McMillen): New for Skip Hudson to drive at the 1965 Indy 500 as J Frank Harrison's #96 Harrison Special. The new car got on track on 13 May, at which point the older 1964 car was renumbered from 96 to 93. Hudson was a successful sports car racer, but was unable to pass his rookie test when an engine blew, so Al Unser took over the drive but he made no attempt to qualify the car. Unser then drove the car through the 1965 USAC season, but only once finished inside the top 10. The 1965 car was retained for the opening races of the 1966 season, driven by Unser at Phoenix and by Billy Foster at Trenton. It then became the team's #93 entry, and was only seen again at Fuji, where Jerry Grant finished tenth. Greg Weld failed to qualify the car for the 1967 Indy 500, after which it was sold to Don Wilcox, who raced it at Pikes Peak and made an unsuccessfiul attempt to qualify at Indianapolis Raceway Park in July. The old car was ideal for the SCCA's new Formula A, so was sold to Stew McMillen (Libertyville, IL) who raced it in SCCA Nationals, winning twice, and in Pro races. At the end of 1968 he took it out to New Zealand, racing it at Baypark Raceway in December, before it was leased to Dennis Marwood for the 1969/70 season. It returned to the US later in 1970 and was acquired by Bill Tempero (Fort Collins, CO), who fitted it with wedge-style bodywork and raced it in Pro races and SCCA Nationals in 1971, then in Midwest Division Formula A in 1972. It was later converted for street use by brothers Wayne and Steve Huntley in Nebraska and was also used as a show car by Fred Bosselman in the late 1970s or early 1980s, probably at his Bosselman Truck Plaza in Grand Island, Nebraska. In the early 1990s it was acquired by Bill Wiswedel (Holland, MI) who has restored it to 1965 colours but still with the later, squarer bodywork.
16. Brabham BT21A [4] (Dick Smothers): Sold new to Lou Sell (Fullerton, CA) and first seen in the Pro Formula B race at War Bonnet in late June where Sell qualified on pole and finished second. Then raced in SCCA Regionals and occasional Nationals in California, and in the pro races at Mont-Tremblant and Lake Tahoe at the end of the season. Sold to Sell's backer Dick Smothers (Woodland Hills, CA) for 1968, although Sell also raced it in one SoPac National early that year. To Fred Opert late 1968 in part-exchange for a new Chevron and from him on to Ken Duclos (Boxboro, MA) for 1969. Duclos believes he returned it to Opert at the end of 1969 when he acquired his new BT29 and it next turns up in 1971 with John Sorbello (Lafayette, MA) who widened the cockpit section into a two-seater and added a Chevron B16 body. However, it is possible that the dates of this are wrong and that Bob Isnor (Newton, MA) raced it as a FB before it went to Sorbello. Later to John Kauffman who thought he had bought a Chevron and then to Joe Maria (White Plains, NY) in the early 1990s. It was restored by David Irwin to BT21A spec and was still with Maria in 2007. To Bob Lima (Meadowbrook, PA) by October 2009 and later repainted in Sell's colours.
17. Brabham BT21 (Fred Ashplant): Raced by Fred Ashplant (Franklin Lakes, NJ) and first seen at Lime Rock in early July where Racing Magazine called it "his new Brabham FB". Won the SCCA National at Bridgehampton two weeks later and the Pro race at Mont-Tremblant in September. Finished third in the NEDiv FB title. Retained for 1968 but used much less that season. In 1969, Ashplant ordered a Brabham BT29 and sold the BT21A to Pete LoBianco (York, PA). However, the BT21A was in Fred Opert's stock during the summer of 1969 and as the car had last been raced as #47, it seems likely that this was the #47 FB Brabham that Opert raced a couple of times before his BT29 arrived.
18. Cooper T88 [FC-1-68?] (Peter Rehl): One of the very last Coopers built was a Formula C car for faithful US customer Peter Rehl (Easton, CT). This T88 was equipped with a 1-litre BRM engine according to Cooper records, presumably one of the 1965-66 Formula 2 P80 engines, and Rehl scored 51 points in NEDiv Formula C, finishing narrowly second to Bill Rutan's Brabham. However, the car also raced as a Formula B car with a standard Ford twin cam, and Rehl managed to finish fourth in FB as well, qualifying for the Run-Offs and finishing third at Riverside as a FB. Rehl bought a new Formula A Cooper T90 for 1969, and the T88 was sold to Ronald L. Stanwicks (Newington, CT). He raced it in 1969 but his son recalls that it was unreliable and did not fit him well. It was sold to Peter Piers in the early 1970s, who stored it for many years. It was eventually sold and is believed to have gone to Italy.
19. LeGrand Mk 7 (Pete Botsford): A new car sold to Pete Botsford (Boulder, CO), after he saw the first car on display at the New York Automobile Show (at the New York Coliseum, 30 March - 7 April 1968). The car was used in the 1968 SCCA Continental Championship, starting at Elkhart Lake 27 Jul 1968, where driver Ron Holmes did not start. It was raced by Bob Betts at Thompson 18 August 1968, but he was well off the pace in practice and retired early. Sam Posey then drove it at Mosport Park and was fastest in qualifying, but withdrew after just two laps. Peter Revson was available for the Lime Rock on 2 September but hated the car and quickly disappeared when a ball joint failure curtailed practice. Posey returned to the cockpit for Brainerd on 22 September 1968), and was fourth in practice, but refused to start the race as the car was too dangerous. Barry Blackmore was then brought in for the Ken Miles Memorial Race at Laguna Seca on 12 October but, in his words, destroyed it in practice. The car was stripped at Red LeGrand's shop and the carcass towed back to base, but Botsford had lost interest in the car and it was not repaired.
20. Brabham BT23F [1] (Bill Gubelmann): Sold to Bill Gubelmann (Oyster Bay, NY) and fitted with a Vegantune Ford twin cam engine for SCCA 'Pro' and NEDiv Formula B. Raced through 1968 and retained for a few races in 1969 as Gubelmann's BT29 was late arriving. Sold to Al Justason (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) who used it in both the Canadian and US Pro series in 1970 and again in the Canadian FB series in 1971. Sold to Michael Houselander who appeared at two Canadian national events in 1972, Later sold to ‘Dino Delousis’ who fitted a turbocharged 2-litre Ford Pinto engine for libre events but found the car to be undrivable and stored it from about 1974 to 2004 when sold to Dave Darrow (Mississauga, Ontario) and fully restored. Retained until 2007 when sold via race-cars.com to Murray Bryden (Melbourne, Australia). Sold to David Kloster (Kinglake, Victoria) September 2011.
21. Cooper T76 [T75 F2-4-65] (John R Babchek): New to Tyrrell Racing Organisation for John Surtees to race in F2 in 1965. Raced later in the season by Bob Bondurant and Chris Amon. To Reg Howell (Dayton, OH) May 1966 to be used in SCCA racing. Sold to Dick Leppla (Cleveland Hgts, OH), fitted with a Cosworth twin cam and Colotti T46 5-speed gearbox and entered in Formula B events for David Dours (Hudson, OH) in 1967, but described by them as a T76. It was one of the quickest FB cars in the east of the US at the start of 1967 and Dours won at Cumberland in May but it was no match for Chuck Dietrich's brand new McLaren M4A in Central Division. Later fitted with a Vegantune engine and won at Mid-Ohio in September. To John R. Babchek (Romulus, MI) for CenDiv Formula B from 1968 to 1970. He advertised the car in June 1970 as an "ex-Surtees team car" with Vegantune engine, and again in April 1974 when it was just described as a T76 rolling chassis . History unknown until bought by Murray Batson (Australia) in 1979. Then via Bruce Sutton 1981 and Murray Richards (Murrumbeena, Victoria) 1992 to Bob Harborow (Camberwell, Victoria) 1994.

Sources

Note that the identification of individual cars in these results is based on the material presented elsewhere in this site and may in some cases contradict the organisers' published results.

1968 US information has been taken from SCCA results sheets with additional information from Autoweek race reports and from some entry lists. Thanks to David McKinney and Wolfgang Klopfer for providing these. Identifying the classes and model of some entries has proved very difficult so all new information would be welcomed.

1969-1971 US information has been collated by Chris Townsend using Autoweek reports. All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome.

1972-1976 US information was originally collated by Wolfgang Klopfer, converted to database format by Dawn Harrison and checked by Jim Thurman and Don Capps. Wolfgang's main sources are Autoweek and individual SCCA results bulletins but Autosport, Autocourse and Road Racing Annual have also been consulted.

US SCCA Runoffs, Nationals and Regionals results were collated by Wolfgang Klopfer from Autoweek reports. These reports were usually very brief so the information on the majority of races is limited just to the identity of the FA class winner.

Some race programs have also been used for entry lists and other information. My thanks to Richard Coe for the generous contributions from his collection.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen if you can add anything.