South East Division SCCA Formula B 1968
Hugh Kleinpeter and Johnny Tremblay were the main contenders in Southeast, Kleinpeter's Beach finally emerging the winner. Kleinpeter won at Palm Beach at the start of the year and after Montgomery fell to a NEDiv raider, Robert Mercer won Fernandina Beach in another Beach. Kleinpeter won his second National at Savannah with 1967 champion John Hood well back in second place. Tremblay, from Orlando, had made a name for himself racing Mini Coopers and had now moved up to Formula B for 1968, winning the Courtland National in May in a Cooper. This was quickly replaced with a 1967 Brabham BT21A and he won again at Huntsville Airfield in June and won his class at Savannah International Raceway in July. Kleinpeter came back and levelled the scores at three wins each by taking the class at Daytona Beach in August. The final VIR National fell to drivers from the stronger Northest Division but Kleinpeter was amongst the leaders for much of the race and scored enough points to secure the SEDiv title.
The presence of Beach Racing Cars at Clearwater, Florida, had a big impact on local FB with four of the seven point-scoring drivers in the local product. Bob Mercer had one of the first Beach T-11 Formula B cars, believed to be chassis 101, while Kleinpeter's car was chassis 103 and Jim Hebberd's was 105. The Type 11 was developed into a Formula Ford car for 1969. The only other points scorer in 1968 was Chattanooga Region's Noel McGlothlin who had taken delivery of a brand new Brabham BT21C.
Final standings
| 1. | Hugh Kleinpeter | Beach [T-11] | Florida | 36 pts |
| 2. | John Tremblay | [Cooper and] Brabham [BT21A] | Florida | 27 pts |
| 3. | Bob Mercer | Beach [T-11] | Charleston | 9 pts |
| 4. | Al Strasbourg | Beach | Cent. Carolinas | 6 pts |
| 5. | John Hood | Brabham [BT18?] | Cent. Florida | 3 pts |
| 6. | R. Noel McGlothlin | Brabham [BT21C] | Chattanooga | 2 pts |
| 7. | Jim Hebbard | Beach [T-11] | Cent. Florida | 1 pt |
1968 Schedule
| 25 Feb 1968 | Palm Beach International Raceway | Florida Region |
| 31 Mar 1968 | Montgomery | Central Alabama Region |
| 21 Apr 1968 | Fernandina Beach | Gator Region |
| 04 May 1968 | Savannah International Raceway | Savannah Region |
| 26 May 1968 | Courtland | Alabama Region |
| 09 Jun 1968 | Huntsville Airfield | Tennessee Valley Region |
| 14 Jul 1968 | Savannah International Raceway | Charleston Region |
| 04 Aug 1968 | Daytona | Central Florida Region |
| 29 Sep 1968 | Virginia International Raceway | Central Carolinas Region |
Southeast Division sources
What we know of Southeast Division racing in this period comes from Competition Press & Autoweek's reports on SCCA Nationals and the SCCA's own Sports Car magazine. We are keen to learn more and are therefore very keen to acquire or borrow 1960s, 1970s and 1980s copies of SCCA regional publications from this Division. The known ones are:
- The Checker (Central Florida Region)
- CARolina Newsletter (Central Carolina Region)
- The Racket (Tennessee Valley Region)
- Regional Notes (Florida Region)
- Rich Mixture (Southern West Virginia Region)
- Sowega Newsletter (Sowega Region - became Chavaga Region in 1968)
- Sports Racing News (Alabama Region)
- Steering Wheel (Atlanta Region)
North Carolina Region, which moved from NEDiv to SEDiv in the late 1960s, has made its newsletter available online at the NCR website.
We are also keen to get scans of entry lists from SCCA Nationals in this Division.