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Lime Rock Grand Prix

Lime Rock, 2 Sep 1968

All cars are 5-litre F5000 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Brabham BT21A [4] (Dick Smothers): Sold new to Lou Sell (Fullerton, CA) for US Formula B in 1967 (three Pro races only), then to his 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. Later to John Kauffman thought he had bought a Chevron and then to Joe Maria in the early 1990s. It was restored by David Irwin to BT21A spec and was still with Maria in 2007.
2. Chevron B14 (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.
3. Brabham BT21C (Malcolm Starr): Malcolm Starr (Union City, NJ) and Anthony Koshland (New York, NY) bought a new Brabham BT21C in 1968 but Starr only raced it a handul of occasions before he advertised it ("3 races") in CP&A 21 Dec 1968.
4. Brabham BT21B (Fred Opert): Fred Opert, the leading US racing car importer in the late 1960s, raced a Brabham in Formula C in 1968. At the end of the season, he advertised it in CP&A (7 Dec 1968) as a BT21B with fuel-injected SCC egine, six-speed Hewland gearbox and "extra light chassis and body". Opert's car was sometimes reported at races as a Formula B and it's unclear whether this was a mistake or whether Opert was driving other cars he had in stock.
5. Brabham BT21A (Fred Ashplant): Raced by Fred Ashplant (Franklin Lakes, NJ) in 1967, winning the Pro race at Mont-Tremblant and finishing 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).
6. Brabham BT16 [F2-1-65] (Steve Brownstein): Driven by Alan Rees for Roy Winkelmann Racing in 1965. Presumably Rees raced the same car all season. Bought in 1966 from Winkelman by Bob Fuller (Connecticut), fitted with a Cosworth Mk 12 and raced in FB in 1967. To Steve Brownstein (New York) for 1968 and raced again in FB with the Mk 12. Then traded to Fred Opert for a new Chevron. To Bruce Jensen and raced in Canadian FB in 1969 and then to Bill Pickthorne (Ottawa, Ontario) who raced it in 1970 and at the beginning of 1971. It was then stored for 18 years until bought by Murray Wivell (Brantford, Ontario) in October 1989. Restored to F2 specification and used in US vintage racing.
7. 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 and Rehl scored 51 points in NEDiv Formula C, finishing narrowly second to Bull Rutan's Brabham. However, the car also raced as a Formula B car with a standard Ford twin cam and Rahel 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 but the fate of the T88 is unknown.
8. Brabham BT21C (R. C. (Bob) Welch): Bob Welch (Alexandria, VA) raced a black #23 Brabham BT21C in 1968, racing in Washington DC Region Regionals, scoring 15 pts in NEDiv FB and also appearing at the Lime Rock Pro FB race in Sep 1968. The car was described as "brand new" at the Marlboro Regional on 26 May 1968. He advertised ther car in CP&A 28 Dec 1968.
9. Brabham BT21C (Mike Hayman): One or the lesser-spotted Brabham BT21Cs in NEDiv was that of Washington's Mike Hayman. Hayman scored just nine points in NEDiv in 1968 and four in 1969, and none of his Pro race entries in the orange-and-blue Brabham resulted in starts. He advertised the car as a BT21C with Vegantune engine in CP&A 30 Aug 1969.
10. Brabham BT21C (Nick Craw): Nick Craw (Washington, DC) had a Brabham BT21C for FB in 1968, but appeared rarely at National level, his only points in NEDiv FB coming from a third place at Virginia International Raceway on 29 Sep 1968, right at the end of the regular season. He had entered Lime Rock's Pro race four weeks earlier but did not start and may not have been present. He also finished second in two SCCA Regionals at Marlboro in October and November. Craw, now President & CEO of ACCUS, confirms that he traded the BT21C back to Fred Opert for his new BT29s in 1969 so this BT21C must be the car that he raced in early 1969.
11. Lotus 22/31 (Thomas Richmond): Thomas G. Richmond finished third in CenDiv FB in 1968 in a Lotus. In May 1970 he advertised his car as a Lotus 22/31, noting that it didn't race during 1969.
12. Brabham BT21C (Howard Brown): From May 1968 to September 1969, Howard Brown (Paoli, PA or Malvern, PA) raced in Pro Formula B and in NEDiv in a Brabham, identified by the Sep 1968 Lime Rock entry list as a BT21C. Brown ran as #76 in 1968 and #69 in 1969 but the colour and identity of the Brabham are not yet known.

Sources

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' orginal 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 Run-Offs, 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.