Stardust Formula race

Stardust International, 24 Apr 1966

All cars are 3-litre FA unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Lotus 27 [27-FM-8] (G Mason O'Keiff): One of the first Lotus 27s to enter the US was chassis 27/FM/8, ordered by Lotus Southwest to be fitted with Lotus-Ford twin-cam engine for regular customer G. Mason O'Keiff (Houston, TX) to race in the SCCA's new libre category in 1964. O'Keiff scored 9 points in SWDiv and qualified for the Run-Offs, where he finished third. His car was then classified as Formula B in 1965 and O'Keiff used it in pro events. His last known appearance in the car was at the Las Vegas race in April 1966.
2. Brabham BT6 (Charlie Adams): Charlie Adams (Hermosa Beach, CA) bought a 1963 Formula Junior Brabham from Ian Raby (Brighton) in August 1965, and had it updated to 1965 rear magnesium uprights and driveshafts, and shipped to the US. In correspondence that Adams has retained, Raby described the car as a "practically brand new" Brabham FJ, having been "completely rebuilt, with a new chassis". Adams campaigned the car in Formula B and in Formula C from late 1965 through to early 1968 when he replaced it with a new BT21C. When he advertised the BT6 in March 1968, it had a Hewland Mk 5 gearbox and a Ford twin cam engine prepared by Frank Monise. Subsequent history unknown.
3. Brabham BT9 [F3-8-64] (Fred Goeske): Bought by Hermann Dorner (Ludwigshafen) and raced as part of Scuderia Lufthansa in German F3 in 1964. Sold to expat American Fred Goeske (Worms, Germany) for 1965 and then taken back to the US for Formula C in 1966. After a race at Castle Rock Raceway in the fall of 1966, Goeske sold it to local racer Jack Eiteljorg (Castle Rock, CO) and he used it in FC first with a F3-spec MAE engine and then with a SCA. Eiteljorg easily won MidWest Div FC in 1966 in this car and advertised it with both its usual Cosworth engine and with an ex-F2 SCA engine in February 1967. From Eiteljorg, F3-8-64 passed to Hank Kasahara and then to Maxey Ray (Lakewood, CO) around 1969, at which point it was converted to Formula Ford specification by John Barker. Ray raced the car in SCCA Formula Ford in 1971. It was sold to 'Ramsaur' in 1972 and then to Bob Parnham in April 1973. Parnham stored the car until December 2007 when it was sold to Mark Shillingburg (Evergreen, CO).
4. Lotus 35 [35-F-18?] (Wayne Jones): Very probably the Lotus 35 sold new via Lotus Southwest to Wayne Jones (Burbank,CA) and fitted with a 2.5-litre Coventry Climax FPF engine for the SCCA's new Formula A in 1965. First raced in an SCCA Regional at Santa Barbara in October 1965 and raced again by Jones in 1966. Sold to Ed Marshall (Kentfield, CA) and raced again in FA. For 1968, this car moved to Vernon Shields (Los Angeles, CA) and was fitted with a 4.7-litre Ford V8 engine to fit the increased capacity limit of Formula A. Also driven for Shields by Bob West (Hollywood, CA). Subsequent history unknown but owned by John Dimmer in 2009.

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.

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.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen (allen@oldracingcars.com) if you can help in any way with our research.