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SCCA Continental Championship for Formula B/C Race

Laguna Seca, 4 May 1969

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Brabham BT18 (Mike Eyerly): Mike Eyerly dominated the 1969 US Formula B series in his orange Brabham BT18. It was identified as a BT18 in the 1968 Run-Offs official results, by Autoweek at Sears Point 21 Jun 1969 and in the Seattle and Brainerd entry lists so it is assumed to be the same car all season.
2. Brabham BT21 (Jon Milledge): Jon Milledge (Mountain View, CA) visited England to buy a Brabham for 1968. Having found that factory prices were outside his budget, he was persuaded by Frank Williams to buy a BT21 development car from MRD which Williams then had modified by Arch Motors and built up to full BT21C specification. He focused on the FRA 'Pro' series in 1968, winning at Vaca Valley and Santa Ana, and also won two NorPac Nationals, beating eventual champion Mike Eyerley. He continued his battle with Eyerley in the Pro series in 1969, beating him at Riverside and finishing second at Laguna Seca and Sears Point. The BT21/21C was sold to Mike Hansen (Belmont, CA) for 1970 who used it to win the NorPac FB title.
3. Brabham BT21C [12?] (Charlie Adams): Charlie Adams (Charles W Adams) was a regular in Formula B from 1965 to 1971. He had a BT18 in 1967 but from 1968 to 1971, his car is often referred to as a BT21C. It is assumed he had the same car through this period, starting at Elkhart Lake July 1968 but quite possibly earlier.
4. McLaren M4B [200-10B] (Dow "Jack" Byers II): Chuck Dietrich ran McLaren M4B chassis 200-10B in 1967 and then bought a pair of new M4Bs for 1968, selling his 1967 car to Hester. This information comes from correspondence still with 200-10 in 2006.
5. Brabham BT21A (Joe Alves): Joe Alves (Sherman Oaks, CA) raced a #66 Brabham from the start of 1968 to mid-1969, finishing fourth in SoPac FB in 1968 and fifth in 1969 and it is assumed that he had the same car throughout. It was identified as a BT21A by Bob Schilling in his report on the Riverside Regionals in early 1968 (Post Grid Vol 6 No 2). The car is likely to have been a new car delivered late in 1967 rather than second-hand.
6. Brabham BT14 [FL-3-65] (Bruce Redding): This BT14 was bought new by John Mitchell and raced in northern English libre racing in 1965 and 1966. It was sold late 1967 to Steve Pfeiffer in San Francisco and equipped with a BRM Phase 4 twin-cam for 1968 Formula B racing, now described as a BT21. It was sold to Bruce Redding for 1969 but crashed early in the season and extensively rebuilt. Redding thereafter entered it in 1969 and 1970 as a Ford Special, Gravelle Special or even as a Honda Special. It was later sold to Steve Jizmagian (early 1971) and crashed again, then to Tom Gouldstone in Nov 1972 and crashed again - each time at Laguna Seca - and then to Dick McGovern in 1978. It was retained by McGovern until 1994 when sold to George Goodare (Sydney, Australia) and restored. Later to Brian Wilson Sep 2000 then to John Gale Nov 2001. Retained by Gale 2006.
7. Chevron (Warren Flickinger): Warren A. Flickinger II (Golden, CO) raced a Chevron in Formula B during 1969 and it has not yet been possible to identify the car with confidence. It is most likely to be a 1968 Chevron B9 Formula 3 car modified to take a Ford twin-cam and, according to Chevron historian Kevin Hodgkinson, the conversion of the car was done by Fred Opert. Opert imported at least two B9s at the end of 1968 and Flickinger's car is most likely to be the ex-Frank Lythgoe car that had been raced by Digby Martland and then Peter Gethin.
8. Brabham BT21A (Ray France): Ray France (Inglewood, CA) raced a silver Brabham BT21 during 1968 and 1969, entered as #2 by Centaur Racing Associates. The car was later revealed by an advert in Oct 1969 to be a BT21A. This may have become the basis of the blue-and-gold #29 "Centaur Brabham" raced by France in 1970.
9. Lola T62 [SL62/8] (Robert J. Schmidt): John Surtees' 1966 F2 according to Lola records and raced only at Karlskoga in August 1966. To Robs Lamplough at the end of 1966 and raced in 1967 F2 and libre. Then to John L'Amie in Ireland for 1600cc class racing. Sold to the US in Sep 1968. Believed to be the car owned by Rob Shanahan in 2005.
10. Brabham BT18 (Dave Rines): R. David Rines (St Louis, MO) raced a "F2 Brabham" in Formula B in 1969. Rines raced this car consistently in the 1969 Pro series until engine failure at Thompson in September, after which he entered his Brabham-Climax at Sebring. Rines' advert for the car in October 1969 described it as a BT18 with Vegantune engine. Rines had previously driven a Brabham-Climax in Formula A and we're very keen to locate him to ask about this car.
11. Lotus 41C (Dave Dours): Dave Dours appeared in 1969 in a Lotus variously referred to as a Lotus-BRM and a Lotus 41, implying it was one of the 41Cs.

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.

1970 US FB results were compiled from Autoweek reports by Jim Thurman; 1971 results were transcribed from Autoweek by Allen Brown and 1972 results were compiled by Chris Townsend from an SCCA results publication.

The US Formula B series did not continue in 1973 but a race was organised in Caracas in March 1973 that fits here probably better than anywhere else, as do the occasional SCCA F/Atlantic and FB races in 1974 and 1975.

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