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SCCA Continental Championship for Formula B/C Race

Laguna Seca, 7 May 1972

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. March 722 (Allan Lader): Allan Lader (Gresham, OR) had a black #2 March 722 for 1972. As his main focus in 1972 was Formula 5000, he only raced the car in two Pro FB races and in the Sep 1972 Lime Rock FA race when it was fitted with a BDA and ran in the Formula A class. It was entered by Pacifico Inc. and also, at Laguna Seca in May 1972, by Pierres Motors Racing. Nothing is currently known of the car's fate.
2. Brabham BT29 (Jon Milledge): Jim Gutfreund (Des Moines, Iowa) bought a new Brabham BT29 for 1970 and ran it in Midwest Div Formula B, winning two races and leading the division until his BRM-built Ford twin-cam blew. He sold the car to Archie Snider for 1971 and Snider continued with the BRM engine until joining forces with Jon Milledge who crewed the car for Snider in Regionals while racing it in Nationals and in Pro events. They continued with the car through 1972 and into 1973, before Snider replaced it with a GRD. It then went to Larry Wright to replace his earlier BT29 that he'd wrecked in June 1973. Wright kept the car until 1974 after which he retired and sold the car to "an unknown guy who lived in the Sierra Madre area of So Cal, near Pasadena".
3. Brabham BT35 [6] (Nick Cook): Chassis number given for Nick Cook's car in Autosport report of Arco Trophy race at Castle Combe, April 12, 1971, where the car debuts [AS 15 Apr 1971 p20]. Chassis number observed by Adam Ferrington on Cook's car at Oulton Park, 18 Mar 1972. Does not appear in the UK after the end of April and probably the car taken by Cook to the USA to use in the SCCA series. Used by Rob Turnbull in hillclimbs in 1974 and then sold to Andrew Fraser in 1975.
4. Brabham BT29 [1] (John Angus): John Angus bought the first BT29, ordering the car as early as late summer of 1968 but taking delivery in August 1969. He ran it in Regionals in late 1969 before participating in the Pro series in 1970. He swapped from a Vegantune to a Racing Services engine for 1971 and continued in Nationals. Angus continued with the car in 1972, when Ron Dykes also drove it in the Bogotá races and again in 1973, when the car continued to be competitive at National level.
5. Brabham BT35 [32] (Gordon Strom): Raúl Pérez Gama was one of several Mexican customers of Fred Opert racing in the early 1970s. For 1972, he had a brand new orange-and-yellow Brabham BT35 and raced as part of the Fred Opert Racing team in Pro Formula B events with entry number #66. He retained the car for the two Bogotá races in early 1972 after which BT35-32 has been indentified as the car driven in SCCA events by Gordon Strom (Santa Cruz, CA or Sunnyvale, CA) in 1972 and for the following three seasons, retaining the car's original orange and yellow colours throughout. For 1976, Strom acquired a Chevron B29 and the Brabham may have been traded back to Fred Opert.
6. March 722 (Olney "Bill" Mairs): Olney "Bill" Mairs (Malibu, CA) raced an orange #12 March 722 in three Pro races during the 1972 season. This would have been a new car but nothing is currently known of the car's fate.
7. Brabham BT29 [44] (Larry Wright): This late BT29 remained unused in 1970 and was sold by Charlie Hayes to Larry Wright (Riverside, CA) in Dec 1970, taking Wright's Chevron B15 in part exchange. Wright raced the orange-and-yellow #83 Brabham in Pro events and in SCCA National and Regional events on the west coast. In June 1973, he wrecked the car in practice for a National at Laguna Seca and replaced it with the ex-Archie Snider BT29. The damaged chassis went to Marc Bahner in 1974 who eventually repaired it and sold it to Lou Pavesi in 1980. It later passed to Steve Pike in Australia in 1993 and then to Jim McConville in 1998.
8. Brabham BT14 [FL-3-65] (Steve Jizmagian): 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.

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.