CASC North American Formula Atlantic Series Race

Mosport Park, 19 Aug 1979

All cars are 1.6-litre F/Atl unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Lola T560 [T460 HU18] (Carl Liebich): New to Carl Liebich (Plymouth, WI/Two Rivers, WI) for Canadian and IMSA Formula Atlantic races late in the 1976 season. Liebich was said to have a new T560 for 1977, but it appears it was his nearly-new T460 updated. Retained for 1978, 1979, and the start of 1980. Chris Townsend's research shows this car was sold to Chuck Dietrich in 1980 and used by him in SCCA Central Division Formula Atlantic until 1982. It was then retained unraced by Dietrich until sold to Lowell Blossom in 1995. Sold by Blossom to Dave Jordano (Indianapolis, IN) in 2005.
2. Chevron B45 [45-78-03] (Mark McCaig): New to Rick Shea Racing and in North American Formula Atlantic in 1978, with backing from Jethro Tull. Raced by Shea at the first round, and by Marcel Talbot, Skeeter McKitterick, Bob Earl and Tom Gloy at later races, Retained by Shea for 1979 and raced by Mark McCaig (Calgary, Alberta) in the Pro series. To Colin Tuckey (Calgary, Alberta) for 1980, and entered in the Pro series by FBM Racing. Retained by Tuckey for 1981. Later raced by David Farmer (Niagra Falls, Ontario) in 1983. The car ended up with another Chevron in a museum in Canada, until 1989, when they were spotted by Peter Hemming. The B45 was acquired by Ed Swart in February 1993, and prepared for historic racing. He raced the B45 from October 1993 with a BDA engine in the Formula Atlantic class, and after about five years ran it with a 2-litre BDG engine in F2 classes.
3. Chevron B39/B45 [39-77-12] (Doug Titus): New to Fred Opert Racing and raced in the Labatts Formula Atlantic Championship. This car was new for Keke Rosberg to race at Trois-Rivières in September 1977. It was retained by Opert for 1978, and raced by Eje Elgh at the opening two rounds as his #5 Sheik Condoms entry before his new Chevron B45 was available. The B39 is then thought to be the #5 car raced by Divina Galica at Hamilton in August. Then probably the pink #5 Chevron raced by Marco Tolama for Opert at Road America in July 1979. Then probably the #4 entry, still in Excita livery, for Doug Titus at two other races later that season.
4. March 79B (Marco Tolama): Long-time Chevron importer Fred Opert acquired a March 79B for 1979 and ran it alongside the Chevron B45 he had left from 1978. It was raced once by team driver Marco Tolama and also by European F2 stars Derek Daly (at Trois-Rivières) and Eje Elgh (at Montréal). It went to Carl Liebich for 1980, who recalls buying a car from Opert that had previously been driven by Daly. Retained for 1981 but Liebich does not recall who he sold it to.
5. March 77B [6?] (Bob McGregor): The history of this car in 1977 and 1978 is currently unresolved, but in 1979 it was raced by Bob McGregor (Burnaby, British Columbia) in Formula Atlantic. It then went to Mark Akerstream (Vancouver, BC) who used it in CASC regional events in 1980. It then went to Russ Thomson (Vancouver, BC) who used it for ICSCC races in 1981. A logbook still with the car shows that he used it with ICSCC as late as 1989. It then went to Bill Stevens (Portland, Oregon) in 1989, fitted a Mazda engine and raced it with ICSCC up to April 1995. Then to Martin Handshy (Connecticut) and restored to Formula Atlantic specification, and he raced it in SVRA vintage racing from February 1998 to October 2002. It was sold to the current owner in 2005.

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' original results.

North American Formula Atlantic race results have been compiled by Chris Townsend based on material in Formula and On Track, information drawn from Canadian newspapers and results sheets where available.

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.