CASC North American Formula Atlantic Series Race

Road America, 22 Jul 1979

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

Notes on the cars:

1. Ralt RT1/76 [34] (Tom Gloy): New to Brian Robertson's Quick-Trans/Gabriel International Warranty team in the middle of the 1976 season, replacing the team's Lola T460s, and run for Richard Spenard in the 1976 Players Canadian Formula Atlantic series in yellow Planter's Peanuts livery. Both the Robertson team cares were offered for sale by Fred Opert in early 1977 so this must be the yellow RT1 that was bought from Opert by Dave Webber (Mississauga, Ontario) and raced in the Labatts Formula Atlantic Championship in 1977. Badly damaged in a practice accident at St-Félicien in August and Webber spent much of 1978 rebuilding it. Webber advertised the car in February 1979 with a Can-Am body. This is then very probably the car acquired by Tom Gloy (Lafayette, CA) as a spare to his newer RT1/79 for the 1979 season, when he was run by Lane Sports. Retained by Lane Sports for 1980. CT
2. March 79B (Cliff Hansen): New to Cliff Hansen (Laguna Beach, CA) and raced in the CASC North American Formula Atlantic series in 1979. Unknown after 1979.
3. 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 (Zionsville, IN) in 1995. Raced by Blossom at Lime Rock in May 1996 and at Grattan Raceway in August 1997. It was sold by Blossom to Dave Jordano (Indianapolis, IN) in 2005. Subsequent history unknown, but believed to be the T460/T560 raced by Tom Thornton in HSCC Derek Bell Trophy races in 2010 and 2011.
4. March 79B [16] (James King): New to James King and first raced in June 1979. Raced primarily in SCCA Nationals but also used in the CASC Pro races at Road America and Montréal that year, at Long Beach and Road America in 1980, and at Road America again in 1981. Sold to Dennis Eade at Comprep after the 1982 season, but Eade was only interested in the engine and the car remained stored at Comprep for some time. Bought by Barry Rosenblum from Eade at some point and used in historic racing.
5. Ralt RT1/77 [88] (Larry Bergman): New to Brian Robertson's Ralt America as a late-season car for the CASC Formula Atlantic series, probably intended for Eddie Cheever to drive at Trois Rivieres, but he did not appear. To Larry Bergman (Los Gatos, CA) for SCCA Formula B in California. Bergman retained the car for 1979, winning the Northern Pacific Division Formula Atlantic title but also competing in most rounds of the North American Formula Atlantic series. Then to Steve Millen in New Zealand, and raced in the Aurora AFX New Zealand Formula Pacific series in January 1980, then in the 1980/81 season. To Eric Morgan for the 1981/82, 1982/83 and 1983/84 seasons. CT
6. Chevron B39 [39-77-06?] (Marco Tolama): New to Fred Opert Racing and raced in the Labatts Formula Atlantic Championship. Believed to be the car raced by Francisco Romero at the opening round. Believed to be the car intended for Didier Pironi at St-Félicien in August, but crashed in practice. Repaired and entered for Patrick Depailler at Trois-Rivières and Québec City as the team's #2 car. Retained by Fred Opert Racing for the 1978 New Zealand series, where it was the team's #2 entry raced by Bobby Rahal. Then raced by Jim Crawley in two North American races in early 1978. It is then likely to be one of two B39s retained by the Opert team later in 1978, and as such may be the car raced by Rosberg at the final race of the season. Opert again had two B39s for the 1979 season, one in red bodywork and one in orange. He advertised both these cars in December 1979, one in "original red gelcoat" and one "repainted orange", describing them as ex-Rosberg and ex-Rahal cars. Rahal only drove 77-06, and as that was originally blue, it cannot have been the "original red gelcoat" car in the advert so must have been the orange car. Subsequent history unknown, but in December 2005 "Joe" from Northern New Jersey was seeking information about chassis "39-77-06". He said he had contacted Fred Opert who had told him that it had been used by Rosberg in New Zealand, and by Jacques Lafitte, Patrick Depailler and James Crawley in the Canadian series. It had orange bodywork, again indicating that it had been Tolama's orange car. "Joe" advertised it for sale on the Autosport Forum in January 2006. A restoration then began that included a new monocoque by Prince Race Cars and the car was advertised on race-cars.com in dark blue bodywork. It was next seen when restored by The Progress Group (Placentia, CA) in 2011/12 with pale blue B39 bodywork and white Excita signwriting, and raced by Chris Cord at the Monterey Historics in 2013.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. March 79B (Howdy Holmes): New to Howdy Holmes (Ann Arbor, MI) and raced in the CASC North American Formula Atlantic series in 1979, entered and prepared by Doug Shierson Racing and sponsored by Jiffy Mixes. Unknown after 1979.
10. March 79B (Tommy Grunnah): New to Tommy Grunnah (Barrington, IL) and raced in Pro races and SCCA Nationals in 1979. Unknown after 1979.
11. Chevron B45 [45-78-02] (Marco Tolama): New to Fred Opert Racing for Keke Rosberg to for race in North American Formula Atlantic in 1978, with backing from Excita. Raced by Bob Earl at Montréal in September when Rosberg drove an older B39. Retained by Opert for 1979, and driven by Marco Tolama. To Paul Fostini (SCCA New York Region) and used in NEDiv Formula Atlantic in 1981, scoring seven points that season. It was then sold to AJ "Buddy" Pugliese (New Rochelle, NY) in 1982, and used in Race Car Club of America (RCCA) races, the club formed by Pugliese in 1979 to promote the Club Ford format. In 1983, Pugliese started a new RCCA class called Formula American, for pre-ground-effect Formula Atlantic cars with their Cosworth engines limited to 9200 rpm but also allowing the use of the Chevrolet 60° V6 engine limited to 6500 rpm. The B45 was fitted with the V6 engine and Pugliese raced it through much of the 1980s. In the early 1990s, he loaned the car to Walter Nelson who crashed it and then took it to a fabricator at Dutchess County Airport for repairs, where it sat for some time after the fabricator's business closed. In February 2014, Pugliese sold the whole project to Ric Baribeault, who first had to locate the missing tub and then took it all to Bob Cavanaugh for restoration. The restoration progressed slowly and was stil incomplete in 2020 when Baribeault sold it to Cordell Secrest (Houston, TX). Secrest moved the project to the Danbury, CT, workshop of Mike Agnifilo (North Salem, NY), and it remained with him until he eventually acquired it partly in payment of storage fees. Agnifilo plans to rebuild the car to original specification.
12. March 79B [21] (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. History then unknown until the early 1990s when it was part of "the Indy Car Experience" at Phoenix International Raceway. It was acquired by Todd Cook of TCE Performances Products (Tempe, AZ) around 1994, then to Jon Gibson, then Jim McDonald, and then to Don Sandy and Art Hebert (San Rafael, CA) in early 2011. It was advertised on motorsportsmarket.com in early 2015 and sold to Charles Arton in South Africa, who ran the car at Killarney in February 2015 in Martini livery and still with Hebert's name on the side. In May 2017, following the Simola Hill Climb, the 79B was destroyed when a transporter containing six cars bound for Cape Town caught fire.
13. Ralt RT1/76 [10] (John Connolly): New to Team Gunston for Roy Klomfass at the end of 1975 and used through the 1976 South African Formula Atlantic season in South Africa, during which time it was extensively modified. In early 1977 it was sold "to a guy in Los Angeles". This must have been Kevin Cogan (Torrance, CA, in southwestern Los Angeles County), who raced his newer RT1/76-33 in 1977 but kept chassis 10 as a spare car for the first part of 1977. It was borrowed by Pierre Phillips at Mosport Park in May for Juan Cochesa to race after the Venezuelan crashed his intended car in practice. Then very probably the car acquired from Brian Robertson by John Connolly (Brooklyn, NY) and raced by him at Trois-Rivières in September. The car is thought to have remained with Connolly until advertised by him in early 1982, but he also had a newer RT1/78 and a Ralt RT4. CT

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.