CASC North American Formula Atlantic Series Race

Montréal, 26 Sep 1981

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

Notes on the cars:

1. LM Special [March 71BM-2] (Mauro Lanaro): New for Bill Gubelmann (Oyster Bay, NY) and used in British Formula Atlantic at the start of the season, winning at Oulton Park 21 March, and then in the SCCA Pro Formula B series. The car was often described as a 712M but it seems more likely that he used the same 712BM all season. Also raced with a BDA in the Formula A race at Lime Rock in Sep and in one round of the Canadian series. Sold via Joe Grimaldi's The Race Shop to Frank Del Vecchio (Trumbull, CT) and used in NEDiv FB and in a couple of rounds of the Pro series. Sold back via Joe Grimaldi at the end of 1972; Frank thinks it went to a Canadian, and it is very likely to have been the car driven by Ken Huband, Norm Joy and David Westgate in 1973 and 1974. Sold to Mauro Lanaro (Montréal, Quebec) to replace the 71BM he lost in a transporter fire in 1974. Significantly modified in 1976 as the Lanaro Special with triangular sidepods, a different nose, and with its Cosworth BDA engine laid on its side. This car went through many evolutions, and was still being raced by Lanaro right up to 1995 when it was used in a vintage event. Lanaro eventually rebuilt to original 71BM specification about 1999. In late 2018, it was part of a package of cars bought from Lanaro by David Clubine (Brantford, ON), and was sold to a collector in Ontario.
2. Chevron B39 [39-77-08] (Dean Lundgreen): New to Fred Opert Racing and used in the Labatts Formula Atlantic Championship. One of two cars run by the team for Keke Rosberg, this one having narrower track, but Rosberg used a B34 at four races that season and exactly how he used this B39 remains uncertain. Retained by Fred Opert Racing for the 1978 New Zealand series, where it was Rosberg's main race car as he easily won the championship. Then believed to be the car raced by Divina Galica at Long Beach in early 1978. It was sold to Dean Lundgreen (Franklin, MN) later in 1978 and raced in SCCA Nationals, scoring 13 points that season. He scored 15 points in 1979, and continued to race the car in 1980 and 1981. Advertised by Lundgreen in April 1982 and February 1983 as "Rosberg's Tasman winner". Sold to Mike Rand later in 1983, then sold on to Joe Ostrowski (Trenton, NJ) who raced it from 1984 to 1986 at least. The car remained in Ostrowski's garage until 2004, when he sold it to Mark Wehrman. It was then sold to Lee Brahin (Philadelphia, PA) in 2006 and raced by him in red bodywork with non-standard sidepods in 2008 and 2009. Then to Martin Lauber (Tiburon, CA) in August 2011 and raced by him in pink Excita livery (but still with the same distinctive sidepods) from 2012 to 2019. It was sold to Laurent Parmentier (Los Angeles, CA) in January 2020, and raced by him in 2020 and 2021.

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.

Individual sources for this event

Chris Townsend's sources include Autosport 1 Oct 1981 pp46-47 and On Track magazine 25 Feb 1982 p14.