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CASC North American Formula Atlantic Series Race

Road America, 26 Jul 1981

ResultsLapsTime/Speed
1 Whitney Ganz Ralt RT4/81 [228] - Ford BDD
#17 Karges Sport
25 55m 52.06s
107.397 mph
2 Tommy Grunnah March 81A [3] - Ford BDD
#6 Doug Shierson Racing/Relco
25 55m 55.26s
3 Tim Coconis Ralt RT4/81 [227] - Ford BDD
#83 Graphics International
25
4 Chris Kneifel March 81A - Ford BDD
#8 Doug Shierson Racing/Primus
25
5 Rogelio Rodriguez Ralt RT4/81 [204] - Ford BDD
#11 Lane Sports
25
6 Allen Berg Ralt RT4/81 [219] - Ford BDD Jennings
#68 Berg Racing/United Way
25
7 James King March 79B [16] - Ford BDD
#25 (see note 1)
25
8 Mike Rosen Ralt RT4/81 [209] - Ford BDD
#10 Lane Sports/E-Z Wider
25
9 Hubert Phipps March 80A [11] - Ford BDD
#90 Stimola Race Prep
25
10 Carl Liebich March 79B [21] - Ford BDD
#54 Liebrau Racing (see note 2)
25
11 James Oppermann March 79B [4] - Ford BDD
#2 JaOpp Racing
22
12 Ed Midgley March 80A [15] - Ford BDD
#40 Foxwood Motorsports
21
13 Jacques Villeneuve Sr March 81A [2] - Ford BDD
#1 Doug Shierson Racing
17 Wheel bearing
14 Dan Marvin Ralt RT4/81 [249] - Ford BDD
#7 Jon Norman Racing
14 Head gasket
15 Norm Hunter Ralt RT4/81 [210] - Ford BDD
#12 Lane Sports
14 Accident
16 Mark Moore March 79B - Ford BDD
#19 British Motors
12 Overheating
17 John David Briggs March 81A - Ford BDD
#37 Briggs Racing
10 Gear linkage
DNSC Bruce Clark Lola T560 [HU1] - Ford BDD
#75 (see note 3)
Did not start (crashed)

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

Qualifying
1 Jacques Villeneuve Sr (F/Atl) 1.6-litre March 81A [2] - Ford BDD
2 John David Briggs (F/Atl) 1.6-litre March 81A - Ford BDD
3 Allen Berg (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Ralt RT4/81 [219] - Ford BDD Jennings
4 Norm Hunter (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Ralt RT4/81 [210] - Ford BDD
5 Tommy Grunnah (F/Atl) 1.6-litre March 81A [3] - Ford BDD
6 Dan Marvin (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Ralt RT4/81 [249] - Ford BDD
7 Rogelio Rodriguez (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Ralt RT4/81 [204] - Ford BDD
8 Whitney Ganz (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Ralt RT4/81 [228] - Ford BDD
9 Tim Coconis (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Ralt RT4/81 [227] - Ford BDD
10 James King (F/Atl) 1.6-litre March 79B [16] - Ford BDD
11 Chris Kneifel (F/Atl) 1.6-litre March 81A - Ford BDD
12 Hubert Phipps (F/Atl) 1.6-litre March 80A [11] - Ford BDD
13 Carl Liebich (F/Atl) 1.6-litre March 79B [21] - Ford BDD
14 Bruce Clark * (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Lola T560 [HU1] - Ford BDD
15 James Oppermann (F/Atl) 1.6-litre March 79B [4] - Ford BDD
16 Mike Rosen (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Ralt RT4/81 [209] - Ford BDD
17 Ed Midgley (F/Atl) 1.6-litre March 80A [15] - Ford BDD
18 Mark Moore (F/Atl) 1.6-litre March 79B - Ford BDD
 
* Did not start

Notes on the cars:

  1. 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.
  2. March 79B [21] (Carl Liebich): 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.
  3. Lola T560 [HU1] (Bruce Clark): New to Jerry Hansen (Long Lake, MN), and logbooked with the SCCA on 17 August 1977. Then to Bruce Clark (Wayzata, MN) 1 May 1978, and raced in SCCA Nationals and occasional nearby Pro races over the next few seasons. He stopped racing after an accident in practice at the Road America Pro race in July 1981. He retained the T560 until 1989, then he sold it to Richard George. It then went to Denis Tobin in 1990, to Michael Henderson in Australia in 1995, then to Colin Haste (Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia) in 2000. Used in historic racing until an accident at Sandown in Australia 2002 left the car very badly damaged. The car was repaired and racing again by 2010, and raced regularly in Australian historic racing thereafter.

Sources

Note that 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' published 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 On Track magazine 25 Feb 1982 p14 and Autoweek 17 Aug 1981 p30.