American Road Race of Champions (Formula A class)

Riverside, 24 Nov 1968

All cars are 5-litre F5000 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Lola T140 [SL140/8] (Jerry Hansen): New to Jerry Hansen for the 1968 US series, then to John Mahler (Bettendorf, IA) for the 1969 series. Subsequent history unknown but believed to be the car acquired by Wayne "Bing" Sherer (Buffalo, NY) in 1972 and raced in SCCA Nationals. To Phil "Butch" Hollenbeck for 1973, then to Art Cross (Auburn, NY) who ran it in to Florida for several years. Via Owen Starr, Lou Pavesi and Rick McLean to Mark Rincon (Redding, CA) and Hal Williams by 1994, for historic racing. Later sold to Richard Cross, then via Rincon to John Bryant (Adelaide, Australia) at the Monterey Historics in August 2007 and imported into Australia. Crashed at Philip Island March 2008, but rebuilt and raced in the 2011/12 Tasman Revival series. More information about Lola T140 SL140/8
2. Lola T140 [SL140/10] (Pierre Phillips): New to Pierre Phillips (Portland, OR) for Formuila A in the Pacific Northwest in 1968, then taken to New Zealand for one race in December 1968. Unknown in 1969, but sold by Phillips to Denny Erickson's Repco Northwest Competition Motors (Spokane, WA) for 1970. Sold to Tom Kagi (Spokane WA) in 1971, but its subsequent history is unknown. Reappeared with Dr Grant Hill (Okotoks, Alberta) in 1988, then to ex-F5000 driver Lou Pavesi (Los Altos, CA) in 1989 or 1990. To Bill Blake (San Carlos, CA) and Bruce Sevier (Sacramento, CA) late 2004, and restored for historic events.
3. LeGrand Mk 7 [002] (Rex Ramsey): A new car replacing the original works Mk 7 sold to Don Richardson, and shaken down by Bruce Eglinton at Whitman stadium June 1968 where he crashed and was badly burnt. The car was rebuilt and loaned to Jerry Entin, fitted with his Chevrolet engine and ZF gearbox, and taken to Road America for the Badger "200" on 27 July 1968, but the timing gear broke before the race, and Entin did not start. Entin won a National at Riverside in August and two Regionals later in the year. Dick Guldstrand took over the car for the Laguna Seca 'Pro' race in October and it was then driven by Rex Ramsey at the ARRC, and at the Monaco International Trophy in New Zealand at the end of December. Ramsey continued to drive the car in 1969, winning three SCCA Nationals but was well off the pace in Pro races. It was then shared by Chuck Elliott and Bruce Eglinton in SCCA Regionals and Nationals respectively in 1970 and 1971. Then sold to Mal Patterson (San Jose, CA), who entered it for the Pro race at Laguna Seca 7 May 1972, but does not appear to have raced it very often. It was then sold to Ken Owen (Union City, CA) and used in local SCCA racing in 1975 and 1976. Then sold to Skip Pack (Hollister, CA) and Dennis McLaughlin , who autocrossed the car in the late 1970s and early 1980s before they sold it to Butch Gilbert in October 2009. Sold to John F Boxhorn (Mukwonago, Wisconsin) in October 2010, and restored during 2011 and 2012. Sold to David Zavetsky (Wellesboro, PA) in 2019. See full history: LeGrand Mk 7 002.
4. Eisert 65 (Stew McMillen): New for Skip Hudson to drive at the 1965 Indy 500 as J Frank Harrison's #96 Harrison Special. The new car got on track on 13 May, at which point the older 1964 car was renumbered from 96 to 93. Hudson was a successful sports car racer, but was unable to pass his rookie test when an engine blew, so Al Unser took over the drive but he made no attempt to qualify the car. Unser then drove the car through the 1965 USAC season, but only once finished inside the top 10. The 1965 car was retained for the opening races of the 1966 season, driven by Unser at Phoenix and by Billy Foster at Trenton. It then became the team's #93 entry, and was only seen again at Fuji, where Jerry Grant finished tenth. Greg Weld failed to qualify the car for the 1967 Indy 500, after which it was sold to Don Wilcox, who raced it at Pikes Peak and made an unsuccessfiul attempt to qualify at Indianapolis Raceway Park in July. The old car was ideal for the SCCA's new Formula A, so was sold to Stew McMillen (Libertyville, IL) who raced it in SCCA Nationals, winning twice, and in Pro races. At the end of 1968 he took it out to New Zealand, racing it at Baypark Raceway in December, before it was leased to Dennis Marwood for the 1969/70 season. It returned to the US later in 1970 and was acquired by Bill Tempero (Fort Collins, CO), who fitted it with wedge-style bodywork and raced it in Pro races and SCCA Nationals in 1971, then in Midwest Division Formula A in 1972. It was later converted for street use by brothers Wayne and Steve Huntley in Nebraska and was also used as a show car by Fred Bosselman in the late 1970s or early 1980s, probably at his Bosselman Truck Plaza in Grand Island, Nebraska. In the early 1990s it was acquired by Bill Wiswedel (Holland, MI) who has restored it to 1965 colours but still with the later, squarer bodywork.
5. WRE Shadow (Nick Dioguardi): New to Nick Dioguardi (Glendale, CA) for SCCA Formula A in 1968. Retained for a few races in 1969. Retained again for a few races in 1970. Then unknown until advertised by Charlie Harris (California) in in Finish Line December 1976, at which time it was fitted with roll cage, "nerf bars" and mufflers for oval track racing. Subsequent history unknown.

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.

1968 US information has been taken from SCCA results sheets with additional information from Autoweek race reports and from some entry lists. Thanks to David McKinney and Wolfgang Klopfer for providing these. Identifying the classes and model of some entries has proved very difficult so all new information would be welcomed.

1969-1971 US information has been collated by Chris Townsend using Autoweek reports. All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome.

1972-1976 US information was originally collated by Wolfgang Klopfer, converted to database format by Dawn Harrison and checked by Jim Thurman and Don Capps. Wolfgang's main sources are Autoweek and individual SCCA results bulletins but Autosport, Autocourse and Road Racing Annual have also been consulted.

US SCCA Runoffs, Nationals and Regionals results were collated by Wolfgang Klopfer from Autoweek reports. These reports were usually very brief so the information on the majority of races is limited just to the identity of the FA class winner.

Some race programs have also been used for entry lists and other information. My thanks to Richard Coe for the generous contributions from his collection.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen if you can add anything.