Colorado Grand Prix
Continental Divide, 16 May 1965
Results | Laps | Time/Speed | |||||||
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1 | Hap Sharp | (FA) 2.5-litre Cooper T53 - Climax FPF 4 #95 Hap Sharp |
35 | 1h 16m 80.2 mph |
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2 | Earl Jones | (FB) 1.6-litre Brabham BT2 [FJ-7-62?] - Ford twin cam #23 Earl Jones (see note 1) |
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3 | Bud Morley | (FA) 2-litre Elva Mk 7 - BMW #6 |
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4 | Lothar Motschenbacher | (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus 22 [22-J-2] - Ford twin cam #2 Lothar Motschenbacher |
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5 | Bruce Eglinton | (Formula IV) LeGrand Cheetah - BMW #69 Bruce Eglinton |
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6 | Karl Knapp | (FC) 1.1-litre Lotus 20 - Ford #8 Karl Knapp |
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7 | Henry Candler | (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus 27 - Ford twin cam |
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8 | Boyd Groberg | (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus - Ford twin cam |
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9 | Chuck Gounis | (FC) 1.1-litre Elva 300 - Ford |
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10 | Gene Bashor | (FC) 1.1-litre Lotus 18 - Ford #93 Eugene Bashor |
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11 | Bob Young | (FC) 1.1-litre Lotus 18 - Ford #31 Bob Young |
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12 | Charlie Adams | (FC) 1.1-litre Lotus 18 - Ford #27 Charlie Adams |
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13 | Elgin Holmes | (Formula IV) LeGrand Cheetah - BMW #40 Elgin Holmes |
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14 | Gene Levin | (FC) 1.1-litre Lotus 18 - Ford #11 Gene Levin |
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15 | Dave Eckersley | (F?) Cooper - BMC #5 Dave Eckersley |
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16 | George Hite | (FA) FVee - Chevrolet Corvair f6 #3 George Hite |
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17 | Louise Gray | (FC) 1.1-litre Lotus 18 - Ford #48 Louise Gray |
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18 | Jim Mulhall | (FC) 1.1-litre Dagrada FJ - Lancia Appia V4 #72 Jim Mulhall |
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19 | Leonard R. Conda | (FC) 1.1-litre Elva - Ford |
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R | Cal Apperson | (FC) 1.1-litre Lotus 22 - Ford #44 Cal Apperson |
blown engine | ||||||
R | G Mason O'Keiff | (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus 27 [27-FM-8] - Ford twin cam #17 Gustav O'Keiff (see note 2) |
broken gearlever and low oil pressure | ||||||
R | Jack Barker | (unknown) Saab |
broken rear suspension | ||||||
R | Ron Herrera | (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus 22 - Ford twin cam #10 Ron Herrera |
low oil pressure | ||||||
DNS | Phil Gruber | (FC) 1.1-litre Lotus 18 - Ford #43 Phil Gruber |
Did not start (blown engine) |
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DNS | Chuck Trowbridge | (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus 22 - Alfa Romeo #9 Chuck Trowbridge |
Did not start (blown engine) |
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DNS | Danny Collins | (FA) Cooper - Chevrolet #77 Danny Collins |
Did not start (lubrication problem) |
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DNS | Harry McIntosh | (FA) Elva 300 [300-05] - Chevrolet Corvair f6 #55 Harry McIntosh |
Did not start (lubrication problem) |
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DNS | John Oxholm | (F?) Vanguard Super V - Porsche #7 John Oxholm |
Did not start (lubrication problem) |
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  | Stanley "Bud" White | (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus - Ford twin cam #4 Bud White |
On entry list | ||||||
  | Bob Keys | (FB) 1.6-litre Lotus 27 [27-JM-34] - Ford twin cam #21 Bob Keys |
On entry list | ||||||
  | John Marshall | (F?) Cooper - Alfa Romeo #32 John Marshall |
On entry list | ||||||
  | Bob Schilling | (F?) Norcon Mk III - Ford #33 Bob Schilling |
On entry list | ||||||
  | Jake Platek | (F?) Cooper - Ford #39 Jake Platek |
On entry list | ||||||
  | John Moisson | (F?) Lotus - Ford #47 James Moison |
On entry list | ||||||
  | Neil Hillier | (F?) LeGrand Cheetah - Royal-Enfield #50 Neil Hillier |
On entry list | ||||||
  | Bob Floeck | (F?) Stanguellini - Daimler #68 Bob Floeck |
On entry list | ||||||
  | Chuck McCarty | (FC) 1-litre Gemini Mk 4 - Ford Martin #71 Charles McCarty |
On entry list |
All cars are 3-litre FA unless noted.
Qualifying | |||||
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1 | Hap Sharp | (FA) 2.5-litre Cooper T53 - Climax FPF 4 | |||
2 | Earl Jones | (FB) 1.6-litre Brabham BT2 [FJ-7-62?] - Ford twin cam | |||
4 | Bud Morley | (FA) 2-litre Elva Mk 7 - BMW |
Notes on the cars:
- Brabham BT2 [FJ-7-62?] (Earl Jones): Believed to be the car sold to Hap Sharp (Midland, TX), and entered for the Road America June Sprints. Sharp's car was also driven by Jim Hall (Abilene, TX) at Continental Divide in September 1962. Likely to be the car of Howard S Cole (Houston, TX) although this identity remains unproven. Cole's first known race in the car was in November 1962. Cole's home town of Houston is just 500 miles from Sharp's base in Midland, a mere stone's throw by the standards of a Texan road racer. Cole raced the car through 1963, then sold it to Ken Leith (Houston, TX), who raced it in an event at Stuttgart Airport late in November 1963. During 1964, the only mentions of Leith's Brabham were in The Shreveport (Louisiana) Times previews of SCCA Divisional races at Mansfield's De Soto Airport in June and at Hilltop Raceway in September, when it was said that Leith would run his Brabham. Leith moved to a Lotus 23B for 1965. An "ex-Hap Sharp" Brabham was then raced by Earl Jones (Los Angeles, CA) in Formula B in 1965. In August 1967, the disassembled "ex-Earl Jones" Brabham was advertised by Richard Timan (San Francisco, CA). It was acquired by David Jaques (Claremont, CA) and was rebuilt as the Mattel Special for Formula B. After racing it as the Mattel in 1970, Jaques updated the car with BT15, BT18 and BT21 bits by the time he advertised it in 1972, it was a "BT18/21". Believed to have gone to an SCCA racer in 1973 who raced it until 1978, and retained it to 1985. He sold the car in November 1985 to the son of a local engine builder. Subsequent history unknown.
- Lotus 27 [27-FM-8] (G Mason O'Keiff): One of the first Lotus 27s to enter the US was chassis 27/FM/8, ordered by Lotus Southwest to be fitted with Lotus-Ford twin-cam engine for regular customer G. Mason O'Keiff (Houston, TX) to race in the SCCA's new libre category in 1964. O'Keiff scored 9 points in SWDiv and qualified for the Run-Offs, where he finished third. His car was then classified as Formula B in 1965 and O'Keiff used it in pro events. His last known appearance in the car was at the Las Vegas race in April 1966.
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.
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.
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
Competition Press & Autoweek 19 Jun 1965 p3. Earl Jones' Brabham was described as ex-Sharp, suggesting the BT2 that Sharp ran in 1962 but it could be a more recent car. Sharp's Cooper was described as "the ex-Brabham 2.5 Cooper", implying that it was the ex-Indy spare rather that the 1.5-litre F1 Cooper that Sharp bought for the 1961 US GP.