War Bonnet Continental Race

War Bonnet, 25 Jun 1967

All cars are 3-litre FA unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Brabham BT21A [4] (Lou Sell): Sold new to Lou Sell (Fullerton, CA) and first seen in the Pro Formula B race at War Bonnet in late June where Sell qualified on pole and finished second. Then raced in SCCA Regionals and occasional Nationals in California, and in the pro races at Mont-Tremblant and Lake Tahoe at the end of the season. Sold to Sell's backer Dick Smothers (Woodland Hills, CA) for 1968, although Sell also raced it in one SoPac National early that year. To Fred Opert late 1968 in part-exchange for a new Chevron and from him on to Ken Duclos (Boxboro, MA) for 1969. Duclos believes he returned it to Opert at the end of 1969 when he acquired his new BT29 and it next turns up in 1971 with John Sorbello (Lafayette, MA) who widened the cockpit section into a two-seater and added a Chevron B16 body. However, it is possible that the dates of this are wrong and that Bob Isnor (Newton, MA) raced it as a FB before it went to Sorbello. Later to John Kauffman who thought he had bought a Chevron and then to Joe Maria (White Plains, NY) in the early 1990s. It was restored by David Irwin to BT21A spec and was still with Maria in 2007. To Bob Lima (Meadowbrook, PA) by October 2009 and later repainted in Sell's colours.
2. Brabham BT10? (Mike Hiss): Mike Hiss (Laurel, MD) moved into a Formula B at the start of 1967 with an unidentified Brabham. Photographs show that it was a BT9 or BT10 and as most BT9s moved into FC, not FB, this is more likely to have been a BT10. He first appeared at the SCCA National at VIR in April and then took impressive third-place finishes at the first two rounds of the new Continental Championship in May and June. He then "demolished" the car in a spectacular series of flips during practice for the National at Bridgehampton in July. When he returned, he drove a BT21A and it is assumed that the crashed car was too heavily damaged to be repairable.
3. Brabham BT21 (Fred Opert): Fred Opert was the main dealer for Brabham on the east coast of the US and imported around seven Formula B BT21As for 1967. Opert himself raced a 'BT21' at War Bonnet in June 1967 but it is not clear whether that was a FB car or a FC. For now, it is assumed to be the first appearance of the Opert team's in-house Formula B BT21A. Joe Grimaldi (Midland Park, NJ) worked for Opert at this time and raced a Brabham BT21A in Formula B events in 1967, scoring 18 pts in NEDiv. In January 1968, Fred Opert advertised the blue-and-yellow "ex-Joe Grimaldi" Brabham BT21A noting that it had only raced eight times and was the car that Peter Gethin drove at the St Jovite Pro FB race where he took pole position. Grimaldi also appeared in Pro Formula events in 1967 but in a Formula C Brabham BT21. It is assumed that Grimaldi was driving Opert's in-house car. Subsequent history unknown.
4. Lotus 21 [936] (Chuck Trowbridge): New to Brabham Racing Organisation for Jack Brabham to race in non-championship F1 events in early 1962, until his newer Lotus 24 was delivered. It was reported to have been "destroyed" in a garage fire prior to its first race, but Brabham raced it at Pau and Aintree. Then to Jim Hall and used by him to win the Hoosier Grand Prix Intercontinental race held at Indianapolis Raceway Park in July 1962. Also raced by Hall at the US and Mexican GPs later that year. To J Frank Harrison and his chief mechanic Jerry Eisert, who fitted a Shelby Ford V8 engine for SCCA libre racing. It was raced by Rick Muther for Harrison at two libre races in October 1964. Then used by Al Unser at Pikes Peak in 1965. Later sold to Chuck Trowbridge (Denver, CO) and used in SCCA Formula A with a 3-litre Ford engine in 1967, and then with a 5-litre engine in early 1968. Then to Steven Woods (Farmington, CT) in July 1968, and raced by him in New England for the rest of that season. Next seen when owned by Gil Roth (Pittsburgh, PA) in 1970, then with Jim Corwin (New Buffalo, Michigan) in 1971. Subsequent history unknown.
5. Brabham BT21 (Joe Grimaldi): Joe Grimaldi is recorded as driving a Formula C Brabham BT21 in one or two rounds of the SCCA Continental Championship in 1967: at Mont-Tremblant in September and possibly also at War Bonnet in June. Whether this was actually a BT21 is unclear, but it cannot have been the Fred Opert team's usual BT21A fitted with a Cosworth SCA engine for the occasion, as that car appeared in Formula B form in both the races that Grimaldi was said to have raced a Formula C. If this was a BT21, it is unclear where it went for 1968, as the three Formula C BT21s that appeared in the early part of the 1968 season - Bill Rutan's, Opert's, and Wayne Mitchell's - were all described as a BT21Bs. Nothing more known.

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

Tulsa World 26 Jun 1967 p19. The positions given in the Tulsa World did not exactly match the SCCA results. Positions her are taken from the SCCA results but class positions from the Tulsa World, which means they may not be consistent.