Central Division SCCA Formula B 1967

Chuck Dietrich easily won CenDiv in 1967 in his brand new McLaren M4A, one of the very first cars delivered. Overall the division grew but most interest in formula cars was in the east of the division, around the Ohio Valley, with the cars in the west being generally older. Dietrich's closest competitor was Dave Dours driving Dick Leppla's ex-Tyrrell Racing F2 Cooper T75 which, like Dietrich's McLaren, was fitted with the latest Vegantune twin cam, Dours broke the lap record at Mid-Ohio in this car in September, a race Dietrich was unable to start. Like all the ex-F2 T75s that entered the US, Leppla's car was always called a T76.

In an impressive third place was James Beaudoin in an Autodynamics, presumably a D-3 model powered by a Porsche 356 engine but possibly his own conversion of his former FV car to a Ford twin-cam. An interesting name further down is that of Allan Moffat, a future Australian touring car legend but then just a 27-year-old Canadian-born budding racing driver. Steve Griswold, who would drive this ex-Moffatt Brabham a year or so later, believes Moffatt brought it with him from Australia.

The two distinct centres within Central Division, one around Milwaukee and Chicago and the other around Detroit and Cleveland, were already in evidence. NEOhio won five categories in 1967, including FA, FB and FC, Detroit won four, Indianapolis and Chicago three each and six other regions shared the others.

Final standings

† Indicates total includes points earned out of home division.

Formula C saw 14 drivers scoring points (for the second year in succession) with Tom Gelb's Brabham BT2 taking second place.

1967 Schedule

Nelson Ledges at this time was called Steel Cities International. Scheduled Nationals that were cancelled during the season included Gratton 20 May (NEMichigan Region), Donnybrooke 12 Aug (Land O'Lakes Region) and Steel Cities Intl. 26 Aug (Western Ohio Region).

Central Division sources

Most of our knowledge of CenDiv racing comes from the SCCA's Sports Car magazine and from Competition Press & Autoweek. We are very keen to acquire, borrow or receive copies of 1960s, 1970s and 1980s SCCA regional publications from this Division. There were many such newsletters in this Division, including:

• Auto-Graph (Indiana Northwest Region)
• Backfire (Western Michigan Region)
• Blower (Northeast Ohio Region)
• Class Q and later CinChronizer (Cincinnati Region)
• Clutch Chatter (Indianapolis Region)
• Clutch Chatter (Northwestern Ohio Region)
• Crashbox (Golden Triangle Region)
• Down Shift (Central Illinois Region)
• Downshift (Kentucky Region)
• The Drift (Milwaukee Region)
• Drifting (Des Moines Valley Region)
• The Fifth Wheel (Northeastern Michigan Region)
• The Four Wheel Drift (Fort Wayne Region)
• Iowa Regional News (Iowa Region)
• Newsletter (Central Kentucky Region)
• Ohio Valley Regional News and Observers Stand (Ohio Valley Region)
• Open Exhaust (Detroit Region)
• Piston Patter (Chicago Region)
• Pit Board (South Bend Region)
• The Pit Stop (Southern Indiana Region)
• The Racket (Tennessee Valley Region)
• Recaps (Eastern Tennessee Region)
• Rev Record (Western Ohio Region)
• S.I.R. SCCA Newsletter (Southern Indiana Region)
• Smoke Signals (Blackhawk Valley Region)
• The Tonneau (Land O'Lakes Region)

Also relevant are some non-SCCA publications, notably that of the Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs (MCSCC), based in the Chicago area:

• Klaxon (Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs)

We are also keen to get scans of entry lists from SCCA Nationals in this Division.