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Gus Hutchison's third Lotus 41C was driven by Joe Starkey at Opelousas in June 1967.  Copyright David Seibert 2012.  Used with permission.

South West Division SCCA Formula B 1967

SWDiv woke up to Formula B in 1967 as Gus Hutchison and his team of Lotus 41s (or Lotus 41Cs depending on the reporter) blazed a trail across the continent. Gus himself focused on the brand new Pro series but team mate Harold Krech made sure he took time out to win the Divisional title. Joe Starkey drove the third team car at War Bonnet and in a couple of Nationals, and Jack Pagan was given a drive in Hutchison's car at Austin, also winning comfortably. Young Terry Petmecky had picked a bad year to venture into Formula B but was still able to take third place in the Division overall thanks to consistent perfomances in his old Lotus 22 topped off by a second place at the Selma National in Southeast Div in his newly-delivered Brabham BT21A.

Final standings

1. Harold KrechLotus 41Texas33 pts 
2. Gus HutchisonLotus 41Texas27 pts
3. Terry Petmecky(Lotus 22/) Brabham (BT21A)Lone Star25 pts
4. Joe StarkeyLotus 41Texas12 pts 
5. Bob "Bobo" BellPorsche Spl.Texas9 pts 
6. Jack PaganLotus 41S. Texas Border9 pts 
7. Stuart WrightLeGrandTexas6 pts
8. Richard McDanielBMCTexas4 pts 

† Indicates total includes points earned out of home division.

1967 Schedule

04 Mar 1967Mansfield AirportRed River Region
06 May 1967Clear SpringsAlamo Region
03 Jun 1967Green Valley RacewayTexas Region
17 Jun 1967Opelousas (St Landry)Central Louisiana Region
01 Jul 1967Galveston Airport (Scholes Field)San Jacinto Region
05 Aug 1967Austin Aqua FestivalLone Star Region
02 Sep 1967Clear SpringsAlamo Region

Texas, Red River, San Jacinto and Lone Star Regions all maintained the same venues as 1966 but Central Louisiana moved their National from Ryan Field, Baton Rouge to St Landry, Opelousas. Also Alamo Region moved their operations from Seguin Airfield to a new 2.5-mile course at Clear Springs Auxiliary Field, sometimes referred to as Clear Creek, and held a second National there, bringing the Divisional total up to seven. New insurance rates forced Alamo Region to hold their May event without spectators, suggesting to some commentators that smaller regions may soon be forced out of racing.

Southwest Division sources

Coverage of SWDiv was much slimmer in Competition Press & Autoweek than for other Divisions. To make the historian's life even more difficult, a couple of the Regions that organised National events do not appear to have had their own newsletters for much of this period: Alamo Region in Texas and Central Louisiana Region in Louisiana. The known Regional publications are:

  • Deltagram (Delta Region)
  • Journal (San Jacinto Region)
  • Lone Star Draft (Lone Star Region) - from 1979
  • Roundup (Texas Region)
  • Spinout (Southwest Louisiana Region) - from 1978
  • Border Bulletin (South Texas Border Region)

For much of the 1960s, the most important publication for this area was Southwest Racing News, published from 1963 onwards by Bill Gay from Dallas and running on until at least 1974. We are exceedingly keen to acquire copies of any of these.

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