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North East Division SCCA Formula B 1969

Paramus, NJ dealer Fred Opert won the North East Division with 42pts, the highest score in any of the SCCA's seven divisions. He had a new BT29 by August but all but nine of his points had been accrued earlier in the season in an older car. Fellow BT29 pilot Bob Welch was runner up after a late-season dash winning four Nationals on successive weekends and two of Fred's Chevron B15 customers were also well placed. This highly competitive region also saw the new Tecno of Gene Mason and Lotus agent Fred Stevenson's new 59B.

The early season pacesetter, Howard Brown's 1968 Brabham BT21C, was left back in fifth. Also in older Brabhams were Mike Hayman (BT21C) and Ken Duclos and Bill Baldwin (1967 BT21As). Mal Donaldson had his 1968 Crosslé and Bruce Klussman and George Faraghan continued with their 1967 Crosslés.

Final standings

1. Fred OpertBrabham [BT29]New York42 pts†
2. Bob WelchBrabham [BT29]Washington DC36 pts†
3. Ken DuclosBrabham [BT21A]New England31 pts 
4. Bruce KlussmannCrosslé [12F]Washington DC26 pts 
5. Howard BrownBrabham [BT21C]Philadelphia25 pts†
6. Steve BrownsteinChevron [B15B]New York25 pts†
7. Jim GrobChevron [B15B]NNJ24 pts 
8. Bill BaldwinBrabham [BT21A?]NNJ15 pts 
9. Mal DonaldsonCrosslé [14F]New York9 pts 
10. Gene MasonTecnoPhiladelphia9 pts†
11. WP Fred StevensonLotus [59B]New England9 pts 
12. Ronald StanwicksCooper [T67?]New England7 pts 
13. George FaraghanCrosslé [12F]Philadelphia6 pts 
14. Don BurrisCooperPhiladelphia4 pts 
15. Mike HaymanBrabham [BT21C]Washington DC4 pts†
16. John BichtCooperWashington DC3 pts 
17. Don Floresnot givenMohawk Hudson3 pts 
18. Victor FranzeseLola T63Glen2 pts 
19. Bill CampbellCooperWashington DC1 pt   

† Indicates total includes points earned out of home division.

1969 Schedule

13 Apr 1969Marlboro Motor SpeedwayWashington Region
18 May 1969Cumberland AirfieldSteel Cities Region
08 Jun 1969Thompson SpeedwayNew England Region
22 Jun 1969BridgehamptonNew York Region
05 Jul 1969Lime RockNorthern New Jersey Region
26 Jul 1969Lime RockMohawk Hudson Region
10 Aug 1969Watkins GlenGlen Region
31 Aug 1969Bryar Motorsport ParkNew England Region
14 Sep 1969Nelson LedgesSteel Cities Region
21 Sep 1969Marlboro Motor SpeedwayWashington Region
12 Oct 1969Pocono (road course)Northeast Pennsylvania Region

New York Region split their Bridgehampton National into two halves, the sports racing and formula cars accompanying a Trans-Am race on 22 June and the tin-tops scheduled to support a FB race on 3 August. In the event, the FB race was moved to Lime Rock so the second half could be wrapped up on the Saturday.

Northeast Division sources

Most of our knowledge of NEDiv racing comes from the SCCA's Sports Car magazine and from Competition Press & Autoweek. We are very keen to acquire or borrow 1960s, 1970s and 1980s copies of SCCA regional publications from this Division. These include:

  • Pit Talk (New England Region) - full archive available at pittalk.org
  • The Drift (Steel Cities Region)
  • Knock Off (Mohawk Hudson Region) - full archive available at mohud-scca.org
  • Regional Review (New York Region)
  • Spark Plug (Glen Region)
  • The Bulletin (North Carolina Region - full archive available at ncrscca.com.
  • The Spokesmen (Philadelphia Region)
  • The Straightpipe (Washington DC Region)
  • Top End Magazine (Finger Lakes Region)

Three regionals have scanned all copies of their newsletters and made them available online: New England Region's 'Pit Talk', Mohawk Hudson Region's 'Knock Off', and North Carolina Region's 'The Bulletin'.

Additionally, Racing Magazine was published as a Lime Rock track magazine.

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