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South East Division SCCA Formula B 1974

For a fourth year in succession, Jim Grob won the SEDiv title, and for the third season he did it in his Chevron B20. Dave Yoder still had the ex-Hugh Kleinpeter Chevron B15b that he shared with Frank Marrs, and was Grob's nearest competitor in a Division where Formula B cars were rare. Tom Pumpelly did most of his racing further north, where he picked up enough points to tie for second place. The identity of his Elden remains a mystery.

Bart Hartman and Shelley Marrs are also listed as having Formula B cars, but they may have run their regular cars in the FB class to pick up easy points. Hartman had a Formula Ford Lola T200, and Marrs won the Divisional Formula Super Vee title in a Lola.

Final standings

1. Jim GrobChevron [B20]Florida27 pts 
2. Dave YoderChevron [B15b]Florida10 pts 
3. Tom PumpellyEldenNorth Carolina10 pts 
4. Bart HartmanLola T200Florida9 pts 
5. Shelly MarrsLolaFlorida6 pts 

Southeast Division SCCA Nationals in 1974

17 Feb 1974Palm Beach International RacewayFlorida Region
21 Apr 1974Virginia International RacewayNorth Carolina Region
09 Jun 1974Road AtlantaAtlanta Region
16 Jun 1974Savannah International RacewayBuccaneer Region
11 Aug 1974Road AtlantaAtlanta Region
25 Aug 1974Gainesville RacewayCentral Florida Region
15 Sep 1974Palm Beach International RacewayFlorida Region

Southeast Division was now home to several dedicated road racing facilities, the most important being Atlanta Region's Road Atlanta, Florida Division's Palm Beach International Raceway, and Virginia International Raceway further north in North Carolina Region, although the latter would close during 1974. Savannah and Gator Regions had merged to form Buccaneer Region and had the use of Savannah International Raceway in Georgia, soon to be renamed Roebling Road. Central Florida also had a new home at Gainesville Raceway, but this was primarily a drag racing track. Alabama and Tennessee Valley Regions were currently without a road racing facility after attempts to use Alabama International Motor Speedway (later Talladega Superspeedway) had ended.

Southeast Division sources

What we know of Southeast Division racing in this period comes from Competition Press & Autoweek's reports on SCCA Nationals and the SCCA's own Sports Car magazine. We are keen to learn more and are therefore very keen to acquire or borrow 1960s, 1970s and 1980s copies of SCCA regional publications from this Division. The known ones are:

  • The Checker (Central Florida Region)
  • CARolina Newsletter (Central Carolina Region)
  • The Racket (Tennessee Valley Region)
  • Regional Notes (Florida Region)
  • Rich Mixture (Southern West Virginia Region)
  • Sowega Newsletter (Sowega Region - became Chavaga Region in 1968)
  • Sports Racing News (Alabama Region)
  • Steering Wheel (Atlanta Region)

North Carolina Region, which moved from NEDiv to SEDiv in the late 1960s, has made its newsletter available online at the NCR website.

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