North Atlantic Road Racing Championship (SCCA New England Region)

Lime Rock, 29 Apr 1972

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Lotus 59 [59-FB-12] (Ralph Manaker): Bought by Pete and Bill Pulver's Dutchess Auto in 1969 for Fred Stevenson (Salisbury, CT) to race in US Formula B and entered by Stevenson's Lotus/East Inc racing operation. The car was sold at the end of the main season to customer Bob Hebert (Monterey, MA) and driven by him at Sebring at the end of 1969 (according to Stevenson's recollection but not in reports) and then through the 1970 season. Hebert and Stevenson had new 69s for 1971 and the 59B may have returned to Stevenson and even been raced by him in some SCCA Nationals in 1971. To Ralph Manaker (Syracuse, NY) for 1972, and raced in NEDiv Regional Formula B that year, entered by BME Racing. By this time it was wearing Lotus 69 bodywork, with the original bodywork remaining with Manaker until the 1990s. The Lotus then went to Leland Gerey, who put it on pole position for a race at Pocono as late as 1980. Then to Kurt Hoffman, and sold for him by Jerry Bensinger via Frans Van den Heuvel (Holland) to Paul Schouwenburg (Belgium). Then back from Schouwenburg to Bensinger in 1989, and offered by sale in 1990. By 1992/93, the car had been sold to a Japanese dealer but when a planned auction in Japan was cancelled, the car remained in a warehouse in California for some time. In 1995, it was sold by Mark Leonard to Tim Gaffney, and he restored the car to Fred Stevenson's #93 livery, but on its newer Lotus 69 bodywork. The car was then sold by Gaffney to Japan.
2. Brabham BT29 [33] (Philip Geraldi): This Brabham BT29, believed to be chassis BT29-33, was bought new by Michael F. Hall (Chicago, IL) and used in SCCA racing where Hall won the 1970 CenDiv FB title. He also raced it in the Pro series in the latter half of the season. Hall retained the red-and-yellow BT29 for the first half of 1971 but replaced it with a new BT35 in August and sold the BT29 to Phil Geraldi (Valley Stream, NY), who had previously raced a LeGrand in NEDiv FB. Geraldi raced it for the rest of 1971 and in 1972 then sold it to Charles J. Derbes III (Metairie, LA) in the spring of 1973. Derbes won the SWDiv Formula B title in this car in 1974 and attended the Run-Offs, finishing 12th. He was second in the Division in 1975 and tied with Warren Pauge for the 1976 title. Chaz Derbes has retained the BT29 ever since, still owning it in 2012.
3. March 712M [71BM-2?] (Frank Del Vecchio): New for Bill Gubelmann (Oyster Bay, NY) and used in British Formula Atlantic at the start of the season, winning at Oulton Park 21 March, and then in the SCCA Pro Formula B series. The car was often described as a 712M but it seems more likely that he used the same 712BM all season. Also raced with a BDA in the Formula A race at Lime Rock in Sep and in one round of the Canadian series. Sold via Joe Grimaldi's The Race Shop to Frank Del Vecchio (Trumbull, CT) and used in NEDiv FB and in a couple of rounds of the Pro series. Sold back via Joe Grimaldi at the end of 1972; Frank thinks it went to a Canadian, and it is very likely to have been the car driven by Ken Huband, Norm Joy and David Westgate in 1973 and 1974. Sold to Mauro Lanaro (Montréal, Quebec) to replace the 71BM he lost in a transporter fire in 1974. Significantly modified in 1976 as the Lanaro Special with triangular sidepods, a different nose, and with its Cosworth BDA engine laid on its side. This car went through many evolutions, and was still being raced by Lanaro right up to 1995 when it was used in a vintage event. Lanaro eventually rebuilt to original 71BM specification about 1999. In late 2018, it was part of a package of cars bought from Lanaro by David Clubine (Brantford, ON), and was sold to a collector in Ontario.
4. March 705 (Mario Pistritto): Ronald Stanwicks (Newington, CT) acquired a brand new March 705 but within a day or so of taking delivery, he was taken unwell with a heart condition, and he decided not to race again. The unused March was sold over the winter to Seb Barone (Portland, CT) who used it in SCCA Northeast Division Formula B in 1971, scoring four points. Sold at the end of 1971 to Mario Pistritto (Hartford, CT), who raced a red #55 March 705 in Northeast Division SCCA Formula B in 1972 and 1973. In July 1974 he advertised the car in the New England Region 'Pit Talk' newsletter as a "F/B March" with new engine and fuel injection. Nothing more is known of this car. Pistritto died in Syracuse, Sicily, in 2012.
5. March 712M [15] (Warren Ogden): New to John Cannon (Montreal, Quebec) for Formula 2 Europe, but he took it to the US in September for the Lime Rock Formula 5000 race where he ran it with a Cosworth FVC engine. In 1972, the car was converted by Joe Grimaldi's The Race Shop to Formula B specification with a carbureted Hart twin cam and sold to Warren G. Ogden III (North Andover, MA) to race in SCCA Nationals and Regionals. He won a Regional at Bridgehampton in May, finished fifth in the Thompson National in June and had a couple of other strong results in Regionals. Ogden advertised the car in February 1973 but then traded it to The Race Shop for a new March 73B. Subsequent history unknown.

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.

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

SCCA Sanction 72-R-14P. Official results kindly provided by New England Region archivist Donna Stevens.