SCCA National (St Louis Region)

Mid-America Raceway, 19 May 1974

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Brabham BT35 [9] (Dorsey Schroeder): New to Nick Craw, and raced initially in the British Formula Atlantic series at the start of 1971 before moving to the North American SCCA series in May. Borrowed by Alan Lader for the 1971 SCCA Runoffs. Raced by Craw at Bogotá in early 1972, then sold to Bob Schutt (Kirkwood, MO) for Midwest Division SCCA FB in 1972 and 1973. Sold to Dorsey Schroeder (Manchester, MO) and raced by him 1974, 1975 and 1976. Then to Mike Mahan in 1976 or 1977 for autocross, and next to Greg Scharnburg in 1980, also for autocross. In October 2001, it was bought from Scharnburg by Mike Winebrenner (Sellersburg, Indiana).
2. March 73B [10] (James King): New to James King (East St Louis, IL) and used in Central Division SCCA Formula B, one round of the Players Canadian series, and the Watkins Glen Pro race in October. Raced briefly in SCCA Nationals in early 1974 before his new Chevron B27 arrived from England, then leased to Ric Forest and Fred Phillips for the 1974 Players Canadian series. King took over the car again for 1975, rebuilt it on a new tub, fitted a March 742 nose and side radiators, and raced it in the Players Canadian series. It then went to Porter Brownlee (Little Rock, AR) who raced it in Midwest Division Formula B in 1976 and 1977. After blowing the engine, he sold it to Mike Winn (Little Rock, AR) who raced it for one season before selling it to Chuck Blair (North Little Rock, AR), who had previously maintained it for Brownlee. Blair ran it a couple of times before selling it, scoring two points in Midwest Division Formula Atlantic in 1980. Subsequent history unknown.
3. March 74B (Jackie Cooper): Jackie B. Cooper (Valley Park, Kansas) drove a March 74B in MidWest Division SCCA races in 1974. Cooper was a a 42-year-old commodity broker, and member of Wichita Region, who had joined the SCCA in 1970 and raced Formula Ford and FSV before acquiring the 74B. He scored a total 20 points in Nationals, for two second places and two third places. He did not race in 1975, but was third in the Division in 1976, scoring 40 points. Unknown between 1977 and 1980, but it reappeared with John Saucier (Midwest City, Oklahoma) in 1981, still in Cooper's livery. Saucier raced it in Midwest Division Formula Atlantic between 1981 and 1984, after which it may have gone to Ron McKinsey. It is believed to have turned up in Belgium many years later, in 742 specification.
4. McRae GM1 [011] (Josef Scott): See full history: McRae GM1/011.
5. Merlyn Mk 21 [394/FB/72] (Porter Brownlee): New to Porter Brownlee (Little Rock, AR) in late 1972 for SCCA Formula B. Raced in Midwest Division FB in 1973, 1974 and 1975, qualifying for the Runoffs each season. To David Pence (Little Rock, AR) for FB in 1976 and 1977. Subsequent history unknown. A later advert for the car says that "by the early 1990s, chassis 394/FB/4 belonged to Chicago privateer John Mayes. He loaned it to British restorer James Denty, who fitted a 1600cc Cosworth BDA engine and raced the yellow Merlyn in Historic F2 in 2000. It was sold to an unknown owner in 2001, and raced by Peter Shaw in 2001 and 2002, and by John Dunham (Basingstoke, Hampshire) in 2003. It was offered for sale by H and H in 2004, and after this spent some time in Denmark before being acquired by Kurt Buess (Switzerland). When Buess retired from racing, he sold the car to Hans-Rudolf Howald (Heimenhausen, Switzerland) in 2010. Howald used the car in hillclimbs in Switzerland and France.
6. Brabham BT29 (William Brown): Bill Brown (Memphis, TN) raced a Brabham BT29 in Midwest Division Formula B in 1973. After faiuling to start for his first three Nationals, he won the Lake Afton SCCA National in mid-August 1973, then scored two more for fifth place at Mid-America Raceway in September, qualifying for the 1973 Formula B Run-Offs. Memphis is on the border of three Divisions, Southeast, Southwest and Midwest, and Brown faced a long haul to any National. He attended the Run-offs where he finished 10th. Previously, Brown had raced a Temple in Formula Super Vee and qualified for the Run-Offs in 1972. Brown scored points in FB in a Brabham again in 1974 and 1975, and raced at Mid-America Raceway in May 1976. He moved to a FSV Lola for 1977. This is probably the Dr. William Russell Brown, a former SCCA racer, who died in 2004. Nothing more is known about the Brabham BT29.
7. Brabham BT38 [14] (Bob Schutt): Brand new for Motul Rondel Racing at Oulton Park at the end of March 1972, and raced there by Tim Schenken, who finished second. For Schenken again at Thruxton a few days later, then for Derek Bell at Nürburgring at the end of April, by Jean Max at Pau, and by Jean-Pierre Beltoise at Crystal Palace and Rouen. Schenken used the car for the rest of the season, winning at Hockenheim in October. Sold to John Powell (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) for Formula B in 1973. Sold to Bob Schutt (Kirkwood, MO) at Watkins Glen at the end of 1973, and used by him in Mid West Division FB racing. In the early 1980s, Schutt sold the car to Bob Willis (St Louis, MO), who is believed to still own it in 2019.
8. Lola T60 [SL60/4] (Gerald E Hudson): New to Eric Offenstadt, originally planned as a F2 car with BRM engine. Its first race was in F3 specification later in 1965, but it was raced in F2 with BRM power in 1966. Bought by Robs Lamplough (London) in 1967 and sold on to Brian Cullen for Irish 1600cc class racing in 1968 and 1969. Then sold to the US, where it was advertised by Sport Car Service (Vandalla, Ohio) in May 1970. Likely to be the T60 advertised by R.H. Kulaas (Fairborn, Ohio) five months later. Bought by Gerry Hudson (Galva, Kansas) in 1970 and raced in SCCA Formula B and then Formula C over the next few years. Retained by Hudson until 2014 when it was sold to Rob Shanahan (San Diego, CA), who fully rebuilt the car. It made its historic racing debut at the 2018 Goodwood Revival, raced by Ben Mitchell. Ben raced it again at the Goodwood Revival in 2019.

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 74-N-15P. Official results kindly provided by Rocky Entriken.