Grand Prairie Grand Prix (Arkansas Region SCCA National)

Stuttgart Airport, 21 Apr 1974

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Merlyn Mk 21 [320/FB/71] (David Loring): New to Gordon Smiley (Shawnee Mission, Kansas) for Formula B in 1971, via Bill Ippolito's Race America (Dallas, TX). Smiley led before retiring at his first SCCA National, at Bonneville Raceway Park , and then dominated his next race at Mid-America Raceway two weeks later. He also won the SCCA National at Dallas International Motor Speedway in October. Retained by Smiley for 1972, when he won the Ponca City SCCA National and the Continental Championship at Road Atlanta. He retired at the Runoffs, as he had in 1971. When Smiley moved into F5000 in 1973, the Merlyn was acquired by chief mechanic Charlie Williams and run by him for David Loring (Concord, Mass) in 1974. Loring won the Stuttgart SCCA National in April 1974 and then raced it in the Players Formula Atlantic championship. Then sold to Mike Winn (Little Rock, AR) who raced it in FB in late 1974 and Formula Atlantic in 1975, using a Ford twin cam engine. He maintained its record by winning the Lake Afton SCCA National in 1975. To Barry Findley (North Little Rock, AR) who won a SCCA National at Chennault Field early in 1976 before upgrading to a March 74B. It was next seen in the early 1990s when bought from a racing car dealer called Norm in Colorado by David Clubine (Brantford, Ontario, Canada). The car was then complete but apart, and lacking an engine and gearbox. He did not do anything with it, and in about 2005 sold it to Bill Tebbutt (Mississauga, Ontario). Tebbutt sold it in 2009 but cannot remember the buyer's name.
2. March 73B (Tim Cooper): Roy Folland (Montréal, Quebec) had a purple #6 March 73B for 1973 but crashed at Trois-Rivières in Sept and after being repaired, the 73B was sold to Ecurie Canada for guest driver Eppie Wietzes to race at the Watkins Glen Pro FB race five weeks later. Then sold to Tim Cooper (Kansas City, MO) who raced the "ex-Ecurie Canada" 73B at a Willow Springs Regional in December 1973. Raced extensively in SCCA racing early in 1974 and then in the Pro F/Atlantic series, prepared by Charlie Williams Racing. Cooper hired a new 75B and ran as part of Doug Shierson Racing in 1975, and the subsequent history of the 73B is unknown.
3. Brabham BT40 (Norman Johnson): Norman W. Johnson (Simonton, TX) raced a Brabham BT40 in Southwest Division Formula B in 1974, replacing a Brabham BT29 he had raced for the previous three seasons. As his car was typically reported simply as a Brabham, we cannot yet be sure when he moved from the BT29 to the BT40 but the SCCA points table for 1974 gave his car as a BT40, so it is assumed here that he had it from the start of the 1974 SCCA season. It is even possible that he had it late in 1973, but the grid list for the SCCA Runoffs shows his car as the BT29. After scoring 17 points in 1974, he retained the car for 1975, scoring nine points for a class win in Houston Region's Armadillo Sprints SCCA National in March . He then retired from the Stuttgart National the following month and was not seen again in FB. Subsequent history unknown.
4. 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.
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 BT38 [‘33’] (John Bernadine): A "new chassis" replacing the ASCA team's Brabham BT38 wrecked by Jean-Pierre Jaussaud at Rouen. It was raced by teammate Adam Potocki at Imola, where Potocki failed to qualify, and was then Jaussaud's car for the rest of the season. ASCA entered Jaussaud in the Brazilian F2 Torneio, but he was involved in the startline accident at the second Interlagos race, and the Brabham was badly damaged. According to Chris Townsend's research, this car was acquired by Fred Opert Racing and raced by Héctor Rebaque in the Caracas Formula B race in March 1973, then by Brian Robertson in the JAF Grand Prix in May 1973. It is not clear what else Opert used it for in 1973, but in January 1974, he sold it to John Bernadine (Tulsa, OK) for SCCA Formula B. Then to Warren Pauge (Hacienda Heights, CA) in August 1975, replacing his well-used Brabham BT21. Pauge retained the BT38 for many years, even running it as a Can-Am car once in 1982. After he finally stopped racing it in 1988, he sold it to Marc Bahner, then it went to George Steven in 1992, Tom Stapleton about 2008, and Paul Skilowitz (Stuart, FL) in 2016.
7. 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.
8. Brabham BT29 [33] (Charlie Derbes III): 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.

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-13S. Official results kindly provided by Rocky Entriken. The number of laps completed is exactly shown as recorded on the results sheet, and it must be assumed that several of them are wrong.