SCCA National (New England Region)

Bryar Motorsport Park, 27 May 1974

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Rondel M1 [201] (Mike Rand): The prototype Rondel was used for testing in late 1972, before the first production cars were built. It was taken to Hockenheim 8 April 1973 as team spare, and to Pau as a spare for Tim Schenken, but not raced. Its history is then unknown until 1974, and it appears it has been acquired by Fred Opert to use as a set of spares. After Mike Rand crashed his car, wrecking the monocoque, 201 was supplied to Ron Ignatowski (Milford, CT), who rebuilt Rand's car on 201's tub with a BRM 1-litre engine and used it in SCCA Formula C. In 1980 it was sold to Randy Zimmer (Buffalo, NY) as the basis for his Can-Am car. He raced it with a Volkswagen engine in 1982 and then with a Mazda rotary engine from 1983 to 1986. Zimmer then entered it for Jim Del Russo in the 1987 CAT championship, and raced it a few more times himself in 1989, 1990 and 1994. Then retained for many years until Zimmer sold it to Seann Burgess (Markdale, Ontario) in 2019.
2. Brabham BT40 [17] (Ken Duclos): New to Ken Duclos (Boxboro, MA) and raced in Formula B in 1973, winning the Northeast Division title, and the National title by winning the SCCA Runoffs at Road Atlanta in November. Retained for 1974, and again won both the Northeast title and the National title, and towards the end of that season was fitted with a Cosworth BDA for Formula Atlantic. Again retained for 1975, now with the BDA in Formula B, and Duclos won a third successive NEDiv title in the car, but this time retired at the Runoffs. In 1975, the car wore Falconer bodywork. Sold to Peter Gates (Claymont, DE) for 1976, fitted with a 1.1-litre Cosworth BDJ for Formula C, and finished third in the NEDiv FC title. To Jon Sley (Claymont, Delaware) for FC again in 1977, finishing fifth in NEDiv. The car was next seen when advertised by Gates in 1992 as restored with a new tub. After that, it was next mentioned by Michael Rand in February 2018 as having been recently purchased. By April 2015, Rand had sold it to Bob Burnside (Dexter, MI).
3. Brabham BT29 (Dirk Wrightson): Dirk Wrightson (Foxboro, Mass) raced a Brabham BT29 in Formula C from 1974 to 1976, fitted with a 1.1-litre Swidon BDA engine.
4. Rondel M1 [203] (Peter Symonds): The car raced by Tim Schenken for Motul Rondel in F2 in 1973, and believed to be the same car all season. Then sold via Fred Opert to Stutz Plaisted Racing, and raced for the team by Peter Symonds (Salem, MA). Symonds car in SCCA Formula B during 1974 ws entered as a Cheetah, but when he appeared for the SCCA Formula B race that supported the US GP at Watkins Glen in October 1974, his car was given as a Rondel M1. The car was apparently owned by Plaisted's father, John Floyd Plaisted, and it was still in his possession when he died in February 1979. Many of his cars were sold at auction in December 1979, and the Rondel was bought by Bob Connearney (Andover, MA) and retained by him. It still has the Ford twin cam engine it would have used in Formula B in 1974. Robert Connearney passed away in June 2020, and his collection of cars was offered for sale by Clarke Taylor at Historic Motor Sports (Candia, NH). The unrestored and heavily corroded Rondel was on display at a a VSCCA event at Lime Rock in July 2020, still in its Stutz Plaisted Racing livery, and still wearing its original 203 chassis plate.
5. March 705 [2] (William Prout Jr): New to Bill Prout (Ivoryton, CT) and raced in Formula B in 1970. At Bryar in October, Prout became the first person to win a race in North America in a March. For 1971, Prout repainted the car black, but the first real changes were made to it in 1973, when he updated it to 1973 bodywork. In a long career with the car, Prout set the absolute course record at the 1.8 mile course at Pocono in 1971, and set the FA lap record at Bridgehampton in 1974. By the end of his five seasons with the car, it had 73B bodywork with a 1974 F2-style nose, but with the nose cut to accommodate a front radiator, and large homemade sidepods. Sold to Jack Marsella who raced the unaltered "705/41" in a EMRA Formula B race at Bridgehampton in September 1975, and in a New England Region SCCA Regional at Bryar the following May. Subsequent history unknown but eventually the car came into the hands of Charlie Grasso. By the time he died, around 2020, the car had sports car bodywork, suggesting it was used in C Sports Racing, but exactly how it had been used remains unknown. In December 2021, it was sold to Jeremy Ghent (Lancaster, South Carolina). It was identified from its Arch Motors number, but work continues to determine its full history.
6. Brabham BT29 [46] (Carl Whitney): Allan Lader had raced as part of the Fred Opert team during the latter half of 1970 but in 1971 he returned to running his own car with Pacifico Inc backing. He again raced a Brabham BT29, his third, and continued his run of excellent results by winning the opening two rounds of the Pro series from pole. At the third round, at Mexico City, he crashed heavily and the BT29 was wrecked. Lader quickly bought a new Brabham BT35 and the wrecked BT29 frame went via Opert to Carl Whitney and some components from it were salvaged to be used on the Formula C BT29 that he built up for the 1972 season. The remains of the wreck were sold (with another wreck) to Ken Duclos to help keep his FB BT29 running. Marty Handshy (Ridgefield, CT) then bought both sets of remains from Duclos. It is unclear how this car was identified as BT29-46 but a reproduction plate was created at the time of the restoration when the frame was reconstructed by Lime Rock Motors in 1999. He retained the car until some time between 2004 and 2007 when it was sold to Shelby Mershon (Springfield OH).
7. March 73B [4] (Warren Ogden): New to Warren Ogden III (North Andover, MA) and raced in SCCA Nationals in 1973 and 1974. He competed in six events in 1973, but failed to start his first race at VIR in April after a crash in practice. He then retired from his next three Nationals due to engine problems and his only finishes were a Thompson Regional in August and the Bryar National in September. He then loaned the car to Skip Barber for the Pro Colombo Yogurt Formula B race at Watkins Glen in October, where he finished third. The car was rebuilt and updated for the 1974 season by Bob Fletcher's Fast Co. in Marblehead, MA, with a fuel-injected Hart engine, F2 wing, Konis, and F5000 front brakes. It was run in 1974 by Fletcher with help from Norm Marx and Chris Wallach. Ogden's season again started badly with engine failure in practice at Palm Beach in February. During the engine rebuild, the car was repainted from its original red to blue. The engine again failed at the Bridgehampton National in May, but he then won his first race in the car at a Thompson Regional in July. He was classified as a finisher in his four remaining races that season, scoring his first National point for sixth place at Bryar in September. Fletcher alerted Bobby Reen (Springfield, MA) when the car was for sale in January 1975, and Reen acquired the car. He ran it in four SCCA Nationals in 1975, and a few Regionals, winning all of the Regionals. He sold the car "to a guy in New Jersey or Maryland" in early 1976. Subsequent history unknown.
8. March 722 [20] (Gerald Lieberg): Paul Keeler (Greenwich, CT) raced a #38 white-and-green March 722 in NEDiv SCCA Nationals and some Pro FB races in 1972. He was sponsored by Analube, and entered by Gracie Racing Enterprise Ltd of Greenwich, CT. Is is not yet clear what happened to the car in 1973, but in 1974 it was raced by Gerald Lieberg (Milford, CT) at a few SCCA races, and at the Watkins Glen Pro race. He continued to race the car in New England in 1975, 1976 and 1977. For 1978, it was bought from Lieberg by Jimmy Santos (Sunnyvale, CA), and rebuilt by Newman-Dreager to 76B specification. He raced it until 1982, and then sold it in April 1983 to Richard Lempe (aka Rick Sutherland). Lempe sold it in December 1984 to John Hafkenschiel (Palo Alto, CA), who kept it until January 1996 when it was sold to Keith Lively. Sold to a further owner in June 2001.
9. Brabham BT29 (Richard Powell): Richard W. Powell (West Groton, Mass) raced a Brabham BT29 in NEDiv Formula C from 1973 to 1975. At the end of 1975, he advertised it as having a 1100cc Kawasaki engine. Nothing more known.
10. Brabham BT29 (Jeff Gay): Charles 'Chuck' Hansen (Tenafly, NJ) raced a yellow #75 Brabham BT29 in Northeast Division Formula B in 1972. Then to Erv Falk (Westport, CT), and raced by James R Modrall (Westport, CT) in Northeast Division Formula B in 1973, entered by Falk Racing. Falk then acquired Hansen's newer March 722 for Modrall in 1974, and the BT29 was entered for Jeff Gay (Norwalk, CT) in NEDiv Formula B in 1974 and 1975. Subsequent history unknown.
11. Brabham BT38 (Donald Wirth): For 1974, Donald Wirth (Laurel, NY) bought a Brabham BT38 from Fred Opert Racing in 1974 fitted with a new 1100cc Hart BDA engine for Northeast Division Formula C. The car had previously been used in F3 in Europe, so would have been a BT38C. It was sold to Wally Binger (W. Hempstead, NY) for 1975, and raced again in NEDiv FC but after Binger's first daughter was born in September 1977 he sold the car back to Wirth. Wirth crashed the car at Bridgehampton in 1978 or 1979, and the engine bay was badly damaged. The car was sold to someone in the New England area, but was still unrepaired when last seen.
12. Brabham BT35 (Joseph Freeman): New to Jim Gutfruend (Des Moines, Iowa), and raced by him in 1971 and 1972. To Joe Freeman (Boston, MA) for 1973, and raced by him for three seasons, finishing fourth in North East Division in 1974 and qualifying for the Runoffs. He planned to sell the car at the end of 1975, but in a final practice session at Lime Rock in October 1975 he hit a stalled B Production Camaro and had to be cut out of the wreck. The salvageable parts were sold to his fellow racers.

Sources

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' original 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

Pit Talk and Entry List. Brief report in Competition Press & Autoweek 29 Jun 1974 p31.