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Lake Afton Grand Prix (Wichita Region SCCA National)

Lake Afton, 17 Aug 1975

ResultsLapsTime/Speed
1 Mike Winn (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Merlyn Mk 21 [320/FB/71] - Ford twin cam
#43 (see note 1)
25 31m 16.1s
86.349 mph
2 William Brown (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Brabham BT29
#9 (see note 2)
25
3 Richard Turner (FSV) 1.6-litre Lola T322 VW
#52
24
4 Dennis Blain (FSV) 1.6-litre Zeitler VW
#37
23
5 John Saucier (FC) 1.1-litre Tui BH3 - Kawasaki
#61
21
6 Bob Lillquist (FSV) 1.6-litre Lola T320 VW
#8
19
7 Rodney Green (F5000) 5-litre McRae GM1 [010] - Chevrolet V8
#95 (see note 3)
16
8 Louis McAlpine (FSV) 1.6-litre Royale VW
#25
14
R Ray Waddell (FSV) 1.6-litre Lola VW
#73
2
DSQ Jim Liska (FC) Lotus 51
#6

DSQ Gene Forsthofel (FA) 1.6-litre Lotus 41 - Ford twin cam Vegantune turbo
#11

DNS J Robert Young (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Lola T360 [HU8] - Ford BDA Smith
#12 (see note 4)
Did not start
DNS Frank Dickerson (F/Atl) 1.6-litre Brabham [BT9 F3-6-64]
#18 (see note 5)
Did not start
DNS Gerald E Hudson (FC) Lola T60 [SL60/4]
#79 (see note 6)
Did not start

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Qualifying
Qualifying information not available

Notes on the cars:

  1. Merlyn Mk 21 [320/FB/71] (Mike Winn): 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. 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.
  3. McRae GM1 [010] (Rodney Green): See full history: McRae GM1/010.
  4. Lola T360 [HU8] (J Robert Young): New via North American agent Carl Haas to Robert Young (Snowmass Resort, CO) to replace Young's earlier Lola T242, but apparently not raced until 1975, having sat in stock in late 1974. Young used the car mainly in SCCA Midwest Division Formula B, winning the Division in 1975, 1976 and 1977. It was retained by Young until just after he won the Lake Afton GP in August 1978, then sold to Ron Clawson (Canon City, CO) who raced it at La Junta in early September. The car's SCCA Logbook shows further ownership changes were to Jerry King 4 Sep 1982, Kenny Dahlmann 3 Oct 1988, Keith Young Jan 1990, Steve Torrance 18 Apr 1990, Randy Johnson (Dallas, TX) 28 Mar 1992 and then Cecil Boyd, by which time the car had been fitted with a replacement Marc Bahner monocoque. For a time this car was claimed to be the ex-Bobby Rahal car, a confusion that has now been resolved. Sold to Russell Sewell (Australia) 2008 and then to Leigh Turner (Western Australia) 2009. History then unknown until a car with this chassis number raced in the Formula Atlantic class of the HSCC Formula 2 series by Nick Pink in 2017 and 2018.
  5. Brabham [BT9 F3-6-64] (Frank Dickerson): Identified by the Formula 1 Register as the car raced by Patrick Dal Bo in 1964 and by Jean Sage briefly at the end of 1965. Then sold back to England via Stephen Conlan and owned by David Wragg (Leeds) in early 1966 then to Malcolm Smith (Clitheroe, Lancashire) later that year. Sold by Smith via Fred Opert to the US, where dealer Pierre Phillips imported it into Portland, OR. He sold it to Win Casey, also of Portland, who raced it in ICSCC and SCCA FC in 1967 with a MAE engine. Then to another Portland driver, Neil Hansen, for NorPac FC in 1968 when it was described as a BT14. It was later owned by Chuck Grauel (Kansas City, KS) and raced in MWDiv Formula C in 1970 and 1971, then via midget racer Frank Dickerson (Wichita, KS), John Stokes and others to Jerry Strickfaden (Los Alamos, NM) 1987, during which time it was regarded as a BT15. Researched by Jerry Strickfaden and identified as a BT9. To Wayne Mitchell 1988. To Robs Lamplough (Hungerford, Berkshire) 2011.
  6. 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 75-N-43S. Official results kindly provided by Rocky Entriken. Also The Salina Journal, Wed 20 Aug 1975 p17