SCCA National (New York Region)

Bridgehampton, 21 Sep 1975

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Chevron B27 [27-74-08] (James Crawley): New to Fred Opert Racing and raced by US-domiciled Swede Bertil Roos in North American Formula Atlantic, and later in the season by a number of guest drivers, including Richard Melville, Bill Brack and Héctor Rebaque. This is then believed to be the "ex-Roos" B27 used by Jim Crawley (Frenchtown, NJ) in a number of SCCA Nationals in 1975, allowing him to qualify for the FB Run-Offs. At the same time, Crawley raced a newer B29 in the British series. The B27 was advertised in November 1975 by George Walsh of Intercontinental Marketing in Philadelphia, PA, Crawley's sponsor at the Run-Offs, describing it as ex-Roos, ex-Crawley and noting track records at Bridgehampton and Palm Beach. Subsequent history unknown.
2. March 75B [73B-7] (Eric Kerman): New to Ron Cohn (Modena, NY), and run as a two-car team with Bruce MacInnes in 1973, entered by DRC Formula Racing Inc in Players Canadian and SCCA Formula B races, running as #56. Retained for 1974, running in the Players Canadian Formula Atlantic series and in the US GP support race at Watkins Glen in October. To Eric Kerman (Hempstead, NY/Glen Cove, NY) for 1975 and updated with new orange bodywork, entered as #81 or #87, and running as a 75B. Raced by Kerman in SCCA Nationals from 1975 to 1979. Later to Oran Bushey (Huntingdon, NY) and raced until 1982. Subsequent history unknown, but this is a leading candidate for the car used by Cory Mayo with a Chevrolet V6 engine in the RCCA series in the 1980s. .
3. March 73B [17] (Joe Ostrowski): New to Bruce MacInnes (Sharon, CT) and raced as part of a two-car team with Ron Cohn. Raced in the Players Canadian FB series and in the SCCA Pro FB races at Road America and Watkins Glen. Retained for 1974, and raced in the Players Canadian series again, and in the US GP support race at Watkins Glen in October. Sold to Joe Ostrowski (Trenton, NJ), and raced in NEDiv SCCA Nationals in 1975 and 1976. Presumably the March he raced in NEDiv in 1977 and 1978. Retained by Ostrowski until early 1982 when it was bought by Seann Burgess (Caledon, Ontario). Burgess won the CASC Ontario Formula Atlantic championship and the BARC Drivers Championship in 1982 as well as appearing in 'pro' events. After two more seasons of Atlantic, he converted the car to Can-Am specification at the end of 1985 and then fitted a McLaren M1B body and a Mazda 13B rotary engine for 1986. This "March RX10-B" was raced through the 1986 season. Burgess kept the Can-Am body after the car was retired from racing and sold the March to Richard Smith (Barrie, Ontario) who raced it in 1989 and 1990, still with the Mazda engine, and fitting 1975 bodywork for 1990. He sold it to Chuck Sieber (McLean, VA) who imported it back to the US in January 1991. He raced it in Solo events in 1991, and maybe in one or two more seasons until selling it back to Seann Burgess. Burgess initially restored it to MacInnes' 1973 livery, but at the request of the Villeneuve Museum traded his 73B bodywork to Marchives for a set of 1975 bodywork, and rebuilt the car to resemble Gilles Villeneuve's Skiroule March 75B. By May 2010, it was on display in the Musée Gilles Villeneuve (Berthierville, Quebec).
4. Lola T240 (Bob Welch): Bob Welch (Alexandria, VA) raced a Lola T240 in Formula C in 1975 and 1976. Nothing more known.
5. Brabham BT21B (Larry Snover): Laurence R. Snover (Hingham, Mass) acquired a Brabham BT21B for Formula C in 1972. After a first outing in a Drivers School at Lime Rock in September 1972, he next raced it a couple of SCCA Nationals about a year later, when the car had a Cosworth SCA engine. Snover had previously raced with Pennsylvania Hillclimb Association. He then raced the car regularly in SCCA Nationals in 1974, 1975 and 1976, during which time he moved to Lansdale, PA. He then bought a newer Brabham BT40 for 1977, and the subsequent history of the BT21B is unknown.
6. Chevron B29 (James Crawley): James Crawley (Phoenix, AZ/Frenchtown, NJ) raced a Chevron B29 in the British Formula Atlantic series, starting at Mallory Park in June, where he crashed during practice and did not start. At the British GP meeting, his car was described by Autosport as "built on one of the original prototype tubs, suggesting its monocoque was B29-75-01 or B29-75-02, quite possibly whichever of those had been used in Jim Crawford's early-season car. Crawley then took the B29 back to the US, where he had been driving a B27 in SCCA Regionals or Nationals earlier in the season. He crashed the B29 in practice at Bridgehampton in September, the last SCCA National of the season, so raced the B27. His win gave him nine points which pushed him into second place in the poorly-supported Southeast Division, so he qualified for the SCCA Runoffs. He was very impressive at Road Atlanta, taking pole and finishing second. The car was advertised by Crawley and sponsor George Walsh in January 1976 and sold to RJ Nelkin (Roslyn, NY/Woodbury, NY) who used it in Northeast Division SCCA Nationals in early 1976. In June, Nelkin upgraded to a brand new B34, and the B29 was sold to Rick Wellner (New York, NY), who ran it in SCCA Nationals at Summit Point in late June, where he failed to start, and Lime Rock in early July, where he failed to finish. Nelkin's recollection is that Wellner crashed the car heavily at Lime Rock. 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

Sports Car December 1975 p40.