SCCA Regional (New England Region)

Lime Rock, 26 Jul 1975

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. March 732 [4] (Bobby Reen): 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 it to Bill Marlowe (Martinsville, VA) who first raced it in the North Carolina Region SCCA Regional at Charlotte in late August 1976, winning easily against a field of Formula Fords. Marlowe bought a Chevron B34 for 1977, and sold the March to Chuck Coleman (Jacksonville, Arkansas) in 1977, who sold it on in 1978 when he upgraded to a newer March 75B. Subsequent history unknown.
2. Brabham BT29 [30] (Ted Wenz): After crashing his FC car at Lime Rock in August 1969, Dexter Farley (Waldorf, MD) part-exchanged the wrecked Brabham for a new Brabham BT29 from east coast dealer Joe Grimaldi, who had recently parted from Fred Opert. Farley drove the car in Pro events in 1970 as well as competing in NEDiv FB races. He retained it for 1971 when Tom Reddy raced it a couple of times and advertised it as "ser no 30" in October 1971. He also had it in the early part of 1972 before moving to Washington state and quitting racing. The next period of the car's life is unknown but it has been identified as the BT29 bought around 1974 from Bill Wonder by engine preparer Ted Wenz and raced in 1975. Wonder had been running it for a woman driver, which must mean Diana Black (Kew Gardens, NY) who raced a Brabham BT29 in NEDiv FB in 1973 and 1974. Wenz later sold it to Texas but it re-emerged in the 1980s and was recently owned by Peter McLaughlin (Hannover, NH).
3. Chevron B17b (Robert J. Nelkin): Fred Opert ran a team five-car team in 1970 which included a Chevron B17b for himself and a sister car for Mike Eyerly. Opert's personal car was sold to Tom Outcault (Cranford, NJ) for 1971 who used it in NEDiv events and also in the Pro race at Road America in Aug 1971. Outcault sold it via Fred Opert to Carmelo Crisafuli (Great Neck, Long Island, NY), and it was registered by the SCCA at Watkins Glen in September 1972. He raced it in SCCA Regionals including two New York Region rounds of the North Atlantic Road Racing Championship in 1974. RJ Nelkin (Roslyn, NY) bought the car for 1975, and raced it in SCCA and EMRA events that season. It was sold in 1976 via Fred Opert to Roy Aber (Penn Hills, PA) who recalls racing the car until 1981. He sold it to JC Gongaware (Youngwood, PA), and did not hear of it again. The car was next seen about 1986 when Lee Chapman (New Milford, CT) of Auto Restorations had the car, having bought it from Jim Wisheart in Pennsylvania. It went from Chapman to Fred Gunther (Trumbull, CT), then to Peter McLaughlin (Hannover, NH), and then to Travis Engen (Weston, CT) in 1994 or 1995.
4. Brabham BT38B (Giovanni Distasio): Eric Kerman (Hempstead, NY/Glen Cove, NY), the reigning national SCCA C Sports Racing champion, moved into Formula B in 1974, finishing third in Northeast Division in a Brabham BT38 that he had bought from Fred Opert. He leased a nearly-new March 74B for the Runoffs. Kerman recalls selling the Brabham to Giovanni Distasio (Edgewater, NJ) who raced it in NEDiv FB in 1975. Distasio then bought a March 75B from Doug Shierson, and the Brabham went in trade into Shierson stock. It was bought from Shierson by James Hollowell (Sterling Hts, Mich) and raced by him in SCCA Formula B over the next few seasons. Advertised by Hollowell in September 1978 as a "FB/C rolling chassis", and he recalls selling it to somebody in the Chicago area. Subsequent history unknown.
5. Brabham BT38 (Paul Corazzo): Paul Corazzo (Wethersfield, CT) raced a Brabham BT38 in Formula B in 1975, primarily in SCCA New England Region events. When he entered the car for the Canon Camera Nationals at Lime Rock in September, it was blue/yellow and numbered #22. This is likely to be the car raced by Carmelo Crisafulli (Great Neck, NY) in NEDiv FB in 1976, as RJ Nelkin recalls buying a FB Brabham from Corazzo and selling it straight away to Crisafulli.
6. 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.

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

NERRC #5, NARRC #8. Results from Pit Talk. Entry List kindly provided by Gordon Medenica.