SCCA National (Blackhawk Valley Region)

Blackhawk Farms, 22 Aug 1976

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Lola T360 [HU3] (John Kowalski): Sold via North American agent Carl Haas to Bill O'Connor (Highland Park, IL) and run for him by Traylor Engineering in the Canadian Formula Atlantic series in 1974. O'Connor won the US GP support race in this car in October 1974. Retained for 1975, when it was used in the Canadian series and at least once in SCCA Nationals, entered by United Racing Ltd. To John Kowalski (Berea, OH), who won Central Division Formula B in 1976 in the car, qualifying for the Runoffs. Kowalski only scored nine points in a Lola in Central Division FB in 1977. Subsequent history unknown.
2. Chevron B27 [27-74-18] (Tom Christ): Chevron build record says sold to Bobby Brown of B&B Racing Enterprises, June 1974. The car was badly damaged in an accident at Trois Rivieres in 1974. Brown says that the remains were returned to Chevron in p/x for two B29s in 1975. However, advertised by Brown in May and June 1975 as 'not raced since complete rebuild at Chevron' which suggests that the car came back to him. Sold later in 1975 to Thomas Christ (Racine, WI), and raced by him in SCCA Nationals in late 1975, then in Pro Formula Atlantic and SCCA Nationals in 1976 and 1977. To John Scola (Kenosha, WI) for 1978 and 1979, and raced by him as late as July 1981. Then unknown until owned by Daniel Sauriol (Appleton, WI) in 1984. Sold to Cliff Ebben (Appleton, WI) at the end of the 1984 season, then sold by him to Comprep (i.e. Dennis Eade of ComPrep (Competition Preparation) in Zenda, WI) for ComPrep customer Alan Lewis (Indianapolis, IN). Run by ComPrep for Eade. Sold to Alan Azar (O'Fallon, IL) in 1999. With dealer Chuck Haines of Can-Am Cars Ltd (St. Louis, MO) in 2018.
3. Lola T460 [HU5] (Jerry Hansen): New to Jerry Hansen (Long Lake, MN) for SCCA Central Division Formula B during 1976, and first appeared at the Road America June Sprints. Finished second at the 1976 Runoffs to Bobby Brown's March 76B. Sold to Frank Mahaney III (Wayzata, MN) for 1977, but Hansen confusingly acquired a different T460, the ex-Tom Klausler car, to run himself that year, as his 1977 Lola T560 was late to arrive. HU5 was sold to Steve Overton (Belleville, IL), a member of St Louis Region, for 1978 and is probably the car raced by Ernst Schneider (St Louis, MO) in 1979 and 1980. Then unknown until bought from Californian Paul Schafer by Cy Moreland (Trainer, PA) in 1997. Sold to Colin Haste (Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia) in 2003 as a "basket case" with a new tub fabricated by Marc Bahner. Restored to Jerry Hansen's livery.
4. Rondel M1 [204?] (Dean Lundgreen): The car used by Jody Scheckter as part of the Motul Rondel team at the first two F2 races of 1973. In June, Titan Properties, the company owned by Chris Meek and Malcolm Wayne, sponsored this car for Tom Pryce to make his F2 debut for Motul Rondel. He drove it until Rouen in June, where he retired with a blown engine, but then had a new car, chassis 208, when he returned to F2 in August. Chassis 204 was sold at the end of the season via Fred Opert to Chris O'Brien (Ottawa, Ontario /Halifax, Nova Scotia) and raced in the Players Canadian Formula Atlantic series in 1974. O'Brien crashed the car at Mosport in July 1974 and it was rebuilt on a new monocoque in time for Sanair two weeks later. It was advertised in December 1974 as "ex-Scheckter" with spares that included a monocoque, presumably the one damaged at Mosport. O'Brien recalls that he sold the car back to Opert. Unknown in 1975, but to Dean Lundgreen (Milwaukee, WI) for 1976, when he scored eight points in Central Division Formula B, and 1977, when he scored 18 points and qualified for the Runoffs. To Ron Drew (Milwaukee, WI) and fitted with a Cosworth BDJ for Formula C in 1978 and 1979, then to Tim Joyce April 1980, then to Greg Dauterman (Fond du Lac, WI) February 1981 and used in Formula Continental up to June 1985. Dauterman sold it Bill Schley at Schley Motor Cars in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and from him it was sold to Jurg Dubler in Switzerland in January 1990. Then sold to Jody Scheckter in June 1999, and picked up by Kerry Adams who then looked after his cars. It has since been immaculately restored to original condition, and is in the care of Sam Kendle of Kendle Adams Motorsport Limited at Scheckter's Laverstoke Park Farm in Hampshire.
5. Lola T192 [HU19] (Larry McNeil): New to Roger Penske for Mark Donohue to drive in the 1970 US series, starting at Mosport 13 Sep 1970. To Competition Research & Development (Pomona, CA) for Brett Lunger US 1971, then to Larry McNeil US 1972, US 1973 and then in SCCA Nationals from 1974 to 1978. Via Alan Marvin to Gordon Close (Hinsdale, IL) 1979, and used it for 1979 SCCA drivers school and Regionals. To former racer Don O'Sullivan (Perth, Western Australia) in 1983 but not run by him and sold to Bob Harborow (Camberwell, Victoria, Australia) in 1989. Restored and used in historic racing in Australia, including VHRR Historic Sandown and Phillip Island Classic 1999-2013, and the Australian GP support races in 2009 and 2010. Reappeared in October 2015, when run by Kieran Patel (Victoria, Australia) at the Baskerville Historics. More information about Lola T192 HU19
6. McLaren M4B (Dick Drexler): Dick Drexler (Pewaukee, WI) had a red/grey McLaren M4A which he entered in local SCCA Formula B events from 1969 to 1972, usually as #5 or #51. A one-time Regional Executive of the SCCA Milwaukee Region, Richard W Drexler was president of Milwaukee-based oil refiner Lubricant, Inc. Records of him actually starting a race are rare but he was a regular entry at his local Road America and Blackhawk Farms circuits or even as far afield as Brainerd. He returned in 1973 with the car now fitted with a 997cc HRE engine for Formula C, qualifying for the Run-Offs that year. He then bought a 1066cc Cosworth SCA engine (bored out for SCC pistons) from Al Essig, who had used it in a Brabham BT15. Drexler is believed to have used that engine in the McLaren in 1974, 1975 and 1976. The car was acquired in 1987 by Dave Hammers (Sea Cliff, NY), restored, and put on display.
7. Chevron B27 [27-74-03] (Keith Feldott): New to Doug Shierson Racing via Fred Opert for Chip Mead (Dayton, OH) to race in Formula Atlantic, initially in the opening races of the British series, then in North America. The car was blue and ran in North America as #23. Sold to Keith Feldott (LaGrange, IL) and raced in SCCA Central Division Formula B in 1975, scoring 11 points to finish ninth in the division. Retained for 1976, when Feldott finished second at Mid-America Raceway and at Grattan Raceway in May, and again at Grattan in July to finish the season on 37 points, tied for second in the division, and racing at the Runoffs. Retained again for 1977, but seen more rarely as Feldott moved into Trans-Am. Subsequent history unknown.
8. Brabham BT38B [18] (Steve Fossett): Thomas M. Shelton (Plantation, FL/Fort Launderdale, FL) raced a red-and-white Brabham BT38B in South-East Division FB in 1972. The car arrived relatively late in the season and was still being described as immaculate and new at the Palm Beach National in September. Tom recalls that the engine broke at the Road America Pro race in August 1973, and he diverted to Chicago on his way home and traded the car to Carl Haas. Haas sold it to Mikeal Bystrom Jr (Minneapolis, MN), who had previously raced a Brabham BT18 in FC, and still recalls the chassis number of the BT38B as being BT38B/18. He broke the Hart twin cam at his first race and fitted a BDA instead, racing it in US Pro races in 1974 and then in the Canadian series in 1975. He sold it to Steve Fossett (Chicago, IL), then a commodities trader in Chicago, but later more famous for his ballooning exploits. Fossett raced it in SCCA Formula Atlantic in 1977.
9. Chevron B27 [27-74-02] (Frank Scott): Chevron build record says sold via Fred Opert to Freeman Racing (Yellow Springs, OH). However, either never delivered or bought back by Opert in 1974 and used by Jean-Pierre Jaussaud at Trois Rivieres and Richard Melville at Watkins Glen. Advertised by Opert in April 1975 as "ex-Jaussaud", "only two races". Retained by the Opert team for 1975, and used twice by Tom Bagley at Halifax and Trois Rivieres, where his car is described as "ex Jaussaud". Believed to be Michael Landrum's B27 at Road Atlanta in April 1976 in the IMSA series and at Gimli in the Players series in June. Advertised by Pierre Phillips in July 1976 as 'ex Bagley', then to Frank Scott (Racine, WI) who raced it at Blackhawk Farms in August and Brainerd in September, and then advertised it in October 1976 as 'ex Jaussaud, 8 races from new'. He advertised the car again in March 1978. Sold to Richard Ellingson and used in Mid West SCCA until 1980. Then to an autocrosser and subsequently to Paul Berg (Chippewa Falls, WI), who won the MCSCC F/Atlantic series in 1982 with the car. Owned by Bob Dupré (Glenview, IL) 1985 and heavily damaged at Road America that year. Around 2020, Art Hebert contacted Dupré, and Dupré informed him that he had sold the damaged car to J. David Kopf (Tujungam, CA). It was bought from Kopf by Johnnie Crean (Kamuela, Hawaii) in 1998. According to a later advert, Kopf had owned it for over ten years, but had not raced it. Kopf died in 2004. The Chevron was rebuilt for Crean by Graham Collins using a new monocoque fabricated by Marc Bahner. This car sold to Philippe Reyns (Chandler, AZ) in October 2008, and raced in historic events up to 2016. It was sold to Todd Willing (Melbourne, Australia) in December 2019 to race in US historic events, and then bought from WIlling as "27-74-15 ex Jean Pierre Jaussaud" by Alex Dodd (San Francisco, CA) in 2022. It was sold again in early 2023 to Tony Smith in Wisconsin.

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 76-N-53P. Official results from SCCA records at the IMRRC.