Falstaff Nationals (Cal Club SCCA National)

Riverside, 30 May 1976

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Chevron B27 (Dick Hayes): Dick Hayes (Huntingdon Beach, CA) raced a Chevron in SCCA Nationals and one IMSA Pro race in 1975 and 1976. It was described as an "ex-Howdy Holmes B27" by Finish Line in 1975, and a photograph shows that it was dark blue with dark green sidepods when it appeared at Ontario in May 1976. However, the car Holmes drove was also driven by Tom Pryce at Trois-Rivières, and an ex-Pryce car was owned by Dan Neuman in 1975 and 1976. So it is possible that the car Holmes drove at Watkins Glen in October 1974 was a new car, unrecorded in Chevron records, and this is what went to Hayes. Subsequent history unknown.
2. March 75B [4] (Jeffrey Alkana): Don Breidenbach (Oakland, CA) had a new March 75B which he first raced at Holtville Aerodrome 23 Mar 1975. It was blue and ran as #61 entered by D. L. B. Industries. Last known race was in February 1976, after which Breidenbach's new 76B arrived and the 75B went to Jeffrey Alkana (Azusa, CA), replacing his earlier 74B. Alkana is reported to have won the regional championship in 1977 with this car but it seems more likely that he won the 1976 Cal Club Formula B title. Sold to Alan Holly (North Hollywood, CA) for 1977, repainted red and again used in Cal Club SCCA events. Sold by Holly to studio exec Steve Brimmer (Irvine, CA) who modified the sidepods and cockpit shroud and added a Perspex wind deflector. He raced it from 1978 to 1980, and then kept it, unused, until he sold it to his race mechanic Marc Cohen, around 1983 or 1984. History then unknown until it was owned by Walter Hagstrom (Laguna Niguel, CA) in 1988. It then sat unused for ten years from 1990 until sold by Roger Downer (Petaluma, CA) to Ken Stone (Redding, CA) in 2000. Retained by Stone in 2004. By 2008, the car was with Mark Rincon (Redding, CA), who ran it in Ramada Inns livery. Later bought from Rincon by Steve Cook (Napa, California).
3. Lola T460 [HU3] (Steve Jizmagian): New to Steve Jizmagian (San Francisco, CA) and raced in SCCA Nationals and IMSA Formula Atlantic races in 1976. Retained for 1977 for Californian SCCA Nationals and Regionals. Retained again for 1978, again for Californian SCCA Nationals and Regionals. Retained by Jizmagian for 1979, but destroyed in an accident at Westwood in June 1979. What was left was broken for spares.
4. Brabham BT29 (Frank Monise): Graham Baker moved from New Zealand to the US for a season of Formula B in 1970. He bought a new green Brabham BT29 from Chip Gompf and Wayne Mitchell, one of three new BT29s they had in stock. He was entered by Charlie Hayes Racing Equipment as #82 for his first race, at Edmonton in May, but was then self-entered as #82 for the next eight races as #67 before ending the season as part of the Bonphil Racing Industries team. Hayes sold the car for Baker at the end of the season to a non-racer in Laguna Hills who appears to have retained it, unused, for three years. In late 1973/early 1974, CSCC racer Jeff Alkana learnt from engine specialist Steve Jennings about the car and he bought it with Frank Monise (Pasadena, CA), who needed a new BT29 having wrecked his earlier BT29-41. Monise raced the car for several more seasons with Ford twin cam and BDA engines before selling it around 1976 to Tito D'Oporto and Gary Green and replacing it with a March.
5. Brabham BT40 [30] (Mark Munroe): New to Olney "Bill" Mairs (Malibu, CA) and raced at the 1973 SCCA Runoffs, Mairs having qualified by finishing fourth in his March 722 in NEDiv, representing New York Region. Retained for 1974, when Mairs finished fifth in Southern Pacific Division, representing CSCC. He then sold to the car to his two mechanics, Victor Tostado and Mark Munroe, and Munroe raced it in 1975 and 1976. After Munroe was killed in a sprint car accident at Ascot Raceway in September 1979, the Brabham was sold to Richard Christ, and then to John Whitton. It was next seen when owned by Mike Fazzi in 2002 or 2003, and was sold by him to Peter Brennan (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) in 2004. The car remained in the UK, and was raced by Brennan with the HSCC in 2019. Sold to Martin Friedl (Vienna, Austria) in 2020, but the car was expected to stay with Bob Juggins in England, and be used in HSCC events in 2021.
6. LeGrand Mk 7 [002] (Ken Owen): A new car replacing the original works Mk 7 sold to Don Richardson, and shaken down by Bruce Eglinton at Whitman stadium June 1968 where he crashed and was badly burnt. The car was rebuilt and loaned to Jerry Entin, fitted with his Chevrolet engine and ZF gearbox, and taken to Road America for the Badger "200" on 27 July 1968, but the timing gear broke before the race, and Entin did not start. Entin won a National at Riverside in August and two Regionals later in the year. Dick Guldstrand took over the car for the Laguna Seca 'Pro' race in October and it was then driven by Rex Ramsey at the ARRC, and at the Monaco International Trophy in New Zealand at the end of December. Ramsey continued to drive the car in 1969, winning three SCCA Nationals but was well off the pace in Pro races. It was then shared by Chuck Elliott and Bruce Eglinton in SCCA Regionals and Nationals respectively in 1970 and 1971. Then sold to Mal Patterson (San Jose, CA), who entered it for the Pro race at Laguna Seca 7 May 1972, but does not appear to have raced it very often. It was then sold to Ken Owen (Union City, CA) and used in local SCCA racing in 1975 and 1976. Then sold to Skip Pack (Hollister, CA) and Dennis McLaughlin , who autocrossed the car in the late 1970s and early 1980s before they sold it to Butch Gilbert in October 2009. Sold to John F Boxhorn (Mukwonago, Wisconsin) in October 2010, and restored during 2011 and 2012. Sold to David Zavetsky (Wellesboro, PA) in 2019. See full history: LeGrand Mk 7 002.
7. Brabham BT29 (Mike Fazzi): Mike Fazzi (Costa Mesa, CA) raced a red Brabham BT29 with Ford twin cam engine in SCCA Regionals and Nationals in California in 1975 and 1976. He advertised the car in November 1976, noting that it had updated bodywork.
8. March 75B [R1] (Bob Kolowich): A March 75B built up specifically for Patrick Depailler to drive at Trois-Rivières in 1975 as part of the Ecurie Canada team. Depailler took pole, but the engine broke during practice and he borrowed a different car for the race. The 75B was sold after the race to Bob Kolowich (Mountain View, CA), who raced it in SCCA events in 1976. At the end of that season, Kolowich had to give up racing, and the car was stored. He still owned it in 2008, when he took it out of storage and started to restore it.
9. GRD 373 (Jules Williams): In late 1975, Jules Williams of Automotive Development (Orange, CA) announced that he would be running the ex-Tony Brise GRD 373 in Formula C car in Southern Pacific Division Nationals in 1976. The car was to be powered by an 1100cc Fiat engine developed by PBS Engineering (Garden Grove, CA) with a four-valve head based on the company's 1300cc C Sports Racing engine. Williams qualified for the SCCA Runoffs at Road Atlanta but retired after a single lap. He returned in the car in 1977, when he finished second in the Division. He scored points again in SPDiv in 1979 with the "PBS".
10. McLaren M18 (Dwight Zillig): Dwight Zillig (Novato, CA) raced a McLaren M18 in SCCA events in northern California between 1975 and 1977. He entered a white #14 Shasta Beverages McLaren at Sears Point in September 1975, and this is presumably the same car he races through these three seasons. He raced a few times a year in the car, in San Francisco Region Nationals and Regionals at Sears Point and Laguna Seca. His last known appearance was in the "Sears Point Summer Nationals" on 14 Aug 1977, where he crashed during the Saturday morning activities.

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-20S. Official results from SCCA records at the IMRRC. Also The Wheel June 1976 p10, which only reported finishers.