SCCA National (Finger Lakes Region)

Watkins Glen, 17 Jul 1977

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Chevron B39 [39-77-05] (Ken Duclos): New to Ken Duclos (Boxboro, MA) and raced in Northeast Division SCCA Nationals in 1977. Sold to Gaston Andrey (Framingham, MA) for SCCA Nationals in 1978, and advertised by Andrey in August 1981. According to a later history of the car, it was acquired by Rick Stone in the 1980s, and then acquired by Tim Gaffey who sold it to Cy Moreland (Trainer, PA). It was bought from Moreland in 2002 as a pile of parts by Lee Chapman and restored. Sold by Chapman in December 2010 to Chris Locke (San Francisco, CA), who raced the "ex-Ken Duclos" Chevron B39 in US historic racing in 2011 and 2012, and at the Monterey Historics in 2013. Locke still had the car in 2014, when it was driven by Lyn St James. In late 2014 or early 2015, the car was sold to Robert Gray Gregory (Houston TX), and was raced during his ownership by Gregory and by Ethan Shippert. Acquired from Gregory by John Taphorn (Kingwood, TX) in 2024 following a full restoration by J & L Fabricating.
2. March 77B [5] (Joe Sposato): New to Joe Sposato and used in SCCA Nationals in 1977. Retained for Pro Formula Atlantic for first half of 1978, then sold to Charles Crotts (High Point, NC) for remainder of 1978. Believed to be the car retained by Crotts and run in SCCA events up to 1985.
3. Chevron B34 [34-76-18] (Rick Bell): To Rick Bell (Lakeville, CT) and used in Northeast Division Formula B, entered by Bell Racing. Also raced in two Pro races in Canada in July and August. Retained for 1977 again for NEDiv FB, but also taking in two Pro races at Trois-Rivières and Québec City. Subsequent history unknown.
4. 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.
5. March 77B [13] (Peter Neumahr): New to Peter Neumahr (White Plains, NY/Bronzville, NY), and raced in SCCA Nationals in 1977. The car's Mahoning Valley Region SCCA log book shows it first racing with the SCCA at Lime Rock on 4 July 1977. Sold to John Timken (Lyme, CT), who raced it in 1978 and 1979, until he crashed at Lime Rock in June 1979, and the car was not repaired. Timken eventually sold the damaged car in 1997 to Cy Moreland (Trainer, PA), who had the monocoque repaired by Marc Bahner and then rebuilt the car. Moreland sold it to Joe Griffin, who sold it in 2001 to Martin Handshy, but he did not race it. Then in 2006 it was sold to Elliot Kaplan (Stilwell, KS).
6. Chevron B29 [29-75-20] (John Higgins): New to Joe Sposato (Ridgefield, CT) and used in SCCA Northeast Division Formula B in 1975, entered by Spoasto Motoracing (Waccabuc, NY). Also used in one Players Canadian Formula Atlantic race at Mosport. Retained for 1976, again in NEDiv SCCA Nationals and for two IMSA Formula Atlantic Championship races. To John Higgins (Elizabeth, NJ) for 1977, and raced in NEDiv SCCA events. Presumably the Chevron he raced in 1978. Chris Townsend advises that the car then went to Mike Cronin, and was retained by him until it was sold to Mike Malley (Greenville, NC) in April 2001. Malley crashed the car at Summit Point in 2003, breaking his back, and the car was then rebuilt using "a new tub by Chevron" and sold to Dick Ward (Australia) in 2007 or 2008. Ward raced it in events at Waneroo Park from 2009 to 2014, before selling it to Gwyn Pollard in the UK in 2015. Pollard had the car extensively rebuilt by Vin Malkie, then fitted a Gathercole BDG and raced the car in HSCC racing from 2016 to 2019, prepared by Gerry Wainwright Motorsport.
7. Brabham BT40 [17] (John Sley): New to Ken Duclos (Boxboro, MA) and raced in Formula B in 1973, winning the Northeast Division title, and the National title by winning the SCCA Runoffs at Road Atlanta in November. Retained for 1974, and again won both the Northeast title and the National title, and towards the end of that season was fitted with a Cosworth BDA for Formula Atlantic. Again retained for 1975, now with the BDA in Formula B, and Duclos won a third successive NEDiv title in the car, but this time retired at the Runoffs. In 1975, the car wore Falconer bodywork. Sold to Peter Gates (Claymont, DE) for 1976, fitted with a 1.1-litre Cosworth BDJ for Formula C, and finished third in the NEDiv FC title. To Jon Sley (Claymont, Delaware) for FC again in 1977, finishing fifth in NEDiv, and retained for 1978 and 1979. The car was next seen when advertised by Gates in 1992 as restored with a new tub. After that, it was next mentioned by Michael Rand in February 2018 as having been recently purchased. By April 2015, Rand had sold it to Bob Burnside (Dexter, MI).

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 77-N-47P. Official results from SCCA records at the IMRRC.