SCCA Continental Championship for Formula B/C Race

Road America, 20 Jul 1969

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Brabham BT18 (Mike Eyerly): Bill Gubelmann (Oyster Bay, NY) ran a red Brabham BT18 with 1.1-litre Cosworth SCC engine in Formula C in 1967, winning seven Nationals and setting lap records right down the east coast. He advertised the car in Autoweek on 18 November 1967 as a late 1966 BT18 chassis with 140bhp Cosworth SCC engine, and it then went to Fred Opert, presumably traded on Gubelmann's new BT23F. From Opert it was sold to Mike Eyerly (Salem, OR) and raced in the Pacific northwest, winning several Regional SCCA events. He kept the orange BT18 when he moved into the SCCA national Formula B series in 1969 and completely dominated the series, winning six of the first nine races and finishing second in another two. Advertised in October 1969. Subsequent history unknown.
2. Lotus 59 [59-FB-12] (WP Fred Stevenson): Bought by Pete and Bill Pulver's Dutchess Auto in 1969 for Fred Stevenson (Salisbury, CT) to race in US Formula B and entered by Stevenson's Lotus/East Inc racing operation. The car was sold at the end of the main season to customer Bob Hebert (Monterey, MA) and driven by him at Sebring at the end of 1969 (according to Stevenson's recollection but not in reports) and then through the 1970 season. Hebert and Stevenson had new 69s for 1971 and the 59B may have returned to Stevenson and even been raced by him in some SCCA Nationals in 1971. To Ralph Manaker (Syracuse, NY) for 1972, and raced in NEDiv Regional Formula B that year, entered by BME Racing. By this time it was wearing Lotus 69 bodywork, with the original bodywork remaining with Manaker until the 1990s. The Lotus then went to Leland Gerey, who put it on pole position for a race at Pocono as late as 1980. Then to Kurt Hoffman, and sold for him by Jerry Bensinger via Frans Van den Heuvel (Holland) to Paul Schouwenburg (Belgium). Then back from Schouwenburg to Bensinger in 1989, and offered by sale in 1990. By 1992/93, the car had been sold to a Japanese dealer but when a planned auction in Japan was cancelled, the car remained in a warehouse in California for some time. In 1995, it was sold by Mark Leonard to Tim Gaffney, and he restored the car to Fred Stevenson's #93 livery, but on its newer Lotus 69 bodywork. The car was then sold by Gaffney to Japan.
3. Chevron B15b [FB-69-6?] (Steve Brownstein): Steven Brownstein (Hewlett, NY) had a blue Chevron B15B for Formula B in 1969. He raced in the Pro series but also took 25 pts in Northeast Division FB racing. Brownstein retained the car for 1970, but blew his engine at Brainerd in August and was not seen again. Steve Brownstein cannot remember who he sold his Chevron to, but doubts that it went back to Opert. Subsequent history unknown.
4. Titan Mk3 (Earl Jones): Earl Jones (Perkin, IL or Hermosa Beach, CA) raced a yellow-and-blue Titan in Formula B through 1969. He raced as #81 at Seattle and Road America in July, which had been Ed Leslie's number in the first four races, suggesting Jones took over Leslie's car when the series moved away from the west coast. The results for the opening round are ambiguous. It is possible that Jones took over Leslie's car for the race, and that Leslie's retirement after zero laps actually undicates that he was a non-starter. Jones then raced as #75 for the six remaining races of the season. In SCCA Nationals, Jones raced a Formula Ford Titan. Nothing more known.
5. Chevron B14 [FB-68-8] (Thomas Gelb): Bought new by Tom Tufts (Milwaukee, WI) and raced in Formula B in 1968, starting at Road America on 27 July 1968, at the Buckeye Sprints at Mid-Ohio two weeks later and then at Donnybrooke (Brainerd) on 22 September 1968. Identified from an invoice as chassis FB-68-8. Sold to Tom Gelb (Mequon, WI) for 1969, replacing an ancient Brabham BT2, and raced in Pro and CenDiv FB until crashed at Mosport Park in August 1969. The car was repaired and sold in 1970 but its subsequent history is unknown. However, it may well be the car raced by fellow Central Division racer Jim Trueman (Amlin, OH) in 1970.
6. Brabham BT14 [FL-3-65] (Bruce Redding): This BT14 was bought new by John Mitchell and raced in northern English libre racing in 1965 and 1966. It was missing for most of 1967, but was sold late that year to Steve Pfeiffer (San Francisco, CA) and equipped with a BRM Phase 4 twin-cam for 1968 Formula B racing, now described as a BT21. It was sold to Bruce Redding (Monterey, CA) for 1969 but crashed early in the season and extensively rebuilt. Redding thereafter entered it in 1969 and 1970 as a Ford Special, Gravelle Special or even as a Honda Special. It was later sold to Steve Jizmagian (San Francisco, CA) in early 1971 and crashed again, then to Tom Gouldstone (Santa Rosa, CA/Napa, CA) in November 1972 and crashed again - each time at Laguna Seca. By 1975, Gouldstone was describing it as a BT18/21. It was sold to Dick McGovern in 1978. It was retained by McGovern until 1994 when sold to George Goodare (Sydney, NSW, Australia) and restored. Later to Brian Wilson in September 2000 then to John Gale in November 2001. Sold to Richard Longes late 2008 and raced in 2009 Tasman Revival races.
7. McLaren M4B (Brian Robertson): Brian Robertson (Brockville, Ontario) bought a McLaren M4A for 1968 and raced it in both the US SCCA Pro series and in local Canadian races, generally as #35 and with support from Indusmat Inc. He reappeared with the car in July and August 1969 before replacing it with a new Brabham BT29. To Kris Harrison (Montréal, Quebec) for a handful of events in September 1970 at Trois-Rivières and Mont-Tremblant. Harrison would later found Ecurie Canada, the team that launched Gilles Villeneuve's career. Subsequent history of the McLaren unknown
8. McLaren M4A (Skeeter McKitterick): Skeeter McKitterick raced a McLaren M4A in Formula B in 1969 using a fuel-injected Alfa Romeo engine built by John Shankle's company, Shankle Automotive Engineering (Van Nuys, CA). The car was owned by San Diego Alfa Romeo dealer International Automotive although the original plan was for it to be run as part of a four-car team run by Automotion, Dick Barbour's Porsche business on Mission Gorge road in San Diego. The next owner of the car was probably Phil Lester (Van Nuys, CA) in 1970. Soon after it passed to Bruce McCaw (Seattle, WA) who raced it once or twice with the Alfa engine and found that the bag tanks leaked. It was put aside until reassembled by Tony Garmey between 1993 and 1998 at McCaw's Vintage Racing Motors. Sold in 1998 to Pat Hart as a rolling chassis. Sold to Tony Garmey (Seattle, WA) in 2012 with a Ford twin cam engine and Hewland Mk 5 gearbox.
9. Chevron B9 [F3/68/7] (Wayne Kelly): Sold to John Ralph and used in European F3 events in 1968 with Lucas engines. Sold to Wayne Kelly (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) for 1969 and fitted with a Ford twin cam engine for Formula B. Raced in US and Canadian FB events from July to September 1969. Kelly, the builder of the Kelly Formula Vees, died in 1971 following an accident in a Formula Ford race. Subsequent history of the Chevron is unknown but it is possible that this, rather than Peter Broeker's Chevron B14, was the car raced by Bill Eagles in 1970 and 1971.
10. Chevron B14 (Oliver Grant): Oliver E. Grant (Norfolk, VA) raced a yellow #21 Chevron in SCCA FB events in 1969, describing it as a B14 at Mont-Tremblant in September. He retained the car for a few races in 1970 when it wore #18 but was described as a B15B. It is possible that Grant had acquired Joe Grimaldi's B14 and traded it back to Grimaldi for a newer B15B for 1970. Grant died in 2007 and the subsequent history of the Chevron remains unknown.
11. Titan Mk3 (Doug Champlin): Son of a wealthy oil family, Doug Champlin (Enid, OK) raced a gold-and-blue #49 Titan-Ford in Formula B in 1969 but it only appeared very rarely. Champlin then decided to buy a F1 Brabham BT26 and entered it for Gus Hutchison in Formula A late 1969 and through 1970. Later a noted firearms manufacturer and aircraft collector, Champlin died in May 2013. Nothing more is known of his Titan.
12. Brabham BT2 [FJ-1-62] (Dennis F. Lokmer): Sold to Briggs Cunningham (Bridgeport, CT) and raced by his team of drivers in 1962, but most often by Briggs himself. Sold to team driver Augie Pabst (Milwaukee, WI) for 1963 and raced by him in the last seasons of Formula Junior and in the first season of the SCCA's new Formula C. Then to Tom Gelb (Hartford, WI) for 1966 who was enormously successful in Central Division FC over the next three seasons, winning the Divisional title in 1968 with a maximum 54 points. The car was then sold to Dennis Lokmer (De Pere, WI) who continued its success, qualifying for the Run-Offs in 1969 and 1970. He then sold it to Bill Anspach (Palm Beach Gardens, FL) who won the Florida Region FC title in 1971. It went to Bud Bakels (also Palm Beach Gardens, FL) in 1972 and is then missing until 1985 when it was found, still in Anspach's livery, and bought from Randy Morvant (Vidor, TX) by David Roland (Alexandria,  LA). Sold to Wayne Mitchell (Cardiff, CA) in 2006 and bought from him by Robs Lamplough (Hungerford, Berkshire) and returned to the UK in 2011.
13. Brabham BT21C (Ted Thomas): Dr Theodore B. Thomas (Bethel Park, Pittsburgh, PA), who raced as Ted Thomas, drove a Bobsy Vanguard in 1967, then moved to a Formula B Brabham in August 1968. He entered the car as a Brabham-Vegantune, but his SCCA licence application later identified it as a BT21C. He was entered in 1969 by Tedar Racing Org of Bethel Park and in 1971 by TEBAR Racing of Bethel Park. In March 1970, the BT21C was advertised by Tebar Racing with a Vegantune engine, noting that it had only raced four times, and a month later a photograph from the VIR National shows Thomas racing a red Brabham BT21C. Thomas was the Steel Cities Region Formula B champion in 1971, after which he upgraded to a new March 722. Nothing more is known of the Brabham.
14. Brabham BT21C [BT21A?] (Fred Opert): Raced by Fred Ashplant (Franklin Lakes, NJ) and first seen at Lime Rock in early July where Racing Magazine called it "his new Brabham FB". Won the SCCA National at Bridgehampton two weeks later and the Pro race at Mont-Tremblant in September. Finished third in the NEDiv FB title. Retained for 1968 but used much less that season. In 1969, Ashplant ordered a Brabham BT29 and sold the BT21A to Pete LoBianco (York, PA). However, the BT21A was in Fred Opert's stock during the summer of 1969 and as the car had last been raced as #47, it seems likely that this was the #47 FB Brabham that Opert raced a couple of times before his BT29 arrived.
15. Chevron B14 [FB-68-14?] (Dick Smothers): Bought late in 1968 by Dick Smothers of Smothers Bros Racing (Fullerton, CA) and first raced in the Donnybrooke Grand Prix at Brainerd 22 September 1968 . Chevron records appear to identify this car as chassis FB-68-14. Smothers had a blue #29 Chevron FB for 1969 and this is very probably the same car, even though it was sometimes referred to as a B15B. Loaned to Joe Alves (Sherman Oaks, CA) for 1970 but not raced after blowing the engine in practice at Sears Point in June 1970. Alves eventually sold the car some time between 1975 and 1978 but it is then unknown until owned by a D Hullinger around 1992 who started a restoration. It passed to Gabe Lakatosh (Los Angeles, CA) in 1998 who completed the restoration and raced it infrequently. Then sold to Jeff Giannini (Puyallup, WA) in 2003 who has raced it continuously since then. It had a full restoration in 2008 and is maintained by J&L Fabrication (also in Puyallup, WA).
16. Brabham BT21C (Howard Brown): From May 1968 to September 1969, Howard Brown (Paoli, PA or Malvern, PA) raced in Pro Formula B and in NEDiv in a Brabham, identified by the Sep 1968 Lime Rock entry list as a BT21C. Brown ran as #76 in 1968 and #69 in 1969 but the colour and identity of the Brabham are not yet known.
17. Brabham BT21 (Jon Milledge): Jon Milledge (Mountain View, CA) visited England to buy a Brabham for 1968. Having found that factory prices were outside his budget, he was persuaded by Frank Williams to buy a BT21 development car from MRD which Williams then had modified by Arch Motors and built up to full BT21C specification. He focused on the FRA 'Pro' series in 1968, winning at Vaca Valley and Santa Ana, and also won two NorPac Nationals, beating eventual champion Mike Eyerly. He continued his battle with Eyerly in the Pro series in 1969, beating him at Riverside and finishing second at Laguna Seca and Sears Point. The BT21/21C was sold to Mike Hansen (Belmont, CA) for 1970 who used it to win the 1970 Northern Pacific Division Formula B class. The car was then blue-and-white and entered at #40 as a BT21C. He swapped to a new Brabham BT35 for 1971 and retained his title. This is presumably the "ex-Hansen" "BT21/29" advertised by Hayes Racing Equipment (Santa Ana, CA) in March 1971. Subsequent history unknown.
18. Lotus 59 [59-FB-9] (Malcolm Starr): Malcolm Starr (Union City, NJ) bought a new F2-spec Lotus 59 from Lotus East (Millerton, NY) for 1969 and raced it in Pro Formula B events that season. Malcolm recalls selling to to "a fellow named Woodbury from Virginia" which would be the William J. Woodbury Jr (Springfield, Virginia) who raced a Lotus "69" at Mid-Ohio in September 1970, and at least one SCCA National in early 1971. Woodbury retained the car when he stopped racing, and still had it when he died in early 2022. The car was offered for sale in August 2022 on behalf of his widow.
19. McLaren M4B [200-26B?] (Martin Sellers): Sold to Martin Sellers (Columbus, OH) for Formula B in 1968. The sale was arranged by Chuck Dietrich (Sandusky, OH) who had run a M4A in 1967 and was now buying a new car for himself as well. Dietrich and Sellers ran together as a team in 1968. Retained by Sellers for 1969 but he had engine troubles through that season and after that only raced the car rarely. In the 1990s, he brought the car out again for historic racing and ran at Sears Point with the SCCA in 1997. More recently a member of the CSRG. Chassis 200-26 is a very rare 1960s racing car that has only had one owner from new.
20. 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.
21. Brabham BT18 (Dave Rines): R. David Rines (St Louis, MO) raced a "F2 Brabham" in Formula B in 1969. Rines raced this car consistently in the 1969 Pro series until engine failure at Thompson in September, after which he entered his Brabham-Climax at Sebring. Rines' advert for the car in October 1969 described it as a BT18 with Vegantune engine. Rines had previously driven a Brabham BT7-Climax in Formula A and we're very keen to locate him to ask about this car.
22. Brabham BT18 (Peter W Nye): Peter Nye (Ann Arbor, MI) bought a Brabham BT18 rolling chassis from Fred Opert for the 1969 season. Opert fitted a used Vegantune twin cam engine to it for Formula B, but the engine kept bending valves and Nye rarely finished a race. After returning the Vegantune to Opert, he bought an HRE engine from Gus Hutchinson for the 1970 season but did not have much more success. Nye does not recall whether he sold that car privately, but may have traded it to Joe Grimaldi's Race Shop for his next car, a Brabham BT29. 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.

1970 US FB results were compiled from Autoweek reports by Jim Thurman; 1971 results were transcribed from Autoweek by Allen Brown and 1972 results were compiled by Chris Townsend from an SCCA results publication.

The US Formula B series did not continue in 1973 but a race was organised in Caracas in March 1973 that fits here probably better than anywhere else, as do the occasional SCCA F/Atlantic and FB races in 1974 and 1975.

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.