SCCA Continental Championship for Formula B/C Race

Sears Point, 28 Jun 1970

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Chevron B17b (Mike Eyerly): Mike Eyerly (Salem, OR) raced a Chevron B17b for Fred Opert Racing in 1970, winning the first six races of the Continental Formula B Championship. Despite competition from Alan Lader, he won a total of eight rounds of the series and easily retained his title. The car was then sold to Phil Cole, who raced it in an Arizona Region SCCA Regional at Phoenix in December 1970, but then nothing was seen of it until Chuck McCain (Tuscon, AZ) raced it in the Formula B class at an Arizona Sports Racing Association race in October 1973, instead of his usual Brabham. McCain advertised the car in March 1974, but evidently never sold it, as it was ultimately bought from his family by Lee Chapman in 2013. It was fully restored and raced by new owner Jim Victor (Davenport, Iowa) at Road America in 2015, originally in white bodywork, but later restored very precisely to Eyerly's livery . A week after racing the Chevron at Road America in July 2018, Victor sadly died following an accident while driving another car at the same track.
2. Brabham BT29 [14?] (Mike Hiss): Believed to be chassis BT29-14, this was the car raced by Mike Hiss (Delran, NJ/Laurel, MD) at Sears Point in June 1970, and then sold to Ernie Haze (Palo Alto, CA) for 1971. Haze drove the car in Northern Pacific Division SCCA Formula B in 1971, but his appearances were relatively rare. He won at Riverside in February 1983, then appeared on the entry list for the Laguna Seca June Sprints in 1973 in a red-and-gold #89 Brabham entered by Stigall Motors. The BT29 then went to Lou Pavesi (Los Altos Hills, CA) around 1976, then Frank Bramante (El Cerrito, CA/San Pablo, CA) by 1978, and via Tom Fugate (San Jose, CA) and John Treder (Santa Clara, CA) to John Hafkenschiel (Sacramento, CA) by the mid-1980s. Pavesi inspected the car in Hafkenschiel's garage and identified it as the ex-Hiss/ex-Haze car that he had owned previously. It entered Australia via Steve Pike in 1991 where it was owned by Jim McConville and run in historic racing. It was sold to Steve Lunn in 2006 and then to Max Pearson in 2010.
3. Brabham BT29 [9] (Allan Lader): This early chassis number would have raced in 1969 but its first owner is still unknown. Working backwards from its modern ownership, it would have been the black-and-yellow BT29 raced by Allan Lader (Gresham, OR), until Lader got a new 1970-spec BT29 in July. The older car was sold to Ron Householder (Portland, OR) and raced by him in SCCA, CASC and ICSCC events in 1971, 1972 and 1973. Householder sold it to Paul Anderson (Huntington Beach, CA) who entered it for Pete Halsmer in SCCA events in 1974. Then to Bill Hill (Olympia, WA) in March 1975. Hill drove this car, mainly in ICSCC events, until April 1980 at least, and Hill advertised the car "for rent" in mid-1980. Retained by Hill until his death. It was sold by his widow to David Irwin (Evergreen, CO) in December 2017.
4. Brabham BT29 [38] (Randy Lewis): John Ranson Lewis III, who raced as Randy Lewis (Sunnyvale, CA), had a blue Brabham BT29 for 1970 which was entered as #7. He raced the car through the full Pro season, finishing fourth at Sears Point in June and at Road America in August, end ending the season in eighth place in the championship. He did not compete in SCCA Nationals. The car was sold to Bunny Ribbs (San Jose, CA) for Mike Eyerly to drive in FB in 1971 (#63) and 1972 (#80). Jon Milledge also drove Ribbs car at Brainerd in Sep 1972. Ribbs, father of future Trans-Am star Willy T. Ribbs, advertised the car at the end of 1972. This is presumably the blue #80 Brabham BT29 raced by Lee Midgley at Road America in August 1973 and driven by Archie Snider at Trois-Rivières a week later. Subsequent history unknown.
5. Brabham BT29 (Syd Demovsky): Syd Demovsky (Chicago, IL) raced a yellow #11 Brabham BT29 in Pro events in 1970. At the end of the year the car was sold via Joe Grimaldi (Race Shop) to Peter Nye (Ann Arbor, MI) who fitted it with a HRE twin cam and raced it in Pro events and in some SCCA events through 1971. At the end of that season he sold it less engine to Jim Lloyd (Indianapolis, IN) who converted it to Formula C and won the CenDiv FC title in 1972 and 1973. Lloyd retained the car and later restored it to Formula B specification for vintage racing. He advertised it in fully-restored condition in February 1991.
6. Brabham BT29 [5] (Nick Craw): Nick Craw (Washington,DC) bought one of the first Brabham BT29s from local Brabham dealer Fred Opert, a car identified by Ted Walker of the Brabham Register as chassis BT29-5. Craw raced in SCCA events from August 1969 onwards, finishing second in the SEDiv FB championship by a single point, and in two Pro races. He continued with a BT29 in 1970 in Pro racing as part of Fred Opert Racing and to the best of his and Opert's recollection, used the same car. He bought a Brabham BT35 for 1971 but before this arrived in the US, he raced the BT29 once more, winning a National at Summit Point in April 1971. The car appeared in Fred Opert's stock list on 1 May, and on the reverse of one of this list, as sent by Opert's secretary Jeannie to Brabham historian Denis Lupton in 1971, a handwritten comment gives Craw's car as "BT29-5". A column by Craw in June 1972 said the car was sold to Jiro Yoneyama, a Japanese driver who raced a Brabham BT29 in US Formula B as part of Fred Opert's team. His car was white and ran as #76. The Road America entry list noted it was using a Hart engine. He was not seen after Road America in August 1971, and the BT29 was then sold to Gary Gove (Tacoma, WA) who raced it in SCCA Regional and ICSCC events in 1971 and 1972, It was reportedly crashed in 1972 and its later history is presently unresolved.
7. Brabham BT29 (Evan Noyes): Evan L. Noyes Jr . (Cedarville, MI) entered a yellow Brabham BT29 for Sebring 28 Dec 1969 but did not arrive, implying his car was not quite ready on time. His first known race is at Green Valley Raceway on 22 Feb 1970, a SWDiv National and he ran the canary yellow BT29 in both the 1970 Pro season, where he was a member of the Fred Opert Racing team, and in Nationals where he finished second in CenDiv to Michael Hall. He finished second to Skip Barber's Tecno at the Run-Offs. This is not the same car that Noyes then took to the Tasman series in January 1971 as his well-used US car was on Fred Opert's stock list on 1 May 1971 with a comment that it had not raced since the Run-Offs.
8. Brabham BT29 ("Butch" Harris): Cecil N. Harris Jr (Houston, TX), known in racing circles as Butch Harris, raced a Brabham BT29 in Formula B in 1970. He appeared in the Pro events at Edmonton in June 1970, but thereafter ran in Nationals in Southwest Division. Harris had begun his career as a 16-year-old in La Feria, TX in 1958, drag racing a 1934 Ford Model T, and had raced in Formula Vee in 1968 before moving up to Formula B in 1969 with a Winkelmann. Harris started the 1970 season with the Winkelmann but as he entered the BT29 for the Sears Point Pro race in May 1970, the Brabham is likely to have been new for 1970, but probably not part of the initial batch of 1970 deliveries. Harris retained the BT29 for 1971 but only appeared in Nationals, taking 24 pts in SWDiv that season. He did not appear at the Run-Offs and the subsequent history of the BT29 unknown. It may have been the car raced by Norman Johnson, also a resident of Houston, in the two Mexican Pro races in 1971.
9. Brabham BT29 (Graham Baker): 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.
10. Chevron B17b (Fred Opert): 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.
11. 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.
12. Brabham BT21C [16] (Gari Andreini): Gari Andreini (Santa Rosa, CA) bought a new Brabham BT21C for 1968 but his early racing was in minor SCCA events and is not well recorded. The earliest evidence of Andreini having the car is from the entry list for the SCCA Regional at Santa Barbara on 1 September 1968. He raced the car until 1972 when he moved to Alaska and sold the car to old school friend Art Siri (Santa Rosa, CA). History largely unknown until sold by Don Roose (Seattle, WA) to Nick Smith (Rancho Santa Fe, CA) in March 2006.
13. Centaur Brabham (Ray France): Terry Petmecky (Austin, TX) raced a Lotus 22 in SWDiv Formula B in 1967 but met with little success against the dominant Gus Hutchison team of Lotus 41Cs. Right at the end of the year he took delivery of a Brabham BT21A and finished second in the National at Selma in this car. In 1968 he took the Brabham to Bob Winkelmann but was forced to give up racing due to eyesight problems. F1 driver Alan Rees was holidaying in the Las Vegas area in early 1968 when he raced the car for Winkelmann in the SCCA National at Stardust Raceway. Winkelmann also entered it for Tony Settember at the Tuscon National in April 1968 and it is likely to be the car in which Settember scored 6 points in SoPac FB in 1968. Winkelmann advertised the car in CP&A 23 Mar 1968 as a "Winkelmann-Brabham BT21" with Winkspeed engine. To Ray France (Redondo Beach, CA), and raced during 1968 and 1969, entered as #2 by Centaur Racing Associates. This may have become the basis of the blue-and-gold #29 "Centaur Brabham" raced by France in 1970.
14. Chevron B15b [FB-69-8?] (Doug Brenner): A new Chevron B15B was prepared for Reine Wisell to race - and win - at Sebring 28 Dec 1969. Doug Brenner bought this car for 1970 and raced in the Pro series and then sold it to Byron Hatten (Altadena, CA) for 1971. Hatten continued to race it into 1972 but crashed heavily at Riverside in Feb 1972, the first event of the season, badly damaging the Chevron. Art Brisbane (Covina, CA) bought the damaged car, and also bought the ex-Syd Demovsky damaged B15b frame from Wayne Mitchell. Frank Monise cut the two frames in half and "beautifully attached the good parts together". Brisbane used the rebuilt car in Cal Club Formula C from 1974 until 1978 at least. Subsequent history unknown.
15. Brabham BT18 [F2-48-66] (Russ Harness): The early history of this car is unknown but its chassis number, recorded in paperwork still owned by Ron Brown, suggests it would have been built very late in 1966, probably after the end of the regular SCCA season. Its first known race was at Mont-Tremblant 17 Sep 1967 where it was driven by well-known west coast racing car dealer Pierre Phillips (Portland, OR). In the summer of 1968, Ron Brown (Portland, OR) bought a Brabham BT18 from Phillips and is sure this would have been his Mont-Tremblant car. Brown shared the drive with Gerry Bruihl (Sausalito, CA) in 1968 and 1969 and ran the car from Bruihl's Competition Motors, a sports car repair shop in NW Portland. In 1970, Brown shared the drive with Russ Harness (also Portland, OR) but then sold the Brabham to John Ransom (also Portland, OR) who Ron believes sold it to someone in Vancouver.
16. Brabham BT29 (Matt Spitzley): Matt Spitzley (then from Aspen, CO), had a Brabham BT29 for 1970 entered by his Spitzford Racing team (Detroit, Michigan). For 1971 the car was sold to Mike Rand (Riverside, CT/Greenwich, CT) who raced it in NEDiv FB, finishing third overall. It then went to Peter Regna in New Jersey for 1972, after which Regna recalls selling it to Ken Duclos. Duclos, however, does not remember buying it.
17. Brabham BT29 [1] (John Angus): John Angus bought the first BT29, ordering the car as early as late summer of 1968 but taking delivery in August 1969. He ran it in Regionals in late 1969 before participating in the Pro series in 1970. He swapped from a Vegantune to a Racing Services engine for 1971 and continued in Nationals. Angus continued with the car in 1972, when Ron Dykes also drove it in the Bogotá races and again in 1973, when the car continued to be competitive at National level. To Marc Bahner (Santa Ana, CA) for 1974, and rebodied by him with March bodywork. Raced by Bahner in local SCCA events in 1974 and 1975. Bahner retained the car for many years, advertising it in December 1996 as "absolutely new - needing paint and assembly".
18. Lotus 41C (Robert Hall): Robert Hall (Oakland, CA) raced a Lotus 41C in SCCA Formula B in 1970 and 1971, then a "41D/F2" in 1972. Nick G. Babich (Redmond, WA) then raced a Lotus "41D" in SCCA and ICSCC Formula B in 1974, 1975 and 1976 and as they both raced as #34 and are the only people to refer to a "41D" specification, we can be confident it was the same car. Babich advertised the car in Northwest Sportscar News (August 1973) as a "41D F2" including wings, fuel cells, Hewland FT200 gearbox, and 10" and 14" wheels, describing it was "ex-Gus Hutchison". The inference here is that Hall had acquired Hutchison's 1967 Lotus 41C for the 1970 season and had updated it with F2 parts for the 1972 season before it went to Babich. Subsequent history unknown.
19. Brabham BT21C (Mike Hansen): 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.
20. Brabham BT29 (Sandy Shepard): Sandy Shepard (Denton, TX) raced a new black #59 Brabham BT29 from the start of the 1970 season. With support from his father's KDNT Radio Station, Shepard competed in every round, finishing second in his 'home' race at Dallas. He also raced the car in the Polar Prix SCCA National in February 1971 before it to Fred Opert who had it lined up for a Mexican customer.
21. Chevron B14 [FB-68-14?] (Joe Alves): 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).

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.