SCCA National (New England Region)

Bryar Motorsport Park, 1 Sep 1968

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Brabham BT23F [1] (Bill Gubelmann): Sold to Bill Gubelmann (Oyster Bay, NY) and fitted with a Vegantune Ford twin cam engine for SCCA 'Pro' and NEDiv Formula B. Raced through 1968 and retained for a few races in 1969 as Gubelmann's BT29 was late arriving. Sold to Al Justason (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) who used it in both the Canadian and US Pro series in 1970 and again in the Canadian FB series in 1971. Sold to Michael Houselander who appeared at two Canadian national events in 1972, Later sold to ‘Dino Delousis’ who fitted a turbocharged 2-litre Ford Pinto engine for libre events but found the car to be undrivable and stored it from about 1974 to 2004 when sold to Dave Darrow (Mississauga, Ontario) and fully restored. Retained until 2007 when sold via race-cars.com to Murray Bryden (Melbourne, Australia). Sold to David Kloster (Kinglake, Victoria) September 2011.
2. Lotus 32 (Bill Rutan): Bill Rutan (Philadelphia, PA/Essex, CT) bought two Lotus 32s in 1967 or 1968 from Fred Opert, together with two Lotus 35s [and either a 41 or a 44?]. He sold one of the 32s to Carl Whitney and raced the other in local Formula C.
3. Brabham BT21B (Fred Opert): Fred Opert, the leading US racing car importer in the late 1960s, raced a Brabham in Formula C in 1968. At the end of the season, he advertised it in CP&A (7 Dec 1968) as a BT21B with fuel-injected SCC engine, six-speed Hewland gearbox and "extra light chassis and body". Opert's car was sometimes reported at races as a Formula B and it is unclear whether this was a mistake or whether Opert was driving other cars he had in stock. Sold to Dewey Harless (Portland, OR) for 1969 and raced with great success in FC. Harless advertised it in July 1970, still with its fuel-injected SCC engine but as a BT21, not a BT21B. He retained it until early 1971 when it was sold to Butch Owsley (Aptos, CA/San Jose, CA) who ran it at Laguna Seca in June 1971. Subsequent history unknown.
4. Brabham BT15 (Harry Reynolds): Harry Reynolds (Pottstown, PA) drove a FC Brabham in 1968 which was identified in the Lime Rock 7 Jul 1968 results sheet as a BT15 and in the Mid-Ohio 21 Jul 1968 results sheet as having a MAE engine. Reynolds told Candian researcher Rupert Lloyd Thomas that it came from Fred Opert and was virtually new. He believed it may have been driven by Bobby Brown at some point and may originally have been bought for Ford of France. He recalls the chassis number as "3". The car went from Reynolds to Randy Neiman (Pottstown, PA), who converted it to Formula Ford. Neiman drove it in a Regional at Cumberland in July 1971. Subsequent history unknown.
5. Brabham (Bruce Kearsley): In 1968 and 1969, Bruce Kearsley (Manchester, MA) ran a Brabham in regional SCCA racing in New England. He was pictured in Compettion Press & Autoweek competing at an SCCA Regional at Thompson Raceway in October 1968, and was then one of the lower placed finished in another Regional at Lime Rock in May 1969. On the first occasion his car was described as a Formula C, but on the other as a Formula B. The photograph in CP&A appears to show a long-chassis Brabham, so a BT2, BT6 or BT9. In 1970, a Bruce Kearsley appears in Northern Pacific Division results, again in a Brabham, scoring six points in FB Nationals as a member of North West Region. Public records suggest this could well be the same man, as a Bruce P Kearsley born in Massachusetts in 1940 was recently a resident of Minden, NV. Enquiries are underway.
6. Brabham BT18 (Chuck Schroedel): Chuck Schroedel (New York, NY) raced at Brabham BT18 powered by a 1.1-litre Cosworth SCC engine in Formula C in 1968 and early 1969. He then acquired a BT21 from England and his team, Springdel Racing, then sold the BT18-SCC to Mike Rand who ran it in late 1969 before acquiring a BT21B. The BT18 went back to Springdel Racing but its later history is not yet known.
7. Chevron B14 [FB-68-13?] (Joe Grimaldi): Joe Grimaldi acquired one of four late 1968 Chevrons to arrive in the US. At least three of these were described by Chevron as B14s, including Grimaldi's. He debuted the car at Mosport Park in Aug 1968 and raced it twice more in Pro events. Grimaldi reappeared in August 1969 with what was reported to be a Chevron B15B which he raced three more times. Larry Wright then acquired a Chevron from Grimaldi for the 1970 season which was described to him as a B15 but when Wright advertised the car in 1971, he called it a "late-1968 Chevron FB" which identifies it as a B14. Wright traded the Chevron to Charlie Hayes in May 1971 for a new Brabham BT29.

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

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