SCCA National (San Diego Region)

San Diego Stadium, 21 Jul 1968

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Brabham BT21A (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.
2. Winkelmann WDB1 [1] (Robert Winkelmann): Built for Robert Winkelmann (Mill Valley, CA) to race in SCCA Formula B in 1968. The car was identified as a Winkelmann "WD-1" when it first appeared and in some later press reports. It was given its debut by Hugh Dibley in an FRA race at Vina Raceway in June 1968, before Winkelmann drove it in an SCCA National at Riverside the next weekend. He later took pole position at San Diego and then won two SCCA Nationals in two days in September: at Mid-America Raceway on the Saturday and Odessa Raceway Park on the Sunday, after a 1000-mile overnight tow. Winkelmann's sales list for the WDB1s shows this as the car sold to Bob Ilg (Salt Lake City, UT) for SCCA Formula B in 1970. First seen in Ilg's hands when he raced it in the SCCA Continental Championship race at Continental Divide in June 1969. Like Dan Murphy's car, it was sometimes entered as a "WD-1" even in Ilg's ownership. Retained by Ilg for 1970, when he raced it twice at Bonneville Raceway Park. Advertised by Ilg in October 1970.
3. Brabham BT21A [7] (Joe Alves): New to Dave Webster (Newport Beach, CA) for Formula B in 1967, finishing second in SPDiv division. To Joe Alves (Sherman Oaks, CA), who raced it from the start of 1968 to mid-1969, finishing fourth in SoPac FB in 1968 and fifth in 1969. Then to John Coolick (Wilmington, CA) who raced it in local Formula B, generally at Riverside, from 1970 to 1975. Advertised by Coolick with a big valve twin cam engine in October 1975. Subsequently to Eric Stromwall 1977, then Todd Bishop 1979, and then John Dixon 1989. Bought by Tim Kuchel (Adelaide, Australia) in early 2006, then sold to Frank Arronis (Sydney, Australia) in 2020.
4. WRE Shadow (Nick Dioguardi): New to Nick Dioguardi (Glendale, CA) for SCCA Formula A in 1968. Retained for a few races in 1969. Retained again for a few races in 1970. Then unknown until advertised by Charlie Harris (California) in Finish Line December 1976, at which time it was fitted with a roll cage, "nerf bars" and mufflers for oval track racing. Subsequent history unknown, but by 1994 the car was owned by Ron Goldleaf (New York, NY), who used it in US vintage racing.
5. Lotus 24 [941?] (C. Deloss "De" Singleton): De Singleton (of Downey, CA) had a Lotus 24 in Formula A in 1966 and 1967. He advertised it in Autoweek in May 1969 as having a F85 engine (the 215ci Oldsmobile BOP "Rockette" engine) which indicates that it was the same Lotus 24 into which Rod Carveth dropped a 215ci Oldsmobile in 1964. The identity of the Lotus 24 still isn't resolved.
6. Brabham BT23 (David Webster): Dave Webster (Newport Beach, CA) raced a Brabham BT23 in Southern Pacific SCCA Formula B 1968. As the BT23F was with Gubelmann, this was presumably a BT23G. Webster had started the season in a LeGrand Mk 6 but swapped it for the "state of the art" Brabham BT23 and finished second in the category, winning the SCCA's "Rookie of the Year Award" for his performance. His last recorded appearance in the car was at the 1968 Run-Offs, where he retired. Subsequent history unknown.
7. McLaren M4B [200-10B] (Harry Hester): New to Robert Amey in June 1967 to be driven by Chuck Dietrich (Sandusky, OH) in Formula B, winning the FB class in six Central Division SCCA Nationals and also finishing firth in the Pro race at Mont-Tremblant. Dietrich bought a pair of new M4Bs for 1968 and his 1967 car was sold to Henry H. Hester (La Jolla, CA). Hester ran it in SCCA Nationals through 1968 and then sold it to Dow J. Byers II (San Diego, CA) who used it through 1969 and into early 1970. Probably the car of Clifton Wells (Lynwood, CA) at Ontario in July 1971 and Riverside in April 1972. Believed to have gone to Chuck Hayes at some point but history then unknown until owned by Ed Donnelly (Los Angeles, CA) in 1987. Then via Jim Miller and Rob Merrel (both now deceased) to Jim Brown (San Diego, CA) in 1991 who commissioned a complete restoration including a new tub built by Marc Bahner. In 2004, Brown sold the car to Brian Andrews (San Francisco, CA) who raced it in CSRG events in 2005 and 2006. Sold by Andrews via Fantasy Junction (Emeryville, CA) to Bill Hodder (Nagambie, Victoria, Australia) in 2011.
8. "Kellison" Genie Mk 13 ['1'] (Woodford 'Woody' Harris): New to James Kellison of Kellison Engineering (Lincoln, CA) and fitted with a Ford twin cam engine for Woodford "Woody" Harris to drive in SCCA and FRA Formula B races in 1968 as the Kellison Mk II. Harris reappeared for 1969 with the car but did not race it often that year. He entered the SCCA Continental Formula B Championship in 1970, during which time Kellison withdrew from the project and Harris continued with the car returning to its original name. Harris then withdrew from racing for two years, but in late 1972 he moved to England, where the car was fitted with a BDA engine for Formula Atlantic in 1974. He converted the car again in 1975, for Monoposto Racing, and won three races that season. Harris sold the car to Peter Gillett, who won twice in 1976, then won the Monoposto championship in 1977, but was excluded for having commercial sponsorship. The car was next seen in 1979, when Robert Eyers took it over and raced in Monoposto until 1985, latterly in Class B for Formula Ford engines. The car's last known appearance in Monoposto was when it was raced by George Whitehead at a single round in 1986. Subsequent history then unknown.
9. Brabham BT14 [FL-3-65] (Steve Pfeifer): 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 or BT21C. 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 (San Jose, CA) in 1978, and retained by McGovern until 1994 when he sold to George Goodare (Sydney, NSW, Australia), who restored it. It was sold 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.
10. Brabham BT21A (Bill Simpson): During a trip England over the 1967-68 close season, Bill Simpson (Los Angeles, CA) bought a new Brabham to replace his FB-spec Lotus 51. It was described as a Brabham BT21A but if it was new in January/February 1968 then it is more likely to have been a BT21C. He raced the car in west coast SCCA and FRA events during 1968, usually as #58. After the Riverside SCCA Regional at the start of August, Simpson was charged with unsafe driving and unsportsman-like behavior, and his licence was suspended for 90 days. When he returned to racing, it was with USAC, and the fate of the Brabham is 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.

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

Results sheet provided by Locke de Bretteville. Also Gridlines Aug 1968 pp8-11; Competition Press & Autoweek 10 Aug 1968 p13.