SCCA National (New England Region)

Thompson Speedway, 13 Jun 1971

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Brabham BT29 (Mike Rand): 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.
2. Brabham BT29 (Wayne Ricciardi): Wayne Ricciardi (N. Haldon, NJ) raced a Brabham in NEDiv Formula B in 1971, his car being identified as a BT29 in the CP&A report on the June National at Thompson. He appeared on the entry list for the Watkins Glen National in August as #17 entered by Raceshop (Midland Park, NJ) in a yellow Brabham.
3. Chevron B17b (Tom Outcault): 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.
4. Brabham BT29 (Dave Ober): Dave Ober (Suncook, NH) raced a Formula B Brabham BT29 in Northeast Division SCCA Nationals in 1971, ending the season with four points. He advertised the car in October that year, noting a HRE engine, but continued to race it in 1972, including the Pro FB race at Bryar that May. The car was red with yellow wings and raced as #45 in 1971 and #42 in 1972. Artwork of the car shows it wearing #21. Ober also raced a FB Brabham at a Regional in October 1970 but it is not known whether that was the same car. Nothing more known but the car's colour and the date Ober first had it are consistent with it being the former car of William Marsh (Muncie, IN).
5. Chevron B17 [17.70.04] (Ron Cohn): New to New Zealander Bert Hawthorne and raced in British F3 using Holbay engines. Hawthorne wrecked the car in late May, and after trying a couple of other cars, settled on the new Tui F3 car. The Chevron was repaired at the factory and sold via Fred Opert to Ron Cohn (Modena, NY) to be used in SCCA Formula C in 1971. It was later sold to Bill Anspach (Palm Beach Gardens, FL) and is presumably the car he raced in 1973, 1974 and 1975, winning the FC class at the 1974 Run-Offs. To Sandy Brandt (Ft Lauderdale, FL/Pompona Beach, FL) for SEDiv FC in 1976 and 1977. To Ric Capone (Riviera Beach, FL) for FC in 1978, qualifying for the Runoffs, and advertised by him in October 1978. Subsequent history unknown. In 2017, a car with this claimed history was acquired from Ed Lamantia at Huffaker Engineering in the US by a customer of Damon Milnes in the UK.
6. Lotus 32 (Carl Whitney): Carl Whitney (Forge Village, Mass) raced a Lotus 32 in SCCA Formula C from 1970 to 1972. He had bought the car from Bill Rutan, one of two that Rutan acquired, and it was still in quite original condition when he received it. Ray Gorski Jr acquired it for 1973, again in FC, and it was raced in Formula B by John Stowe in 1974. Stowe advertised it with a fuel-injected Hart twin cam but also with its original SCA engine. Subsequent history unknown.
7. March 705 (Seb Barone): Ronald Stanwicks (Newington, CT) acquired a brand new March 705 but within a day or so of taking delivery, he was taken unwell with a heart condition, and he decided not to race again. The unused March was sold over the winter to Seb Barone (Portland, CT) who used it in SCCA Northeast Division Formula B in 1971, scoring four points. Sold at the end of 1971 to Mario Pistritto (Hartford, CT), who raced a red #55 March 705 in Northeast Division SCCA Formula B in 1972 and 1973. In July 1974 he advertised the car in the New England Region 'Pit Talk' newsletter as a "F/B March" with new engine and fuel injection. Nothing more is known of this car. Pistritto died in Syracuse, Sicily, in 2012.
8. Brabham BT29 [12] (Dale Lang): Dale Lang (Wilton, CT) drove a crimson Brabham BT29 during the latter half of the 1970 season but the early chassis number suggest that the car have seen service before Lang's first observed race at Road America 18 Jul 1970. Fred Harris also drove Lang's car on at least one occasion. The car passed to east coast wheeler dealer Joe Grimaldi (Glenrock, NJ), presumably in trade for the new March 712M that Lang bought, and then on to Charlie J. Derbes III (Metairie, LA) who raced BT29-12 in two Nationals, at Summit Point 18 Apr 1971 and at Savannah 16-17 May 1971, but crashed heavily at the latter race. Charlie has retained the car but it remains unrebuilt to 2012.
9. Lola T240 (John F. Sirmons): John Sirmons (Weston, CT) and Vincent Dileo (Greenwich, CT) shared a white Lola T240 in Formula B in 1971, Sirmons racing it in SCCA Nationals and Dileo in Canadian FB events in the latter part of the 1971 season. Dileo retained the car for 1972, racing in NEDiv SCCA FB events and in the Pro event at Watkins Glen in August. Bought from Dileo by Tom Frasca in 1974 but a year later crashed at Lime Rock and totalled. Frasca scrapped the tub and parted out the other components.
10. Lotus 69 [71/69.4.FB] (Bob Hebert): New to "J Silver" in March 1971 with red bodywork according to the Lotus built record. This would have been John Silver, owner of the Barrington House restauarant in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, who sponsored Bob Hebert (Monterey, MA). Raced by Hebert in Northeast Division SCCA Nationals in 1971 and 1972. Sold to George Liebman Jr (New York, NY), who raced it in New England Region NARRC Formula B at Lime Rock in April 1973, but it appears it was borrowed back by Hebert for the Lime Rock National on 7 July where he raced it with Liebman's entry number #77. Then raced by Liebman at a New York Region SCCA Regional at Bridgehampton in October 1973, having earlier been entered in such a car for the Pro FB race that supported the Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Subsequent history unknown, but Jeff Hailand (Clayton, MO) ran a Formula B Lotus 69 in historic racing between 2014 and 2018 that was registered with the Lotus Formula Ford Register as chassis "71/69/4FB".
11. Brabham BT29 [2] (Ken Duclos): Fred Ashplant (Franklin Lakes, NJ) ordered a Brabham BT29 for 1969 but the car was not delivered until August and Ashplant had moved on to other projects. The car was not used during 1969 and was still in its crate when sold to Ken Duclos (Boxboro, MA) for use in NEDiv Formula B. Duclos won the title with a massive 48 pts from the similar BT29 of Bob Welch. After a quiet season with the black BT29 in 1971 he reclaimed his title in 1972, beating the newer March of Michael Rand. He bought a new Brabham BT40 for 1973 and won the divisional title again that season. The BT29 went in part exchange to Fred Opert and from him to Peter Gates (Wilmington, DE) who ran it in NEDiv FB for three more seasons. After him it went to Ken Valan (Wilmington, DE) for 1976, winning the FB class of the Mid-Atlantic Road Racing Series (MARRS) based at Summit Point, then to John Galson (Glen Mills, PA) and was then sold to the Midwest where it was expected to be converted into a sports racer. Subsequent history unknown.
12. Lotus 69 [71/69.7.FB] (Ted Coconis): New to "Lotus East/Hogan" in April 1971 with white bodywork according to the Lotus built record. Lotus East boss Fred Stevenson recalls that this car was sold to Ted Coconis (Weston, CT), a very successful graphic designer. Coconis raced the car in Formula B in Northeast Division in 1971 and 1972. The car was driven by Ted's son Tim Coconis (Palo Alto, CA) in the Canadian FB series 1973, when father and son raced as a team with two Lotus 69s. Tim returned with it in 1975, both in SCCA Nationals and in the Players Formula Atlantic series, but it was completely wrecked in an accident at the SCCA National at Watkins Glen in August 1975, injuring Tim Coconis. Tim disassembled the car, discarding the wrecked chassis and selling the engine and gearbox, and stored what was left until the 1980s, when it was bought by Bill Dolson (Estancia, New Mexico), later the owner of race-cars.com. A new chassis was fabricated by Peter Denty, and a new Hewland FT200 acquired, but restoration did not progress far. In August 2001, the project was advertised on race-cars.com, and was sold in May 2003 to Dave Bean (San Andreas, CA) who was still restoring this car before he died in August 2017.

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

Competition Press & Autoweek 10 Jul 1971 p25, Pit Talk July 1971 page 20, official results kindly provided by New England Region archivist Donna Stevens.