SCCA National (Wichita Region)

Lake Afton, 13 Aug 1972

All cars are 1.6-litre FB unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Lola T142 (Tim Duke): Tim Duke (Lewisville, Texas) bought a red Lola T142 from someone in Canada in November 1971. The only Canadian T142s were the early-season cars of Horst Kroll and Eppie Wietzes, both of which stayed in Canada until the 1980s; and the late-season car of Ross Murray, which is unknown after 1970. It would appear that Duke had bought the Murray car. The car was financed by Bill Browning, owner of Precision Motors in Dallas, TX, a foreign car dealer, where Duke and his crew chief John (Bob) Foster both worked. The Lola was raced by Duke in SCCA Nationals, starting at Dallas in February 1972. He won his class at Ponca City in July and Lake Afton in August to win the Formula A class in Southwest Division. The front suspension of the car had been damaged during the season so Duke then sold it about September 1972 to finance a newer Lotus 70 to take to the Run-Offs. Tim's recollection is that the Lola went to Colorado. Subsequent history unknown.
2. Brabham BT35 (Mike Hall): New to Michael Hall (Chicago, Illinois) for CenDiv SCCA Nationals and some local Pro FB events in 1971, acquiring the BT35 relatively late in the season after starting the year in a BT29. He retained the car for 1972, winning the CenDiv FB title. In October 1972, the "ex-Mike Hall" red BT35 was advertised by Fred Opert, noting that it had a "Rondel sports car nose". Subsequent history unknown.
3. Brabham BT35 [9] (Bob Schutt): New to Nick Craw, and raced initially in the British Formula Atlantic series at the start of 1971 before moving to the North American SCCA series in May. Borrowed by Alan Lader for the 1971 SCCA Runoffs. Raced by Craw at Bogotá in early 1972, then sold to Bob Schutt (Kirkwood, MO) for Midwest Division SCCA FB in 1972 and 1973. Sold to Dorsey Schroeder (Manchester, MO) and raced by him 1974, 1975 and 1976. Then to Mike Mahan in 1976 or 1977 for autocross, and next to Greg Scharnburg in 1980, also for autocross. In October 2001, it was bought from Scharnburg by Mike Winebrenner (Sellersburg, Indiana).
4. Lola T240 (Bill Bachman): Rocky Moran (Arcadia, CA) raced a black #10 Lola T240 in the 1971 US FB Pro series. At the end of the season, Rocky recalls that he sold it to someone in Boulder, Colorado. This must be Bill Bachman (Boulder, CO/Nederland, CO) who raced a Transcendental Racing Lola in MWDiv Formula B in 1972. Bachman raced the Lola in a Wichita Region SCCA National at Hutchinson in June 1972, finishing second overall and winning the two-car FB class. He ended the season on 16 points and qualified for the Runoffs, Although he was a non-starter at Road Atlanta, his car was identified in the programme as a Lola T240. He retained the car for 1973, finishing third in class at MAR in May, but he did not add to his score so it is possible this car went to fellow Boulder resident Carl McIntyre who raced a Lola T240 in MWDiv FB later that season. Subsequent history unknown.
5. Brabham [BT9 F3-6-64] (Frank Dickerson): Identified by the Formula 1 Register as the car raced by Patrick Dal Bo in 1964 and by Jean Sage briefly at the end of 1965. Then sold back to England via Stephen Conlan and owned by David Wragg (Leeds) in early 1966 then to Malcolm Smith (Clitheroe, Lancashire) later that year. Sold by Smith via Fred Opert to the US, where dealer Pierre Phillips imported it into Portland, OR. He sold it to Win Casey, also of Portland, who raced it in ICSCC and SCCA FC in 1967 with a MAE engine. Then to another Portland driver, Neil Hansen, for NorPac FC in 1968 when it was described as a BT14. It was later owned by Chuck Grauel (Kansas City, KS) and raced in MWDiv Formula C in 1970 and 1971, then via midget racer Frank Dickerson (Wichita, KS), John Stokes and others to Jerry Strickfaden (Los Alamos, NM) 1987, during which time it was regarded as a BT15. Researched by Jerry Strickfaden and identified as a BT9. To Wayne Mitchell 1988. To Robs Lamplough (Hungerford, Berkshire) 2011.
6. Cooper 'T51'? (Brian Haupt): Jerry Wilson (Mission, Kansas, later Prairie Village, Kansas, both suburbs of Kansas City, KS) raced a Cooper-Climax in SCCA Midwest Division Formula A in 1968. Wilson was sometimes listed as Gerry Wilson or as R. G. Wilson. He sold the car to Brian Haupt (Spring Hill, Kansas, just south of the city) and he raced it in local Formula A from 1969 to 1972. According to Haupt, Wilson bought the car through an Autoweek advert so this is likely to be the car advertised by Guy Wooley at the end of 1967. Haupt remembers the car as "a Formula 2 car with a 1.5 liter Climax with dual two throat SU carbs". He later blew that engine and bought a 2-litre short-stroke Climax from Pete Sherman (Ashland, Maryland). Haupt sold the Cooper and all engine parts to Steve Froines (Dublin, CA). He recalls that Froines acquired another chassis and used it with Haupt's engine. Froines advertised such an engine ("Coventry Climax Engine. FPF Mk1,Short Stroke 2 litre, Twin Cam") in the Cooper Car Club magazine in December 2002. Froines other Cooper was the ex-Ed Mackay 'F2-23-59' which he raced a Cooper T51 at Monterey in 2003, by then having acquired a 2.5-litre engine to replace the ex-Haupt 2-litre unit. The subsequent history of the ex-Haupt Cooper is unknown.
7. Brabham BT29 [40] (Bill Roland): William D "Bill" Roland bought a new Brabham BT29 for SWDiv Formula B racing in 1970. The car was one of the last built and was new in July 1970. He scored two second placed finishes in Nationals in 1970, both times at Texas World Speedway, but narrowly failed to qualify for the Run-Offs, He later crashed the car heavily at Road Atlanta requiring a new frame, In 1973, Roland sold the rebuilt car plus its original frame to Mike Calvert (Deer Park, Pasadena, TX) who raced it in SWDiv Regionals in 1977. Subsequent history unknown. This car was owned by Brad Balles in 2007-2008, and sold to Dean Butler.
8. Merlyn Mk 21 [320/FB/71] (Gordon Smiley): New to Gordon Smiley (Shawnee Mission, Kansas) for Formula B in 1971, via Bill Ippolito's Race America (Dallas, TX). Smiley led before retiring at his first SCCA National, at Bonneville Raceway Park , and then dominated his next race at Mid-America Raceway two weeks later. He also won the SCCA National at Dallas International Motor Speedway in October. Retained by Smiley for 1972, when he won the Ponca City SCCA National and the Continental Championship at Road Atlanta. He retired at the Runoffs, as he had in 1971. When Smiley moved into F5000 in 1973, the Merlyn was acquired by chief mechanic Charlie Williams and run by him for David Loring (Concord, Mass) in 1974. Loring won the Stuttgart SCCA National in April 1974 and then raced it in the Players Formula Atlantic championship. Then sold to Mike Winn (Little Rock, AR) who raced it in FB in late 1974 and Formula Atlantic in 1975, using a Ford twin cam engine. He maintained its record by winning the Lake Afton SCCA National in 1975. To Barry Findley (North Little Rock, AR) who won a SCCA National at Chennault Field early in 1976 before upgrading to a March 74B. It was next seen in the early 1990s when bought from a racing car dealer called Norm in Colorado by David Clubine (Brantford, Ontario, Canada). The car was then complete but apart, and lacking an engine and gearbox. He did not do anything with it, and in about 2005 sold it to Bill Tebbutt (Mississauga, Ontario). Tebbutt sold it in 2009 but cannot remember the buyer's name.

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

SCCA Sanction not recorded. Official results kindly provided by Rocky Entriken. Competition Press & Autoweek 9 Sep 1972 p25, Salina Journal, 14 Aug 1972 p12.