CASC North American Formula Atlantic Series Race

Road America, 19 Jul 1980

All cars are 1.6-litre F/Atl unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. March 80A [9] (John Mortensen): Run in 1980 by Doug Shierson Racing for John Mortensen in North American series then to Howard Cherry for 1981 and 1982 (prepared and run by Dennis Eades of Competition Preparation). Sold to an Italian-American 1982 and disassembled; to John Barrett 1990 and rebuilt with the help of Ed Midgley but not raced; to Jim Ozane 1999 (used in vintage racing); to Christian Forrer 2005 (US vintage racing); to Kim Jones (Australia) 2008.
2. March 79B [78B-19] (Ed Midgley): Sold new to Jerry Hansen and used in SCCA Nationals, winning the 1978 Run-Offs. Sold to Ed Midgley for 1979 and used again only in Nationals. Updated to 79B specification for 1980 and raced by Midgley in the Pro championship until wrecked at Trois Rivieres. Midgley completed the season in a borrowed 78B. The damaged car sold to Carl Berggren and rebuilt. Later with Bruce Cambern.
3. March 79B [78B] (Bob Schader): Jeff Wood (Studio City, CA) drove a March 78B for Great Plains Racing in Formula Atlantic in 1978 and raced the same car in New Zealand in December 1978 and January 1979. He moved to a 79B for 1979 and the 78B is believed to have been sold to Greg Sun who ran it (as a 78-79B) in SCCA events in 1979. It was then acquired by Bob Schader and raced on through 1980 and early 1981, including appearances at the Long Beach and Road America pro races in 1980 and at Long Beach again in 1981. Schader then moved into FSV and the 78B was sold to Dorsey Schroeder (Manchester, MO) and used extensively in SCCA in 1981 and 1982.
4. March 79B (Carl Liebich): Long-time Chevron importer Fred Opert acquired a March 79B for 1979 and ran it alongside the Chevron B45 he had left from 1978. It was raced once by team driver Marco Tolama and also by European F2 stars Derek Daly (at Trois-Rivières) and Eje Elgh (at Montréal). It went to Carl Liebich for 1980, who recalls buying a car from Opert that had previously been driven by Daly. Retained for 1981 but Liebich does not recall who he sold it to.
5. March 76B [3] (Dan Marvin): Tom Pumpelly (McLean, VA) raced a yellow #34 March 76B, entered by National Tire Wholesale. The only yellow 76B shown in March records was chassis 76B-3. Pumpelly raced the car until it was damaged in a collision with Bancroft at Mosport Park in August, after which it was acquired by Ecurie Canada whose regular driver Gilles Villeneuve had damaged both his cars. It is therefore believed to be the car driven by Villeneuve to win at Trois-Rivières and Road Atlanta in September but this is by no means certain. Then bought by John Lane who rented it back to Pumpelly for the SCCA Run-Offs at Road Atlanta, where Pumpelly crashed it again. Sold to John Norman (Oakland, CA) who raced it as part of a two-car team with Dan Marvin in 1977 and 1978. Norman then sold the car but later bought it back and restored it to Villeneuve's livery.

Sources

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' original results.

North American Formula Atlantic race results have been compiled by Chris Townsend based on material in Formula and On Track, information drawn from Canadian newspapers and results sheets where available.

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.