Minnesota Grand Prix

Brainerd, 30 Jul 1972

All cars are 5-litre F5000 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Chevron B24 [24-72-01] (Peter Gethin): Built for 1972 season. Works for Brian Redman: raced in UK 1972 (debut at Oulton Park 29 May 1972 - 5 races 3 wins) and US 1972 (Redman 4 races 1 win, Gethin 1 race) - Keith Holland for John Player Challenge Trophy at Brands Hatch 22 Oct - Alan Brodie for Steve Thompson: raced in Tasman 1973 and UK 1973. Badly damaged in a severe testing accident at Silverstone on 24 May when a tyre burst at Woodcote at 140 mph, and Thompson was lucky to escape with bruising. The car was written off, and Brodie acquired a brand new 1973 B24.
2. Eagle 66 (Ludwig Heimrath): The #14 AAR entry for Lloyd Ruby at the 1966 Indy 500 with Bardahl backing and fitted with a 255ci Ford V8. Ruby preferred to drive AAR's Lotus 38 for most other races in 1967, and the only other races for the Bardahl Eagle in 1966 were for Jim McElreath at Fuji that October and for Ruby at Phoenix in November. Sold to Weinberger Homes, fitted with a turbo Offy engine and used as the team's #47 entry for Norm Brown at the 1967 Indy 500 but crashed in practice. Raced by Johnny Rutherford on other occasions and thought to be the team's Offy car alongside their original Ford-engined Eagle and their Gerhardt, raced by Rutherford in 1967 and Ronnie Bucknum in 1968. Weinberger bought a new Eagle for 1968, relegating this car further down the order. It appears that this car was used in the Universal Pictures film 'Winning', filmed during the summer of 1968, where it appeared as the #3 car of Paul Newman's character Frank Capua. Photographs indicate that it rejoined the Weinberger team in October, and was the car Ronnie Bucknum used when he won the Michigan Inaugural 250. It remained in the Weinberger stable, and was seen a few times in 1969 and 1970, lastly as Weinberger Homes' unused #49 entry for Charlie Glotzbach at the Indy 500 in 1970. It was then sold to Ludwig Heimrath (Scarborough, Ontario, Canada), and fitted with a Chevrolet V8 engine for Formula 5000 in 1972. He retained it until 1975, when he sold to Don Ludewig (Clarkston, MI), and it remained with Don until it was sold to Peter Dyson (Winnetka, IL) in 2014.
3. Lola T300 [HU14] (Warren Flickinger): Invoice date 8 Mar 1972 (sold to 'Haas', colour 'White'). New to Warren Flickinger and raced in the US series in 1972 (7 races, debut R1 Laguna Seca 7 May 1972) and in 1973. Advertised by Chuck Jones Racing (Costa Mesa, CA) in Formula Magazine (Vol 1 No 6, Mar/Apr 1974) and sold to Floyd Sable (Anaheim, CA) for SCCA National and Regional racing in 1974 and 1975. The original T300 bodywork was lost in a fire during this time, so Sable fitted T332 bodywork. Sold to Terry Hinesly (Prospect, Oregon) and raced for another two years. Then to Dana Leung (Vancouver, BC, Canada) in 1978 who ran it at Sears Point and Riverside, wrecking an engine, and then in an SCCA Regional at Portland, where he crashed it. The car passed into the ownership of mechanic Bob Hume but, before it could be repaired, it was stolen and stripped. Bob recovered the tub and retained the engine, but little more. It due course, he sold the tub to a New Zealand mechanic/driver called Peter who worked for Pierre Phillips. Nothing more known.
4. McLaren M10A [300-07] (Howie Fairbanks): See full history: McLaren M10A 300-07.
5. Lotus 70B [03] (George Follmer): Kerry & Charlie Agapiou (from Lotus in partial kit form) fitted with Bartz Ford V8: financed by Roy Woods for George Follmer US 1972 (from R4 Road America 16 Jul 1972 to end of season). The brothers had previously run Follmer in Can-Am in a Lola and then in the Ford G7A. The Lotus was still at Woods' garage September 1973. In or around 1992, G&G Motorsport (Indianapolis, IN) advertised "1970 Lotus 70B, Chassis #03, Bartz/spares, restored to original AGAPIOU livery with race #16 (photo has #58), ex George Follmer." This may have been advertised on behalf of the Agapiou brothers as the car was reported to still be owned by Kerry Agapiou January 2002.
6. Lola T192 ["HU14"] (Colin Hyams): Said to be the fourth T192 but does not appear in Lola records. New (?) for Frank Gardner in the 1971 Tasman series; then to Colin Hyams for the 1971 Australian Gold Star, 1972 Australian Internationals, then to America for the 1972 US series. Via Carl Haas to Dan Furey (Columbus, OH) for the US series in 1973 and 1974 - Randall Dana 1975 - Phil Niles 1976 - Bob Danzi 1978 for Single-Seat Can-Am - Dana Seymour 1981 - Brian Blaine 1984 - Bob Young by 1987 - Hans J. Glaser 1992 to 2006. Acquired by Nick Shrigley-Feigl (Ramsey, Isle of Man) by 2010. To Roland David (Vienna, Austria) 2016. More information about Lola T192 "SL.192/14"
7. Lola T192 [HU19] (Larry McNeil): New to Roger Penske for Mark Donohue to drive in the 1970 US series, starting at Mosport 13 Sep 1970. To Competition Research & Development (Pomona, CA) for Brett Lunger US 1971, then to Larry McNeil US 1972, US 1973 and then in SCCA Nationals from 1974 to 1978. Via Alan Marvin to Gordon Close (Hinsdale, IL) 1979, and used it for 1979 SCCA drivers school and Regionals. To former racer Don O'Sullivan (Perth, Western Australia) in 1983 but not run by him and sold to Bob Harborow (Camberwell, Victoria, Australia) in 1989. Restored and used in historic racing in Australia, including VHRR Historic Sandown and Phillip Island Classic 1999-2013, and the Australian GP support races in 2009 and 2010. Reappeared in October 2015, when run by Kieran Patel (Victoria, Australia) at the Baskerville Historics. More information about Lola T192 HU19
8. Eisert 65/68 (Bill Tempero): New for Skip Hudson to drive at the 1965 Indy 500 as J Frank Harrison's #96 Harrison Special. The new car got on track on 13 May, at which point the older 1964 car was renumbered from 96 to 93. Hudson was a successful sports car racer, but was unable to pass his rookie test when an engine blew, so Al Unser took over the drive but he made no attempt to qualify the car. Unser then drove the car through the 1965 USAC season, but only once finished inside the top 10. The 1965 car was retained for the opening races of the 1966 season, driven by Unser at Phoenix and by Billy Foster at Trenton. It then became the team's #93 entry, and was only seen again at Fuji, where Jerry Grant finished tenth. Greg Weld failed to qualify the car for the 1967 Indy 500, after which it was sold to Don Wilcox, who raced it at Pikes Peak and made an unsuccessfiul attempt to qualify at Indianapolis Raceway Park in July. The old car was ideal for the SCCA's new Formula A, so was sold to Stew McMillen (Libertyville, IL) who raced it in SCCA Nationals, winning twice, and in Pro races. At the end of 1968 he took it out to New Zealand, racing it at Baypark Raceway in December, before it was leased to Dennis Marwood for the 1969/70 season. It returned to the US later in 1970 and was acquired by Bill Tempero (Fort Collins, CO), who fitted it with wedge-style bodywork and raced it in Pro races and SCCA Nationals in 1971, then in Midwest Division Formula A in 1972. It was later converted for street use by brothers Wayne and Steve Huntley in Nebraska and was also used as a show car by Fred Bosselman in the late 1970s or early 1980s, probably at his Bosselman Truck Plaza in Grand Island, Nebraska. In the early 1990s it was acquired by Bill Wiswedel (Holland, MI) who has restored it to 1965 colours but still with the later, squarer bodywork.
9. Lola T300 [HU4-2] (Bob Muir): New to Niel Allen but crashed in testing. Rebuilt and sold to Bob Muir for 1972, then to Pat Burke Racing for Warwick Brown in 1973, and written off at Surfers Paradise. Some parts of this car to Reg Cook, then to David Manton, then to Frank Lyons. More information about Lola T300 HU4
10. Lotus 70B [01] (John Morton): Intended for Bill Brack but his deal fell through. Run by Bruce Burness for George Follmer to drive in the Questor GP at Ontario in March 1971. To Pete Brock of BRE (El Segundo, CA) for John Morton in the 1972 US series, starting at R4 Road America in July. Very heavily damaged on the slowing down lap after finishing fourth at Road Atlanta when Morton hit a flooded area of track. Brock did not have the funds to repair the car and advertised its remains in 1974. Bought by Bob Dunlop to keep his Lotus 70 running. The rest of the car was stored by Dunlop and his partner Stephen Rich.
11. Leda LT27 [002] (Evan Noyes): Built as Leda LT27-002 for the 1972 season. To Evan Noyes (Cedarville, MI) and raced in UK and US series in 1972, then Tasman 1973, then US series 1973. Via Roy Campbell, "Race Car Drivers Institute" and a bankrupcy auction to Jim Sechser (St Louis Park, MN) by 1975, and used in SCCA racing and a single Pro race in 1976 and 1977. Crashed heavily in 1977, but rebuilt and raced again in 1979. To Fred Schilpin (St Cloud, MN) 1979 or later, and used in minor racing; then retained until 1996. To Roger Williams (Auckland, New Zealand) 1996. Raced by Williams in Australian historic racing from 2001 onwards, and in the F5000 Tasman Revival series from 2003 to 2006. To Alastair Russell (Auckland, New Zealand) and raced in Tasman Revival series from 2006 onwards. More information about Leda LT27-002/McRae GM1-002
12. McLaren M18 (Lothar Motschenbacher): May be 500-07. This car was originally built for Graham McRae to replace the car crashed in practice at Snetterton in April 1972 but it remained unused as Trojan "released" McRae. The M18 was sold instead to Lothar Motschenbacher and used in the SCCA series in North America, starting at Edmonton on 1 August. Motschenbacher retained the car for 1972 but it was very badly damaged at Road Atlanta in August when Motschenbacher and two other drivers crashed at Turn 1 in a sudden rain storm just as the race was finishing. Jonesy Morris, his mechanic at the time, recalls that the car was not repairable. Duncan Fox has been working hard to determine the fate of this car and is now satisfied that the tub was dumped although some parts from the car may survive somewhere. Some parts were reported to be in Los Angeles in 2002.
13. McKee Mk 18 ['1'] (Dick DeJarld): New for Dick DeJarld (Joliet, IL) in 1972, and raced in SCCA Formula A events. Appeared at the Michigan Pro F5000 event in 1973 but did not qualify from the heat. Raced by DeJarld until sold to Ed Midgley (Geneva, IL) for 1976, when it was also raced by Jerry Hansen at Blackhawk Farms. To Robert Goulet (Wauwatsoa, WI) for 1977, and raced in SCCA Formula A. Goulet converted the McKee to sports car bodywork for 1979, appearing at Brainerd in July that year in the ASR class. Raced in Can-Am in 1980 and 1981, then renamed the "Sabre 001" for Can-Am again in 1983, and again in 1985. To Bob McKee and raced by Bill Scott in CAT races in 1986 and 1987. Then restored to its original specification for new owner Tom Simpson (Peoria, IL), and used in vintage racing, appearing at the Chicago Historic Races at Road America in 1988. It ran alongside several other McKee cars in historic races at Road America in the early 1990s, and also ran at HSR Mid-Ohio in August 1993. After a 20-year gap, Simpson ran the Mk 18 again in historic events in 2006.

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.

1968 US information has been taken from SCCA results sheets with additional information from Autoweek race reports and from some entry lists. Thanks to David McKinney and Wolfgang Klopfer for providing these. Identifying the classes and model of some entries has proved very difficult so all new information would be welcomed.

1969-1971 US information has been collated by Chris Townsend using Autoweek reports. All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome.

1972-1976 US information was originally collated by Wolfgang Klopfer, converted to database format by Dawn Harrison and checked by Jim Thurman and Don Capps. Wolfgang's main sources are Autoweek and individual SCCA results bulletins but Autosport, Autocourse and Road Racing Annual have also been consulted.

US SCCA Runoffs, Nationals and Regionals results were collated by Wolfgang Klopfer from Autoweek reports. These reports were usually very brief so the information on the majority of races is limited just to the identity of the FA class winner.

Some race programs have also been used for entry lists and other information. My thanks to Richard Coe for the generous contributions from his collection.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen if you can add anything.

Individual sources for this event

An annotated program entry list for this race reveals that other cars may have been present: #32 (Benny Scott's McLaren M10A earlier in the season), #61 (Lou Pavesi's McLaren M10A at Riverside at the start of 1972), #75 (Ludwig Heimrath's Eagle at Elkhart Lake). Both Scott and Heimrath raced here and the annotations suggest that Bartlett was originally entered as #75 but swapped to #74 and Heimrath arrived unentered and became #75. Scott would be the mystery #32. Also present on the entry list was the Marnita, annotated as #64 but then crossed out. Also in the results was Larry McNeil whose normal number was #64 so the Marnita may have changed number.