Seattle Grand Prix

Seattle, 7 Jun 1970

All cars are 5-litre F5000 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Lola T190 [190/F1/8] (Eric Haga): New to Eric Haga (Seattle, WA) and raced in the US Pro series in 1970. To Don Baker (Long Beach, CA) for 1971 and used in local SCCA events. To Jim Gustafson (Costa Mesa, CA) for 1974 and again raced in West Coast SCCA events. To Richard Votava (Southern California) in 1975. The log book then identifies a Troy R. Milken (or Millen or Milleau) driving the car in a school on 21 Feb 1976. Then Votava in SCCA Regionals (mainly at RIR) in 1976 and 1977; then SCCA Nationals in 1978 and 1979. To Marshall R. Tarnow March 1980 - Alan Sevadjain (owned with Don Johnstone) and raced at Texas in 1981 - Larry C. Clain (Tulsa, OK) and raced at RIR and elsewhere 1982 - Chuck Haines (St Louis, MO) 1984 - Chip Boatright (Illinois) 2006. Sold back to original driver Eric Haga (Renton, WA) for historic racing. Appeared in the 2011/12 and 2012/13 Tasman Revival series, but wrecked at Teretonga Park in February 2013. Tony Garmey built a new monocoque for the car, but it was still incomplete when Haga died in November 2021. Ted Wenz bought the project from the estate in early 2022 as a retirement project and completed it. After testing, it was sold via Art Hebert at Motorsports Market to Paul Kuhl (San Diego, CA) in 2023.
2. Lola T190 [190/F1/6] (Dow "Jack" Byers II): Test car. Epstein-Cuthbert for Mike Hailwood UK R1 1970 but crashed Heat 1 and replaced by 190/F1/15 for next three races. Original car apparantly to Dow 'Jack' Byers II US 1970 (11 races) and presumably the car he raced at Questor 1971 ("T190/6"). Advertised by Jack Byers 12 Jun 1971. Subsequent history unknown. Note that two cars in the US may have carried this number, Byers' and Don Dierking's ex-Epstein car (see 190/15).
3. Lotus 38 [8] (John Martin): Built mid-1966 for Team Lotus with symmetrical suspension. Believed to have been Jim Clark's car at Fuji 10 Oct 1966 (DNS). As backup car for Graham Hill at the 1967 Indy 500 (#80 not used). Ended up with 38/7 with a doctor in Indianapolis who sold the back-up car, 38/8, to Frank Eggers (St Charles, MO) for Formula A (later Formula 5000) events in 1968 and 1969. Also entered by Royal American Competition Ent Ltd for John Martin (Bristol, WI) at three races in April-June 1970 then for Eggers at Elkhart Lake July 1970. Eggers recalled that he "traded this car to someone in Texas for a Trans-Am Firebird". This would be the Jerry Crew (Dallas, TX) who advertised a Lotus 38 ("has to be good for something!") in August 1974. According to Doug Nye, this car went from Crew to Jim Haynes (of Lime Rock), to Sam Foster and then to a private collection in Virginia some time before 1990.
4. Lola T142 [SL142/41] (Lew Florence): See full history: Lola T142 SL142/41.
5. Lola T190 (Rich Galloway): Richie Galloway US 1970 (6 races) then crashed in practice at R8 St Jovite 1 Aug and wrecked. Replaced by the ex-Hansen T190/F1/1. This car may have been repaired to become Bobby Brown's 1971 Tasman car.
6. Eisert 70 (Dennis Ott): Dennis Ott (Montclair, CA/Upland, CA) raced a Eisert in Formula A in 1970. He later advertised the car as a 1970 model, but it looked much like a 1969 model, and may actually have been second hand. At 6'2" and 185 lbs, Ott was large for a racing driver at the time. He came up through modified racing in his home state of Nebraska, then California Racing Association sprint cars in 1967, and then FA in 1970 at the age of 24. He advertised the Eisert in November 1970, describing it as a "1970 wedge style Eisert USAC or F/A" that had been "road raced nine times". For 1971, he acquired a McLaren M10B, and the Eisert was sold to 29-year-old CAMRA driver Ken Hamilton (Boise, ID), who completed the SCCA drivers school at Seattle International raceway in April 1971 and drove the Eisert in SCCA Regional and National races that season, as well as the USAC road-racing event at Seattle in August. In 1971 he was considering having Eisert convert the car to use in the 1972 Indy 500, but nothing came of this. He was entered for the Laguna Seca and Edmonton Pro F5000 races in early 1972, but there is no record of his participation in either event. He focused on CAMRA and MRAO racing in 1972, driving for Art Sugai, and had a very successful season. The subsequent history of the Eisert is unknown.
7. LeGrand Mk 11P (Jim Paul): Raced by Rex Ramsey in late 1969, winning at Trois-Rivières in September, but well off the pace in the L&M series. Jim Paul raced the car in 1970, with a best result of eighth in the Pro race at Laguna Seca, and appeared a few times in 1971 and early 1972. To Keith Saunders (Albuquerque, NM) for SCCA racing later in 1972, then to Bill Swope (Albuquerque, NM) for 1973. Swope advertised it late 1975, and it seems likely that this was the LeGrand used by JB Walton in SCCA Regionals in Utah Region in 1978. The next time it was seen was when Harold Janke owned it in Nebraska in the late 1990s. To Kirk Severson and racing in historic events by 2001. To Marty Fidrich (Elisabeth, CO) by 2007.
8. Rempel Mk 1 [Lotus 30 30/L/9] (Jake Rempel): The Rempel F5000 was based on the ex-Ian Raby Lotus 30 (chassis 30/L/9) that had been sold to Canada for Bob McLean but was not raced after McLean's fatal accident in the Comstock Racing Ford GT40 at Sebring in March 1966. The car remained on display at Johnston Motors in Vancouver until McLean's widow sold it to Jake Rempel who raced it in 1969 until it was damaged in an accident. For 1970, Rempel constructed a new single-seater chassis and used the Ford engine, ZF gearbox, and Forsgrini body to construct the Rempel F5000. Rempel raced the car in Canadian Formula A in 1970, winning the FA class in an SCCA National at Westwood and winning the ICSCC race at Westwood in July. At the end of the season, Rempel sold the car to Bob Evans in Edmonton. However, the only time Evans was seen at the top level of Canadian motor racing in 1971 was in a Formula B Brabham BT29. The subsequent history of the Rempel is unknown, but in 2016 it was owned by Bill Peters in Wisconsin.
9. Lola T142 [SL142/29] (Tony Simms): See full history: Lola T142 SL142/29.
10. Coyote [Lotus 38/4?] (Crockey Peterson): Built 1965 (fifth chassis built) from spares with symmetrical suspension and using some parts from the original 38/2. Used by Jim Clark at St Ursanne and Ollon-Villars 1965. For Jim Clark at the 1966 Indy 500 (#19 qualified 2nd, finished second). Sold to AJ Foyt and wrecked in practice at Milwaukee a week later when the suspension on the straight and the car hit the wall and burst into flames. Returned to Lotus in England and rebuilt; returned to Foyt August 1966 but no further results known in 1966. Likely to have been the #84 Lotus 38 used by Foyt in the opening races of 1967 at Phoenix and Trenton. Then used by Gary Congdon at the Indy 500 when he was bumped. With the other Foyt 38s wrecked, this last survivor was the car Foyt raced at Langhorne in July. Several years later, a ‘Coyote’ was raced in F5000 by Crockey Peterson, but photographs show that it was a Lotus 38, and it has been identified as 38/4. Later sold to Chuck Haines (St Louis, MO) and then to collector James L. Jaeger (Cincinnati, OH). Run at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 1997, 1998 and 2000. On display in the Speedway Museum March 2009. Ran again at Goodwood 2011.
11. Lola T142 (Len Guneau): Len Guneau (Hermosa Beach, CA): first seen winning FA class in SCCA Regionals at Laguna Seca on 12 Oct 1969, then at Riverside two weeks later, so possibly second hand but there are no obvious contenders except the cars crashed at St Jovite. If new, then likely to be one of the last three Haas cars (43, 44 or 45). Raced at Sebring 1969, the West Coast races in 1970 and at Laguna Seca 1971. On the entry list for Laguna Seca 1972. Subsequent history unknown.
12. McLaren M10A [300-05] (Lou Pavesi): See full history: McLaren M10A 300-05.
13. Lola T142 [SL142/38] (Horst Kroll): See full history: Lola T142 SL142/38.
14. Lola T142 (Dave Heinz): See full history: Lola T142 'the Dave Heinz car'.
15. Lola T140 [SL140/10] (Robert "Denny" Ericson): New to Pierre Phillips (Portland, OR) for Formuila A in the Pacific Northwest in 1968, then taken to New Zealand for one race in December 1968. Unknown in 1969, but sold by Phillips to Denny Erickson's Repco Northwest Competition Motors (Spokane, WA) for 1970. Sold to Tom Kagi (Spokane WA) in 1971, but its subsequent history is unknown. Reappeared with Dr Grant Hill (Okotoks, Alberta) in 1988, then to ex-F5000 driver Lou Pavesi (Los Altos, CA) in 1989 or 1990. To Bill Blake (San Carlos, CA) and Bruce Sevier (Sacramento, CA) late 2004, and restored for historic events.

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.