Mid-Ohio Grand Prix

Mid-Ohio, 5 Jul 1971

All cars are 5-litre F5000 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Lola T192 [HU19] (Brett Lunger): 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
2. 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.
3. McLaren M18 [500-06] (Evan Noyes): See full history: McLaren M18 500-06.
4. McLaren M10A [300-09 (B)] (Wil Painter): See full history: McLaren M10A 300-09(B).
5. Lotus 21 [936] (Jim Corwin): New to Brabham Racing Organisation for Jack Brabham to race in non-championship F1 events in early 1962, until his newer Lotus 24 was delivered. It was reported to have been "destroyed" in a garage fire prior to its first race, but Brabham raced it at Pau and Aintree. Then to Jim Hall and used by him to win the Hoosier Grand Prix Intercontinental race held at Indianapolis Raceway Park in July 1962. Also raced by Hall at the US and Mexican GPs later that year. To J Frank Harrison and his chief mechanic Jerry Eisert, who fitted a Shelby Ford V8 engine for SCCA libre racing. It was raced by Rick Muther for Harrison at two libre races in October 1964. Then used by Al Unser at Pikes Peak in 1965. Later sold to Chuck Trowbridge (Denver, CO) and used in SCCA Formula A with a 3-litre Ford engine in 1967, and then with a 5-litre engine in early 1968. Then to Steven Woods (Farmington, CT) in July 1968, and raced by him in New England for the rest of that season. Next seen when owned by Gil Roth (Pittsburgh, PA) in 1970, then with Jim Corwin (New Buffalo, Michigan) in 1971. Subsequent history unknown.
6. Lola T142 (Randy Blessing): Randy Blessing (Lakeland, FL) raced a T142 in the SCCA Regional at Daytona in August 1970 and at the 'Pro' race at Sebring 25 Oct 1970. He raced more consistently in the Pro series 1971 entered as #31, appearing in five races but retiring at every one. The Lola's colour was listed at Brainerd as blue. Blessing's recollection is that his T142 was John Gunn's, but that clashes with a newspaper article from November 1969 where Dave Heinz stated that he had bought that car from Gunn. Blessing later advertised both his T142 and the ex-Hood T140 in Aug 1972 but before the T142 could be sold, Blessing wrecked the T142 in a race at Roebling Road. Although the mangled frame was sold off, Blessing reports that "there really was nothing left of it".

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.