Thompson Schaefer Grand Prix

Thompson Speedway, 21 Sep 1969

All cars are 5-litre F5000 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. McLaren M10A (Sam Posey): New to Ray Caldwell's Autodynamics Corp for Sam Posey (Sharon, CT) to race in the 1969 US series, replacing a pair of wrecked Eagles. Posey first appeared in this car at Lime Rock on 2 August. It was sponsored by television personality Steve Allen and Classic Wax, a brand of car wax, and was entered at #1 as Steve Allen's Classic Wax Special. Posey used it in seven races, and had one win, back at Lime Rock again on 1 September, where he also took pole position. Given the timing of its first appearance, this would probably have been chassis 300-11, 300-12 or 300-14. Subsequent history unknown.
2. Lola T142 [SL142/28] (Bud Morley): Invoice date 5 Mar 1969 (Sold to Haas). New to Bud Morley (Denver, CO) and raced through the 1969 US series, when it was red and entered as #14 . He advertised the car in November 1969 and again in August 1970. Sold in April 1971 to Dan Harper (Eureka, CA) who raced it at the Laguna Seca Pro race 2 May 1971 despite only having had a chance to drive it briefly at Vacaville earlier in the week. He intended to race in SCCA Nationals for the remainder of 1971 but a broken bulkhead required a lengthy rebuild and he did not score any points at SCCA level that season. He had planned to follow all the west coast Pro races in 1972, and appeared on the entry list for race at Laguna Seca on 7 May 1972 but there is no record of his participation. He also raced the car at the Laguna Seca June Sprints in 1973. Harper advertised the car in August 1974, describing it as "Best T-142 in the country; rebuilt throughout, new fabroids, etc; fresh Al Bartz engine; have full history of car; never bent". He recalled to Mike Matune in 2021 that he sold it in April 1975 to Don Korntved (Weaverville, CA) and his son Chris, who ran it in Redwood Sports Car Club (RSCC) events from 1975 to 1977. They ran the car in the RSCC's Lord Ellis Hillclimb at Blue Lake, the Keno Hill Climb near Klamath Falls, Oregon and the Virginia City Hill Climb in Nevada. Chris Korntved also won RSCC Autocross events at Samoa Field, a former airstrip in Eureka, northern California, July 1976, September 1976 and July 1977, and competed at Chico, CA, Redding, CA, and Medford, OR. He advertised the T142 at the end of 1977 and traded it to Jerry Dulski (Plymouth, MN) for Dulski's A Sedan Camaro. Dulski ran the car in Midwest SCCA Formula A until an accident at Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota, when his wing collapsed in the high speed Turn 1 and he left the track, hitting a telephone pole. The car continued airborne through a number of trees before coming to a stop upside down still in the trees. Dulski was very lucky to walk away unharmed, but the Lola was a complete loss. Dulski salvaged the Hewland gearbox and used it in his next car, a Lotus 70, and the Chevy engine was later used in a Trans-Am Camaro in historic racing. A part from a few suspension parts that were sold, nothing else remained of the Lola.
3. Lola T142 (Dick Simon): Dick Simon (Salt Lake City, UT) US 1969 (yellow #66 from R1) - (maybe with Hayes 10 Dec 1969?). In the book "The Boys of Indy" (Phil Berger & Larry Bortstein, 1977), Simon is quoted as saying the car was "used". But he also says he won one race (true) and finished in the top six five times in his six races (not so). Simon used this season to get into USAC. Maybe to Hayes. Then to Mel Andrus (Salt Lake City, UT): US 1970 (two races: R2 Edmonton 24 May and R5 Sears Point 28 Jun); US 1971 (only appeared at R1 Riverside 25 Apr: crashed in practice and Andrus was killed). The car was stripped and the remaining damaged section of the chassis lay in a wrecking yard for many years.
4. Lola T142 (John Gunn): New to John Gunn (Miami, FL), and raced in the US series in 1969. The car was yellow and entered as #39. Gunn's last known race in the car was an SCCA National at Virginia International Raceway in September 1969, and he advertised the car in November. A local newspaper reported that month that Tampa car importer Dave Heinz had bought the car, but Randy Blessing also had a T142 in Florida in 1970, and his recollection is that his was the ex-Gunn car. As they raced against each other, and as John Hood raced the ex-Gunn T140 at the same time, this is an unresolved puzzle.
5. KayTee (Art Kijek): In 1969, Art Kijek (Valley Stream, NY) designed and built a Formula A car using the components of his Genie Mk8 Group 7 car. It had a tubular chassis, and was powered by a 289ci Ford V8 engine. The car was run by Kay-Tee Cars of Oakdale, NY, which consisted of Art, his brother Ed and his father-in-law Harold Temple. Kijek appeared regularly in the car during the 1969 Pro series. The KayTee was destroyed in a garage fire at the end of that year.
6. LeGrand Mk 11 (Rex Ramsey): 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.
7. Lola T140 [SL140/8] (John Mahler): New to Jerry Hansen for the 1968 US series, then to John Mahler (Bettendorf, IA) for the 1969 series. Subsequent history unknown but believed to be the car acquired by Wayne "Bing" Sherer (Buffalo, NY) in 1972 and raced in SCCA Nationals. To Phil "Butch" Hollenbeck for 1973, then to Art Cross (Auburn, NY) who ran it in to Florida for several years. Via Owen Starr, Lou Pavesi and Rick McLean to Mark Rincon (Redding, CA) and Hal Williams by 1994, for historic racing. Later sold to Richard Cross, then via Rincon to John Bryant (Adelaide, Australia) at the Monterey Historics in August 2007 and imported into Australia. Crashed at Philip Island March 2008, but rebuilt and raced in the 2011/12 Tasman Revival series. More information about Lola T140 SL140/8
8. Lola T142 (Sherwood Johnston): Sherwood Johnston (Scottsdale, AZ) first seen at an SCCA Regional at Tucson Airport on 11 May 1969 and then raced in the US Pro series (#47 from Continental Divide on 8 June, up to Sebring on 28 December). Then sold to Ed Luke (Phoenix, AZ), a cattle rancher and property developer, for SCCA events. Luke crashed the car heavily at Phoenix International Raceway in 1970, when he had to go off line to avoid an emergency vehicle on the track, spun on the "marbles" and collided heavily with a telegraph pole, suffering serious leg injuries and burns that ended his racing career. None of Luke's race results have been found, suggesting his accident was early in 1970, quite possible the Arizona Region SCCA National on 1 Mar 1970. He sold the damaged car to Ron Elliot (Scottsdale, AZ) who raced it at Riverside Feb 1972. Subsequently to Ernie Rollston (Mesa, AZ) in 1974 - Steve Bolen (Scottsdale, AZ) - Bill Neibauer (Red Lodge, Montana) June 1976. Sold by Neibauer to Donald McGreevy (Mill Valley, CA) Dec 1987 This car has frame tag 40 but no chassis plate. Completely restored by Don McGreevy by December 2013.
9. McLaren M10A [300-07] (Roger McCaig): See full history: McLaren M10A 300-07.
10. Lola T142 (Richard Negley): Richard Negley (San Antonio, TX) bought a Lola T142 for the 1969 US series, replacing the Lotus 41C he had raced in FB in 1968. Raced at Continental Divide 8 Jun 1969, Sears Point (DNS) 22 Jun 1969, Road America 20 July 1969, Mosport Park 23 Aug 1969 and Mont-Tremblant 7 September 1969. He raced as #74 early in the season but as #79 after Andrea de Adamich took over #74 for his Surtees TS5. Negley advertised the Lola in Competition Press & Autoweek in November 1969. Subsequent history unknown but this is a leading option for John Saucier's SL142/30 in 1970, Saucier's home in MidWest, OK, being a mere 500 miles from San Antonio, TX.

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.