Chinook Mk 12 history
The Fejer team prepare the Chinook Mk 12 at Seattle in August 1971. Copyright Rudy Fejer. Used with permission.
In 1971, the Fejer Brothers constructed the Chinook Mk 12 specifically for George Eaton to compete in the newly inaugurated USAC Road Racing Championship. Unfortunately, the car did not make it to the starting line of the championship's only race.
For the 1971 season, USAC decided to split their National Championship into three separate championships, dividing it between the different types of tracks that had been used in 1970: paved ovals, road circuits and dirt ovals. The paved oval series, as it included the Indianapolis 500, became the senior championship and the dirt tracks became the USAC Silver Crown Series. The road series was intended to compete with the SCCA's newly-renamed Formula 5000 championship and was expected to combine existing road-racing USAC cars such as the 1968 Eagle with F5000 cars and new, purpose-built cars.
Chinook announced that they would be building a car for the road racing championship to be driven by George Eaton, the 25-year-old heir to the Eatons department store fortune and an experienced Can-Am and Formula 1 driver. When first announced, the car was called the Mk 10 but by mid-season it was called the Mk 12. Unlike the earlier space-frame Formula A cars, the USAC car had a full-length monocoque inspired by the Lotus 70 and Lotus 72. It had outboard front suspension, like a Lotus 70, rather than the Lotus 38-style rocker arm suspension which was visible on the early Chinook. The new car was powered by a 302 ci Ford V8 engine, equipped with a fuel injection system developed by Rudy Fejer.
At one stage, USAC listed six rounds for the new USAC Road Racing Division, including Mid-America Raceway, Bryar Motorsport Park, Continental Divide Raceways and Bridgehampton, but scheduling problems and a lack of committed entrants led to them being cancelled one by one. Eaton announced that he would be racing the car in Formula 5000 instead, starting with the Mid-Ohio round in July, but the car did not appear. Eventually the only race remaining on the USAC series' schedule was the Seafair "200" at Seattle International Raceway in August. Fejer's team tested the car successfully at Mosport Park but failed to drain the methanol fuel from the system, and by the time the transporter had made its way to the West Coast, the corrosive fuel had damaged the slide throttle system beyond immediate repair. The car had to be withdrawn.
Not long after the Seattle race, USAC announced that the road racing series would be discontinued. By that time Eaton had turned his attention to the main USAC oval championship instead, and bought a Colt Indycar from George Bignotti. Although that venture went well, and the Fejers were building an all-new car for 1972, Eaton withdrew from racing in May 1972 to focus on his business interests.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
The Fejer team prepare the Chinook Mk 12 at Seattle in August 1971. Copyright Rudy Fejer. Used with permission.
Mike Knittell in his Chinook Formula 5000 at Watkins Glen in 2010. Copyright Jim Knerr 2016. Used with permission.
New for George Eaton to drive in the 1971 USAC Road Racing championship. Tested at Mosport Park prior to the only surviving round of the series at Seattle in August, but unable to start the race. The series did not continue into 1972 so the car was then retired and later sold off for Formula 5000 racing. In July 1975, Dennis Reed (Irving, NY) told his local Buffalo Evening News that he was planning to race the car in the SCCA National at Mid-Ohio. This evidently didn't happen, and he advertised the car with "testing miles only" in 1975 and 1976, with a Ford Boss 302 engine.
It was next seen when bought by Mike Knittel (Chittenango, NY) in November 1986 from an unknown seller in Buffalo, NY. Like Reed's car from 20 miles away in Irving, it had a Ford Boss 302 engine. Knittel restored the car over the next two years and his first known race in it was at the SVRA Watkins Glen event in September 1991. The Chinook has been a regular at Watkins Glen vintage racing, appearing in Knittel's hands at the July 2001, September 2002, September 2004, October 2004, June 2005, September 2005, September 2009 and June 2010 events. Knittel also raced the car at Mid-Ohio in the mid-1990s, at Road America from 2008 to 2013, and in other historic F5000 events in 2018 and 2021. Sold in October 2021 via Rick Larner of RaceCarLocators.com to Gilles Guzzo of Universal Motors LLC (Oetwil an der Limmat, Switzerland).
Driven by: George Eaton. First appearance: Seattle, 7 Aug 1971.
Acknowledgements
Richard Taylor is the expert on the Chinook marque and has dilgently researched all the models from the Mk 1 sports car all the way to this Mk 12 USAC car. I am most grateful for all his help on this, in particular his efforts to distinguish this Mk 12 from the unraced 1969 Indy car, which Richard believes was the Mk 8. Thanks also to Gerr Measures, Ed Butt and Ralph Locurcio.
If you can add to our understanding of these cars, or have photographs that we can use, please email Allen at allen@oldracingcars.com.
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