South West Division SCCA Formula B 1967
SWDiv woke up to Formula B in 1967 as Gus Hutchison and his team of Lotus 41s (or Lotus 41Cs depending on the reporter) blazed a trail across the continent. Gus himself focused on the brand new Pro series but team mate Harold Krech made sure he took time out to win the Divisional title. Joe Starkey drove the third team car at War Bonnet and in a couple of Nationals, and Jack Pagan was given a drive in Hutchison's car at Austin, also winning comfortably. Young Terry Petmecky had picked a bad year to venture into Formula B but was still able to take third place in the Division overall thanks to consistent perfomances in his old Lotus 22 topped off by a second place at the Selma National in Southeast Div in his newly-delivered Brabham BT21A.
Final standings
| 1. | Harold Krech | Lotus 41 | Texas | 33 pts |
| 2. | Gus Hutchison | Lotus 41 | Texas | 27 pts† |
| 3. | Terry Petmecky | (Lotus 22/) Brabham (BT21A) | Lone Star | 25 pts† |
| 4. | Joe Starkey | Lotus 41 | Texas | 12 pts |
| 5. | Bob "Bobo" Bell | Porsche Spl. | Texas | 9 pts |
| 6. | Jack Pagan | Lotus 41 | S. Texas Border | 9 pts |
| 7. | Stuart Wright | LeGrand | Texas | 6 pts† |
| 8. | Richard McDaniel | BMC | Texas | 4 pts |
† Indicates total includes points earned out of home division.
1967 Schedule
| 04 Mar 1967 | Mansfield Airport | Red River Region |
| 06 May 1967 | Clear Springs | Alamo Region |
| 03 Jun 1967 | Green Valley Raceway | Texas Region |
| 17 Jun 1967 | Opelousas (St Landry) | Central Louisiana Region |
| 01 Jul 1967 | Galveston Airport (Scholes Field) | San Jacinto Region |
| 05 Aug 1967 | Austin Aqua Festival | Lone Star Region |
| 02 Sep 1967 | Clear Springs | Alamo Region |
Texas, Red River, San Jacinto and Lone Star Regions all maintained the same venues as 1966 but Central Louisiana moved their National from Ryan Field, Baton Rouge to St Landry, Opelousas. Also Alamo Region moved their operations from Seguin Airfield to a new 2.5-mile course at Clear Springs Auxiliary Field, sometimes referred to as Clear Creek, and held a second National there, bringing the Divisional total up to seven. New insurance rates forced Alamo Region to hold their May event without spectators, suggesting to some commentators that smaller regions may soon be forced out of racing.
Southwest Division sources
Coverage of SWDiv was much slimmer in Competition Press & Autoweek than for other Divisions. To make the historian's life even more difficult, a couple of the Regions that organised National events do not appear to have had their own newsletters for much of this period: Alamo Region in Texas and Central Louisiana Region in Louisiana. The known Regional publications are:
- Deltagram (Delta Region)
- Journal (San Jacinto Region)
- Lone Star Draft (Lone Star Region) - from 1979
- Roundup (Texas Region)
- Spinout (Southwest Louisiana Region) - from 1978
- Border Bulletin (South Texas Border Region)
For much of the 1960s, the most important publication for this area was Southwest Racing News, published from 1963 onwards by Bill Gay from Dallas and running on until at least 1974. We are exceedingly keen to acquire copies of any of these.
We are also keen to get scans of entry lists from all SCCA Nationals and Regionals in this Division.