Central Division SCCA 1968 « Formula B

Central Division SCCA Formula B 1968

One division where Brabham was not yet king was Central Division. Chuck Dietrich won again in his McLaren M4B and Martin Sellers similar car was fourth. The only Brabham was Jerry Nelson's BT21C which finished second overall. An impressive third was the aged Lotus 22/31 of Thomas Richmond.

Fifth in the table was Tom Tufts driving one of the first single-seater Chevrons to reach the US. Behind Dan Murphy's Winkelmann WDB1, there were no other competitive runners, the remainder of the field being largely made up of Formula Ford Lotus 51s, which didn't yet have their own class, and Porsche-engined specials.

Final standings

1.	Chuck Dietrich	McLaren M4B	NEOhio	51 pts
2.	Jerry Nelson	Brabham (BT21C)	Land O'Lakes	34 pts
3.	Thomas Richmond	Lotus (22)-Ford	Detroit	29 pts
4.	Martin Sellers	McLaren (M4B)	Ohio Valley	28 pts†
5.	Tom Tufts	Chevron (B14)	Milwaukee	10 pts
6.	Dan Murphy	Winkelmann WD(B)1	Milwaukee	10 pts†
7.	Herbert Ladd	Lotus	NE Michigan	10 pts
8.	Jim Duit	Lotus 27	DMV	6 pts†
9.	Jeffrey Lance	Lotus 51	Detroit	6 pts
10.	Peter Quenet	Lotus 51	Detroit	6 pts
11.	Bill Blackmore	Formcar	Chicago	6 pts
12.	"Bud" Jackson	Merlyn Porsche	Iowa	4 pts
13.	Jim Lloyd	Pogo	Indianapolis	4 pts
14.	Reg Howell	Lotus-Ford	Western Ohio	3 pts
15.	Glen Lyall	Lotus 51	Detroit	2 pts
16.	Lee Gagliano	Lotus 51	Milwaukee	1 pt
17.	Joe Gillespie	Forjay	Ohio Valley	1 pt
18.	Richard Moxley	Lotus	Detroit	1 pt

† Indicates total includes points earned out of home division.

1968 Schedule

02 Jun 1968	Grattan Raceway	Northeast Michigan/ Saginaw Regions
16 Jun 1968	Road America	Chicago Region
30 Jun 1968	Wisconsin State Fair Park	Milwaukee Region
21 Jul 1968	Mid-Ohio	Cincinnati Region
04 Aug 1968	Grattan Raceway	Western Michigan Region
11 Aug 1968	Brainerd	Land O'Lakes Region
25 Aug 1968	Blackhawk Farms	Blackhawk Valley Region
08 Sep 1968	Mid-Ohio	NEOhio Region
22 Sep 1968	Nelson Ledges	Detroit Region
06 Oct 1968	Indianapolis Raceway Park	Indianapolis Region

Note that Brainerd was at this time known as Donnybrook Raceway and Nelson Ledges was called Steel Cities International.

Although this list of races has been cross-checked against the receipts for the ARRC Travel Fund, it is possible that it still contains one or two errors. The National jointly organised by Northeast Michigan and Saginaw Regions for 1-2 June was originally scheduled for their old home at Grayling airfield but was replanned for Steel Cities (Nelson Ledges) before finally settling at Western Michigan Region's new home at Grattan Raceway. Curiously, the points table in Sports Car showed Donnybrooke taking place in between Blackhawk Farms and Mid-Ohio. To confuse matters further major races are believed to have taken place at Nelson Ledges on 28 July 1968 and at Mid-Ohio 17-18 Aug 1968 supporting the USRRC Buckeye Cup Races.

Central Division sources

Most of our knowledge of CenDiv racing comes from the SCCA's Sports Car magazine and from Competition Press & Autoweek. We are very keen to acquire, borrow or receive copies of 1960s, 1970s and 1980s SCCA regional publications from this Division. There were many such newsletters in this Division, including:

Auto-Graph (Indiana Northwest Region)
Backfire (Western Michigan Region)
Blower (Northeast Ohio Region)
Class Q and later CinChronizer (Cincinnati Region)
Clutch Chatter (Indianapolis Region)
Clutch Chatter (Northwestern Ohio Region)
Crashbox (Golden Triangle Region)
Down Shift (Central Illinois Region)
Downshift (Kentucky Region)
The Drift (Milwaukee Region)
Drifting (Des Moines Valley Region)
The Fifth Wheel (Northeastern Michigan Region)
The Four Wheel Drift (Fort Wayne Region)
Iowa Regional News (Iowa Region)
Newsletter (Central Kentucky Region)
Ohio Valley Regional News and Observers Stand (Ohio Valley Region)
Open Exhaust (Detroit Region)
Piston Patter (Chicago Region)
Pit Board (South Bend Region)
The Pit Stop (Southern Indiana Region)
The Racket (Tennessee Valley Region)
Recaps (Eastern Tennessee Region)
Rev Record (Western Ohio Region)
S.I.R. SCCA Newsletter (Southern Indiana Region)
Smoke Signals (Blackhawk Valley Region)
The Tonneau (Land O'Lakes Region)

Also relevant are some non-SCCA publications, notably that of the Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs (MCSCC), based in the Chicago area:

Klaxon (Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs)

We are also keen to get scans of entry lists from SCCA Nationals in this Division.

CenDiv Formula B seasons

The Cars of 1968

The major new production Formula B cars this season were:

Older cars were still in use, notably the Brabham BT18, Brabham BT21A and LeGrand Mk 3B.

1968 SCCA Divisional FB

As well as the pro series, Formula B was booming at SCCA Divisional level. Brief reviews of the Divisional seasons are available below:

The research

The tables are taken from the SCCA's Sports Car magazine November 1968 and December 1968 pp34-38.

Any data in brackets, such as model names, has been added based on other research.

Email Allen (allen@oldracingcars.com) with any further additions, corrections or comments.

Central Division circuits

Central Division had the best choice of circuits, from Donnybrooke in the far west of the division to Nelson Ledges on the eastern edge. With Road America and Mid-Ohio, it also had two of the finest road racing facilities in the country.

Blackhawk Farms Raceway
(South Beloit, IL)
Donnybrooke Speedway
(Brainerd, MN)
Grattan Raceway
(Belding, MI)
Indianapolis Raceway Park
(Clermont, IN)
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
(Lexington, OH)
Nelson Ledges Road Course
(Warren, OH)
Road America
(Elkhart Lake, WI)
Wisconsin State Fair Park
(West Allis, Milwaukee, WI)

Donnybrooke Speedway (or Donnybrook Raceway or Donnybrook International Speedway; now known as Brainerd International Raceway) opened for 1968. Blackhawk Farms was also a new track, having opened in 1967. Leonard Besinger's Meadowdale International Raceway (Carpentersville, IL) was used by Chicago Region in May 1965.