Northern Pacific SCCA Formula B 1971
NoPac's Formula B category grew again, now with 19 drivers scoring points against the 14 of 1970 and several new cars appearing.
Mike Hansen swapped his Brabham BT21C for a new BT35 and retained his title comfortably from Allan Lader who also swapped his BT29 for a BT35 mid-season. Lader was too busy winning the national Pro series to worry too much about the Divisional title. Behind these two, Peter Darr took third place in his Chevron but nobody else scored more than nine points. Amongst these, William Monson had acquired a brand new Lotus 69, Ron Householder had a decent car in the ex-Lader Brabham BT29 and Jon Milledge also raced a BT29, probably Archie Snider's car. Another second-hand BT29, the ex-Mike Hiss car, is believed to have been Ernie Haze's mount.
The Winkelmanns and LeGrands were now fading away, only Jon Woodner's Winkelmann-based "Excar" proving a competitive proposition. Laguna Seca specialist Bob Wenz continued to race his antique Cooper T71/73, which although entered as a T76 began life as Bob Gerard's 1.5-litre F1 car from 1964. Amongst the Brabhams, Gordon Strom and Dewey Harless are believed to have had BT29s, possibly the same one, and John Ransom had the ex-Ron Brown/Gerry Bruihl/Russ Harness BT18 but the Brabham of Bud Rude is still a mystery.
Final standings
| 1. | Mike Hansen | Brabham [BT35] | San Francisco | 34 pts† |
| 2. | Allan Lader | Brabham [BT29 and BT35] | Oregon | 24 pts |
| 3. | Peter Darr | Chevron [B15B] | Oregon | 17 pts |
| 4. | Jon Woodner | Excar | San Francisco | 9 pts |
| 5. | Dewey Harless | Brabham [BT29] | Oregon | 7 pts |
| 6. | William Monson | Lotus [69] | Northwest | 6 pts |
| 7. | Richard "Bud" Rude | Brabham | Oregon | 6 pts |
| 8. | Bob Wenz | Cooper ['T76'] | San Francisco | 6 pts |
| 9. | Robert Hall | Lotus [69] | San Francisco | 4 pts |
| 10. | Ron Householder | Brabham [BT29] | Northwest | 4 pts |
| 11. | Ernie Haze | Brabham [BT29?] | San Francisco | 4 pts† |
| 12. | Jon Milledge | Brabham [BT29] | San Francisco | 4 pts† |
| 13. | Skip Adrian | Winkelmann | San Francisco | 4 pts |
| 14. | John F Ransom | Brabham [BT18] | Oregon | 3 pts |
| 15. | Gordon Strom | Brabham [BT29] | San Francisco | 3 pts |
| 16. | Robert Winkelmann | Winkelmann | San Francisco | 3 pts† |
| 17. | Wes McNay | LeGrand | San Francisco | 3 pts† |
| 18. | Chuck Billington | Bourgeault | San Francisco | 2 pts |
| 19. | Gary Gove | Brabham [BT21C] | Northwest | 1 pt |
† Indicates total includes points earned out of home division.
Northern Pacific Division SCCA Nationals in 1971
| 09 May 1971 | Seattle | Northwest Region |
| 13 Jun 1971 | Portland International Raceways | Oregon Region |
| 20 Jun 1971 | Laguna Seca | San Francisco Region |
| 25 Jul 1971 | Seattle | Northwest Region |
| 29 Aug 1971 | Vacaville | San Francisco Region |
| 12 Sep 1971 | Portland International Raceways | Oregon Region |
When Sports Car published the Final Standings for NPDiv, just these six Nationals were shown: Northwest Region at Kent (Seattle) on 9 May and on 25 Jul; Oregon Region at Portland for the Rose Cup Races on 13 Jun and the Oregon GP on 12 Sep; and San Francisco Region at Laguna Seca for the Olympia Sprints on 20 Jun and at the last Vaca Valley National on 29 Aug. A seventh National was scheduled for Laguna Seca on 10 October but evidently did not take place.
Northern Pacific Division sources
Most of our knowledge of NorPac racing comes from the SCCA's Sports Car magazine, from Competition Press & Autoweek and from an extensive collection of San Francisco Region's The Wheel newsletter from 1971 onwards. We are very keen to acquire or borrow 1960s, 1970s and 1980s copies of all three of the main SCCA regional publications in this division:
- The Wheel (San Francisco Region)
- Northwest Sports Car News (Northwest Region)
- Loud Pedal (Oregon Region)
We are also keen to get scans of entry lists from SCCA Nationals, notably the Laguna Seca Sprints and the Rose Cup Races.