Northern Pacific SCCA Formula B 1974
After not taking any of the top three places in 1973, San Francisco Region swept the board in 1974. Champion Bill Cooper started his points haul with second place at Holtville in February in Bunny Ribbs' March 722, then reverted to his Brabham BT35 for a good run of results including first in class at Portland in August, and second in class at the Laguna Seca June Sprints. Don Breidenbach had traded his ancient Lotus 44 for a new March, but focused on the Pro series.
Breidenbach apart, there were few other new cars in Northern Pacific, most runners relying on 1972 Marchs or older Brabhams. Pat Walter's rare 1973 Elden Mk 15 and Archie Snider's 1973 GRD B73 provided the variety.
Final standings
1. | Bill Cooper | Brabham [BT35] | San Francisco | 33 pts |
2. | Don Breidenbach | March [74B] | San Francisco | 22 pts |
3. | Pat Walter | Elden [Mk15] | San Francisco | 18 pts |
4. | Steve Jizmagian | March [722] | San Francisco | 17 pts |
5. | Robert Hall | March [722] | San Francisco | 15 pts |
6. | Larry Walters | Brabham [BT29] | Northwest | 9 pts |
7. | Bob Tracy | March [722] | Oregon | 8 pts |
8. | Gordon Strom | Brabham [BT35] | San Francisco | 6 pts |
9. | Walt Maas | Winkelmann | San Francisco | 4 pts |
10. | Tom Foster | Brabham [BT38] | San Francisco | 4 pts |
11. | Ron Southern | Brabham [BT40] | San Francisco | 4 pts |
12. | Archie Snider | GRD [B73] | San Francisco | 3 pts |
13. | Courtney R Rood | Brabham [BT29] | San Francisco | 2 pts |
14. | Tom Crowther | March [722] | San Francisco | 2 pts |
Northern Pacific Division SCCA Nationals in 1974
21 Apr 1974 | Sears Point | San Francisco Region |
16 Jun 1974 | Portland International Raceways | Oregon Region |
30 Jun 1974 | Laguna Seca | San Francisco Region |
28 Jul 1974 | Seattle | Northwest Region |
11 Aug 1974 | Seattle | Northwest Region |
25 Aug 1974 | Portland International Raceways | Oregon Region |
08 Sep 1974 | Sears Point | San Francisco Region |
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.