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Southern Pacific SCCA Formula B 1975

Don Breidenbach relocated from San Francisco Region to Cal Club and dominated the SoPac season, winning outright at Holtville in March in his new March 75B, and then at Phoenix in April, Riverside in July, and Sears Point in September. Tom Sauerbrei had the ex-Patrick Depailler March 74B/742 and beat Breidenbach at Portland in August but was unlucky to retire after leading the Rose Cup Races in June. He narrowly beat the ageing Brabham BT29 of Frank Monise to second place in the Divisional championship, with Pete Halsmer fourth in the ex-Bill Middleton Brabham BT38.

The next newest car in the Division after Breidenbach's and Sauerbrei's was Dick Hayes' ex-Howdy Holmes 1974 Chevron B27, with much of the grids still made up of three-year-old March 722s and relatively ancient Brabham BT29s.

Final standings

1. Don BreidenbachMarch 74B [and 75B]Cal Club54 pts 
2. Tom SauerbreiMarch [74B/742]Cal Club28 pts 
3. Frank MoniseBrabham [BT29]Cal Club26 pts 
4. Pete HalsmerBrabham [BT38]Cal Club21 pts 
5. Doug TurnerMarch [722?]Cal Club12 pts 
6. Jim HallMarch [722]Cal Club10 pts 
7. Marc BahnerBrabham [BT29]Cal Club10 pts 
8. Warren "Bud" PaugeBrabham [BT21, BT38]Cal Club9 pts 
9. Jeffrey AlkanaBrabham [BT29]Cal Club9 pts 
10. Dick HayesChevron [B27]Cal Club7 pts 
11. Larry WrightBrabham [BT29]Cal Club6 pts 
12. Mark Munroe"DT40" [Brabham BT40]Cal Club4 pts 
13. Russ MayberryMarch [722]Cal Club2 pts 
14. Jack BrabbanBrabham [BT28/BT29]Cal Club1 pt   
15. Ron LampleyBrabham [BT23G]Cal Club1 pt   

In the absence of results documentation, the schedule of Regionals should be taken with a pinch of salt. Arizona Region may have rescheduled their Regional at Phoenix a couple of times, rather than having had three events in seven weeks. On the other hand, San Diego Region's series of races at Holtville in the cooler months probably did all take place.

Southern Pacific Division SCCA Nationals in 1975

17 Feb 1975RiversideCal Club Region
23 Mar 1975Holtville AerodromeSan Diego Region
13 Apr 1975Willow SpringsCal Club Region
27 Apr 1975Phoenix International RacewayArizona Region
25 May 1975RiversideCal Club Region
06 Jul 1975RiversideCal Club Region
14 Sep 1975Phoenix International RacewayArizona Region

Southern Pacific Division SCCA Regionals in 1975

26 Jan 1975Holtville AerodromeSan Diego Region
09 Feb 1975Willow SpringsCal Club Region
16 Feb 1975RiversideCal Club Region
02 Mar 1975Phoenix International RacewayArizona Region
30 Mar 1975RiversideCal Club Region
06 Apr 1975Phoenix International RacewayArizona Region
27 Apr 1975Phoenix International RacewayArizona Region
24 May 1975RiversideCal Club Region
13 Jul 1975Ontario Motor SpeedwayCal Club Region
31 Aug 1975RiversideCal Club Region
14 Sep 1975Phoenix International RacewayArizona Region
21 Sep 1975RiversideCal Club Region
05 Oct 1975Willow SpringsCal Club Region
19 Oct 1975Holtville AerodromeSan Diego Region
02 Nov 1975Holtville AerodromeSan Diego Region
09 Nov 1975RiversideCal Club Region
30 Nov 1975Holtville AerodromeSan Diego Region
07 Dec 1975Willow SpringsCal Club Region
14 Dec 1975Holtville AerodromeSan Diego Region

Southern Pacific Division sources

Although Los Angeles was one of the homes of American motor racing, we have few sources of information for southern Californian FB racing in this period. Competition Press & Autoweek had some regional coverage up to 1973 and Formula magazine then took over for a period in the mid-1970s. However, we are keen to acquire or borrow 1960s, 1970s and 1980s copies of SCCA regional publications from this Division. The key ones are:

  • California Sportscar [1960s] (California Sports Car Club)
  • Post Grid [1969-1970] (California Sports Car Club Region)
  • Finish Line [from 1971] (California Sports Car Club Region)
  • Gridlines (San Diego Region)

We are also keen to get scans of entry lists from SCCA Nationals for this division.