Northern Pacific Division SCCA 1977 « Formula B

Northern Pacific SCCA Formula B 1977

Gordon Strom kicked off the NorPac season with class win at Sears Point in April, behind John David Briggs' Formula A Lola T332, with Jon Norman third, but none of the Californians travelled up to Seattle for the next National, which was won by Sans Thompson in his Lola T360, with Fred Greenfield the only other FB runner. At Oregon's Rose Cup Races in June, Jeff Wood won after Chip Mead spun, with Mike Fisher, Steve Jizmagian and Jerry Blakemore taking the minor placings. Pete Halsmer then won the Laguna Seca June Sprints from Dan Marvin and Ken Briggs, which left Thompson still in the lead on just 12 points, with the three points he scored at Phoenix in February added to the nine for his win at Seattle.

A further race at Seattle in in July is opaque. We know it was won by Thompson after Blakemore's engine exploded, but Ken Briggs' points score jumped by six, indicating that he had finished second. Briggs, who had replaced his Lola T460 with a newer March 77B, then won at Sears Points in August and finished second to Tom Crowther at Portland two weeks later to secure the title.

Although a SFR member, Dick Zibert was resident in Kansas City during 1977, and his nine points came from winning Northeast Oklahoma's National at Hallet in September.

Final standings

1.	Ken Briggs	Lola [T460/March 77B]	San Francisco	34 pts
2.	Sans Thompson	Lola [T360]	Oregon	25 pts
3.	Tom Crowther	March [722/75B/76B]	San Francisco	12 pts
4.	Steve Jizmagian	Lola [T460]	San Francisco	10 pts
5.	Gordon Strom	Chevron [B29]	San Francisco	9 pts
6.	Dick Zibert	Brabham [BT38]	San Francisco	9 pts
7.	Bill Hill	Brabham [BT29]	Northwest	8 pts
8.	Tom Foster	Brabham [BT38]	San Francisco	7 pts
9.	Dan Marvin	March [76B]	San Francisco	6 pts
10.	Jon Norman	Lotus [69B]	San Francisco	6 pts
11.	Mike Fisher	Lola	Oregon	4 pts
12.	Cal Huartson	Lola [T360]	San Francisco	2 pts
13.	Ron Householder	Brabham [BT40]	Oregon	2 pts
14.	Jerry Blakemore	Ralt [RT1]	Northwest	2 pts
15.	John Sexton	March ["76B"]	Reno	1 pt

Formula C

The two BDJ-engined cars of Terry Annis and Jim Wood were easily the quickest FC machinery in the Division, but a couple of motorcycle engined cars added interest. Jim Wood's Lola is a mystery. Anyone remember what he had?

Final standings

1.	Terry Annis	Eldon [Mk14 - BDJ]	Northwest	42 pts
2.	Jim Wood	Lola [T202-BDJ]	San Francisco	21 pts
3.	James M Frey	Brabham [BT18 - Kawasaki]	San Francisco	4 pts
4.	Carl Stirtz	Lola [61 - Honda]	San Francisco	3 pts

Northern Pacific Division SCCA Nationals in 1977

24 Apr 1977	Sears Point	San Francisco Region
29 May 1977	Seattle	Northwest Region
12 Jun 1977	Portland International Raceways	Oregon Region
26 Jun 1977	Laguna Seca	San Francisco Region
10 Jul 1977	Seattle	Northwest Region
14 Aug 1977	Sears Point	San Francisco Region
28 Aug 1977	Portland International Raceways	Oregon Region

Northern Pacific Division SCCA Regionals in 1977

10 Apr 1977	Sears Point	San Francisco Region
17 Apr 1977	Portland International Raceways	Oregon Region
22 May 1977	Laguna Seca	San Francisco Region
05 Jun 1977	Laguna Seca	San Francisco Region
12 Jun 1977	Portland International Raceways	Oregon Region
26 Jun 1977	Laguna Seca	San Francisco Region
10 Jul 1977	Seattle	Northwest Region
17 Jul 1977	Laguna Seca	San Francisco Region
24 Jul 1977	Portland International Raceways	Oregon Region
14 Aug 1977	Seattle	Northwest Region
14 Aug 1977	Sears Point	San Francisco Region
28 Aug 1977	Portland International Raceways	Oregon Region
25 Sep 1977	Sears Point	San Francisco Region
09 Oct 1977	Laguna Seca	San Francisco Region
23 Oct 1977	Laguna Seca	San Francisco Region
06 Nov 1977	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.

NorPac Formula B seasons

1977 SCCA Divisional FB

Brief reports on the Divisional seasons are available below:

The top three from each Division were invited to the SCCA Runoffs in November to decide a national champion.

The research

Thanks to the SCCA Archive at the International Motor Racing Research Centre (IMRRC) at Watkins Glen, 1977 is the first season of Formula B that can be documented to a reasonable level. It is fortunate that we have this, as coverage of SCCA Nationals in Competition Press & Autoweek had now largely disappeared, and newspapers rarely mention amateur motorsport. The SCCA's Sports Car magazine had a "Club Racing" column in 1977, in which representatives from the Divisions could report on the latest Divisionals, but this was abruptly cut off in the January 1978 edition, when Paul Oxman took over as publisher, with some Division's correspondents having not yet reported on the season's final Nationals. Even Formula magazine gave up on Nationals during 1977, its final report being on the Kendall Cup National at Lime Rock on 4 July. We are still missing results for some races, so please get in touch if you have any programs, results sheets, grid positions or qualifying times from these races, or can help in any other way.

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