Dr Don Richardson's LeGrand Mk 7 racing in 1968. Copyright David Seibert 2006. Used with permission.

New for Bruce Eglinton to race in the SCCA Regional and National at Las Vegas on 24/25 Feb 1968, retiring on the Saturday but winning on the Sunday. Then sold to Don Richardson (New Orleans, LA) who entered it for Bill Fuller to drive at the opening Pro race at Continental Divide 26 May 1968, but it was very slow and failed to start after the engine blew. Its only known race was when Richardson won an SCCA National at Galveston Airport 7 July 1968, but it was also on the entry list at R8 Laguna Seca 12 October 1968). Advertised by Richardson on 14 Dec 1968 as "1250 lbs of rotting hell", complete with a Chevy running on Webers and Hewland LG500 . There is no sign of the car in 1969 but Richardson advertised it again on 6 Jun 1970. Sold to Art Eatman (Austin, TX) and raced in the SCCA SW Division in 1971, winning the FA class, but he failed to start the Runoffs at Road Atlanta 27 Nov 1971. Art sold the car to Karl Patton (Austin, TX) who planned to add a wing to the nose and use it for autocross. Almost certainly this car advertised by John Anderson (Austin, TX) 5 May 1973. The engine details mention in the advert ('Crane heads, Isky roller') matches that of Art Eatman when he advertised the Richardson car from the same city a year before. Anderson bought the car with L Nelson Spohnheimer (Plano, TX) and they updated it to current SCCA rules, for example with a taller rollhoop, and then used it in Autocross in the Austin area. Spohnheimer drove it for his competition license at Dallas Motor Speedway, before buying Anderson's share during 1973. Nelson Spohnheimer recalls that he towed the car to Fort Lauderdale, FL in early 1974 when he moved from Texas to Florida, and ran it there briefly. About a year later he swapped it for a 1968 Corvette Tri-Power convertible to Bob Moulton (Largo, FL) who ran it on and off until 1976 or 1977. During his ownership, he was able to vouch for the chassis flex and "barely adequate brakes". He offered Don Kearney, a highly successful C Production driver, a run in the car, and Kearney responded that he "wouldn't get out of the electric chair to drive that car". Moulton later stripped it of its Bartz engine and LG500 gearbox and hoisted the chassis onto the wall of Dale Kreider's workshop in St Petersberg. In 2010, Moulton commented that he sold the complete car "a number of years ago". Subsequent history unknown.

Driven by: Bruce Eglinton, Bill Fuller, Don Richardson and Arthur Eatman. First race: Stardust International, 24 Feb 1968. Total of 3 recorded races.

Peter Revson in Pete Botsford's LeGrand in practice at Lime Rock in 1968. Copyright Jeff Savage 2004. Used with permission.

A new car sold to Pete Botsford (Boulder, CO), after he saw the first car on display at the New York Automobile Show (at the New York Coliseum, 30 March - 7 April 1968). The car was used in the 1968 SCCA Continental Championship, starting at Elkhart Lake 27 Jul 1968, where driver Ron Holmes did not start. It was raced by Bob Betts at Thompson 18 August 1968, but he was well off the pace in practice and retired early. Sam Posey then drove it at Mosport Park and was fastest in qualifying, but withdrew after just two laps. Peter Revson was available for the Lime Rock on 2 September but hated the car and quickly disappeared when a ball joint failure curtailed practice. Posey returned to the cockpit for Brainerd on 22 September 1968), and was fourth in practice, but refused to start the race as the car was too dangerous. Barry Blackmore was then brought in for the Ken Miles Memorial Race at Laguna Seca on 12 October but, in his words, destroyed it in practice. The car was stripped at Red LeGrand's shop and the carcass towed back to base, but Botsford had lost interest in the car and it was not repaired.

Driven by: Ron Holmes, Bob Betts, Sam Posey, Peter Revson and Barry Blackmore. First race: Thompson Speedway (US R4), 18 Aug 1968. Total of 2 recorded races.

Dave Wolin's LeGrand Mk 7 doing what it did best: keeping still. Copyright Dave Wolin 2006. Used with permission.

Dave Wolin (Buffalo, NY) as a kit late 1968. Built with Chev engine and used in minor F5000 and in practice for a couple of USAC events with a 320ci Chev. See also Dave Wolin's website. Advertised by Wolin "long wheelbase chassis, Chev, Webers, Hewland" Autoweek 24 Oct 1970 p26. Dave remembers selling it to someone in Pittsburg. Subsequent history unknown but Chuck Haines lived in Pittsburg at that time; he recognises Wolin's name and reckons it is likely that he bought Wolin's car. However, Don Chab owned a LeGrand in 1973, and his home town of Grove PA, is only 60 miles from Pittsburg, so he may have owned it before Chuck Haines. Some years later, probably in the early 1980s, Chuck sold a long wheelbase LeGrand to David Rose (New York) - see the Rose car below.

Driven by: David Wolin. First appearance: Mosport Park (US R11), 13 Sep 1970.

Jerry Webber's LeGrand being prepared in 1970. Copyright Jerry Webber 2008. Used with permission.

In the summer of 1969, Jerry Webber (Sacramento, CA) learned from his friend Gary Burke about a brand new, never assembled, LeGrand Mk7A kit at Nick DeCourville's shop in North Hollywood, CA. Webber was then just 21, and had only raced in karts, but bought the car for $2,500 and started to build it up with a 305ci Chevrolet engine and ZF transmission. As soon as the car was complete, Webber went to an SCCA Drivers School at Riverside, when he discovered the enjoyment of "sitting between two baffle-less cans of fuel strapped to the tube chassis with only two large hose clamps, and nothing more than what I called "go-kart" Airheart single caliper brakes". He survived the "ordeal", despite a spin on Riverside's main straight when changing into top gear. He did another Drivers School at Vaca Valley where he decided the answer to the LeGrand's strengths and weaknesses was to "go flat in a straight line, park it as I approach a turn, coast thru the turn, and then jump on it again".

Webber had soon had enough of "this monster" and sold it in August 1971. Unfortunately, he cannot recall who bought it, but thinks the new owner "crashed it big time shortly thereafter in turn 4 at Laguna Seca", and he "can't recall if the car survived or not".

Gene Forsthofel (Overland Park, KA) bought a LeGrand Mk 7 from Red LeGrand for the 1970 season. It was shipped to Kansas City in a large crate, and Forsthofel and stepson helper Roger Riekenberg built up an engine for it. Forsthofel raced it in the SCCA National at Mid-America Raceway in July 1970, winning outright, and at Olathe Airfield two weeks later, where he retired. He moved into the Pro Formula B series for 1971, and advertised the Mk 7 in April 1971 as a "F/A LeGrand Wedge". The Mk 7 was bought by Jim Barron (Bragg City, MO), who raced it in SCCA Nationals in 1971, winning his class at Mid-America Raceway in May 1971 and finishing second of ten cars in Midwest Division Formula A that year, qualifying for the SCCA Runoffs. He raced it again in 1972, but only scored two points for fifth in class at Mid-America Raceway in September. He advertised the car in October 1972, and again much later in August 1974, when it was disassembled, and noted that he also had a ZF 5-speed gearbox and a Hewland DG300. Barron, who remembers the car as being '003', sold the Mk 7 to collector and future dealer Chuck Haines, who then lived in Pittsburg, PA. Chuck retained the car for many years. When he advertised it in December 2007 as a LeGrand Mk7A, it was black and wore #88, Gene Forsthofel's racing number in 1970, with 'Plaza Master Tune Up' signwriting from Forsthofel's 1970 sponsorship from that Kansas City company, and also "Team Mgr Don Hawthorne". The car had a chassis plate stating that it was a MK/7A built 12/68 and serial number 008. Some time before March 2013, the car was marked as sold.

Driven by: Gene Forsthofel and Jim Barron. First race: Mid-America Raceway, 5 Jul 1970. Total of 6 recorded races.

Joe Simmons (Sherman Oaks, CA) raced a LeGrand in the Formula A class in the SCCA National at Riverside in February 1971, the opening National of the west coast season. His car was entered by Import Motor Parts and ran as #28. Unfortunately, Simmons crashed at turn 2 during the race, and the car was "demolished". Nothing more known, but this may have been the ex-Tom McBurnie car.

Driven by: Joe Simmons. First race: Riverside, 14 Feb 1971. Only one recorded race.

Donald E. Chab (Grove City, PA) advertised a LeGrand Mk7A less engine with or without LG500 on 5 Feb 1972. Nothing more known but given the location, and Dave Wolin's recollection that he sold his car to someone near Pittsburg, this could be 'the Dave Wolin car'. For its likely next owner, see 'the Ed Lowther car', another Pennsylvania LeGrand.

At two SCCA Regionals at Willow Springs in late 1975, Ken Buck (Northridge, CA) raced a LeGrand in Formula A, coincidentally finishing eighth in each race. Nothing more known, but Northridge was a northern suburb of Los Angeles, just ten miles from the LeGrand factory at Sylmar. Buck advertised the car in April 1976, noting that it had a ZF transmission and had been Cal Club co-champion in 1975. He advertised it again in April 1977.

Driven by: Ken Buck. First race: Willow Springs, 5 Oct 1975. Total of 4 recorded races.

Bill Wiswedel's mystery LeGrand in 1981. Copyright Bill Wiswedel 2020. Used with permission.

Collector Bill Wiswedel (Holland, MI) acquired a LeGrand kit in 1980 from someone in Stevensville, Michigan, who did not provide any previous history on the car. It had mounts for a Chevrolet engine and Hewland gearbox, but Bill says that "I am positive that the car was never finished because the fuel tanks were not cut for fillers and the car was never plumbed or wired". He sold this car in February 1982 to Chuck Haines (St Louis, MO).

The Mayer Racing Team car at BRIC in 2005. Copyright Paul Medici 2005. Used with permission.

In September 1989, David Rose bought a LeGrand Mk 7 from Chuck Haines, and acquired with it what he described as "a short wheelbase tube frame which had never been used". He later sold the frame to Keith Harmer (Larchmont, NY), who advertised it in Autoweek. It was bought in 1996 by Bob Mayer (Chicago, IL), and he and Bill Carlander (Wauconda, IL) started to restore the car. It was believed at the time that it was the Pete Botsford car, and it was restored in red paintwork with Sam Posey's name on the side. In 2005, the car appeared at the BRIC vintage event at Road America. In 2014, the car was on display at the IMRRC at Watkins Glen, where it was examined by Botsford's former mechanic Mike Allison and driver Sam Posey, who felt that it was indeed their old car. Still owned by Meyer in October 2020.