From Newsgroup: rec.autos.sport.indy

from https://racer.com/2019/01/07/dont-call-it-a-comeback-formula-ford-at-50-is-showing-fresh-legs/

Don't call it a comeback: Formula Ford at 50 is showing fresh legs1969
saw the first Formula Ford SCCA Runoffs race. Skip Barber started the
race in 20th, but by lap 13 was in a position to win. Which he did.
Image by Daytona Speedway

By: Steve Nickless | January 7, 2019 1:48 PM

For more than half of Formula FordrCOs 50-year history, it was the SCCArCOs most popular and populous racing class. But with costs escalating,
supplies of its Ford 1,599cc engine drying up, and entries dwindling in
the 1990s, Formula Ford was essentially being put out to pasture. Then
in 2009, after much deliberation within the class, Formula Ford was
renamed rCLFormula F,rCY and a more modern and affordable Honda engine of similar displacement was introduced into the fray.

So, is that the FF story? Nope rCo not by a long shot.

Rushing headlong into the SCCArCOs 75th anniversary year in 2019, there
will be celebrations at several of AmericarCOs premier racetracks of
Formula FordrCOs 50th as the venerable, once-global-giant, single-seater
class is enjoying a most unlikely renaissance.

A decades-old mantra of rCLWant to go racing? Go Formula Ford!rCY is being heard again as drivers young and old are rediscovering the bang-for-the-racing-buck that FF of almost any vintage represents.

With a reliable Ford four-cylinder engine and sturdy gearbox, readily obtainable tires, and a wide variety of chassis choices, FFs were proper racing cars rCo more potent than their nearest-by-the-numbers rival,
Formula Vee, when they first showed their space-frame front-radiator
faces at SCCA races in 1968.

rCLThe basic rCysenserCO of Formula Ford appealed to a large number of people here in the U.S. all at the same time,rCY the late Jules Williams
explained to SportsCar magazine, SCCArCOs official publication, on the occasion of FFrCOs 20th anniversary in 1989. rCLHere was a nice racecar rCo a genuine race chassis rCo with a reliable motor in it. And an impressive
number of cars came in, all at one time.rCY

Williams would win the very first official SCCA rCLNationalrCY Formula Ford race, the Southern Pacific Division season-opener at Willow Springs
Raceway on March 23, 1969. By then he had been racing the Lotus 51B
bought new from a Texas-based importer for almost a year in the SCCArCOs Formula B class.

rCLThe FB guys had mixed feelings about the FFs,rCY Jules recalled. rCLWe were rCylow technology interlopersrCO rCo looked down upon. But, gradually, the attitude of most of the FB drivers changed, becoming more a matter of rCybenign indifference.'rCY

In 1968, the quality of the Formula B fields at many events was spotty.
By the end of the summer, FFs made up more than half the FB fields in
many areas, and what Jules termed a rCLquiet clamorrCY began within the
ranks for a separate class.

The SCCA, with an abundance of single-seater classes in its club racing repertoire including FA, FB, FC, a healthy and popular Formula Vee, and
plans for Super Vee on the drawing board, moved cautiously.

Formula Ford racing in the 1970s was big. This photo is from a Cal Club regional race at Riverside Raceway in 1973. Image by SportsCar Archive

Over the winter of 1968-rCO69, however, with more 100 made-in-England FF chassis already in the country, and three of the four top American Vee constructors rCo Gene Beach, Jerry Mong (Bobsy), and Ray Caldwell rCo
building FFs, the SCCA Board took action. In winter 1968-rCO69, Formula
Ford rCo a standalone class featuring 1,599cc Ford crossflow engines with
very limited modifications rCo was added to the approved classes list.

And the fun began!

Formula Ford was an English invention, unveiled in June 1967, created to
meet a critical need on the part of one of the biggest race-driving
schools rCo Motor Racing Stables rCo for reliable engines.

History points to a massive sea-change in the racing culture through the
late 1960s, as a sport once reserved for only the wealthiest few became increasingly accessible to every man, and every man, who had seen the
1966 movie hit Grand Prix, wanted to race a single-seater.

The SCCA with its expansive class structure was at the forefront of this
trend in the U.S., providing an opportunity to race, and do so
affordably. Almost overnight, Formula Ford shoved Vee aside at the
leading edge of the sport-for-all-with-dreams. The FF ranks swelled
quickly, all seven SCCA divisions sending drivers to the 1969 American
Road Racing Championships (what is now called the National Championship Runoffs) held that year on the Daytona high banks where experienced, 33-year-old Harvard University graduate John rCLSkiprCY Barber, racing a factory-supported Caldwell D-9, was crowned the first SCCA FF National Champion.

Barber was also the second FF National Champion, following up in 1970
with a dramatic win at Road Atlanta, then driving a quite unique
Italian-made Tecno.

Interestingly, while Britain dominated the U.S. FF market in sales
straight through to the middle 1980s, homegrown chassis from Caldwell,
ADF, Zink, Eagle, Citation, and Viking took 17 of the 24 National
Championship wins at Road Atlanta.

Through its first 20 years, Formula Ford was the spawning ground for
virtually all the drivers graduating to Formula 1, including many who
would claim world championships: Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt, Jody Scheckter, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, and Jacques Villeneuve all had FF racing on their resumes.

In the U.S., there were several pro racing pinnacles rCo IndyCar, SCCA
Can-Am and Trans Am, Prototypes rCo but as in Europe, for nearly two
decades, the drivers reaching the top could look back on SCCA Formula
Ford beginnings: David Loring, Gordon Smiley, Bob Earl, Danny Sullivan,
Willy T. Ribbs, Phil Krueger, Bob Lobenberg, Chip Ganassi, Dennis
Firestone, Ed Pimm, Kevin Cogan, Scott Brayton, Davy Jones, Jon
Beekhuis, Dominic Dobson, Jimmy Vasser, Bryan Herta, Scott Atchison,
Dean Hall, Michael, John and Jeff Andretti. The list goes on and on rCo an endless parade of talent through SCCA DriverrCOs Schools, Regionals, and Nationals.

In 1993, just ahead of Formula FordrCOs U.S. 25th anniversary, I wrote: rCLAyrton Senna and Chip Ganassi were terrific Formula Ford drivers who
passed right through [this class], Ayrton en route to the F1 world championship, Chip on his way to becoming an IndyCar [driver and] team
owner. Today they have little in common but, as fiercely determined,
winning FF drivers, they are bound together in the motorsports fabric.


The Formula Ford chassis narrowed in the 1980s compared to the original
wide design of the 1960s. Image by Ford

rCLAs a winnowing-out battleground from which only a few dreams ever
survived, FF racing [in the 1970s and rCO80s] was harshly demanding of individuals. There was always a lot of pushing and leaning and blocking,
much of it with serious consequences. Which makes the number of enduring friendships that began here quite astounding.rCY

Indeed, the intensity of the racing in those decades where FF peaked in
a frenzy is very difficult to capture in words as are the rCLfriendships
which began here.rCY Seventy car FF fields at the June Sprints and
Riverside Nationals were not unusual, and FF grids were packed at
Regionals and Nationals elsewhere, even though stalwarts like four-time
SCCA National Champ Dave Weitzenhof, East Coast star Bruce MacInnes, double-champ Eddie Miller, Jackson Yonge, and many other rCLarea specialistsrCY were incredibly tough to beat.

At stake in the 1970s and rCO80s, though, were not only a driverrCOs future but also the survival of a burgeoning number of chassis manufacturers
able to build semi-stable businesses around the FF class. ItrCOs fair to
say that the whole idea of a rCLproduction race carrCY emerged from the FF concept, Motor Racing StablerCOs original order for 50 Lotus 51 Formula
Fords in 1967 for its school and race series was one of Lotus
ComponentsrCO largest single orders ever.

Then, in 1983, the Swift DB-1 happened: The third Formula Ford chassis
design by ex-McDonnell Douglas aerospace engineer David Bruns was a huge
leap forward. A National Championship winner first time out in 1983, it
soon laid waste to the FF market, proving virtually unbeatable on many
tracks for the next decade.

At almost the same time, the SCCA rCo determined to keep a handle on costs
at the entry level rCo unveiled the Sports Renault: Spec chassis, spec
engine, spec tires, ruthless control of the parts inventory, and
incredibly attractive pricing. Oh, and a pro series to go along with it.

In intensity and numbers, Formula Ford never truly recovered. Then in
the 2000s with declining entry counts and Ford engine sourcing issues,
the SCCA in conjunction with Honda introduced a second powerplant,
renaming the class to Formula F rCo the rCLFrCY now noting the Ford-powered cars and cars with the 1,496cc Honda motor sourced from the Fit. With
the neat Honda engine package slipping surprisingly easily into several existing FF chassis, Formula F was soon established in SCCA and as an
entry level pro series in both the U.S. and Canada.


Formula Ford racing from the 1960s and rCO70s may have been different from today, but the drive to win is every bit as strong. Image by SportsCar
Archive

Happily, for its fans of old, FF refused to die. Almost simultaneously
with the announcement of the new Formula F came word that production of
the Kent Ford engine block had been resumed, potentially spurred by
HondarCOs announcement of entering the class. In a way, HondarCOs entry, although changing the direction of the class, also saved it in the U.S.

With engines and other critical components newly available, and an
abundance of chassis parked in the back corners of garages all over the
U.S. (some put estimates of surviving FF chassis near the 1,000 mark),
most of the major vintage racing groups took a fresh look at Formula
Ford, warmly inviting them, and splitting them up into three sensible sub-classes (loosely Pre-1973; 1973-rCO81; and 1982-rCO08).

Last year saw FF fields of more than 40 cars at vintage events in
several areas of the country, an entry boon for SCCA Regionals in those
same locations as older FFs showed up to rCLre-stockrCY the Club Ford class.

There are also new rCLall-comerrCY series like the prototypical six-event Right Coast FF Series hosted by two long-time SCCA movers and shakers
Mike Rand and Joe Marcinski, where Kent Fords (Historic, Club, and
Modern) line up alongside Hondas in a three-races-per-weekend format.

Only a few of the more than 200 FF manufacturers remain, as sales volume
of new cars is nothing like it was in the 1970s and rCO80s. Still, the
market for new Kent FFs for the UK as well as Honda-powered FFs for
North America and Duratec Fords for Australia have kept nearly a dozen manufacturers afloat, and the wide-track, dart-shaped 21st century FFs
are so spectacular.

ItrCOs the older cars, the pre-2009 chassis, though, that have our
attention heading into this anniversary year. For a reasonable price, thererCOs a fantastic amount of track time on offer for SCCA Regional regulars; for teenagers looking for an affordable first step in a real
racing car; and for oldsters like Yours Truly, who hear the echoes of
Formula FordrCOs rich past and canrCOt wait to get back out there.

Formula Ford, SCCA / SportsCar Magazine


CRANDALL: Ford's next mission
120 shares20 Dec 18
Corey LaJoie joins GoFas Racing

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From Newsgroup: rec.autos.sport.indy

On 1/9/2019 11:32 AM, a425couple wrote:

from https://racer.com/2019/01/07/dont-call-it-a-comeback-formula-ford-at-50-is-showing-fresh-legs/

Don't call it a comeback: Formula Ford at 50 is showing fresh legs1969
saw the first Formula Ford SCCA Runoffs race. Skip Barber started the
race in 20th, but by lap 13 was in a position to win. Which he did.
Image by Daytona Speedway

By: Steve Nickless-a-a-a | January 7, 2019 1:48 PM

For more than half of Formula FordrCOs 50-year history, it was the SCCArCOs most popular and populous racing class. But with costs escalating,
supplies of its Ford 1,599cc engine drying up, and entries dwindling in
the 1990s, Formula Ford was essentially being put out to pasture. Then
in 2009, after much deliberation within the class, Formula Ford was
renamed rCLFormula F,rCY and a more modern and affordable Honda engine of similar displacement was introduced into the fray.

So, is that the FF story? Nope rCo not by a long shot.

Rushing headlong into the SCCArCOs 75th anniversary year in 2019, there
will be celebrations at several of AmericarCOs premier racetracks of
Formula FordrCOs 50th as the venerable, once-global-giant, single-seater class is enjoying a most unlikely renaissance.

A decades-old mantra of rCLWant to go racing? Go Formula Ford!rCY is being heard again as drivers young and old are rediscovering the bang-for-the-racing-buck that FF of almost any vintage represents.

With a reliable Ford four-cylinder engine and sturdy gearbox, readily obtainable tires, and a wide variety of chassis choices, FFs were proper racing cars rCo more potent than their nearest-by-the-numbers rival,
Formula Vee, when they first showed their space-frame front-radiator
faces at SCCA races in 1968.

rCLThe basic rCysenserCO of Formula Ford appealed to a large number of people
here in the U.S. all at the same time,rCY the late Jules Williams
explained to SportsCar magazine, SCCArCOs official publication, on the occasion of FFrCOs 20th anniversary in 1989. rCLHere was a nice racecar rCo a
genuine race chassis rCo with a reliable motor in it. And an impressive number of cars came in, all at one time.rCY

Williams would win the very first official SCCA rCLNationalrCY Formula Ford race, the Southern Pacific Division season-opener at Willow Springs
Raceway on March 23, 1969. By then he had been racing the Lotus 51B
bought new from a Texas-based importer for almost a year in the SCCArCOs Formula B class.

rCLThe FB guys had mixed feelings about the FFs,rCY Jules recalled. rCLWe were
rCylow technology interlopersrCO rCo looked down upon. But, gradually, the attitude of most of the FB drivers changed, becoming more a matter of rCybenign indifference.'rCY

In 1968, the quality of the Formula B fields at many events was spotty.
By the end of the summer, FFs made up more than half the FB fields in
many areas, and what Jules termed a rCLquiet clamorrCY began within the ranks for a separate class.

The SCCA, with an abundance of single-seater classes in its club racing repertoire including FA, FB, FC, a healthy and popular Formula Vee, and plans for Super Vee on the drawing board, moved cautiously.

Formula Ford racing in the 1970s was big. This photo is from a Cal Club regional race at Riverside Raceway in 1973. Image by SportsCar Archive

Over the winter of 1968-rCO69, however, with more 100 made-in-England FF chassis already in the country, and three of the four top American Vee constructors rCo Gene Beach, Jerry Mong (Bobsy), and Ray Caldwell rCo building FFs, the SCCA Board took action. In winter 1968-rCO69, Formula
Ford rCo a standalone class featuring 1,599cc Ford crossflow engines with very limited modifications rCo was added to the approved classes list.

And the fun began!

Formula Ford was an English invention, unveiled in June 1967, created to meet a critical need on the part of one of the biggest race-driving
schools rCo Motor Racing Stables rCo for reliable engines.

History points to a massive sea-change in the racing culture through the late 1960s, as a sport once reserved for only the wealthiest few became increasingly accessible to every man, and every man, who had seen the
1966 movie hit Grand Prix, wanted to race a single-seater.

The SCCA with its expansive class structure was at the forefront of this trend in the U.S., providing an opportunity to race, and do so
affordably. Almost overnight, Formula Ford shoved Vee aside at the
leading edge of the sport-for-all-with-dreams. The FF ranks swelled
quickly, all seven SCCA divisions sending drivers to the 1969 American
Road Racing Championships (what is now called the National Championship Runoffs) held that year on the Daytona high banks where experienced, 33-year-old Harvard University graduate John rCLSkiprCY Barber, racing a factory-supported Caldwell D-9, was crowned the first SCCA FF National Champion.

Barber was also the second FF National Champion, following up in 1970
with a dramatic win at Road Atlanta, then driving a quite unique Italian-made Tecno.

Interestingly, while Britain dominated the U.S. FF market in sales
straight through to the middle 1980s, homegrown chassis from Caldwell,
ADF, Zink, Eagle, Citation, and Viking took 17 of the 24 National Championship wins at Road Atlanta.

Through its first 20 years, Formula Ford was the spawning ground for virtually all the drivers graduating to Formula 1, including many who
would claim world championships: Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt, Jody Scheckter, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, and Jacques Villeneuve all had FF racing on their resumes.

In the U.S., there were several pro racing pinnacles rCo IndyCar, SCCA Can-Am and Trans Am, Prototypes rCo but as in Europe, for nearly two decades, the drivers reaching the top could look back on SCCA Formula
Ford beginnings: David Loring, Gordon Smiley, Bob Earl, Danny Sullivan, Willy T. Ribbs, Phil Krueger, Bob Lobenberg, Chip Ganassi, Dennis
Firestone, Ed Pimm, Kevin Cogan, Scott Brayton, Davy Jones, Jon
Beekhuis, Dominic Dobson, Jimmy Vasser, Bryan Herta, Scott Atchison,
Dean Hall, Michael, John and Jeff Andretti. The list goes on and on rCo an endless parade of talent through SCCA DriverrCOs Schools, Regionals, and Nationals.

In 1993, just ahead of Formula FordrCOs U.S. 25th anniversary, I wrote: rCLAyrton Senna and Chip Ganassi were terrific Formula Ford drivers who passed right through [this class], Ayrton en route to the F1 world championship, Chip on his way to becoming an IndyCar [driver and] team owner. Today they have little in common but, as fiercely determined,
winning FF drivers, they are bound together in the motorsports fabric.

The Formula Ford chassis narrowed in the 1980s compared to the original
wide design of the 1960s. Image by Ford

rCLAs a winnowing-out battleground from which only a few dreams ever survived, FF racing [in the 1970s and rCO80s] was harshly demanding of individuals. There was always a lot of pushing and leaning and blocking, much of it with serious consequences. Which makes the number of enduring friendships that began here quite astounding.rCY

Indeed, the intensity of the racing in those decades where FF peaked in
a frenzy is very difficult to capture in words as are the rCLfriendships which began here.rCY Seventy car FF fields at the June Sprints and
Riverside Nationals were not unusual, and FF grids were packed at
Regionals and Nationals elsewhere, even though stalwarts like four-time
SCCA National Champ Dave Weitzenhof, East Coast star Bruce MacInnes, double-champ Eddie Miller, Jackson Yonge, and many other rCLarea specialistsrCY were incredibly tough to beat.

At stake in the 1970s and rCO80s, though, were not only a driverrCOs future but also the survival of a burgeoning number of chassis manufacturers
able to build semi-stable businesses around the FF class. ItrCOs fair to
say that the whole idea of a rCLproduction race carrCY emerged from the FF concept, Motor Racing StablerCOs original order for 50 Lotus 51 Formula Fords in 1967 for its school and race series was one of Lotus
ComponentsrCO largest single orders ever.

Then, in 1983, the Swift DB-1 happened: The third Formula Ford chassis design by ex-McDonnell Douglas aerospace engineer David Bruns was a huge leap forward. A National Championship winner first time out in 1983, it
soon laid waste to the FF market, proving virtually unbeatable on many tracks for the next decade.

At almost the same time, the SCCA rCo determined to keep a handle on costs at the entry level rCo unveiled the Sports Renault: Spec chassis, spec engine, spec tires, ruthless control of the parts inventory, and
incredibly attractive pricing. Oh, and a pro series to go along with it.

In intensity and numbers, Formula Ford never truly recovered. Then in
the 2000s with declining entry counts and Ford engine sourcing issues,
the SCCA in conjunction with Honda introduced a second powerplant,
renaming the class to Formula F rCo the rCLFrCY now noting the Ford-powered cars and cars with the 1,496cc Honda motor sourced from the Fit. With
the neat Honda engine package slipping surprisingly easily into several existing FF chassis, Formula F was soon established in SCCA and as an
entry level pro series in both the U.S. and Canada.

Formula Ford racing from the 1960s and rCO70s may have been different from today, but the drive to win is every bit as strong. Image by SportsCar Archive

Happily, for its fans of old, FF refused to die. Almost simultaneously
with the announcement of the new Formula F came word that production of
the Kent Ford engine block had been resumed, potentially spurred by HondarCOs announcement of entering the class. In a way, HondarCOs entry, although changing the direction of the class, also saved it in the U.S.

With engines and other critical components newly available, and an
abundance of chassis parked in the back corners of garages all over the
U.S. (some put estimates of surviving FF chassis near the 1,000 mark),
most of the major vintage racing groups took a fresh look at Formula
Ford, warmly inviting them, and splitting them up into three sensible sub-classes (loosely Pre-1973; 1973-rCO81; and 1982-rCO08).

Last year saw FF fields of more than 40 cars at vintage events in
several areas of the country, an entry boon for SCCA Regionals in those
same locations as older FFs showed up to rCLre-stockrCY the Club Ford class.

There are also new rCLall-comerrCY series like the prototypical six-event Right Coast FF Series hosted by two long-time SCCA movers and shakers
Mike Rand and Joe Marcinski, where Kent Fords (Historic, Club, and
Modern) line up alongside Hondas in a three-races-per-weekend format.

Only a few of the more than 200 FF manufacturers remain, as sales volume
of new cars is nothing like it was in the 1970s and rCO80s. Still, the market for new Kent FFs for the UK as well as Honda-powered FFs for
North America and Duratec Fords for Australia have kept nearly a dozen manufacturers afloat, and the wide-track, dart-shaped 21st century FFs
are so spectacular.

ItrCOs the older cars, the pre-2009 chassis, though, that have our
attention heading into this anniversary year. For a reasonable price, thererCOs a fantastic amount of track time on offer for SCCA Regional regulars; for teenagers looking for an affordable first step in a real racing car; and for oldsters like Yours Truly, who hear the echoes of Formula FordrCOs rich past and canrCOt wait to get back out there.

Formula Ford, SCCA / SportsCar Magazine

CRANDALL: Ford's next mission
120 shares20 Dec 18
Corey LaJoie joins GoFas Racing

Wow. What a blast from the past.

Mike Rand was a long-time (1970s-80s) FB/F-Atlantic entrant/driver and
Joe Marcinski was as I recall a pure FF entrant/driver of the same era.
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