USRRC 1963-1968; A Review

Although there were earlier successful examples of the sports car rear engine syndrome, particular with Porsche, it was perhaps the Zerex Special of Roger Penske that brought home the point emphatically. To watch and listen to Penske at work with his envelope-bodied Cooper-Climax F1 car was a sight and sound to behold. Soon his crowd was doing him one better, stuffing Fords and Chevys into the tight little tails of every Cooper Monaco and Lotus 19 they could find. And like Penske, they wanted to race for dollars. And thus, the seeds of the Can Am era were sown, and racing would never be the same again.

Ed Cantrell's Ferrari 250GTO at the 63 Pensacola USRRC Manufacturers Race. He finished third behind the GTO's of Mike Gammino and Roger Penske. Such Italian success was short lived. Photo by Bill Brannon courtesy Bob Brannon.

USRRC, A record of the United States Road Racing Championship 1963-1968 is an enthusiastic book which documents that exciting, noisy, time, in a way reflecting the social changes that were taking place in the nation, while proving that American know-how and muscle would finally prevail, at least on the racetrack. The cars, too, were in transition. During the first year, front engine cars like the Chaparral 1 and the Meister Brauser Scarabs were still competitive, and some races featured epic battles between the Ferrari GTO, the lightweight Jags and the Corvettes. But by the end of the series, no competitive sports racer had a front engine. Professional or amateur, rear engine or front, European vs American all these differences played out in a spectacular fashion on the grids of the American racetracks.

1963, Laguna Seca. The front engined Scarab of Don Devine gets by a Lotus 23 driven by Bill Molle. But the end for the front engined cars was in sight. Photo by Allen R. Kuhn

The USRRC did not adhere to the earlier multi-class SCCA system. Instead, there was a Manufacturers Race and Championship for cars like the Cobra, Corvette and other GT cars over two liters, and a Drivers Race and Championship with two classes, again over and under two liters which consisted of out and out sports racers. This ideal simplicity was lost due to a rather complex system of points scoring, which eventually allowed George Follmer to win the Drivers Championship in 1965 driving an under two liter Lotus Porsche over a perturbed Jim Hall who won six races overall with his Chevy powered Chaparral. Other champions included Bob Holbert, Charlie Parsons and in the last two years, Mark Donohue, who teamed up with former driver Roger Penske in what would be a long running and successful relationship.

Hall and Sharp dominated the 1965 season with the Chaparrals. Sharp won here at Mid-Ohio with the 2A but Follmer won the Drivers Championship in a Lotus-Porsche. Photo by Dave Arnold.

Author Mike Martin attended his first professional race in 1966 at Pacific Raceways and was immediately drawn into the scene as he witnessed coming-man Mark Donohue win his first USRRC. As Martin points out, there are books about the SCCA, the Trans Am and the Can Am, but none so far on this exciting series that bridged the old SCCA amateur series with the fully professional Can Am series of the 1960s and ‘70s. Twenty years ago he found that no one had bothered to do a book on the USRRC and he made it his project. Fifty one years after the first USRRC event Mike’s huge 344 page 12 x 9 inch opus on the subject was finally published.

Fortunately, Martin’s USRRC appears as a fully professional work from the glossy box to the jacketed hardback cover and heavyweight inside paper with excellent layout; it is almost as good as anything produced by top publishers like Dalton Watson. The foreword is by USRRC racer George Follmer, who was the 1965 Champion. Martin’s text consists primarily of covering each of the fifty two events in chronological order and the race reports are clear, well written and just long enough to cover the event without becoming redundant. There are full results with as much information as can be found, as well as color program covers from every event as well, adding a nice and consistent touch. We noted only a couple of caption errors out of the four hundred. Martin also perhaps wisely did not attempt to list serial numbers, as many of the cars were one –off specials and there were few Maseratis and Ferraris in the fray. There is a brief index and a much more complete section dealing with the layout of each one of the tracks used in the series and an appendix of statistics.

Mark Donohue in the pits 1966. The beginning of a great team. Penske leans over the Lola T70 with the pit board. Photo by Dave Arnold.

The over-400 photos were accumulated from a long list of photographers and resources such as The Henry Ford museum/David Freidman, Revs/Collier and most are excellent. In some cases, even though the shot was not entirely suitable or out of focus, it was included to augment the record. A few lost focus as they were expanded to fit the book’s large format, but these few do not detract from the book. In this age of perfect digital photography, we often forget how really tough getting good racing shots were in the era of heavy long lenses with manual focus and slow speed film.

Along with Terry O’Neil’s work on the U.S. Northeast and Bahamas racing scene and Willem Oosthoek’s Racing in the South, Martin’s USRRC significantly adds to the history of automobile racing in the United States. It’s a great effort and certainly much needed. Martin hopes to continue as a publisher, with several books in the queue about American sports car racing. With this book, he is on his way.

USRRC, A record of the United States Road Racing Championship 1963-1968
Dead Pedal Press, Seattle Washington
Boxed, Hardcover, 348 glossy pages, 400 b&w and color illustrations
ISBN 978-0-9857300-1-1
$100.00 plus shipping
Order From
http://grimeheel.blogspot.com/ or use Paypal address: grimeheel62@comcast.net.

For U.S. residents this will be available directly from the author, for $115 ($100 + $15 for shipping). Washington State residents will have to pay $125 ($100 + $10 tax + $15 shipping).
For Canadian residents the price is $150 US, which includes shipping.
The price including shipping for European residents is $170.

Only 1,000 copies are being printed, with 900 available for sale.

You can also send a check to:

Mike Martin
6043 – 45th Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98136-1426

Questions can be sent to the author at: grimeheel62@comcast.net

This book may also be purchased at the following retail shops:

Auto Books-Aero Books
2900 W. Magnolia Ave
Burbank, CA 91505
phone: 818-845-0707

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In Canada at:

Wilkinson’s Automobilia
2531 Ontario St
Vancouver, BC V5T 2X7
phone: +1 604-873-6242
http://www.eautomobilia.com/