32 replies to this topic

[Mike Summers]

I would appreciate help from list experts to help me identify owners of this Chevron which I now own. (or at least a big pile of parts that will someday be this car again). This picture was taken somewhere around 1971/72. The man sitting in the car is who I believe to be the second owner, his name is Garey Cooper. Garey's memory is fuzzy as to whom he bought the car from. What he does remember is that he purchased the car locally (Southern California) and that it may have been advertised in Autoweek/Competition Press. When he got the car it was SOLID YELLOW (no stripes), had a shorter roll hoop and no wing. Garey raced the car at Riverside, Ontario, Sears Point, Holtview and Las Vegas. Garey also remembers the dash ID plate said "B-9" or even "B-9b" but not B-14. This leads me to believe that the car was purchsed used outside of the country and brought in, possibly by Fred Opert, and then had a Twin Cam installed. As opposed to a new B-14 built with Twin Cam. I also know that the car was sold by Garey Cooper to Joseph Ordoqui, also in So Cal, around 1973/74. Any help would be appreciated in locating or identifying the owner(s) before Garey Cooper.

Mike Summers


By bluesbrother30 at 2011-11-24

Edited by Mike Summers, 26 November 2011 - 03:56.

[Allen Brown]

Congratulations on making further progress.

Garey Cooper appears just once so far in the results I've been able to collate - finishing ninth in a Cal Club Regional at Riverside 28 May 1972.

Nearly all the Chevrons that appear in that area at that time are known to be B18s or B17s or B15s - some of which were yellow of course - but there are a few worth pursuing. Top of my list would be Byron Hatten of Altadena, CA who had a FB Chevron at Holtville Aerodrome 30 Jan 1972 in a poorly supported San Diego Regional. If you're getting anywhere with Cal Club, that name might be worth asking about. I don't know the colour.

Casting the net a little wider, Warren A Flickinger II (Golden, CO) had raced a yellow and coral Chevron that would be old enough in 1969. A bit early and a good way from SoCal, but a car could plausibly have been sold from Colorado into SoCal and t could have lurked in the unreported depths of SoCal FB in 1970 before Cooper bought it.

I'm not sure that a B9/B9B/B14 would have had a chassis plate giving its type number. Chevron didn't invent their chassis types until the end of 1968 when they went back over their production and applied retrospective type numbers.

Edited by Allen Brown, 26 November 2011 - 10:51.

[Mike Summers]

Allen, yes is a slow process. I did just open a PM from a lister who had some Autoweek copies in hand. He found a Chevron for sale in 71 and 72 which is similiar to my car. Was advertised by a Joe Alves of Woodland Hills. I called the number that was in the ad but found it not working. That would be a great source if we can find him. But not surprising after 40 years. The Warren Flickinger name keeps popping up. My friend Scott Meehan at Motorsports Services in Utah, brought it to my attention. I could not find a phone number but sent a letter to the last known address. Sadly was returned with no forwarding address. I will just keep plugging away.

Mike Summers

[Allen Brown]

Joe Alves became famous shortly after as the special effects guy on the film Jaws. I am lined up to do a phone interview with him but haven't been able to make the time. His car was the ex-Smothers car iirc, but I still don't know whether that was a B9, a fourth B14 or the prototype B15.

Flickinger is deceased. Somebody told me recently that he was in touch with his son.

[Mike Summers]

Allen,

Would you mind sending me via PM your contact info for Alves. I did hear that Flickinger Sr. had passed. I believe the returned letter I had sent was for the son. Anyone out there know the whereabouts of Warren Flickinger II?? Colorado possibly?

ms

[Allen Brown]

Allen,

Would you mind sending me via PM your contact info for Alves.

ms

The Chevron is already on my list of questions for the interview. Should be done this week.

[Chris Townsend]

Mike,

In addition to Allen's list of names you might want to check out,
Peter Darr (run as FC/FB) for sale Autoweek 14 November 70 p. 25 'works convert to F2; Lotus t/c' Government Camp Oregon. Unspecified model. The works convert to F2 suggests it might be the first B10 from 1968.
Wayne Kelly (Canadian) has a B9 converted to FB spec in 1969 which disappears
Steve Matchett, buys Howden Ganley's B15, advertises it in Autoweek, 22 Sept 1970
Jerry Craft FB Chevron for sale Autoweek 22 August 70 p.26

I agree with Allen about Bryon Hatten, but you should also try and track down Doug Turner, 339 62nd St Newport Beach CA 92660 in 1973. He runs a B15 in FC spec for several years. It can't be your car, because it clashes with the Cooper ownership of yours up to 1976, BUT he is an alternative owner for all the cars we're listing as possibles for you, and if you find out where his car comes from it narrows the field.

Chris

[Allen Brown]

I agree with Allen about Bryon Hatten

Except that you call him Bryon and I call him Byron - but apart from that ...

you should also try and track down Doug Turner

Passed away c2003 I'm afraid

[E1pix]

Would you mind sending me via PM your contact info for Alves. I did hear that Flickinger Sr. had passed. I believe the returned letter I had sent was for the son. Anyone out there know the whereabouts of Warren Flickinger II?? Colorado possibly?

Doesn't mean much I realize, but I looked in the Denver, Boulder, and Golden phone books and there's no Warren Flickinger, III. Other Flickingers, though no Warren or W.

Some sites I see list the elder Flickinger as "II," so maybe you're looking for Warren III, the 3rd.

Edited by E1pix, 30 November 2011 - 02:42.

[Mike Summers]

Thanks to all for your input. Garey Cooper, shown in the photo, has supplied me with what he believes is the Chevron as purchased. This may have been his first outing for he and the Chevron after buying the car.

I spoke with Doug Brenner yesterday, he told me that Byron Hatten passed several years ago. He thought Alves might be a info source.

Anyone know how I can contact BUD POGUE?

MS



By bluesbrother30 at 2011-11-30

[Allen Brown]

Is that Cooper's #24 on the side or the previous owner's? Larry Wright ran as #24 in his B15B at Road America in July 1970. I have his home town as Riverside, CA, but he raced as a member of Indianapolis Region in SCCA FB in 1970. I don't know the colour of his Chevron but maybe when I get hold of the Lime Rock program it will tell me.

[Allen Brown]

By the way, do you mean Bud Pauge?

[Mike Summers]

Not sure of spelling, he was involved with Formula B cars in the day. Is now supposed to work for Impact/Redline.

ms

[Allen Brown]

That's Bud Pauge. I emailed him about his Brabham BT38 a while ago but didn't hear back from him.

I contacted him via: http://www.redlinewe.../contactus.html

[Mike Summers]

Anyone know how to contact Brian Robertson, former Ralt Distributor and Opert team driver.

Mike Summers

[Mike Summers]

Anyone heard of a Tom Tufts?? He was supposed to have purchased a B-9/17 through Fred Opert and raced it as a Formula B car here in the US

ms

[Allen Brown]

http://www.oldracing...fb/1968/cendiv/

[Mike Summers]

Allen, go to Ten Tenths, B-17 Chassis archive, post 13......................

ms

[Allen Brown]

Good spot. Just goes to prove that it's worth writing these things down because one day the jigsaw pieces will fit together.

[Chris Townsend]

Anyone heard of a Tom Tufts?? He was supposed to have purchased a B-9/17 through Fred Opert and raced it as a Formula B car here in the US

ms

Tufts car was a B14
Opert stock list 21 August 1968 says three B14s sold to Tufts, Grimaldi and Broeker and quotes 6 weeks lead time for new cars
Confirmed by
sale to Tom Gelb 1969, invoice from Tufts to Gelb, giving chassis number FB/8. Crashed badly by Gelb in pro race at Mosport late 69. He sold remains to Opert and retired.

Chris

[Mike Summers]

I wanted to do a bit of follow-up on my original post. Although I have yet to identify the first owner of my Chevron B-9, there is a car and driver that continues to pop up in my research as a "maybe". During the 1969 and 1970 season, Formula B class SCCA Mid West Division, there was a Warren A. Flickinger (Golden Colorado) competing in a Chevron B-9. He in fact did well with several top finishes. During my initial research, I had thought that there was a "senior" Warren Flickinger driving and that he may have had a son that went to the races with him, possibly as crew. A few days ago, I spoke with Fred Opert who was responsible for importing Chevrons back in the day. Without prompting, Opert told me that he remembered that there was a "young son" who drove the cars and that the dad was the sponsor. He thought the son might have come out of kart racing prior to doing business with them. My research revealed that the senior Flickinger has passed but the son, now about age 66, may still be in the Colorado area. I came up with a couple of addresses but have had letters return unclaimed.

I have contacted some SCCA folks in the Colorado area and they are asking around. I have spent time searching the usual net places and have found a couple of pics of Flickinger driving a later Lola F5000 and even a personal picture of him out of a car. Have also seen the results posted by Old Racing Cars......... What I need is a picture of the Chevron B-9 that he drove during those two years. Also any contact or sponsor info to follow up on. Thanks to all the comments and suggestions.

Mike

[Allen Brown]

Mike, how have you established that Flickinger's car was a B9?

[Mike Summers]

If memory serves me, from results in ORC.com and Operts comments that he "probably had a B-9 car that we converted in England or here by us".

ms

[Allen Brown]

Definitely not from ORC.com results as Flickinger's car is one of the most irritating Chevron mysteries. Opert's "probably" comment isn't enough to hang an id on.

[Allen Brown]

The Warren Flickinger we're after is Warren Albert Flickinger II who was born 16 Apr 1947 so he'd have been 22 in 1969 which would fit Fred Opert's recollection of his age. The elder Warren A. Flickinger was born 22 May 1921 and died 27 Oct 1997 in Lakewood, Colorado. I was under the impression that "our" Warren had died but both were architects so I could well have got confused by a report of his father's death. It looks like the father raced as well, unless "our" Warren was racing a Corvette age 6, and racingsportcars.com have combined them into one person.

A Warren A Flickinger was living in Denver in 2002 but I can't find anything more recent.

[Mike Summers]

Opert and reading your note sections, "most likely a B-9"...............I am getting old, I guess if I read it often enough I becomes true !!

ms

[gfastr]

I wanted to do a bit of follow-up on my original post. Although I have yet to identify the first owner of my Chevron B-9, there is a car and driver that continues to pop up in my research as a "maybe". During the 1969 and 1970 season, Formula B class SCCA Mid West Division, there was a Warren A. Flickinger (Golden Colorado) competing in a Chevron B-9. He in fact did well with several top finishes. During my initial research, I had thought that there was a "senior" Warren Flickinger driving and that he may have had a son that went to the races with him, possibly as crew. A few days ago, I spoke with Fred Opert who was responsible for importing Chevrons back in the day. Without prompting, Opert told me that he remembered that there was a "young son" who drove the cars and that the dad was the sponsor. He thought the son might have come out of kart racing prior to doing business with them. My research revealed that the senior Flickinger has passed but the son, now about age 66, may still be in the Colorado area. I came up with a couple of addresses but have had letters return unclaimed.

I have contacted some SCCA folks in the Colorado area and they are asking around. I have spent time searching the usual net places and have found a couple of pics of Flickinger driving a later Lola F5000 and even a personal picture of him out of a car. Have also seen the results posted by Old Racing Cars......... What I need is a picture of the Chevron B-9 that he drove during those two years. Also any contact or sponsor info to follow up on. Thanks to all the comments and suggestions.

Mike

FWIW I have a photo of Lola F5000 at Lime Rock Park in 1972, and it's lettered Warren "Flick" Flickinger II.

[Vettefinderjim]

I wanted to do a bit of follow-up on my original post. Although I have yet to identify the first owner of my Chevron B-9, there is a car and driver that continues to pop up in my research as a "maybe". During the 1969 and 1970 season, Formula B class SCCA Mid West Division, there was a Warren A. Flickinger (Golden Colorado) competing in a Chevron B-9. He in fact did well with several top finishes. During my initial research, I had thought that there was a "senior" Warren Flickinger driving and that he may have had a son that went to the races with him, possibly as crew. A few days ago, I spoke with Fred Opert who was responsible for importing Chevrons back in the day. Without prompting, Opert told me that he remembered that there was a "young son" who drove the cars and that the dad was the sponsor. He thought the son might have come out of kart racing prior to doing business with them. My research revealed that the senior Flickinger has passed but the son, now about age 66, may still be in the Colorado area. I came up with a couple of addresses but have had letters return unclaimed.

I have contacted some SCCA folks in the Colorado area and they are asking around. I have spent time searching the usual net places and have found a couple of pics of Flickinger driving a later Lola F5000 and even a personal picture of him out of a car. Have also seen the results posted by Old Racing Cars......... What I need is a picture of the Chevron B-9 that he drove during those two years. Also any contact or sponsor info to follow up on. Thanks to all the comments and suggestions.

Mike

WARREN FLICKINGER was the driver of the Artic Blue 1957 Corvette at NASSAU SPEED WEEK on December 6-7, 1957.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Nassau, Bahamas, Windsor Field, Governors Race,
December 7, 1956
#13- Blue Ferrari 860 Monza- Alfonso Portago
#25- White D Jagurar- John Fitch
#72- White Corvette- Fred Windridge
#43- Blue Corvette- Warren Flickinger
#36- White Corvette- Jim Jeffords
#15- White Corvette- Dr. Dick Thompson
#98- Red Ferrari 410 Sport- Carroll Shelby
#117- Red Corvette SR-2- Ray Crawford
#108- Maroon Kurtis Cadillac- Lou Brero, Jr.

I would sure like to talk to him......or now his son if he is ever found.
Thanks,
JIM GESSNER
CORVETTE HISTORIAN

Edited by Vettefinderjim, 26 December 2011 - 18:21.

[Mike Summers]

I have discoverd a second "Cal Club" number on the roll hoop of my Chevron. The number is 19.402. "19" stands for the So Cal region and "402" is the registration number for car and owner info. I checked with my source at Cal Club, Allen Coy, and he did not have records that go back that far. He thought it might be around 1970/71 ish. Anyone out there have old Cal Club records that they are sitting on??

Mike Summers
Chevron B-9/10/14 ??

[Mike Summers]

After posting in Nov of 2011, I have spoken to several sources about the history of Chevron B-9 cars that made their way to the US for racing. I have narrowed my search down to three cars and wanted to repost to see if I could generate some new information. In the history search for my car, a Chevron B-9, I was able to identity the owner in 1971 as Garey Cooper. Its history trail is less clear prior to 1971. There were three Chevron B-9 cars that I was not able to track down from 1969 to 1971. First is the Warren Flickinger car, driven by Flickinger II (the son), out of the Denver area. He last drove the car in 1969 and moved to a Winkelmann for 1970. The father has since passed but I did mangae to locate the son, but alas, his current address in a homeless shelter in downtown Denver. I have left messeges with the staff but was told not to expect much. The B-9 was painted yellow at the time and its whereabouts is unknown. Second on my list is the Tom Tufts/Thomas Gelb car that was owned by Stan Roadge. Tufts drove the car for a season and was replaced by Gelb. Gelb put the car upside down at Mosport and "went fishing" after that. The car was damaged but I found that it was repaired and sold. Gelb, a former Harley Davidson exec, cannot remember where the car went. Lastly was the Chevron B-9 driven by Canadian Wayne Kelly in 1969. Kelly was tragically killed a couple of years later in a support race at Mosport. I cannot find any info on where that car may have gone. The car was painted purple and white at the time Kelly drove it.

So, if anyone has any fresh ideas on where these cars may have gone please contact me on or off forum. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Mike Summers

[Allen Brown]

A couple of snippets for you:

* The Tufts/Gelb car was advertised by Fred Opert in 1970 - although I suspect you already know this
* And, as a by-the-way, do you have the 1969 Horst Kwech's "Alfa Special" Formula A car on your list? It was comprised of a Chevron chassis and 2.5-litre Alfa engine and the chassis was advertised in 1970 as "1969 Chevron Formula 2 complete with FT200 transmission". I'm pretty sure this means it was the ex-Lythgoe/Gethin B10 which Opert had advertised in Dec 1968. Am I right in assuming that the cars you're looking for - and your own car - had Mk5s or Mk 6s? The B15/B15b brochure says "Mk 6" for the B15 and "Mk 5 or FT200" for the B15b which isn't very helpful.

EDIT: removed red herring

Edited by Allen Brown, 16 May 2012 - 10:20.

[RonPohl]

Not sure of spelling, he was involved with Formula B cars in the day. Is now supposed to work for Impact/Redline.

ms

Bud raced a Bt-21 in or around 1971-73. I don't recall him racing a Chevron.

[Chris Townsend]

Second on my list is the Tom Tufts/Thomas Gelb car that was owned by Stan Roadge. Tufts drove the car for a season and was replaced by Gelb. Gelb put the car upside down at Mosport and "went fishing" after that. The car was damaged but I found that it was repaired and sold. Gelb, a former Harley Davidson exec, cannot remember where the car went. Lastly was the Chevron B-9 driven by Canadian Wayne Kelly in 1969. Kelly was tragically killed a couple of years later in a support race at Mosport. I cannot find any info on where that car may have gone. The car was painted purple and white at the time Kelly drove it.

So, if anyone has any fresh ideas on where these cars may have gone please contact me on or off forum. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Mike Summers

Mike, the Tufts/Gelb car was a B14 not a B9, and was chassis 68.FB.8 - I talked extensively to Gelb about his cars about five years ago [he also had an early FJ Brabham]. As Allen says below the car went back to Opert.
The Wayne Kelly car was a B9 - 68.F3.7 - it was the F3 car raced in the UK by John Ralph. For sale to Kelly see Autosport 11.4.69 p. 5. It might have gone to a guy called Bill Eagles in Calgary

Chris