1969 Brabham BT29 Formula B

History

This BT29 is Chassis number BT29-30. OldRacingCars.com reports the car’s history as follows:

“After crashing his FC car at Lime Rock in August 1969, Dexter Farley (Waldorf, MD) part-exchanged the wrecked Brabham for a new Brabham BT29 from east coast dealer Joe Grimaldi, who had recently parted from Fred Opert. Farley drove the car in Pro events in 1970 as well as competing in NEDiv FB races. He retained it for 1971 when Tom Reddy raced it a couple of times and advertised it as “ser no 30” in October 1971. He also had it in the early part of 1972 before moving to Washington state and quitting racing. The next period of the car’s life is unknown but it has been identified as the BT29 bought around 1974 from Bill Wonder by engine preparer Ted Wenz and raced in 1975. Wonder had been running it for a “woman driver”, which must mean Diana Black (Kew Gardens, NY) who raced a Brabham BT29 in NEDiv FB in 1973 and 1974. Wenz later sold it to Texas but it re-emerged in the 1980s. In 1988, a list of “Known of former Brabham owners”, almost certainly compiled by John Hafkenschiel of the US Brabham Registry, showed BT29-30 with Thomas Acker (Largo, FL). From there, Andrew Fellowes with the help of Ted Wenz tracked it via Jim Webster (St Petersburg, FL), Randy Johnson (Dallas, TX), who drove it at Mid-Ohio in June 1994 and at the Chicago Historic Races at Road America in August 1994, and Barry Marquart (Leakwood, KS), who raced it at Mid-Ohio in June 1995 and Road America in July 1998, to Peter McLaughlin (Hannover, NH) some time before 2009. It was for sale on race-cars.com in 2005 from Alton, VA, quoting its SVRA number as 1626 and saying the car “has been actively raced in Vintage Racing since the early 1990s”. At that time it was red with a white nose and stripe, and wearing #11. It was bought from Peter McLaughlin by Greg Vroman (Reno, NV), who raced it at CSRG Sears Point 4-6 Oct 2013, at the CSRG David Love Memorial 10-12 Apr 2015, at SVRA Portland 8 Jul 2016, at the Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival 1-4 Jun 2017, and at the David Love Vintage Races 1-3 Apr 2022.

Driven by: Dexter Farley, Tom Reddy, Diana Black and Ted Wenz. First race: Virginia International Raceway, 26 Apr 1970. Total of 18 recorded races.”

The BT29 Brabhams were a top car to have at the climax of Formula B in the late 1960’s/early 1970’s. They remain so today in historic racing, most recently winning the SVRA Vintage Racing National Championship and currently raced by Brabham family members Geoff, David, and Matt. OldRacingCars.com sums up the BT29 as follows:

“For 1969, Brabham built a dedicated Formula B car, a sister design to the Formula 2 BT30 and Formula 3 BT28. It dominated the category over the next two years and nearly 50 were sold to the US.

Following healthy sales of the 1.6-litre twin-cam Brabham BT21C into the US in 1968, Brabham built a dedicated Formula B design for 1969, the Brabham BT29. It used the same chassis as the F3 BT28 and F2 BT30 designs, but had smaller tanks than the F2 car and so slimmer sides. It was initially shipped with suspension-mounted front and rear wings, but these were outlawed soon after. A Vegantune-tuned Cosworth FLC engine based on the Ford twin cam, running Lucas fuel injection was standard equipment. Production problems on all three models meant that the first BT29s did not arrive in the US until the beginning of August 1969 but sales were very strong and around 20 were built and shipped before Christmas. Nick Craw won first time out in his BT29, and then Eastern Airlines pilot Bob Welch won the FB class in four successive SCCA Nationals at the end of the season. Both qualified for the SCCA Runoffs, where Welch finished third behind two BT21Cs. Another early BT29 buyer was Ottawa’s Brian Robertson, who gave up his job as a bank manager to set up the Canadian operation of Fred Opert Racing.

In 1970, Allan Lader was very successful in the Pro FB series in a Brabham BT29, although he was not quite as successful as his teammate Mike Eyerly in the Chevron B17b. In terms of volume, the BT29 was the top car of 1970, taking over half the top-six finishing spots in Pro races in 1970, and the Divisional FB titles in North East, Central and South West Divisions. It remained a popular car for both FB and FC at the lower levels of SCCA racing through to the mid-1970s.”

Description

The Brabham’s Steve Jennings engine has 8 race weekends on it. During the most recent rebuild the head was replaced with an American made head that cost $10,000 and titanium valves that were another $2,000 – $3,000. New pistons were also fitted.

MSD ignition

Newly rebuilt FT200 by Michael Meindorfer

    New case

    Sonoma gears installed

    7 spare gear sets

Valley Red Top 30

10×13 fronts, 13 x13 rears, New Avons

Konig by Performance Shocks

Chassis set up by Intrepid Motors

Spares:

(2) New 10×13’s

(2) New 12×13’s

New mounted Hoosier rains

New MSD ignition

New throttle cable

New brake pads

(2) New brake disc’s

New fuel pump

Suspension seals and bearings 

New Quarter Master Clutch

New master cylinders

New NGK plugs, distributor cap, starter solenoid, belts, wiring items

The Brabham runs excellent, and always at the front. This is a top tier BT29, and is ready to go. 

Photos