1970 SCCA National Championship Runoffs - Formula Super Vee

In 1970 the recently opened Road Atlanta circuit hosted the SCCA Runoffs, the prestigious National Championship event for the amateur organization. Called the “American Road Race of Champions” with the slogan “The Olympics of Auto Racing” on the first poster promoting the event, the Runoffs were to stay at Road Atlanta until 1993.

Prior to 1970, the Runoffs were held at Riverside and Daytona in an alternating east/west format from 1964-69. Road Atlanta was a compromise of sorts. Although certainly not geographically in the middle of the USA, competitors fell in love with the challenging circuit.
The 1970 Runoffs were successful, despite some minor problems resulting from the newness of the circuit. Of course, Road Atlanta was somewhat in the “middle of nowhere” 43 years ago, as Atlanta has since grown northward.

Thirteen drivers competed in the first edition of the Formula Super Vee SCCA National Championship Runoffs at Road Atlanta. Driver/constructor John Zeitler qualified on pole but dropped to fifth position. Tom Davey won the prestigious race also racing a Zeitler chassis.

In the combined Formula Super Vee/Formula Ford race, Super Vee's finished in the first three places. The Championship race ran the Formula Fords against the Formula Super Vee's. To the amazement of the Ford drivers, the FSV's took P1, P2, & P3. Skip Barber was the first Formula Ford driver placing fourth overall while Ray Caldwell finished in P6.

P1: Tom Davey - Zeitler FSV
P2: Harry Ingle - Zink FSV
P3: Jim Clark - Caldwell D-10 FSV
P4: Skip Barber - Caldwell D-9 FF
P5: unknown
P6: Ray Caldwell - Caldwell D-10 FSV
P7: John Zeitler - Zeitler FSV