Formula A and Formula 5000 in America
By Wolfgang Klopfer
From 1968 to 1976, open-wheeled road racing was dominated by an exciting, thunderous series of V8-powered racecars known as Formula 5000s. Originally founded as a high-horsepower, low-cost race series, Formula 5000 evolved over its eight-year life span to become a major international caliber, professional race series drawing many of the world’s finest road racing drivers. At its height in 1975, the F5000 champ- ionship consisted of nine races with a $60,000 purse at each event and drew such noted drivers as Mario Andretti, Brian Redman, Al Unser, David Hobbs, Jackie Oliver, Gordon Johncock and Alan Jones, to name just a few.
Surprisingly, despite the series’ long history, exciting racing and copious star power, there exists scant few published works devoted to this great series. In Formula A and Formula 5000 in America, author Wolfgang Klopfer takes a noble first step at immortalizing this great series, but in the end, leaves us thirsty for more. Organizationally, the book devotes a page to each F5000 event, providing a brief narrative as well as race results for the top 10 finishers. As a reference source documenting race results, this book does a fine job. However, the F5000 series was so much more interesting than the cold data would suggest. While this book is a marked improvement over some of the earlier works on the series, it still leaves us wondering, “When will someone write the definitive history of one of America’s finest road racing series?”
Available directly from the author, Wolfgang Klopfer at Lessingstrasse 13, 04600, Altenbrug, Germany or by e-mail at [email protected], for $32.00 for a 120-page, B&W version with no pictures or as a photo edition with 18 color pictures for $52.00 (prices include shipping by air from Germany).
