Michael Andretti VD RF81????

[Dan Lipperini Jr]

Does anyone know if Michael Andretti competed in an RF81 up here in the northeast division? I was in a discussion with someone who thinks they know the whereabouts of a Van Diemen RF81 that was supposedly the last FF that Michael drove. If it can be confirmed, what would it be worth with a logbook showing he did in fact drive it? I did a bunch of research online but could not find any evidence of an RF81 linked to his name anywhere in any results. Anyone remember from back in the day?

Thanks,

Dan

[triumph_tech]

I remembered this article from following the opening of the new NJMP track in south Jersey.
http://lastturnclub.com/index.php?op...d=403&Itemid=1

Looks like this might be a lead for you.

[Tim FF19]

[SIZE=2]MICHAEL
From Andretti.com :
1982 - FORMULA FORD Competed for Carl Haas-Won four of the six races he competed in.
1981 - Champion - FORMULA FORD Drove to his first professional championship when he earned the Northeast division title with six victories.
1980 - FORMULA FORD Qualified for SCCA amateur and national license. First competition was the Formula Ford race at Watkins Glen. Winner - [/SIZE]

[Daniel Thompson]

Michael Andretti is pictured in his RF81 on page 55 of the Steve Nickless book "Anatomy and Development of the Fomula Ford"

Daniel

[PRS56]

Dan:
I would give Richard Leslie Sr at Leslie Racing a call and ask him your questions. I seem to recall he raced FF in that time line and may have the info you seek.
Regards,


Greg Kokolus
NCF #56

[Bob Wright]

Michael did indeed compete- whooped my a$$ multiple times on his way to the championship. He actually had a crew and bought multiple sets of FRESH TIRES every weekend, something the rest of us only dreamed about. He was also pretty fast

The car is probably one of three places:
1. In someone's barn/garage collecting dust
2. Being raced somewhere with or without the current owner knowing the history
3. Balled up and parted out.

FWIW- I have a results sheet with him at the top and me at the bottom for a LRP race from that year...

[BWC54]

Didn't he run about every chassis available at the time during his FF years. As to the value of an RF81 driven by him, to me it would be worth the same as any other RF81. But to some it might be worth more.

[EYERACE]

to me it would be worth passing

[KevinFirlein]

Michael changed cars like socks so just be sure there is some sort of documention involved if the car is being bought because of Michael.

Perhaps only Gilles Villenueve's name is used more when people are tying to sell cars then Michaels. If you believe what people tell you when they sell a car Gilles must have driven 5 chassis' a weekend when you look at the number of ' ex villeneuve' Marchs that have floated around

A cars value is set by whatever one person is willing to pay for something. Not on this or any other planet is a flat bottom atlantic car worth 50-60K but thats what they sell for these days. To be fair, I could care less about a cars heritage. Its simply a tool to do the job to me

[triumph_tech]

Ed Del Monico and his wife Rose were in attendance with a Van Dieman RF 81, a 27 year old factory Formula Ford car that had been driven by many up and coming racer’s including John Andretti. Ed told me that this was the car’s first outing in 13 years. Being a resident of Burlington Township, Ed couldn’t resist the opportunity N.J.M.P. afforded him. When I asked Ed if he planned to compete in any vintage events, he said his competitive days were behind him. He just wants to enjoy the open member’s days and the atmosphere N.J.M.P. affords him and his wife. I’ll tell you after watching Ed on the track, I’m not sure the competitive spirit hasn’t bitten him already.
Having spent the better part of the day at New Jersey Motorsports Park in Millville, NJ, I am looking forward to covering many more events for the Last Turn Club in the near future.

Doesn't look like it was balled up and parted out!

[Beartrax]

Gary,
No disrespect intended, but post #1 mentions Michael and your post mentions John. And Bob implied that Michael would have balled one up...

Nice photo, thanks for sharing!

[triumph_tech]

I was just focusing on the Andretti name, what are the chances of both of them driving a RF-81 VD.

[Beartrax]

...what are the chances of both of them driving a RF-81 VD.

If Dad/Uncle owns it... 100%

[Phil Creighton]

He started in 81 with a Bertil Roos chassis and Essex racing sold them an RF 81 part way through the year I recall. 82 he ran a Lola for C.Haas, run by Ove Olsen.
phil

[Gordy]

Just to add to the story, I owned a Lola T640, which was first run by Michael back in 82. I have a letter of documentation from Carl Haas confirming the heritage.

From what I can gather the car was always faster with Michael in it than I ever was, go figure.

I bought the car from a couple of guys in Michigan, Frank Vella and Anders LNU. Sold it 2 years later to Kenny Stone, whereabouts now unknown, although I suspect it is still racing somewhere. The chassis was # 26.

[Don Becker]

The car in the photo above is an '82 (inboard front suspension).

[BWC54]

The car in the photo above is an '82 (inboard front suspension).

The RF81 had inboard front suspension. The RF82 had both the front and rear inboard.

[Don Becker]

Opps, my mistake.

[Bob Coury]

From the glory days of FF. I was in that one, and I believe it was an 81 VD. He also ran a Scandia by Bertil Roos around that period. John was in this race as well.

The file is hard to read as a JPEG. The PDF was too large for me to attach.

[captaineddie1975]

I note on the results list that Frank Delvecchio placed 10th racing a PRS RH01. Not too shabby in that crowd and Frankie is still racing with us in the New England Region in CF.
interestingly enough I believe he is running a 81VD.

[Bob Coury]

Capt Eddie-if you look closely at the list you will also see some guys that made it to the big time besides Michael and John Andretti. Also running in the NE back then were Michael Roe that made it into the Can-Am series, as well as Chip Robinson who competed in endurance cars as well as CART. I think that Bjorn Langrekken was a works VD driver as well.

Also included are Paul and Jeff Reiffle from Pittsburgh. I am not sure why Chip Ganassi was not around that weekend as he was a Ledges regular as well. Maybe he was in Super Vee already.

FF was alive and well back then.

[Garey Guzman]

Bob, you stud! You beat an Andretti!

I raced against Marco shortly after he turned 16. Well, that's not quite true. I was in a DB1 and the 16-year old was in a ProMazda running FA. But at one point, we were within a couple of feet of each other!

[jgaither]

Capt Eddie-if you look closely at the list you will also see some guys that made it to the big time besides Michael and John Andretti. Also running in the NE back then were Michael Roe that made it into the Can-Am series, as well as Chip Robinson who competed in endurance cars as well as CART. I think that Bjorn Langrekken was a works VD driver as well.

Also included are Paul and Jeff Reiffle from Pittsburgh. I am not sure why Chip Ganassi was not around that weekend as he was a Ledges regular as well. Maybe he was in Super Vee already.

FF was alive and well back then.

Roe won the FF National Championship that year & it was a close one over Michael. Father Mario (my racing hero) I'm afraid made a bit of a scene in impound after the race. He didn't cotton to Roe's driving on the last lap. Imagine that.

[Bob Coury]

Garey:

All I could think of is it was John's first race there or was having problems. He did do a drivers school there as he was also a student of mine. Papa Aldo was there with him. It was cool to talk with them in the meetings after every session. Not much to tell him as he most knew more about racing than me. I still remember John tooling up to the grid at one of the Great Pumpkin regionals wearing some sort of ape mask. I also ran 2nd to Jeff A in one regional back then, but sorry to say that really wasn't much of an accomplishment.

Notice how much quicker Michael was!

[edel]

The #44 RF-81 that has been talked about in this forum is my car. It was not only driven by John Andretti but also Michael Roe, John Oats(Hall and Oats) and Tom Blackhaller(America's Cup champ) among others. I have owned the car since 1988 and am the 4th owner. I have the orginial log book with all the signatures of the drivers. Great car and lots of fun. I raced it in the MARRS series in the late 80's and early 90's. Now on Dunlops and having fun!!!

[RoDLo]

From the glory days of FF. I was in that one, and I believe it was an 81 VD. He also ran a Scandia by Bertil Roos around that period. John was in this race as well.

The file is hard to read as a JPEG. The PDF was too large for me to attach.

I was unable to open JPEG. Could you repost.

[E1pix]

I saw Michael run this car at the ‘81 Runoffs, to a 3rd I think.

But in case you missed it, the post you reference was made nearly 15 years ago.

Regardless, Welcome!

[FVEE56]

I saw Michael run this car at the ‘81 Runoffs, to a 3rd I think.

But in case you missed it, the post you reference was made nearly 15 years ago.

Regardless, Welcome!

I own one of the RF 81 that Michael drove in 1981. His signature is in the log book. I believe it never left Northeast PA area.

[Richard Hybels]

I remember seeing him at Sears Point a couple of times. He died on track there driving a Sports 2000 in 1989.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Blackaller

[Steve Davis]

FWIW.. here's what SCCA has to say about Michael's Runoffs appearances...

Last Name	First Name	Year	Track	Car	Car Year	Division	Class	Finish	Start	Overall Finish	Laps Possible	Laps Completed	Best Qualifying Lap	Fastest Race Lap	Notes
Andretti	Michael	1981	Road Atlanta	Van Diemen Rf81	NA	NA	FF	8	NA	8	18	18		NA
Andretti	Michael	1982	Road Atlanta	Lola T640	NA	NA	FF	3	1	3	18	18		NA	FQ/LED LAP 3?

I have no idea what the "FQ/Led lap 3?" stuff means... he finished 3rd apparently - don't know who won...

Steve, FV80

[E1pix]

Thanks for the clarification Steve, did I mention my once catching a six-foot trout?

I think “FQ” just means Fast Qualifier.

Trying to recall who indeed won FF in ‘82. I know Michael Roe won one, I’d thought in ‘81, but now it seems a certain Weitzenhof may have... (‘77, ‘79, and ‘81, plus another in FF, rings my ever-tarnishing bell).

[Mike B]

Here's what SCCA has to say about the FF results in '82.

[E1pix]

I’ll only say “Thanks for clarifying” again if you confirm my trout.

[Phil Creighton]

We (Essex Racing) sold an RF 81 to Bertil Roos who was running Michael in a school Scandia anjd not cutting it with the other guys.
Pretty sure the school and Starbrite bought it at the time. John was in a couple of Skip Barber Crossles as well although one was really crashed hard.
Carl enticed Michael back for 82 with a 640 or 642 - we had Michal Roe in an 82 VD and they had an epic battle at the Runoffs for 2nd position (Bob Lobenberg won as I recall). 70 FF cars approx at the Sprints - Andretti started at the back in the rain and I think he started at Canada Cr as he was alongside Roe in the 3rd row as they came to the green.
What an era to come over here and be part of - then came wings...............and FC
Phil