Fred Opert Explained

Fred Opert
Nationality:American
Birth Date:25 May 1939[1]
Birth Place:Worcester, Massachusetts[2]
Death Place:Ramsey, New Jersey
First Year:1959
Retired:1973
Teams:Fred Opert Racing[3]
Carl Haas Automobiles
Prev Series:SCCA Regional
24 Hours of Daytona
12 Hours of Sebring
Formula A
Trans-Am
IMSA/Formula Ford
Prev Series Years:1964–65
1966–70
1966–69
1967–1968
1967–69
1969

Frederic Barry Opert (25 May 1939 – 9 August 2016), known as "Fred", was an American racing driver,[1] [4] car dealer,[2] and founder and owner of the Fred Opert Racing team.[5] [6]

As a driver, Opert's race entries included the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring.[3] His team, Fred Opert Racing, fielded many notable Formula 1 drivers early in their careers including future Formula One World Champions Keke Rosberg,[7] Alan Jones and Alain Prost,[5] as well as future IndyCar champion Bobby Rahal.[8]

Racing career

Opert raced sports cars and single-seater formula cars until 1970. He raced an Austin-Healey Sprite; a Jaguar XK150S; Elva Couriers; Porsche 911s;[9] Chevron Sports cars; Brabham formula cars; and Chevron formula cars. He won the US North Eastern Championship in 1966 and the SCCA North Eastern Division Championship in 1969 driving Brabhams – a BT21A and a BT29,[10] and entered 1969's inaugural IMSA event at Pocono.[11] [12] He also raced in long distance races including the Daytona 24-hour and Sebring 12-hour in 1965,[13] '66,[14] '67 [15] and '68.[16]

Fred Opert Racing: Formula Atlantic/Pacific/Mondial and Formula 2

Fred Opert Racing
Principal:Fred Opert
Founders:Fred Opert
Former Series:Formula A
Formula Atlantic
Formula Pacific
Formula Mondial
Formula 2

Opert imported British sports and racing cars into the USA from the early sixties until 1978. The models he imported included the Elva Courier;[17] Brabham; Chevron;[18] Titan; Tui; and Tiga.[19]

Opert ran a turnkey racing business where drivers could buy or rent racing cars from him and have them prepared and transported to race meetings by his mechanics.[20] He also ran professional drivers for whom he could attract sponsorship or who brought sponsorship with them. The New York Times wrote that "Opert indicated that the primary reason he began fielding teams was to sell the race cars he imported—Chevron, Titan, Supernova and Brabham" but that 'now' (in 1978) Opert said he was in it “just because of the racing.”[21]

Over fourteen years many future Formula 1 drivers[5] [2] including Alan Jones,[21] [22] Alain Prost,[5] [23] Bobby Rahal,[8] Jacques Laffite,[21] Didier Pironi, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Héctor Rebaque, Rolf Stommelen, Patrick Tambay,[22] [21] Peter Gethin,[21] Tom Pryce[21] and Rupert Keegan, all drove for Fred Opert Racing. Keke Rosberg[21] [24] was the driver whose name is most often linked with Opert as the American funded the Finn's racing in Formula Pacific,[25] [26] [27] Formula Atlantic[27] and Formula 2.[28] [29] [7] [30]

Fred Opert Racing competed in the USA; Canada; Argentina; Colombia; Venezuela; Mexico; New Zealand;[31] Japan; Macau; and many European countries. The Argentinian races were F2 Temporada in 1978 where Opert ran Rosberg in a Chevron B42.[32]

Fred Opert Racing School

Opert established one of the USA's first motor racing schools in 1971.[33] The school was at Bridgehampton and the first instructor was New Zealand racing driver Bert Hawthorne. An advertorial for the school appeared in the New York Magazine on 10 April 1972,[33] four days before Hawthorne was killed racing at Hockenheim. Mexican Freddy van Beuren took over after Hawthorne's death.

The school moved to Pocono in 1973 when the Bridgehampton track was sold to property developers. After the school moved an advertorial appeared in the June 1973 edition of Popular Mechanics.[34] When van Beuren returned to Mexico, Swedish driver Bertil Roos became the chief instructor and eventually took over the school and rebranded it under his own name.

Formula 1

With the demise of Chevron racing cars after the 1978 death of its founder Derek Bennett, Opert gave up running his own teams and took on the role of Team Manager with the ATS Formula 1 team,[35] a "notorious" job - according to Motor Sport magazine - with "the highest turnover in motorsport".[36]

Opert soon became one of many casualties at ATS,[37] resigning after the 1979 French Grand Prix following team owner Günter Schmid's decision to pull the ATS car from the race.[38]

Return to team ownership

Opert returned briefly and tragically to team ownership in 1983 when he put together a Formula Atlantic team for his friend Olivier Chandon de Brailles. Chandon was killed when he was testing an Opert Ralt Formula Atlantic car at Moroso Motorsports Park (now Palm Beach International Raceway) in Florida, preparing for the WCAR Formula Atlantic (Mondial) Championship that would start in April.[5] [39] [40]

Later years

Opert turned his back on motorsport after the 1983 death of Chandon in one of his cars.[2] Later in his life he took an active interest in Nico Rosberg's career, attending F1 races to follow Rosberg's fortunes. He died not long after attending the Hungarian Grand Prix, then visiting Germany but missing 2016 German Grand Prix[2] because he was too ill. Later that year Nico Rosberg won the World Championship title.[41]

Notes and References

  1. Fred Opert | Motor Sport Magazine Database. Motor Sport.
  2. News: Fred Opert, former race car driver who sold specialty automobiles in Ramsey, dies at 77 . North Jersey Media Group . August 17, 2016. EU URL
  3. Web site: Fred Opert (USA) - All Results. racingsportscars.com.
  4. Web site: Fred Opert. driverdb.com.
  5. Fred Opert Racing | Motor Sport Magazine Database. Motor Sport.
  6. Web site: fred-opert-he-was-racer-at-heart. speedsportblog.com.
  7. Web site: Formula 1 Drivers Hall of Fame: Keke Rosberg. formula1.com. Donaldson. Gerald.
  8. Web site: New Zealand Grand Prix - Pukekohe, 7 Jan 1978 . oldracingcars.com.
  9. Book: Friedman, Dave. Trans-Am: The Pony Car Wars, 1966-1971. 2001. 9780760309438. Motorbooks International. registration.
  10. Web site: North East Division SCCA Formula B 1969 . oldracingcars.com.
  11. Web site: IMSA 1969-1989: The first race at Pocono. Racer.com. 15 January 2019 . (Excerpted from IMSA 1969-1989 by Mitch Bishop and Mark Raffauf, Octane Press)
  12. 50 Years of IMSA. 13 March 2019. Linda. Mansfield. Speed Sport.
  13. Book: Wagner, Carl . Automobile Year No 14 1966-1967 . Edita S.A. Lausanne. 264–267 .
  14. Book: Armstrong, Douglas. Automobile Year No 15 1967-1968 . Edita S.A. Lausanne. 248–249 .
  15. Book: Guichard, Ami. Automobile Year No 16 1968-1969 . Edita S.A. Lausanne. 203 .
  16. Book: Guichard, Ami. Automobile Year No 17 1969-1970 . Edita S.A. Lausanne. 238 .
  17. Book: Wimpffen, Janos . 2011 . Elva: the cars, the people, the history . David Bull Publishing . 305 . 978-1-935007-13-5.
  18. Book: Gordon, David . Chevron: the Derek Bennett story. . 1991 . Patrick Stephens Limited . 94 . 1-85260-318-6.
  19. Book: Ganley, Howden . 2015 . The Road to Monaco. Denley . 350, 380 . 978-0-9931395-0-5.
  20. Web site: Fred Opert. racingyears.com. (From The Fred Opert Story by Peter R Hill, Veloce Publishing)
  21. News: Pash . Phil . February 12, 1978 . Jerseyan Backs Driver With Grand Ambitions . The New York Times.
  22. 1976: Villeneuve emerges as a star. Autosport. 1976-05-26.
  23. Alain Prost | Motor Sport Magazine Database. Motor Sport.
  24. Book: Constanduros, Bob . 1984 . Kimberley's Grand Prix racing driver Keke Rosberg. Kimberley’s . 4 . 220379571.
  25. Fred Opert Race Car Dealer. NZ International Grand Prix Inc . December 1976 . 25.
  26. A Champion in Defence. NZ International Grand Prix Inc . December 1977 . 18.
  27. Book: Donaldson, Gerald. Gilles Villeneuve: The Life of the Legendary Racing Driver. 71–72. 2003. London. Virgin Books. 9780753546307.
  28. Book: Armstrong, Douglas. Automobile Year No 257 1977-1978 . Edita S.A. Lausanne. 184–185 . 2-88001-049-7 .
  29. Web site: Rockstar Tells All: Formula Continental – When Men Were Men!. turnology.com. Perry. Mitch. 2020-01-14. 2020-01-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20200114061307/https://www.turnology.com/news/rockstar-tells-all-formula-continental-when-men-were-men/. dead.
  30. Formula Two Review 1977 . Motor Sport Magazine Limited . Motor Sport December 1977 . 1613.
  31. Book: Loxley, Tony. Tasman Cup 1964-75 . 15 August 2015. Full Throttle Publishing. 491 . 9780980858969 .
  32. Formula Two Temporada . Motor Sport Magazine Limited . Motor Sport December 1978 . 1774 .
  33. New York Magazine. advertorial. 10 April 1972 . 55 . Best Bets. Ellen. Stock. On the Track-->.
  34. Imports and Motorsports: Driving at speed. Hartford. Bill. . 44 . advertorial.
  35. Book: Ramírez, Jo . 2005 . Jo Ramirez Memoirs of a Racing Man . Haynes . 147 . 1-84425-238-8. Jo Ramírez.
  36. Wheel nut . . January 1998 . 57. Cooper. Adam.
  37. Opert resigns from ATS . 1979 . Autosport.
  38. Web site: Grand Prix Gold: 1979 British GP. Nigel. Roebuck. Nigel Roebuck. autosport.com. 2 July 2012 .
  39. News: Racer Drowned After Car Crashed. March 4, 1983. The New York Times. 2008-12-11.
  40. News: The body of Olivier Chandon de Brailles, the heir.... 4 March 1983. United Press International.
  41. News: Nico Rosberg wins F1 title as Lewis Hamilton wins in Abu Dhabi. Benson. Andrew. 27 November 2016. BBC Sport. https://web.archive.org/web/20171103141742/http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38123465. 3 November 2017. dead.