Mark Osborne
Global Director of Motorsport
LOT 172
1970 Webster Formula 5000/Indianapolis Single Seater
Estimate: US$120,000 - US$150,000
Lot 172
An exquisite single-seater constructed by the great Jerry Eisert
1970 Webster Formula 5000/Indianapolis Single Seater
1970 Webster Formula 5000/Indianapolis Single Seater
1970 Webster Formula 5000/Indianapolis Single Seater
*Rip-snorting 5-liter Gurney-Weslake V-8
*Built to American Formula A/F5000 rules
*Just three owners from new
*Refurbished by J & L Fabrications
*Astonishing attention to detail and quality
*Formerly of the Tom Armstrong Collection
THE CAR OFFERED
Road racing in America was in full flower in 1968, when the SCCA applied its wild, unbridled Can-Am concept to single seaters, opening up the regulations to 5-liter stock block engines. This opened the previously lackluster Formula A up to the well-developed small block V8s from the no-holds-barred Trans Am series. Relatively inexpensive, reliable, and tuned by a generation of experienced hot rodders, Formula A morphed into Formula 5000 and spread rapidly around the globe.
But nowhere did F5000 flourish more than in the continent where it originated. AAR Eagle, Lola, McLaren, Surtees, Shadow and Chevron all built fine F5000 race cars. The best teams in North American racing fielded entries, piloted by the likes of Denny Hulme, Bruce McLaren, Jim Hall, Mark Donohue, Peter Revson, Dan Gurney, Lothar Motschenbacher, Sam Posey, Jerry Titus, Chuck Parsons, John Surtees, Brian Redman....a litany of world-class talent. It was a natural landing place for Champ Car teams, too, with good money, prime competition, and similar mid-engine chassis regulations.
Some of the most innovative, finely calculated F5000 cars were constructed by Champ Car builder Jerry Eisert. Eisert, an independent mechanic and constructor, had worked with J. Frank Harrison to field Chevrolet-powered mid-engine cars in the late Sixties. A meticulous craftsman, Eisert also was an innovator. His 1965 Harrison Special not only employed a monocoque tub but also was the first car at Indy to use a wing to increase aerodynamic downforce. It was recognized that year with the Mechanical Achievement Award for imagination and skill in design.
Eister's Chevrolet-powered Harrison Specials featured drivers including Al Unser, Sr., Johnny Rutherford, Peter Revson, Greg Weld, Ronnie Duman, Jerry Grant, Gary Congdon, Billy Foster and Roger McCluskey. One of his Chevy-powered Champ cars won the 1965 Pikes Peak hillclimb with Al Unser behind the wheel. Eisert's Harrison Specials frequented USAC road courses of the period, usually with Chevrolet power but occasionally with a 255 cubic-inch Ford, and the Eisert/Harrison partnership continued through 1967. Eisert's experience ranged from hot rods like the So-Cal Coupe which he owned and raced in the late 50's through the Lotus and Ferrari sports-racers of Frank Arciero, to the Harrison Special Champ cars and Webster's F5000. Jerry Eisert eventually became crew chief for Dan Gurney's All American Racers USAC team.
SCCA Formula 5000 was in its infancy when Eisert designed a beautiful, low, nearly wedge-shaped car that epitomized the most advanced current thinking in chassis and suspension design and aerodynamics.
One of them, the car offered here, went to Marvin Webster, a manufacturer of gearsets for the racing industry, and in 1972 Eisert prepared it for Webster to take to the Indianapolis 500, but it didn't attempt to qualify in 1972 or 1973. After Indy, it returned to its F5000 configuration and was raced sparingly. Never damaged, it was eventually retired and stored at Webster's gear company in Mill Valley, California, from where previous owner was able to buy it in 1987, noting it's condition at the time was such that it needed only careful re-commissioning, a task he entrusted to J & L Fabrication, with special attention paid to retaining its originality. Even the original race-worn original upholstery remains on the driver's seat!
The previous owner was quick to point out the exceptional quality of Eisert's construction and the car's innovative design. The current engine is a rip-snorting Gurney-Weslake V8 with four Weber carburetors and Webster's preferred eight upswept exhaust pipes. Admittedly, the pipes don't do much for performance but boy, do they sound magnificent! "It had slide throttle fuel injection when I bought it," the past owner recalled, which came on so suddenly "the first time I took it to the track I had three spinouts in the same lap."
Sparingly vintage raced from 1988 through 2003, it has been reported to drive very nicely, with the powerband tamed by the Webers. In recent years, it has seen less activity, and as with any vintage racing car, inspection and service should be performed before any outing. Menacing and purposeful in its black and red livery and aggressive wedge-shaped form, Eisert's Webster Special is arguably one of the best looking F5000 cars ever created. It is also one of the best built, as the quality, craftsmanship, and meticulous attention to detail in Eisert's cars is the stuff of legend.
So much history, so many famous drivers, and American ingenuity and craftsmanship, all embodied in this superb Eisert Webster Special Formula 5000 race car.
Footnotes
Offered on Bill of Sale
Additional information
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