Fred Opert
Frederick Barry Opert (25 May 1939 – 9 August 2016), known as "Fred", was an American motorsport entrepreneur, racing driver[1] and team owner.[2][3][unreliable source?] He was the founder and owner of Fred Opert Racing Enterprises (shortened to Fred Opert Racing).
Opert imported British sports and racing cars into the USA from the early sixties until 1978. The models he imported included the Elva Courier;[4] Brabham; Chevron;[5] Titan; Tui; and Tiga [6].
Racing career
Opert raced sports cars and single-seater formula cars until 1970. He raced an Austin-Healey Sprite; a Jaguar XK150S; Elva Couriers; Porsches; 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,[7] and entered 1969's inaugural IMSA event at Pocono.[8] He also raced in long distance races including the Daytona 24-hour and Sebring 12-hour in 1965,[9] '66,[10] '67 [11] and '68.[12]
Fred Opert Racing, Formula Atlantic/Pacific/Mondial & Formula 2
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.[13] He also ran professional drivers for whom he could attract sponsorship or who brought sponsorship with them. Over fourteen years many future Formula 1 drivers[2][14] including Alan Jones;[15]
Alain Prost; [5]:228 Bobby Rahal, Jacques Laffite; Didier Pironi; Jean-Pierre Jarier; Jean-Pierre Jaussaud; Héctor Rebaque; Rolf Stommelen; and Rupert Keegan, all drove for Fred Opert Racing. Keke Rosberg [16] [17] was the driver whose name is most often linked with Opert as the American funded the Finn's racing in Formula Pacific, [18] [19] Formula Atlantic and Formula 2. [20] [21][22]
Fred Opert Racing School
Opert established one of the USA's first motor racing schools in 1971.[23] The first school was at Bridgehampton and the first instructor was New Zealand racing driver Bert Hawthorne. An advertisement for the school appeared in the New York Magazine on April 10, 1972.[23] The school moved to Pocono in 1973 when the Bridgehampton track was sold to property developers. After the school moved a simple text advertisement appeared in the June 1973 edition of Popular Mechanics. [24] Mexican Freddy van Beuren took over after Hawthorne was killed racing at Hockenheim. 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 death of its founder Derek Bennett, [5]:228 Opert gave up running his own teams and took on the role of Team Manager with the ATS Formula 1 team.[25][26] His stay was brief as Opert became one of many casualties at ATS.[27][28][26] Some of the sport's most experienced managers, including: Jo Ramírez, Peter Collins and Alastair Caldwell were amongst the six managers that ATS owner Günter Schmid got through in four years.
Formula Atlantic and later years
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.[2][29]
Opert turned his back on motorsport after the tragedy.[14] 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 2016 German Grand Prix,[14] the year that Nico Rosberg won the World Championship title.
External links
- Fred Opert career summary at DriverDB.com
References
- ↑ "Fred Opert". driverdb.com.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Fred Opert Racing (team database)". database.motorsportmagazine.com.
- ↑ "fred-opert-he-was-racer-at-heart". speedsportblog.com.
- ↑ Wimpffen, Janos (2011). Elva: the cars, the people, the history. David Bull Publishing. p. 305. ISBN 978-1-935007-13-5. Search this book on
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Gordon, David. Chevron: the Derek Bennett story. Patrick Stephens Limited. p. 94. ISBN 1-85260-318-6. Search this book on
- ↑ Ganley, Howden (2015). The Road to Monaco. Denley. p. 350, 380. ISBN 978-0-9931395-0-5. Search this book on
- ↑ "North East Division SCCA Formula B 1969". oldracingcars.com.
- ↑ "IMSA 1969-1989: The first race at Pocono". Racer.com. (Excerpted from IMSA 1969-1989 by Mitch Bishop and Mark Raffauf, Octane Press)
- ↑ Wagner, Carl. Automobile Year No 14 1966-1967. Edita S.A. Lausanne. p. 264-267. Search this book on
- ↑ Armstrong, Douglas. Automobile Year No 15 1967-1968. Edita S.A. Lausanne. p. 248-249. Search this book on
- ↑ Guichard, Ami. Automobile Year No 16 1968-1969. Edita S.A. Lausanne. p. 203. Search this book on
- ↑ Guichard, Ami. Automobile Year No 17 1969-1970. Edita S.A. Lausanne. p. 238. Search this book on
- ↑ "Fred Opert". racingyears.com.[permanent dead link] (From The Fred Opert Story by Peter R Hill, Veloce Publishing)
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "Fred Opert, former race car driver who sold specialty automobiles in Ramsey, dies at 77". North Jersey Media Group. August 17, 2016. EU URL
- ↑ "Opert Gitanes B34". Autosport May 26 1976.
- ↑ Pash, Phil (February 12, 1978). "Jerseyan Backs Driver With Grand Ambitions". The New York Times.
- ↑ Constanduros, Bob (1984). Kimberley's Grand Prix racing driver Keke Rosberg. Kimberley’s. p. 4. OCLC 220379571. Search this book on
- ↑ "Fred Opert Race Car Dealer". NZ International Grand Prix Inc. December 1976. p. 25.
- ↑ "A Champion in Defence". NZ International Grand Prix Inc. December 1977. p. 18.
- ↑ Armstrong, Douglas. Automobile Year No 257 1977-1978. Edita S.A. Lausanne. p. 184-185. ISBN 2-88001-049-7. Search this book on ]
- ↑ Perry, Mitch. "Rockstar Tells All: Formula Continental – When Men Were Men!". turnology.com. Archived from the original on 2020-01-14. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
- ↑ Donaldson, Gerald. "Formula 1 Drivers Hall of Fame: Keke Rosberg". formula1.com.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 New York Magazine (advertisement). Clay S Felker. 10 April 1972. p. 55. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "Imports and Motorsports". Popular Mechanics. p. 44.
- ↑ Ramírez, Jo (2005). Jo Ramirez Memoirs of a Racing Man. Haynes. p. 147. ISBN 1-84425-238-8. Search this book on
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 Roebuck, Nigel. "Grand Prix Gold: 1979 British GP". autosport.com.
- ↑ "Opert resigns from ATS". Autosport. 1979.
- ↑ Cooper, Adam (January 1998). "Wheel nut". Motor Sport. p. 57.
- ↑ "Racer Drowned After Car Crashed". The New York Times. March 4, 1983. Retrieved 2008-12-11.
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