2007 San Francisco Region Hall of Fame

Larry Albedi - Joe Huffaker, Sr. - Frank Schultheis - Al Brizard

Larry Albedi

When describing Larry Albedi’s association with the San Francisco Region, the word decade comes up frequently.  He first became a member of the San Francisco Region in 1956.  He joined the SCCA so he could race and in those early days you were required to be an SCCA member to drive, but not for any other positions. He became an active racer of production and formula racecars beginning with a Corvette and later driving a Huffaker built Formula Jr, which was later converted to a Formula B car and a Bourgeault Formula B Ford-Cosworth in SCCA’s first pro formula car series, the SCCA Grand Prix in 1967. This series continued until 1977, eventually becoming Formula Atlantic. He also drove a Jaguar E-Type and a Renault Spyder, winning several class championships in the mid-1960s.  Although many people know Larry by sight, others may only know him by the sound of his voice.  He is known as “the voice of the Sears Point and Petaluma Speedway”, having started announcing in 1952, and has been a race track announcer for more than five decades. His secret as an announcer is to make everyone sound like a hero.

In 1958, Larry became a steward with the Racing Drivers Club at their driving schools and served in this capacity until 1964 when the Region took over the schools.  He also served as President of the RDC. From that year until present, he has continued as a race steward, a total of five decades of service to the club.

During his long association with the Region, Larry has also held several board positions including Secretary in 1964, Competition Director in 1969, Assistant Regional Executive in 1970, Vaca Valley track manager in 1970 and again a board member 1982.  In 1990 he received two awards from the Region – one from the Board of Directors for his service as a Steward and the Don Wixcel Award for dedication and service to the club.

Now entering his sixth decade with the San Francisco Region, Larry continues as a race steward and track announcer.

  
Al Brizard

A member of the SCCA since 1958, Al drove production and formula cars in his racing days.  He was the class champion six straight years in the 1960’s, and in 1965 he drove a Cooper-Alfa Formula Junior (which he purchased from Steve McQueen) to the West Coast Formula B National Championship, a precursor to Formula Atlantic Series. Al also drove an Alfa-Romeo GTA in 1966 in the first Trans-Am races. His is last race was at Laguna Seca in 1973. After that, his contributions to the club were mainly as a steward and board member.

In 1960, he was elected to the Board of Directors which began a 44 year period of service to the club which included the following:

1960-1962 Director
1963-64 Regional Executive
1975 Director at Large
1976 Assistant Regional Director
1977, 1980, 1987 Treasurer
1978 Assistant Regional Director
1979 Regional Executive
1984-86 Director at Large
2004 – November, retired from stewarding

Al was a NORPACDIV Steward, Chief Steward of WCAR and Toyota Atlantic pro series. In the late 1970’s he organized and was the Chief Steward for the NOR-AM Formula Ford Series (which featured standing starts), and had such up and coming drivers as Bob Lobenberg, Jimmy Vasser and Dean Hall.  

In 1992 Al was Chairman of the Bylaws Revision Committee and in 1998 he received the Premier Award of Merit for Outstanding Service to SCCA.

Al Brizard (on left)

Joe Huffaker Sr.

Joe Huffaker was one of the most successful constructors of racecars in the 1960’s and continued building and preparing winning cars for the next thirty years.  His career started after World War II when he built dirt track cars which were driven by rising stars such as Bob Veith and Bob Sweikert.  In 1954, he was contracted by Mick Marston to build an Austin-Healey Special.  The car, known as the Huffaker-Healey, was a common site on race tracks in Northern California in the late 1950’s.  Another famous early special Joe built in 1957 was the Knoop-Chevy which Fred Knoop successfully raced and is still running in vintage events.

In 1959, Joe was asked by Kjell Qvale to join British Motor Cars Ltd in San Francisco to open a competition department.  Known as BMC Competition Department, this partnership would spawn a very successful string of cars including the BMC Formula Juniors and Genie Sports Racers.  During this period, BMC Competition Department became the largest racecar manufacturer in the U.S.

From 1964 to 1966, Joe and Kjell Qvale also turned their attention to the Indianapolis 500 and built the famous MG Liquid Suspension Specials for which Joe received and engineering award for design and development.  Their drivers included Bob Veith, Walt Hansen and Jerry Grant. During this period, Joe also helped develop safety technology in the form of the deformable fuel cell.  Not forsaking SCCA racing, BMC Competition built dominate production racecars including MGBs, Jaguar XKE and also prepared cars for the Sebring 12 Hours.

In 1967, Joe left BMC and formed Huffaker Engineering where preparation of winning cars continued.  These included MG Midgets, MGBs, Triumphs and Jensen-Healeys.  Jensen Motors ran a factory team to capture the SCCA D Production Championship in 1973 and 1974. The initial drivers in 1973 were Lee Mueller and Jon Woodner. In 1974 the lone entry was Lee Mueller. Although this was a new car, the Jensen-Healey went on to become one of the few cars in SCCA history to capture a championship in its first year of racing (1973). Lee Mueller captured a second D Production championship in 1974. In the 1980’s, Huffaker Engineering built Pontiac cars for the Trans-Am and IMSA series,

In 1992, Joe retired, ending a nearly forty year career of developing a winning tradition in racecar manufacturing and preparation and turned Huffaker Engineering over to the capable hands of his son, Joe Jr.

Frank Schultheis

Frank was a former competitor for several years in a Triumph TR-3 and raced at all of the classic circuits in Northern California, including Vacaville and Cotati.  As a racer, he understood the competitive juices that flow during a race weekend and this no doubt helped him when he stopped racing and volunteer.  Frank became one of the most respected technical inspectors the SCCA has produced.   He was known for his professional demeanor and the high esteem in which he was held by most, if not all of the drivers and crews.  He was the first recipient of the SFR Premier Award of Merit in 1969. Frank did not play favorites, instead, he treated all the competitors the same.  Regardless of his personal opinion of someone, they all received the same treatment.  No matter who the driver was Frank always made sure that the car was safe and ready to race.

Frank was very knowledgeable and could discuss technical issues with crew chiefs or drivers with tact.  He was also an innovator and always looking for ways to improve the technical inspection process for both the inspectors and the competitors.  Here is a partial list of his innovations:

• Fabricated body/fender templates resulting in a change to the GCR allowing fender flairs.
• Fabricated checking tools for Formula Vees to better police the class.
• Pioneered the first history log book in 1972.  It went National the following year.
• Expanded pre-tech sites to as many as five around the Region.
• Pioneered the use of roll bar padding in 1973.
• Developed and published the Formula Vee Scutineer’s Handbook.
• Developed many jigs and fixtures to properly check Formula Fords.
• Developed easy to use track and rim width measurement tools.
• Wrote and published the Formula Ford Scrutineer’s Handbook.
• Developed various tools which could check the bore/stroke of an engine through the spark plug hole saving time and teardown costs.

He worked pit lane in 1979 & 80 for LBGP F1; pit/paddock/impound at 1990 & 91  Phoenix F1 GP; Tech Director for West Coast Pro Formula Ford Series; Worked for SCCA Pro Dept. for Indy Lights, CART and Mini-Truck Series. 

In the amateur ranks, Frank was obviously respected by the race teams.  Drivers like Tommy and Bobby Archer, Arie Lyendyke, Michael and Jeff Andretti, Didier Theys, and others appreciated Frank's approach to the technical aspects of their particular series. At the SCCA Runoffs in Road Atlanta in 1978, Dave Weitzenhoff had won the Formula Ford race and when his engine was torn down, painted on the inside of the oil pan was “Hi Frank”. At the awards banquet Mr. Weitzenhoff publicly thanked Frank for bringing Formula Ford to the point it had achieved, which was very competitive, honest, and respected within the club racing community.  

At the first Formula One Race in Long Beach, Cal Club assigned two scrutineers per F1 team. Of the fifty or so Tech Inspectors working, there was a single scrutineer in Long Beach wearing a white shirt and necktie, and it was Frank Shultheis, merely out of respect for the teams.  The demands of his business, and commitment to his family, required he spend less time with the SCCA but on several occasions he came back as the Technical Series Chief of a pro series including Super Vee Series, the Indy Lights Series, and the Pro Truck Series, at both Laguna Seca and Sears Point.
 
Frank worked with an attitude of mutual respect and professionalism and passed on these standards to the rest of his crew, some of whom went on to become technical inspectors for pro series.  He always took the time to teach and whenever he saw something new he thought would be of value to others, he would share the new knowledge with the team.