While going through some old magazines on the attic i came across some random article about US Formula Won Series. The article felt a bit weird to see in the British Autosport magazine. Similar to the British Formula One Championship that evolved from the Group 8 Shellsport Championship in the late 1970s, it was a “championship” for older Formula One cars. The idea behind Formula Won was that owners of Formula One cars in the States and abroad could enter their cars and race them if wanted. The organisation spoke about contemporary Formula One cars. However, they spoke about a field of several classes with cars build between 1973 and 2000. Not truly contemporary if you know that the series was established only in late 2000! Time to dig into this somewhat obsolete series.
Deeping out my own archive the earliest mentioning about the Formula Won series was in late December 2000. A small random announcement of some sort of American Formula One series. Which felt similar to the British Formula One Championship, only a tat different. A golden touch from the Historic Grand Prix series we have today. An interesting concept if you keep in mind that Formula One wasn’t that big in 2000 and 2001 in the States. In several issues of Autosport from January and February 2001, advertisements appeared in the magazine about this series.
This advertisement appeared with the question; Do you have a post 1973 Formula One car? Would you like to race it competitively, but can’t find anywhere in the US? Problem Solved! The US Formula Won Series is coming in 2001 exclusively for your cars!
To be fair I made me laugh. This felt like if anyone who is reading this advertisement on page 81 owns their own Formula One car. Even better, owns a garage or a barn full of Formula One cars ready to be raced again in the states. If you ask me this is not the best advertisement I have seen. It is blend and pretty bold.
However, their attempt was serious to establish some sort of American Formula One Championship. Branded as Formula Own. Their intention was to run several “festivals” where people could race their own Formula One cars. The cars that could attempt had to be from 1973 or younger. During the race weekends, each event had several championship. Based on the era of the Formula One car you owned and it seemed also the level of experience you have as a driver.
Interestingly, the organisation seemed to own their own Formula One cars. If you were qualified to race with Formula One cars you could just simply rent one of their cars. The cars came with full race support for the events you would enter included with spare-parts and anything you need. Luckily, they had their own website Formulawon.net that can still be visited today via the archives.
When you appear on the website you can feel that it is a new series with a good concept however it seems to lacking a lot. It says “The US FormulaWon Series is looking for driver and teams to compete in the hottest, new series since CART!”
I’m not sure if this could be the hottest series in the United States since CART.
When you look further into the website, it seems that it was on an early stage. Where other series who just start mostly have a number of cars and attendants, they did not have any. Instead, if you were a F1 car owner or a driver without a car you could easily register yourself to the website of Formula Won. Where you could add your racing experience and the car(s) you own yourself. Based on your experience, based on the cars entered, the classes would be created.
The plan is to organise several events in 2001. It seems that on several tracks in 2001 racing would happen. According to their website and some sources, they would race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The well known Laguna Seca and Road America just to name a couple. Palm Springs was to be added as the latest track for the season. However, it stated that all tracks are not finalized yet what this meant I don’t know. As I can’t find the series back at all on the web!
Several entries were made for the series when you look at the Gallery where car owners could upload photos of their Formula One cars. Not sure is if they were serious to race or only posted it to show the car they owned. Some interesting cars on it are the Leyton House CG911 as seen at Silverstone. The Middlebridge Formula One car(?) that was even for sale. The Ligier JS35 powered with the Lamborghini engine. There were several Arrows and Benetton Formula One cars while there was also a Ferrari 412T1B!
The cars that the organisation had for hire, with wrong information, were the Footwork FA12 written as the Arrows A12 from Michele Alboreto. Footwork FA17 from 1996, however this was written as the Arrows A14 from Jos Verstappen. The Arrows A16 from Fittipaldi, which has to be the Footwork FA15. And the Arrows A18 from Damon Hill.
Did the series ever race? What I did figure out is that at least there has been raced or tested once with the series. The Formula Won series was also announced during an expo at the 2001 Grand Prix of Long Beach. They presented one of the Footwork FA12s fitted with their logo. There are also some photos of helmets fitted with the logo and the website. Sadly, I was unable to uncover more about Formula Won. It seems that they briefly existed through the spring and summer of 2001 only to be forgotten by everyone until today when I saw an advertisement. The idea
interestingly around the same time Alex Salarzar purchased the Reynard CART Chassis to create the Ecuadorian version of CART. This championship was named Formula Hunter. A series that didn’t make it either properly. Story is covered by OtroLadoBlog.
