Bob McQueen

National SCCA Champion - G Production

1971 and 1972

(Above image - Bob in the Winners' Circle at the ARRC, Road Atlanta, 1971)

Bob McQueen, a repair  shop owner from Smyrna, Georgia, had already cut his teeth on the SCCA's Formula Vee and Formula B classes in the late 1960s, before approaching Pete Brock to buy one of his BRE Roadsters. For the 1971 season BRE were concentrating their efforts on the 510 and 240Z. The roadsters, which by now had ceased production, were no longer a priority for Nissan (although the company still offered lucrative payments to successful drivers, irrespective of which model they raced).

Click for larger image of Bob racing his Beach, 1968

Brock's roadsters were probably the best engineered Datsun Roadsters on the West Coast, due in the main to Pete Brock's pursuit of perfection, coupled with Nissan's support. However, contrary to popular myth (Michael Hollander's Complete Datsun Guide, Ben Millspaugh's Z Car, a legend in it's own time etc.), the BRE roadsters never won a National Championship, largely through bad luck. Ironically, privateer Bob McQueen was to achieve the success that BRE were denied, not once, but twice.

Click for larger image of Bob's 2000

Bob McQueen's car was the ex-John Morton D and C Production racer, that Morton campaigned to the 1969 Runoffs. Morton also amassed points in C Production in 1970 in this car before switching to the Z. Still campaigning the roadster in D Production he only made a reserve place and did not make the race, although his qualifying time beat allcomers by some margin.

When McQueen purchased the 2000 from Pete Brock she was still equipped with the full set of BRE mods (see the BRE page) and, early in the 1971 season, McQueen even campaigned the roadster with BRE stickers. Only the racing number and a substitution of yellow letters on the hood and yellow stripes down the sides gave any indication of the change of ownership.  

For commentaries on Bob's successes at the wheel of the 2000, see the page links below.

The car eventually went to Ken Glasener. At the time of writing this article, the car was still being campaigned, in BRE colours, by Bob Dicke. In the year 2000, Bob was back winning.

Rob Beddington