The Formula Crane 45 was a single-seater racing series held at

Autopolis is a international racing circuit located near Kamitsue village in Ōita Prefecture, Japan on the Northeast of Kumamoto. Nippon Autopolis">F1 News - Grandprix.com > GP Encyclopedia > Circuits > Nippon Autopolis/ref> Tsurumaki ordered 30 Buic ...

in 1991 and 1992.

History

Owner of the

circuit

Tomonori Tsurumaki Tomonori is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Tomonori can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Some examples: *友則, "friend, rule" *友紀, "friend, chronicle" *友憲, "friend, constitution" * ...

ordered 30 Buick powered US built single seater race cars called Sabre FC45 for a race to take place on his circuit's grand opening on November 1990, consisting of a mixture of invited US

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

drivers such as

Stan Fox Stanley Cole Fuchs (July 7, 1952 – December 18, 2000), known professionally as Stan Fox (''Fuchs'' being the German word for "fox"), was an American open wheel race car driver. Fox was one of the last links between the midget car racing world a ...

Johnny Rutherford John Sherman "Johnny" Rutherford III (born March 12, 1938), also known as "Lone Star JR", is an American former automobile racing driver. During an Indy Car career that spanned more than three decades, he scored 27 wins and 23 pole positions in 3 ...

Dick Simon Richard Raymond Simon (born September 21, 1933) is retired American auto racing driver and racing team owner. Simon drove Indy cars in USAC and CART, and made 17 starts at the Indianapolis 500. At the 1988 Indianapolis 500, Simon set a record as ...

, Gary and

Tony Bettenhausen Melvin Eugene "Tony" Bettenhausen (September 12, 1916 – May 12, 1961) was an American racing driver, who won the National Championship in 1951 and 1958. Bettenhausen was nicknamed the "Tinley Park Express" in honor of his hometown. He was n ...

against local Japanese drivers. The cars were originally built for a spec racing class to have been run by USAC; however, this class was never realized. After the grand opening, Tsurumaki planned on a series with the cars, known as Formula Crane 45. With only a handful of cars during the 1991 and 1992 season the class was not very successful. When Autopolis went bankrupt the assets including the cars were sold to the highest bidder.

1991

1992

Champions

References

{{Japanese racing ladder Auto racing series in Japan Formula racing Formula racing series Recurring sporting events established in 1991 Recurring events disestablished in 1992 Defunct auto racing series