Bill Noble
5-time SCCA RunOffs National Champion
13 RunOffs Podiums
1976 IMSA Pro Vee Champion
1994 Valvoline ProVee Series Champion
Winner of the Road Racing Driver's Club "Mark Donohue Award"

Lisa Noble
Vice Chairman of SCCA Board of Directors
First woman to win a National FV race in 1995
Has held 7 National FV track records
SCCA RunOffs qualifier since 1992
Winner of SCCA's historic Kimberly Cup Award as the most improved driver in the nation

Chris Cox
Chief Engine and Chassis Engineer for Noble Racing
Crew Chief for the Noble Racing at-track team
Built Championship-winning FV race engines for over a decade
Master mechanic and fabricator

Noble Racing History

Then and Now
The saga of legendary FV business Noble Racing began in 1968 when Bill Noble, a foreign car mechanic in Manhattan, Kansas, accepted a Formula Vee (FV) Form Car for a $500 debt. Intrigued by the new application of a Volkswagen engine, Noble started learning about the racing class. Noble Racing now produces some of the top Vee engines in the country, its engine customers have won the SCCA national championship Runoffs race in FV 25 times. Noble Racing also preps up to four cars for any given race weekend. This included Bill’s trademark #00 red, white and blue/Hoosier Tire, Valvoline Caracal throughout his racing career and now includes Lisa Noble’s blue Hoosier Tire - littlefeat.net Vortech.

Three years after that first car, Bill had taught himself enough about the class to build and sell his first engine to Rodney Winters for $700 and to qualify for the annual invitation-only national championship Valvoline Runoffs. He finished dead last that year, but Bill continued to qualify for the next 35 years for the showdown race. He garnered 13 podium finishes and won the gold medal five times, a record for the time, of more national championships than any other FV driver ever.

Roller Coaster Years
Two days before the Christmas of 1979, when Lisa was three-months pregnant with daughter Jaime, the Noble Racing shop burned to the ground. The fire destroyed literally everything, including 16 customers’ engines. The Nobles slowly rebuilt the business, eventually replacing all of the engines.
Bill’s driving career really began to pick up in the next decade. He finished second at the Runoffs in 1980 and then won his first Runoffs gold in 1982.
That same year Bill and Lisa sold the engine business to Curtis Farley to begin opening a chain of jewelry stores. But Bill, who worked out of his garage during the six years of his pseudo-retirement, retained the right to race, to build his own engines and to build one customer engine per year.

Comeback
Noble Racing bought back the right to compete from Farley and re-headquartered itself in Manhattan early in the 1988 season. Customer George Fizelle beat out second-place Noble to win the Runoffs that year. However, Bill won the gold the next two years, and in 1990 he relocated the business to a bigger shop.

Lisa’s driving career began to take off in 1995 after 3 years of competition, she became the first woman to win a National race in FV. Successes such as 7 track records and winning the SCCA’s prestigious Kimberly Cup as the most improved driver in the nation followed.

Bill held his place at the helm of the class with another Runoffs victory and a Valvoline Pro Vee Series championship in 1994. Noble engines continue to win national races, and National Championships. Following Bill’s retirement from driving in 2008, the team effort focuses on Lisa who continues to threaten in the Runoffs top ten and on the many Engine by Noble customers who compete in Vintage, Regional, National and Club series across the United States.

Future
Chief Mechanic Chris Cox and Lisa Noble continue the Noble Racing business as they have for the last several years. Bill’s passing in January of 2011 leaves a gap in our hearts. We pledge to you that keeping Bill’s traditions of superior customer service and of providing engines that can win championships will not change. We constantly do research and development for our engines and are looking for the improvements to the FV car and engine package that will help our customers enjoy their racing experience.
Lisa will campaign her competitive Vortech in a full schedule of Midwest Division races as well as several of the SCCA Super Sweep events in other Divisions across the country and the Runoffs in 2011. You can expect to see her and Chris at a track near you.

Advice on car and engine set up is always freely given and is only a phone call away. Whether you are a Noble customer, new to FV or are an old hand just stuck on a problem, Lisa and Chris look forward to talking with you about your FV race program.