Token Racing
 |
|
| Full name | Token Racing |
|---|---|
| Base | United Kingdom |
| Founder(s) | Tony Vlassopulos Ken Grob |
| Noted drivers |
 Tom Pryce David Purley Ian Ashley
|
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| First entry | 1974 Belgian Grand Prix |
| Races entered | 4 |
| Constructors | Token-Ford |
| Drivers' Championships |
0 |
| Race victories | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Final entry | 1974 Austrian Grand Prix |
Token Racing was a short-lived Formula One team and constructor from the United Kingdom, participating in four Grands Prix of the 1974 Formula One season.
Token's history effectively began back in 1971. Ron Dennis was trying to find sponsorship for his Rondel racing team. Through Ron's then girlfriend, who was the daughter of John Phelps, director of Phelps Antique Furniture in Twickenham, one of its regular customers Tony Vlassopulos, a barrister son of a Greek Shipowner, was asked to sponsor Rondel. Vlassopulos asked his friend Ken Grob, chairman of Alexander Howden, insurance brokers in London if he was interested in joining in. Grob said yes on the proviso that his young son Ian Grob could be part of the team, which was agreed. From that moment forward, Tony Vlassopulos became Dennis' first sponsor.
In late 1973 Rondel Racing, by now a successful Formula Two team founded by Ron Dennis and Neil Trundle, decided to enter F1. Dennis asked Ray Jessop to design the car, while backing was to come from the French oil company Motul, which had sponsored the team for the previous two years in addition to Vlassopulos and Grob. For 1974, a Ray Jessop-designed F1 car was planned but the energy crisis affected Motul's support. However, in truth, the funds were not there to support a F1 leap even with Motul involved. Trundle continued with the already designed car from Jessop and Vlassopulos and Grob took over the ownership, with the car becoming the Token, the "To" and the "Ken" coming from the backer's first names and the RJ02 in honour of Jessop.
The team made its F1 debut in April 1974 at the non-Championship International Trophy race at Silverstone, with Welshman Tom Pryce at the wheel. Its first Championship race came the following month, at the Belgian Grand Prix, where Pryce qualified 20th but retired at three-quarter distance following a collision with Jody Scheckter's Tyrrell. The team entered the next race at Monaco but was forbidden from taking part on the basis of Pryce's supposed inexperience, prompting the Welshman to move to the Shadow team. However, upset by this, Vlassopulos took out his Formula 3 racer, Buzz Buzaglo and then put in Pryce, who then competed in the Formula 3 race for Ippokampos Racing, Vlassopulos' Formula 3 concern, and subsequently won the race.
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