Editing Token Racing (section)

==History==
[[File:Token RJ02., Goodwood Members' Meeting 2015.jpg|thumb|Token RJ02., Goodwood Members' Meeting 2015]]

Token's history effectively began 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 upon. From that moment forward, Tony Vlassopulos became Dennis's first sponsor.<ref name="ORC">{{cite web|url=http://www.oldracingcars.com/driver/Tony_Vlassopulos|title=Tony Vlassopulos|first=Allen|last=Brown|work=oldracingcars.com|access-date=21 August 2018}}</ref>

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 (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 [[1973 oil crisis|energy crisis]] affected Motul's support. However, the funds were, in fact, not available to support a F1 leap, even with Motul involved. Trundle continued with the already-designed car from Jessop; Vlassopulos and Grob took over the ownership, with the car becoming the Token, the "To" and the "Ken" coming from the backers' first names and the RJ02 in honour of Jessop.
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The team made its F1 debut in April 1974 at the non-Championship [[BRDC International Trophy|International Trophy]] race at [[Silverstone Circuit|Silverstone]], with Welshman [[Tom Pryce]] at the wheel. Its first Championship race came the following month, at the [[1974 Belgian Grand Prix|Belgian Grand Prix]], where Pryce qualified 20th but retired at three-quarter distance following a collision with [[Jody Scheckter]]'s [[Tyrrell Racing|Tyrrell]]. The team entered the next race at [[1974 Monaco Grand Prix|Monaco]] but was forbidden from taking part on the basis of Pryce's supposed inexperience, prompting the Welshman to move to the [[Shadow Racing Cars|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.

After sitting out the next three races, Token reappeared at the [[1974 British Grand Prix|British Grand Prix]] with [[David Purley]] in place of Pryce. But after failing to qualify, Purley left and was replaced by fellow Englishman [[Ian Ashley]]. At the [[Nürburgring]] for the next race in [[1974 German Grand Prix|Germany]], Ashley qualified 26th and last, and ran as high as 8th before a tyre problem dropped him to 14th at the end. Then in [[1974 Austrian Grand Prix|Austria]], Ashley qualified 24th, but finished unclassified after more wheel problems.

By this stage, however, the team had run out of money, and Vlassopulos and Grob closed it down. The RJ02 subsequently passed into the hands of the [[Safir Engineering]] company.