FOCA came to be dominated by two figures above all others: Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley, the latter originally a co-founder of March Engineering. Frank Williams, Colin Chapman, Teddy Mayer, and Ken Tyrrell were also significant members, collectively representing some of the most influential independent constructors of the era. Ecclestone became the organisation's chief executive in 1978, with Mosley taking on the role of legal advisor. Together they transformed FOCA from a loose association into a disciplined negotiating bloc capable of confronting both race promoters and the sport's regulatory authorities.
FOCA's core mission was to represent the interests of privately owned teams, typically against race organisers over appearance money and commercial terms, and later against manufacturer-owned or manufacturer-supported teams such as Ferrari, Matra, and Alfa Romeo. The divide between FOCA's independent constructors and the factory-backed teams became one of the defining fault lines of Formula One politics during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In the early 1980s FOCA entered open conflict with FISA, the sporting authority of the FIA that governed Formula One at the time. The dispute centred on control over the commercial and regulatory aspects of the championship, with Ecclestone and FOCA pushing to wrest financial and organisational power from the governing body. The conflict became known as the FISA–FOCA War and played out through a series of regulatory confrontations, threatened boycotts, and rival championship proposals. Its eventual resolution significantly expanded Ecclestone's personal role in running the sport and led directly to the formation of FOA (Formula One Administration) as the structure through which he managed Formula One's commercial rights.
A defining episode in FOCA's history came in the wake of the 1982 Brazilian Grand Prix, when both Nelson Piquet and Keke Rosberg were disqualified from the results on technical grounds. In protest, a coalition of FOCA-aligned teams — including McLaren, Williams, and Brabham — announced they would boycott the following San Marino Grand Prix at Imola. The boycott was not total: four FOCA-aligned teams, Tyrrell, Osella, ATS, and Toleman, broke ranks and took the start regardless, undermining the unity of the protest action.
FOCA's significance extended well beyond its internal membership disputes. By organising the independent constructors into a coherent negotiating force, the association reshaped the commercial landscape of Formula One and forced its governing structures to deal with the teams as a collective power. The authority that Ecclestone consolidated through FOCA and its successor arrangements shaped the sport's commercial model for several decades. The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA), formed much later, attempted to serve a broadly similar representative function for the constructors, though in a substantially different commercial environment.