IMSAblog

Miami 1983 : the show comes to town

It was the first time that an IMSA race would take place on a street circuit, and certainly not the last. This event was to take place by the will of these two men: Ralph Sanchez and Phil Corey. Driving on such a track was certainly not an easy task, as you could find everything one could expect on a street circuit : slow corners, bumpy track, holes, narrow track or whatever else. It was not your dream racetrack but the promoters did the right thing to bring home a world class entry : $225200 was the total prize money so you could expect to find your dream field of racers and it proved true. As a result, the big entry list (92 cars) would not allow the entire field to race together and the three categories had to race separately. It was the first time it was to happen in IMSA history.
Several Porsche 935 Turbos would have to fight against many GTPs that should be more easy to drive on this kind of track. A bunch of Lolas, Marches, Nimrods, Jaguars and one Mirage M12, a Grid and the Ford Mustang Turbos would provide a lot of racing action. The rest of the field was made up of local cars such as one Chevron B36 Buick, driven by Del Taylor, a Mazda GTP, driven by David Loring, a monstrous Corvette fitted with a V8 7,5L engine driven by Richard Valentine, a BMW 320 for Fomfor and a Pontiac Firebird driven by Vicki Smith, who had Gene Felton as co-driver. Vicki Smith would finally drive solo.

Vicki Smith drove this Pontiac Firebird to a sixteenth place overall in this raincast event.

Courtesy Gene Felton

One extra factor would interfere in the course of the action as the weather would rapidly become quite rainy and shorten the race.
33 cars took the green and John Fitzpatrick took the lead but was soon to be overtaken by Al Holbert driving a March 83G at the end of lap one. He was rapidly overtaken by Danny Ongais(Lola T600 Chevrolet). Behind, Bob Wollek was ahead John Fitzpatrick, John Paul Jr and Danny Ongais. Soon, Wollek would close on Al Holbert but the rain would get stronger. A real storm would fall onto Miami. The race had fallen into some chaos as everyone would spin or hit another car. As giant streams of water flowed on the track, cars began to slow down and waited for the Pace Car to stop the race. Some drivers would then go back to the pits for a refueling, as they thought that the race would go on, but, as it turned out, the race would soon be stopped after a 10 laps procession and be red-flagged. Wollek, who was second, would regret his act as he got back in ninth position! The standings were to be what it was on the 17th lap. Al Holbert was the first winner of that ill-fated Grand Prix of Miami. Second place went to John Paul Jr and third to Klaus Ludwig on the Ford Mustang Turbo who did a great job on a little adapted car.
The GTO race went to Gene Felton, driving the Stratagraph Chevrolet Camaro. He took the win after Don Devendorf's retirement due to a drown ignition. Ludwig Heimrath took second place on his Porsche 934 and Robert Overby was third on a Chevrolet Camaro.
The GTU race was the only one to be run under a dry weather and Roger Mandeville emerged as the winner of the race, he finished ahead Whitney Ganz whose Toyota Celica ran well on this track and Jack Dunham on a Mazda RX7. Promoters did lose a lot of money as this event was a completely disastrous one, but Ralph Sanchez had done a great job while promoting this race and the next years would be far more successful.

1	41	March 83G Chevrolet	Al Holbert
2	1	Lola T600 Chevrolet	John Paul Jr
3	06	Ford Mustang Turbo	Klaus Ludwig
4	2	Porsche 935K4	John Fitzpatrick
5	44	Jaguar XJR5	Bob Tullius
6	5	Porsche 935K3	Dale Whittington
7	54	Mirage M12 Cosworth	Tony Garcia
8	12	Porsche 935L	Jochen Mass
9	09	Porsche 935L	Bob Wollek
10	16	March 83G Chevrolet	Marty Hinze

24 Hours of Daytona 1975

It was the first year that the 24 Hours of Daytona were to be run as part of the IMSA Camel GT Challenge and the entry list for the race displayed 50 cars. The practice sessions had been dominated by John Greenwood Super Vette who did "only" 1m55s223 to establish himself as the polesitter. It was 3s slower than his record lap during the 1974 IMSA Finale. Following the Corvette were  the two Works BMW who were running their first ever IMSA race and brought a welcome addition to the usual field. Behind those cars, you could find Maurice Carter-Gene Felton Camaro followed by Al Holbert-Elliot Forbes Robinson on the first Porsche Carrera, then Juan Carlos Bolanos-Michel Jourdain who had received a welcome additional driver as Hans Heyer put this car in sixth position, just ahead Peter Gregg-Hurley Haywood and Hector Rebaque-Guillermo Rojas-Fred van Beuren similar car. Plenty of action was to be awaited from that race. At the start, as expected, John Greenwood pulled away, trailing the two BMWs driven by Ronnie Peterson and Sam Posey leading the quintet Holbert-Gregg-Carter-de Lorenzo-Thompson, all swapping places and providing the fans with some great racing actions.

Photo courtesy Gene Felton

The Ferrari Boxer driven by Claude Ballot Léna would come back to the pits after the pace-lap to retire from the race. John Greenwood easily maintained his pace, Peterson was 28s and Posey 50s down after one hour when Peterson pitted in a hurry : the engine had blown. Vince Muzzin took the wheel of the leading car, after its second refueling pitstop, and Sam Posey took briefly the lead of the race. Muzzin would take back the lead but for a short period as the car began overheating. Many pitstops after changing the radiator, they would find out what caused so much trouble was a heat-escape valve, a part that would be replaced in two minutes. The BMW took the lead and began to dominate the race and had built up a three lap lead over the Holbert-Forbes Robinson Porsche. Earlier in the race, Peter Gregg had collided with Guillermo Rojas Porsche and lost fifteen minutes to repair his car. He was now pushing hard and despite some bodywork damage, was coming back to a leading position. The BMW driven by Sam Posey was always in the lead but had to stop, definitively at 12.45 am. The American cars no longer any threat to the German cars, the Porsches would fight together for overall victory. Al Holbert-Elliot Forbes Robinson became the new race leaders. They would hold their position for a few hours, before experiencing transmission trouble. At the halfway mark, they led the race with a four laps lead over Peter Gregg-Hurley Haywood. The gap between the two cars would soon be nullified as a thick fog was to slow down nearly every racer. At 6h15 am, Hurley Haywood, not to be slowed so much by this fog, took the lead of the race, definitively. It was done the easy way as Holbert's Porsche was quietly getting into more and more trouble. The transmission was getting worse and slowed the car who was losing ground. As they tried to nurse the car to the chequered, Al Holbert and Elliot Forbes Robinson were overtaken by six more cars to finish eighth overall. A well-deserved rank as they did not cross the finish line to retire one hour prior to the chequered. Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood had an easy but strong pace to finish 15 laps ahead Michael Keyser-Billy Sprowls, Charlie Kemp-Carson Baird took third place, fourth were George Dyer-Jacques Bienvenue.  The GTU class was won by another Porsche, the Rusty Bond-George Rollin-John Belperche 911S. The first non-Porsche in the standings was the Ferrari 365GTB4 entered by Interscope Racing for Jon Woodner-Fred Phillips, who placed 7th overall.

Final results

Dekon Engineering

At the end of the 1974 season, the IMSA Camel GT Challenge had grown into a recognized road racing series.
With full grids, sponsors and growing crowds showing up at every race, the future of the series looked bright. The problem was, from the beginning of the series, one make did dominate and always won : Porsche. They had ready-to-race cars available to every well-financed racer and they sold it. As a result, races often ended up as Porsche parades. BMW had entered the fray in 1976 and you could find your American iron at the start of every race but with no success to be awaited. At that time, Chevrolet was conscious about this problem and was willing to change that situation. Vince Piggins, who was heading Chevrolet's Product Promotion Engineering Department sent a proposal to John Bishop. Clearly, this proposal was to allow tubeframe chassis on racecars, it was a blueprint for the creation of a silhouette category allowing a greater liberty for building  American race cars, as seen in other forms of GT racing in the US.
This proposal stirred John Bishop who was quite all ears at the perspective of a Chevrolet versus Porsche competition :  it looked as the perfect promotion for his series. A new category was to be created : the All American GT. The spearhead for Chevrolet would be the all new Monza. A brand new model revealed at the end of 1974, this model was narrower and smaller than any other model Chevrolet built. It would fit perfectly to this new category. As Chevrolet would produce some restyling for this racer-to-be, it would be obvious that further development for the cars would be delegated to independant shops. Dekon Engineering had already proven their ability in building race cars. Horst Kwech and Lee Dykstra had begun developing a neat and effective race car. A robust tubeframe chassis coupled with the suspension which was a fabricated A-arms in front and a 4-link Panhard-bar in the rear with a Ford 9-inch axle. Add a fiberglass bodywork that you can easily remove and you have your easy to tune or repair racecar. The car was fitted with a V8 Chevrolet 6,0L given for 570hp. It was mounted on 17 inch-wide wheels. It could reach top speeds in excess of 180mph. Dekon was an acronym as "D" stands for Design and "K" for construction.
The car was to be debuted at Road Atlanta in 10th April 1975 and would be driven by Horst Kwech himself. A race that would terminate in a shunt with a slower car. He had qualified fifth overall, which was quite good but could not make it to the grid for the second heat as the car needed heavy repair. The car had proven its capabilities, however, as the winner, Al Holbert, driving a Porsche Carrera RSR, saw it would make a winner and ordered his Monza for the 1976 season. The next 1975 races turned into engine problems for the Dekon Monza, and the car could not fight with the Porsches or BMWs. A second chassis was built for Harry Theodoracopoulos, but it was wrecked during a practice session and sent back to Dekon, where it was repaired and updated. One of the updates the car got was an extra bar, running from the main roll hoop, and down to the passenger footwell area. They named this extra bar the “Harry bar,” because they were worried he’d need the extra bracing for his next big wreck.
At that moment, it seemed clear to Vince Piggins that Horst should probably concentrate on the mechanical part of the development. He accepted it reluctantly, and later admitted that it was the right decision.

Tom Frank's #1004 car at Mid Ohio 1977
Copyright Mark Windecker

For 1976, a new engine supplier was found and several new chassis had been built and sold to different teams. It seemed that it would be the perfect year to demonstrate the Dekon cars real potential. Al Holbert had taken delivery of his new car and Michael Keyser had purchased one. They won seven of the fifteen races they entered and Al Holbert won the 1976 title. In 1977, he would do it again facing a stronger opposition. Porsche was allowed to run its 934s and BMW had entered a fantastic 320 Turbo in the capable hands of David Hobbs that proved fast, if not always reliable. Al Holbert had developed his car, now displaying a big rear "banana" wing and the car proved even more effective. Unfortunately, it was to be the last IMSA title for a Dekon Monza, as in 1978, the rules would allow Porsche 935s, cars that would dominate the series for a while. Monzas would still be seen on the Camel GT circuit, but would never win a race anymore.

Here are the cars seen on the Camel GT circuit from 1975 to 1981.

• #1001- The first AAGT car, driven by Horst Kwech.
• #1002- Harry Theodoracopulos' car
• #1003- Michael Keyser's 1976 IMSA monza
• #1004- Tom Frank's car
• #1006- Michael Keyser's 1977 car
• #1007- Jerry Jolly's car
• #1008- Al Holbert's 1976 IMSA Championship car
• #1010- Greg Picket's '77 T/A Cat.II car seen in a few west coast IMSA events
• #1011- Chris Cord's '77-81 IMSA car
• #1012- Originally built for Ted Fields's Interscope Team, never ran in IMSA effectively
• #1014- Al Holbert used this chassis to win the 1977 IMSA AAGT
• #1016- Built to run in the SCCA A-Sedan class for Keith Feldott, seen later in IMSA 1978
• #1018- Built for Al Holbert's '78 IMSA effort, it was never raced

Many thanks to Chad Raynal for his valuable help

1975 : Gregg again

The 1975 season was to begin with a welcome new addition to the IMSA Camel GT calendar : the 24 Hours of Daytona. This race would become one of the most important international road racing event in the future. That was not still the case in 1975 but it was certainly one first important step as this race was to star a brand new BMW works team(see article here). You could add the fabulous Greenwood Corvette plus some good Camaros and Corvettes and a battalion of well-driven Porsche Carreras, a new Ferrari Boxer and three Daytonas, then you had an honest 50 car field. The scenario would be your regular one as the Corvette led for a while, then the BMW took the lead, only to let one of the Porsche Carreras take back the commanding position in the middle of the night. It was, as per usual could we say, Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood who finally took their second straight victory on the Florida superspeedway. Sebring was a bit different six weeks later. A good promotional work from John Greenwood had brought a huge 70 car field and some 50000 spectators. The Floridian race was on its way to become a great American classic. The track was surely not improving with the years but still had its magnet effect. It was the race you should not have to miss. The race started very fast with John Greenwood leading the very first laps, but soon to be overtaken by a very agressive Hans Stuck that led for a while. The tactical for the Bavarian make was to erode the opposition, which they did. A lot of cars experienced various problems and when the leading car had to retire, the second one just took the lead until the chequered. Every opponent had suffered from various trouble.
Second overall were George Dyer-Jacques Bienvenue Porsche Carrera, John Graves-Dave Helmick-John O'steen finished third. In GTU, it was Rusty Bond-George Rollin-John Belperche who finished tenth overall to win this class.
At Road Atlanta, the race had a two-heat format. A rumour was running, hinting the that the two best Porsche drivers had been supplied with more powerful engines. A new entry was to be seen as the all new Chevrolet Monza, driven by Horst Kwech, was making its racing debut. The car was in a development phase and could not fight for the win. However, it was the first of many cars that were to enter the IMSA fields in the next months as the AAGT category was officially born.
Peter Gregg took the first one. Al Holbert was second and Hurley Haywood third. The second heat was won by Al Holbert who subsequently won the race. Hurley Haywood finished second and Michael Keyser third. The rumour was probably true.
The next race was a swing to the Laguna Seca Raceway. The first heat saw a great fight between Hans Stuck and Peter Gregg, the latter finally winning the race with the slightest margin. Third was Elliot Forbes Robinson, then Michael Keyser and George Dyer. In the second heat, Stuck had his revenge and won easily, beating Michael Keyser, Elliot Forbes Robinson and Peter Gregg who had to pit unexpectedly. Holbert finished fifth after starting 41st to make a splendid comeback.
The next race, at Riverside, saw the two BMW 3.0CSL dominate the event. Peter Gregg-Hurley Haywood Porsche could just try to break their domination but with no success and they had to settle for third, one lap down. Hans Stuck shared the winning car with Dieter Quester, Sam Posey took second with Brian Redman. A string of seven Porsches took third to ninth place while Bob Sharp-Walt Maas finished tenth overall and took the GTU honors. They defeated the Porsche 911S driven by Jim Borsos and Dennis Aase.
Lime Rock was a track that suited the Porsches and Peter Gregg took the first heat, ahead Hans Stuck and Al Holbert. The second heat saw a hard-fought battle between Gregg and Holbert against Stuck and Posey BMWs. At the end of the race, it was a one-two for Porsche ahead Hans Stuck and Sam Posey.
The next round was to be held at Mid Ohio, with the finishing order from that race would determine the starting for the second race, which took place in June. The purse also would be quite attractive :$20000. Stuck was the early race leader had to stop with a bad wheel bearing. Peter Gregg then took the lead but he had to withdraw from the race. That left Al Holbert who won the race ahead Sam Posey and Hurley Haywood. Warren Agor entered a new Chevrolet Monza and finished at an encouraging fourth place. Bob Sharp again the GTU category after dicing with Brad Frisselle running on a similar car.
Mosport was the first ever race to be held in Canada and a 50000 crowd gave IMSA its best audience of the year. Two 50 miles heat would determine the starting order of the main event. Redman won the first one ahead of Peter Gregg and Al Holbert won the second while Carl Shafer was second. The main event saw Brian Redman take the lead but until his engine failed. Carl Shafer then inherited the lead with Peter Gregg waiting behind. Most of the race was a Shafer-Gregg fight but they finally came too close and the Porsche suspension was damaged. The Camaro too was having handling trouble and Hurley Haywood slipped past an inattentive Carl Shafer who took second. Third was local driver Ludwig Heimrath and Peter Gregg finally fourth. Brad Frisselle took his first GTU win on his Datsun Z car.
The next race at Daytona saw Hans Stuck holding Carl Shafer's Camaro and the Porsches of Haywood,Holbert, Dyer and Kemp. Peter Gregg experienced bad luck when the engine of his Porsche Carrera swallowed a valve. Carl Shafer, solidly holding second had to retire when he broke his oil pump. At the end, Hurley Haywood was second, then Al Holbert, George Dyer, Charlie Kemp, Bob Beasley, Jim Busby and John Graves took the next following spots, all driving Porsches. Juan Montalvo finished ninth and won the GTU category on his Ford Escort. At Mid America, high temperatures and humidity made the two heats tiring ones. Al Holbert beat Peter Gregg in the first heat after a hard fight. Hurley Haywood finished third after a final attempt to capture second failed. The second heat was a repeat victory for Al Holbert who again lead Peter Gregg. It was a three men battle but Hurley Haywood lost an engine in the battle. Peter Gregg had to stop to replace a tyre after rubbing on some debris. He finished second however, just ahead of John O'steen.
The next race, held at Talladega, was  completely wasted as rain delayed the start of the race. At the start, Hans Stuck began to dominate the race until it was stopped when the rain flooded the track. After a lull, the race resumed, Hans Stuck was then challenged by Peter Gregg, mainly in the infield. However, Hans Stuck managed to hold a thirty second advantage over Peter Gregg when the rain began to fall again. The poor race conditions drove the race direction to red flag the race. Hurley Haywood took third and Al Holbert fourth. Brad Frisselle again the GTU category.
Mid Ohio was the next race and one of the longest in the IMSA schedule.  A 6Hour event which was supposes to give the advantage to the Porsches on this challenging track. The race was led by Peter Gregg- Hurley Haywood who had a special long tailed Porsche Carrera. After four hours of domination, Peter Gregg collided with a slower car. It took 40 minutes to repair the damaged suspension and the car was to sixteenth. Al Holbert and Elliot Forbes Robinson finally took the win while the unfortunate pair Gregg-Haywood worked their way back to ninth overall. John Graves-Dave Helmick finished second, 6 laps down and Roberto Quintanilla-Roberto Gonzales took third, 12 laps down. With one race remaining, Peter Gregg, Al Holbert and Hurley Haywood all could win the title. It was a different race as John Greenwood entered his super Corvette. As per usual, he dominated the race, 40 seconds ahead of Brian Redman and Sam Posey BMWs. Peter Gregg finished fourth and again won the Championship, Hurley Haywood was fifth. Bob Sharp easily won the GTU category as he won again at the Finale.
Porsche had won the Championship but a new threat had come to the horizon : it would soon materialize as the Chevrolet Monza was to appear in 1976, mostly improved entered by top teams. The IMSA Camel GT Challenge was undergoing major changes.

Gene Felton : the man with a Camaro

Gene Felton's first IMSA Camel  GT race took place at the Mid Ohio 6Hour enduro race in 1972. This was not a success as Gene and Ronald Austin finished 20th overall. They entered a big block 7,0L Chevrolet Camaro that was to be further developed later. Next race at Talladega saw Gene Felton finish fourth overall. The third race he did enter in 1972 saw his first victory at Daytona International Speedway. He defeated Tony de Lorenzo, Maurice Carter and Dave Heinz to win his first major race on the IMSA circuit. He had begun his racing career in 1964 driving a BMW 700.  "Traveling the country with one good buddy, cube van and an open trailer", recalls Gene Felton. This way he defeated some big bucks factory cars and drivers.

At Mid Ohio in 1973, driving his own Camaro
Copyright Mark Windecker

In 1973, he campaigned his Camaro five times, earning one victory at Daytona in July, and placing 3rd at Pocono, a 5th at Daytona in April, Mid Ohio resulted in a dnf, at Road Atlanta, Gene took a 7th and last race of the season Gene shared Roy Stamey's Camaro only to finish 9th. A not so disappointing season as Gene was running a limited budget and working on his car with a friend. It was the time when you could still do it! He even defeated Peter Gregg works car while running this way.
In 1974, he ran an even more limited schedule, the season's first race at Road Atlanta resulting in a retirement after 3 laps. The second race for Gene was on the high banks of Charlotte Motor Speedway where he and NASCAR driver Buddy Baker took a fourth overall behind three Porsche Carreras. The very last race of the season was no success for Gene as it was yet another retirement to finish 31.
1975 was a short IMSA season for Gene as he entered only two IMSA races : Talladega where he finished 10th on a Corvette entered by Dick Bostyan and Mid Ohio on a Chevrolet Monza resulting in an early dnf.
In 1976, he entered the Daytona 24 Hours on a Chevrolet Camaro entered by Eddie Johnson, a completely outdated car that could not do better than 45th. Gene's Camaro reappeared at Talladega where he could do no better than 10th. Atlanta did not allow any better result as the end up 30th. It was the end of the road for a car that had been extensively developed, but it could no longer fight against newer cars.

Gene Felton leading the pack at Road Atlanta 1976

Photo courtesy Gene Felton

The last time he would enter his Camaro was at the Daytona 24 Hours in 1977, this race ending with an honest result. Gene did enter the new American Challenge in 1977. It was a new category design for homebuilt American sedans with limited modifications. A new challenge for Gene who enjoyed pretty successes. He won two races in 1977 and became the first AC Champion, driving a Buick Skylark and beating Gene Harrington.
In 1978, he went on driving his Buick with a more consistent schedule. The first race was the 12 Hours of Sebring and Gene entered the race on a Buick Skylark. He was partnered by Vince Gimondo and, as a result, wound up a ninth overall and a AC victory.                                                       

At Road Atlanta in 1978, driving a Buick Skylark
Photo courtesy Gene Felton 

Talladega resulted in a dnf. Lime Rock was not more successful as he finished 27th but the next race, the Paul Revere 250 at Daytona, he finished 11th and 1st in class. He won again at the Daytona Finale in his class. Road Atlanta GTU was a special event including AC cars : there he finished 4th in his class. He won the title for the second time.
In 1979, the American Challenge became the Kellygirl Challenge and featured separate races. That year was the third AC title for Gene Felton who won five times on his Buick Skylark.
In 1980, Gene Felton won again the Championship, winning every race he entered. It was an outright domination! The 1981 season was a new challenge for Gene as he joined Billy Hagan's Stratagraph racing program. The car was an AAGT car that could not match the Porsche Turbos pace, but it proved fast enough to capture some mitigated results. A 13th at Pocono was the best he could do.
In 1982, the team built a newer lightweight car fitted with a V8 5,4L. At Sebring, the car could not do better than 46th and had trouble finishing better than 36th at Riverside, but then, Gene and Billy Hagan won at Charlotte, winning the GTO class. At Lime Rock, he entered his own Camaro and finished second to Don Devendorf's Datsun Turbo. At Mosport, bad luck prevented him to do better than 25th. Road America brought a 30th. At Mid Ohio, they finished 11th overall and third in class. Road Atlanta 40, Pocono 35, but they won the Daytona Finale and took 5th overall!
In 1983, Daytona and Sebring were little success for the team. Road Atlanta 16th, Riverside 6th(2nd GTO), Mid Ohio(3rd overall!), Daytona 4th, Brainerd 15th, Sears Point 10th, Mosport 13th, Road America 13th, Pocono 3rd, Daytona Finale 14th. However, he had to get happy with a third in points, Wayne Baker took the GTO Championship that year.
In 1984, Daytona 24Hours 6th, Sebring 8th, Atlanta 8th, Riverside 26th. Charlotte 5th, Watkins Glen 40th, Portland 16th, Road America 22nd. A Riverside Trans Am race ended up his career when he suffered a terrible crash. Gene Felton then decided to concentrate on his business and was not to be seen more than occasionally. He had finished second in points in GTO.
Still recuperating from his injuries, he won again with various cars. He drove Oldsmobile Toronados for Tom Winters Rocketsports, Pontiac Firebirds for Herb Adams or Pete Brallier but he had to focus on a new career. At that time, he began restoring Stock Car racers, and he is still nowadays. His career has been filled with a lot of victories. He started a Historic Vintage series in which to race them; and at 69 years young, still wins.  He has won over 100 vintage races in Historic Winston Cup cars, Camaros, Boss Mustangs, and Shelbys. He is one of the most successful driver in IMSA history, only bettered by the late Al Holbert. He deserves everyone's respect for this and he is a man that must be recognized as one of the greatest road racing drivers in the US.

His career

Twenty Five American Challenge Wins - I.M.S.A. (International Motor Sports Association)
Eleven Camel GTO Wins - I.M.S.A.
Eight Champion Spark Plug Series Wins - I.M.S.A.
Two Camel GT Wins - I.M.S.A.
Two SCCA Pro Escort Series Endurance Wins
One Trans-Am Win
WON 50 OF 119 (42%) ROAD RACES FINISHED
Seventy  Three pole positions
Thirty Seven fast laps (race)
Sixty Three track records including qualifying
Top Five – 86.5% of races finished
Top Ten – 97.0% of races finished
Qualified front row 74% of races run
Four Season Championships
Four Runner-ups
Several 3rd places in championships – never out of Top Five
Won Every American Challenge race from pole in 1980(nine poles; nine wins)
Won Manufacturer's Championship for both Buick and Chevrolet
Won Class - Daytona 24 Hour
Won Class - Sebring 12 Hour
Runner-up 24 Hours of Le Mans

Mazda RX7 : winningest car ever

At the time Mazda first showed up at Daytona in 1979, no one took care of this new team that came from Japan. They had come the previous year with RX3 cars and had applied what they had learned on the track. The two cars were destined to be driven by Japanese and American drivers. After qualifying first and second in class, they steadily dominated the race, to finish in fifth and sixth position overall. Yoshimi Katayama-Yojiro Terada-Takashi Yorino winning the GTU category and Walt Bohren-Jim Downing-Roger Mandeville second.  It was not the first time Mazda entered an RX7 in an IMSA event as Al Cosentino was the first to enter such a car. Following their domination, IMSA  decided to add an extra 458lbs to the cars. After a while, and following the drivers concerns about the extra weight, they reduced it to zero. The factory cars had been sold to Roger Mandeville and Jim Downing. At the end of the 1979 season, Don Devendorf won the title for Datsun, but Bob Bergstrom took second place in a Mazda.

Walt Bohren at Mid Ohio

Copyright Mark Windecker

For 1980, teams and alliances changed, Brad Frisselle was chosen as Mazda's "official" driver and received a great financial support. He campaigned a Dave Kent prepared car. Racing Beat and Walt Bohren received some financial support too, but it was much more limited so they could not run a full season schedule. Pierre Honegger entered a new Holman and Moody car for the endurance events. The first success for a Mazda came at Sebring when Roger Mandeville, Jim Downing and Brad Frisselle took the GTU victory. As Mazdas went on to win every race but three in the season, they easily won the Championship. Walt Bohren won the title.
In 1981, new teams appeared as former ones disappeared, and Dave Kent did enter as a new race team. Racing Beat did not field any car that year. The financial support went to Dave Kent's team. The drivers would be Walt Bohren and Lee Mueller. Kathy Rude and Jim Mullen would join the team on some occasions. Cars were being steadily improved and, as fuel injection had been banned in 1981, mufflers were required to limit the decibel rate. New air filters, water radiators and large oil coolers. The power varied from 270 to 300hp. Dave Kent had modified his cars : they sported now several aerodynamic modifications. They did sweep the opposition and won eleven races out of sixteen. Lee Mueller won the Championship. Jim Downing was running a car that was backed by BF Goodrich, running on street tyres, as was Roger Mandeville's. Jim Downing's car was to become the MOST successful car in IMSA history. The cars were destined to run mainly the endurance events. They had trouble setting the cars, mainly because of the street tyres, which required some specific settings for the cars.
In 1982, Mazda was a major force in GTU, and everyone racing a Mazda felt like being part of a great family. Everyone would help each other, especially Roger Mandeville and Jim Downing, who shared their experience with less supported teams. These two drivers had been chosen by Mazda for factory support. At Daytona, Mazda entered a works team of Japanese drivers, they won their class and finished fourth overall with their usual lineup of drivers. They won the 24 Hours of Daytona for their last race with Mazda. The 1982 season was to be a battle throughout the season between Roger Mandeville and Jim Downing. Their battle was quite fair as each other would help the other one if ever he got into trouble with his car. At the end of the season, it was Jim Downing who won the Championship, it was a very tight victory, as he won at the Daytona Finale and made the difference at this very race. Mazda drivers did claim eight of the top-ten positions in the Championship.

Roger Mandeville at Mid Ohio 1982

Copyright Mark Windecker

In 1983, Racing Beat entered a car in the GTO category. It was a real challenge as they had to fight more powerful racers. They won at Daytona for their first race and proved the car's reliability. The car displayed any of the latest aerodynamical improvements that had been made through a lot of testing sessions, and the drivers could run their car very hard. The drivers were Pete Halsmer and Rick Knoop. Their win at Daytona was the highest finishing place for a Mazda in the 24Hour race. The team then made a wonderful race at Sebring, when they nearly won the race but were sidelined by a brake rotor. In GTU, Mazdas still dominated the category. At Sebring, it was Jack Dunham, Jeff Kline and Jon Compton who won the race. Roger Mandeville had a brand new car, a tube-frame RX7 fitted with a 12A sideport engine. His bet was to compensate the lower horsepower with a lighter car. He won his first race at Miami, and four other races in the year, claiming the Championship. Jim Downing, preparing a new GTP Car for the next season, had a short season, but finished second to Roger Mandeville.
In 1984, things changed and Roger Mandeville campaigned a RX7 in the GTO category. With ever consistent high finishes, he finally clinched the Championship, beating much more powerful cars. Jim Downing's car had been sold to Ira Young, Malibu Grand Prix owner. The former had hired Clayton Cunningham, to prepare the car. The lead driver was to be Jack Baldwin, a driver who had run mainly in Formula Ford. He and Bob Reed and Jim Cook won at Daytona, Sebring and three other races. They never had a dnf and clinched the Championship at Michigan. Jack Dunham and Jeff Kline won two races to finish second and third.
In 1985, Roger Mandeville had built another car to defend his GTO title. They had a tough year as Roush Racing was beginning to dominate the category. He finished fourth. In GTU, the Malibu Grand Prix Team received some factory support and had to face a new opposition in the name of Pontiac. Amos Johnson developed a new tube-frame car. Mike Meyer Racing now entered  car for Scott Pruett and Paul Lewis. At Daytona, the car entered for Johnson-Dunham-Terada won the GTU category with a car that had never been raced before. Jack Baldwin retired for the first time in this race. He won five races in the year to win his second straight Championship. At Road America, he and Jeff Kline won the sixty seventh race for Mazda. Mazda won the GTU title for the sixth year in a row. Jack Baldwin's car was winning its third Championship.
In 1986, Mazda won again the GTU Championship, this time with young Tom Kendall, who beat Roger Mandeville, back again in GTU, and Amos Johnson. The car was now owned by Clayton Cunningham and it won again! Roger Mandeville was preparing a new three rotor car he debuted at the Daytona Finale. This car was to be campaigned for the next season, and the engine developed 450hp.
In 1987, Tom Kendall won his second straight Championship, always with the same car! A stunning result for a single car. The car was now ending its career, and CCR fielded a new car at the end of the season. Amos Johnson entered the winners' circle four times that year. Al Bacon won for the first time at Sebring. Roger Mandeville's effort in GTO did not reward him better than tenth overall, and he could not fight against V8s and V6s.
In 1988, he was joined by CCR who campaigned a similar car. Their best result was a couple of fifth, Mandeville claimed two thirds. It was not sufficient to hope better results. In GTU, it was the first year Mazda did not win the Championship as Tom Kendall repeated his win, but on a Chevrolet Beretta. Mazda was edged slightly. Amos Johnson could have won, he did drive a new lightweight RX7 but the car was destroyed in the race and Kendall took the win. He won at Daytona with his usual car and Sebring was the second and only other race of the year with a Mazda win.

Roger Mandeville new GTO car

Copyright Mark Windecker

At this point, it seemed for Mazda that it was time to switch for a new car, the MX6, and began preparations for fielding a new four-rotor car. For most part of the racers, Mazda would not continue its support in 1989. They won again at Daytona, as Al Bacon shared his winning car with Bob Reed and Rod Millen. Roger Mandeville entered his GTO car for some consistent finishes but his program was stopped by mid-season. In GTU, the MX6 would take the advantage over the RX7s. Al Bacon won his second race of the season. At the end  of the season, it was Nissan who took the Championship with Bob Leitzinger.
In 1990, the Mazda factory effort was concentrated on one sole team : Jim Downing's. The cars would be Lee Dykstra-designed four-rotor Mazda RX7s. Pete Halsmer, the 1989 Champion, would be the lead driver. The new cars debuted at Daytona and Amos Johnson, Jim Downing and John O'steen finished second. At Sebring, Pete Halsmer, John Morton and Elliot Forbes Robinson took third. At San Antonio, Pete Halsmer scored Mazda's 100th win. In GTU, Lance Stewart took the Championship.

Pete Halsmer's quadrirotor Mazda RX7

Copyright Mark Windecker

In 1990, Mazda took again the Daytona 24 Hours victory and  the rest of the season Mazda's victories were taken by Mandeville's cars. The latter had quit driving and was now managing his team. Lance Stewart was the driver and he won the Championship driving the MX6. It was then obvious that the Mazda RX7 career had come to an end. 
In 1991, Mazda again won at Daytona with Dick Greer's car, Roger Mandeville took third on a new RX7 car. At that time, many indepedant drivers still fielded RX7s. But no victories were to be seen by Mazda this year. The GTU Champion was John Fergus, driving a Nissan 240SX. In GTO, the battle between Ford and Mazda raged but Mazda took its first GTO Championship. They had achieved their goal. The RX7 career had come to an end but the car remains the winningest car ever in the IMSA GT Championship. It will be remembered by many racers as one of the most noisy too : the Mazda RX7 has set its mark forever.

Texas International Speedway 1971 : hardest race ever

Garrett Waddell did participate in a rain cast event in Texas International Speedway, in 1971. This event was one of the very first events to be run by IMSA at that time. This race turned out to be a parody of a race as weather conditions were dreadful. This race was marred by many accidents due to the horrendous conditions. It started at 7PM to finish at midnight! Most of the entrants had no windshield wiper so the race conditions were quite terrible for most of them. Garrett entered the race with a 1969 L88 Chevrolet Corvette set on street tyres, he had seen an ad from John Bishop looking for entrants at this event and he had sent his entry.

Garrett Waddell's Corvette was nearly stock
Photo courtesy Garrett Waddell and George Eby

He received conditional acceptance from the Bishops since he could drive safely without hurting himself or anyone else. The race was to be a 150Miler, and this event did accept Nascar Baby Grand cars that would make the field a decent one. The track consisted of a banking and an infield course, totaling 7 turns. He set his car to a racing condition as he replaced the differential, installed a rollbar, scattershield, headers and racetyres plus a 4" harness and that was it. He had hired some friends to act as pit crew, mainly Texas A&M students, Tom Wedel, Kerry Bonner, Roy Tribbey and Bill Jermyn. As the practice session proved satisfying, he was allowed to run the night session, mainly to check out the headlights. The weather conditions were mitigated, and he decided for the race that he would run very conservatively. He did not want to wreck or damage his car. The night session made him relax and he ran faster, but he requested the race direction to start on the last spot, because he did not feel very secure within a tight field of cars, mainly on the first turn.

Prior to the start
Photo courtesy Garrett Waddell and George Eby

At the start of the race, the cars that were before him(in fact, every car), went to a stop. An accident had occured involving Tiny Lund and another driver and the race had to be stopped to clear the track. As it took almost two hours for this to be performed, it was quite dark when the race resumed! And what a race! At the restart, a car hit the wall at turn 7 and Garrett avoided it. The rain was getting worse, and the only goal for Garrett and every driver was to stay on the course and make it to the finish without damaging one's car. It proved to be a very hard task for the most of them. The tyres were OK, so he could go well on the banking, about 155mph, that was pretty well. During the race, George Eby, a friend of Garrett running on a Lotus Elan, was fighting for position with H.B Bailey, on a Pontiac Trans Am and they were fighting hard. At one moment, they went into the mud and Bailey's Trans Am hit the tiny Lotus by the passenger's side. George was miraculously unhurt, but he was very lucky.

George Eby refueling
Photo courtesy Garrett Waddell and George Eby

He went back to the pits and his crew made some minor repairs with tape. The pits were scarcely lit and every pit stop was some kind of nightmare for the pit crews and the racers. A car in the pits next to his went right into the wall and did not hit anyone, but it was a pure miracle.  He was quite exhausted, as the weather conditions did not improve at all, and he considered quitting more than once. But he was the only GTO driver staying on the track, so he was sure to win his category if he made it to the finish, which he finally did. He had decided to retire, but did not find his pit, as the weather conditions did get worse. So he went on to the finish, and won GTO. The race lasted 5 hours, for a 150 Miler, which was quite slow. But he made it. The next day, he received a $150 check for winning the race. One year later, he received a package from Camel Cigarettes containing the trophy for winning the race. It was really other times and the true beginnings of the series. Garrett is proud to have been involved in this great racing series. Later on, he did participate occasionally in some other few races until 1977. 

Final results

Electramotive

Don Devendorf, an engineer manager with Hughes Electronics, designed systems that were not incorporated by factory racing teams. In 1975, he formed Electramotive Inc and Electramotive Engineering with a friend, John Knepp. Each member of the team came from the local aerospace industry. They all were familiar with the latest technologies. Don Devendorf took part in the IMSA Radial Challenge, which he won in 1977. He switched to the IMSA Camel GT Challenge in 1979, and he won the GTU Championship in 1979, driving a Datsun 280ZX. In 1982, he won the GTO Championship with the little Datsun 280ZX Turbo.

Don Devendorf and Tony Adamowicz Datsun 280ZX Turbo in 1982
Photo courtesy Tony Adamowicz

From that moment, his goal was to compete in the GTP Category. Unable to build a new car, Don Devendorf, Wes Moss and Yoshi Suzuka approached March Engineering, but they were not interested in the project. Lola was interested and Eric Broadley began to work on the new T810 model. The chassis needed slight modifications to allow for the Nissan engine, the bodywork and cooling installation. As Nissan began producing the new VG30 engine, a twin turbo 3,2L alloy block, John Knepp developed the motor to produce up to 1000hp with the use of one single Garrett T03 turbocharger coupled with an Electramotive fuel injection system. The use of a Weismann transaxle proved to be a wrong choice and it was later replaced by the Hewland VGC five-speed. The bodywork was designed by Yoshi Suzuka. Lola had worked on the project in order to deliver the car by october 1984, but it proved too short and the car was not to debut before April 1985.  It failed to start the race at Riverside, as the transmission failed in practice. The car did really debut at Laguna Seca with its new California Cooler livery.

The new Nissan ZX T GTP debut at Riverside 1985
Photo courtesy Tony Adamowicz

Don Devendorf and Tony Adamowicz finished eleventh. During the 1985 season, it seemed that the car would make promising starts, but some  minor trouble would systematically slow down the car and no good results would be registered. Don Devendorf knew, as a pragmatic engineer, that the car would become a winner when every problem would be resolved. "We later found out in our own wind tunnel testing with a moving ground plane, that the early GTP body configuration had some inherit defects with air flow. Later many changes were incorporated to improve that , and later event a new tub and body was designed here." Tony Adamowicz quotes."The chassis and suspension pieces had considerable failure rates, often breaking in opportune times". The car was a quite promising one, and Tony Adamowicz did participate in its early development. He can tell us more : "The GTP car additional downforce incorporated  through tunnels and external air devices made significant improvement with the car's performance. The 3 liter twin turbo was able to produce exceptional power in a compact package. We ran in the 700 hp range during the races, with approximately 650 foot lbs of torque. The engine was capable of producing close to 1500 HP on the dyno for short bursts. Most of the chassis, tire development of the early California Cooler Black car was not able to keep up with the power the engine could develop." Later, Tony would be replaced as driver, but his experience did bring the team a lot of information that proved valuable for the next races. Don stayed on with the team and provided the engineering expertise for the engine management system as well as other developments.
It took a long time for that list to get checked off. Then came Kas Kastner, who had been asked by Nissan's John Borgan to head Nissan Motorsport's program. He quickly established himself as the middleman between Electramotive and Nissan. Then Electramotive had to evolve. Elliot Forbes Robinson was the new lead driver. For 1986, the car had new colors, and as the year went by, the car wound up some good results, with various drivers, after two dnfs at Riverside and Laguna Seca, Geoff Brabham was hired on a race by race basis. He led most of the race at Portland, but had to stop for a splash and dash to finish eventually third overall. They had failed to win because of a poor strategy. Their other results were a fourth at Sears Point and fifth at Columbus.
For 1987, Nissan provided a more important support for the GTP effort and Don Devendorf gave up his racing career as stress was too hard to sustain. Electramotive was gaining in importance and the cars were greatly improved for that new season. Geoff Brabham and Elliot Forbes Robinson won their first race at Miami. The remainder of the season was a succession of good starts and dnfs. A quite disappointing season for the team, whose biggest problem was getting the tyres to last. They wore Bridgestone, and blowing them regularly, so they finally switched to Goodyear. The results improved immediately. In 1988, a new chassis was built by Trevor Harris. IMSA had introduced new rules in order to reduce the tremendous horsepower produced by the turbocharged engines. But John Knepp built a new electronically-controlled turbocharger wastegate into the engine management system and the car proved even faster. Skipping the two first races of the season, Nissan began dominating the series. Geoff Brabham and John Morton, driving the "8801" car, won at Road Atlanta in an impressive way, starting from the back of the pack. Then, it was a string of victories at West Palm Beach,Lime Rock, Mid Ohio, Watkins Glen, Road America, Portland, Sears Point and Columbus. Only San Antonio and Del Mar were non-Nissan victories. Geoff Brabham easily won the 1988 title.

Geoff Brabham at Mid Ohio in 1989

Copyright Mark Windecker

In 1989, Nissan continued to dominate the series, and a second chassis was built, named 8802. Nissan had decided to go for the long distance races and entered the two cars at the 24 Hours of Daytona. But it was with no success, as the two cars retired from the race. It was a different scenario at Sebring where Nissan registered its first victory on a long distance race. Geoff Brabham, Chip Robinson and Arie Luyendijk won the race, beating Jaguars on their favorite ground. They had won at Miami and next at Road Atlanta, Lime Rock, Mid Ohio, Watkins Glen, Road America, Topeka, San Antonio and Sears Point. They were beaten at Portland, Del Mar and West Palm Beach. At the end of the season, it was again Geoff Brabham who took the title, second was Chip Robinson who won seven races to Brabham nine. As Nissan was surfing on the wave of success, Electramotive was having its identity crisis. It was a small structure that was not completely prepared for so much success. At that point, Don Devendorf was thinking about selling his team. And that is what happened as Electramotive became NPTI, a subsidiary of Nissan USA. Kas Kastner became the executive vice president of the operations, and Don Devendorf senior vice president of research and development. NPTI was moved to a new facility in California with engine shop, wind tunnel and so on. NPTI had all the elements that made it a winner. In 1990, the season began as per usual, with dnfs at Daytona, but with back to back victories at Miami, Sebring and West Palm Beach. A brand new car was to debut at that very race. Brabham won a new title, the third in a row and again in 1991, but in a less impressive way than the previous ones.

Chip Robinson at Road Atlanta in 1991

Copyright Mark Windecker

At that moment, Toyota had introduced a new car, and it was to be the car to beat for the next season. In 1992, Geoff Brabham finished third overall with an obsolete car. Nissan's plans for the future proved to be desastrous for the future of NPTI. A new car was to be developed, the P35, but that car never really made it to the track. Nissan was undergoing a recession and NPTI was an easy target. At the beginning of 1993, it would be dissolved and the last car to be seen was in the hands of Gianpiero Moretti, who tried to do his best with an obsolete car.

Many thanks to Tony Adamowicz, who provided me with a lot of useful information.