International Motor Sports Association
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The International Motor Sports Association (generally referred to as IMSA) is an American auto racing sanctioning body. It was started by John, a former employee of SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) and Peggy Bishop in 1969 with help from Bill France of NASCAR. One race for Formula Ford was organized that year.
The Camel GT era
The 1971 season was the first racing season to feature six races. GT cars, similar to the European classes Group 4 and Group 2, were competing in the early seasons and were divided into four groups: GTO, GTU, TO and TU. The first champions were Peter H. Gregg and Hurley Haywood, in a Porsche 914/6 GTU. Usual winners in these early years of IMSA were the Porsche 911 Carrera RSR and Chevrolet Corvette. Camel, for the following year, would step in as the title sponsor, therefore the series became known as Camel GT.
In 1975 a new category called AAGT (All American Grand Touring) was introduced to counteract the Porsche dominance in GTO. This category did not run without controversy as in 1981, the renowned Bob Sharp Racing team used a loophole to build a Datsun 280ZX in-country with a V8 engine from a Nissan President. This car was not a success and became obsolete when the new GTP category was created. The TU would be phased out in 1976 along with the TO for the following year to be replaced by the RS category.
Turbochargers were not permitted until the mid-1977 season, and became permitted after protests by Porsche motorsport department after inspecting Al Holbert's AAGT winning Chevrolet Monza which had won him two titles. Prior to '77, Porsche privateers had to make do with obsolete 911 Carrera RSRs 3.0 which they sometime managed to scrape a victory, otherwise struggled with the AAGT cars.
As a result, the new premier class known as GTX (Grand Touring Experimental-based on FIA's Group 5) brought on the absolute dominance of the Porsche 935. The 935 became the most successful car in the series. The most successful driver of seventies was Peter Gregg, champion in 1971,'73,'74,'75,'78 and '79. At the end of the 1982 season after the dominance of a modified 935 of John Paul's and John Paul, Jr., the organisers barred twin turbos.
Another manufacturer to experience a run of wins was Mazda. After some success by the Mazda RX-2 and Mazda RX-3, the Mazda RX-7 won its class in the IMSA 24 hours of Daytona race ten years in a row, starting in 1982, and won the IMSA Grand Touring Under Two Liter (GTU) championship each year from 1980 through 1987, inclusive. The car went on to win more IMSA races in its class than any other model of automobile, with its one hundredth victory on September 2, 1990.
The GTP Era
In 1981, purpose-built prototypes appeared in a new category, known as GTP, similar to the new Group C introduced in the World Endurance Championship, the main difference between the two categories was the former had no emphasis on fuel consumption which was highlighted by Derek Bell quoting "race fans do not come to races to watch an economy run!" (referenced from [Prototypes: The History of the Imsa GTP Series]). Brian Redman was the first champion of the GTPs, driving a Lola T600. March also fielded prototypes, in which Al Holbert won the 1983 championship, and Randy Lanier a year later. 1984 also saw the introduction of the Porsche 962, which dominated the series from 1985 to 1987. Nissan then took control of the series in 1988, but faced challenges from Jaguar, Porsche, and Toyota throughout the proceeding three years. Toyota was quickest in 1992 and 1993, with 1993 being the end of GTP era.
There were many other manufacturers in the GTP class, such as URD, Spice, Intrepid or Gebhardt, and in the early '90s, Mazda. Along with the GTP cars, the Camel Lights lightweight, low horsepower prototype category was introduced in 1985. Argo were the first Lights champions, followed by Spice. Well known were also Tiga, Royale, Alba, Fabcar, and Kudzu.
Post GTP and Future
With rising costs and factory teams walking away from the series which meant diminishing entries, IMSA introduced a new prototype category for in 1993 called WSC (World Sport Car) which replaced the GTP and Lights closed cars for the following year. The WSC cars were open top cars with production engine as opposed to racing versions of production engines from GTP cars.
The WSC cars made their debut at the Miami Grand Prix with a sole entry of Brent O'Neill, the car finished last amongst any cars that were still running. After skipping the 12 Hours of Sebring, the category would feature for the remainder of the season as non championship rounds with no more than four cars entering. In 1994 Camel would be replaced by Exxon as the title sponsor. However as the WSC cars would take over as the leading category its reliability would be tested at the opening round at Daytona. Despite having two cars starting on the front row, of the eight cars competing, only the leading WSC car could finish no higher than ninth amongst the GTs with two other cars finishing. The WSC cars would score its first podium finish at Sebring with a second and third place behind a Daytona winning GTS category 300ZX. That led to a rule change for the latter category as they would be barred from using engines that were originally for GTP cars. At the inaugural round for WSC cars at Road Atlanta, the new Ferrari 333 SP would make its debut in a mass media fanfare and win its debut race. The car despite regularly appearing on the podium on every rounds after that. Ferrari would miss out on the manufacturer's title to Oldsmobile by four points.
In 1995, a new rival for Ferrari appeared in the Riley & Scott Mk III. The car would make its debut at Daytona, but would retire after the eleventh lap after an engine failure. Ferrari would help the category to score a overall win at Sebring and would take the title for both makes and driver. The Ferrari and the R&S cars were the dominant racers of the series from 1995 to the demise of IMSA at the end of 1998.
After Bishop and France sold the series in 1989 to Mike Cone of Tampa where he relocated the HQ from CT, it had a checkered 1990s with multiple ownerships and a name change to Professional Sports Car Racing (PSR). Cone lacked dedication and full-time commitment and in turn sold it to businessman Charles Slater. Both lost millions in half-hearted attempts to revive the sagging TV ratings. In 1996 Slater sold the organization to Roberto Muller (ex-CEO of Reebok) and Wall Street financier Andy Evans, who also was an IndyCar owner and owner/driver of the Scandia WSC team. Evans and VP of Marketing Kurtis Eide were responsible for the name change to Professional Sports Car Racing (PSR).
Under tremendous pressure from team owners and management Evans sold the series to Don Panoz in 2001, to solidify the sanction for Panoz's American Le Mans Series which had been sanctioned by PSR since 1999. Don Panoz renamed the sanctioning organization back to IMSA and is now the official sanctioning body of the ALMS, as well as the Star Mazda series and the Panoz GT Pro series. The ALMS uses regulations based on those of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but in 2005 the relationship between Panoz and the Le Mans organizers, ACO, has become problematic.
A breakaway series formed by the USRRC in 1998 involving the Sports Car Club of America and headed by a group of competitors wanting to keep rules within the United States initially failed. A second attempt with full support of NASCAR's France family and other motorsports notables known as Grand-Am began in 1999. Grand-Am struggled early on, but has proven to be a formidable competitor to the ALMS in recent years with name drivers, considerably larger fields and much closer competition. Much like the split between ChampCar and the IRL this split has be detrimental to the sport as a whole. Attendance, sponsorships and media coverage have dropped dramatically since the split in 1998.
The ALMS and the ACO have disagreed on several point since the inception of their relationship which have caused lower than expected number of entries on the grid. This has forced the ALMS to make decisions that are contrary to ACO rules to boost field size and fan interest by allowing cars to campaign the 2005 season that do not conform to ACO rules. However, the announcement of Porsche's return to Le Mans style Prototypes and several new chassis becoming available for 2006, there is optimism that the ALMS will rebound.
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