IMSA
Daytona Beach, Florida | |
President | John Doonan |
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Chairman | Jim France |
CEO | Ed Bennett |
Vice president(s) |
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Official website | |
www | |
The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American
History
John Bishop and SCCA
John Bishop, a Sikorsky employee, first became involved in motorsport in the 1950s when he met Dave Allen, a Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) staff member. Allen offered Bishop a management position on the SCCA Contest Board, which Bishop quickly accepted. Bishop moved to Westport, Connecticut shortly thereafter.[3] Bishop's duties consisted of defining technical rules and general administration of SCCA competition, as well as providing artwork for many of the club's magazines and event programmes.[4] He became well known in the motorsport scene and enjoyed a good relationship with the organization's president and Kimberly-Clark heir, James H. Kimberly.[5][6]
In 1958, things changed for Bishop as the SCCA experienced internal changes. A new executive director position was created, to which each regional executive reported. This position was taken by Hugo Rush, who later became instrumental in Allen's departure. Although Bishop's relationship with Rush was not good, Bishop gained a vast amount of experience and began to show his qualities as a manager.[3]
Rush would later depart due to his disagreement with the club as it moved to promote professional motor sports. Bishop took his place as executive director and was now responsible for both amateur and professional programs. To ensure a more serious level of competition, he was tasked with rewriting the technical rules for the newly formed Pro Racing program.[3]
The SCCA had now taken the big step up to professional racing. By 1962, the SCCA was tasked with managing major
In 1969, the tension and in-fighting caused Bishop to resign.[3]
Beginnings
Bill France Sr. was instrumental in the creation of the International Motor Sports Association. France founded NASCAR as a professional oval track series and wanted to do the same for road racing. After discussions with Bishop, IMSA was born and Bishop was given the sole control of the organization (like NASCAR, there was no board of directors). France financed the majority of the organization and owned 75% of the stock; Bishop owned the remaining 25%. The articles of incorporation were filed in Connecticut on June 23, 1969.[7]
The first race to be organized by IMSA was a Formula Vee and Formula Ford event at Pocono Raceway in October 1969. The SCCA threatened the circuit management and asked them to block IMSA from racing there. The event was held, although IMSA had to pay an additional $10,000 in rental fees. The race had an attendance of 328 spectators.[7]
The organization soldiered on despite the small crowds, and another ten races were planned. Bill France, suffering from financial setbacks, brought on new investors to take over part of his stake in the series.
GT era
At the end of the 1970 season, Bishop helped to establish the foundations of the FIA (
The
Bishop did not believe that
In the same year, Bishop invited a pair of
In
In
IMSA continued to have success with its own Camel GT series.[12]
New ownership
In 1987, John Bishop had to undergo a
In January 1989, the Bishops sold the company to Mike Cone and Jeff Parker, owners of the
In 1996 Slater sold the organization with previously accumulated debt to Roberto Muller (ex-CEO of Reebok) and Wall Street based portfolio manager for Bill Gates, Andy Evans, who also was an IndyCar owner and owner/driver of the Scandia World Sports Car team. These changes would lead to the departure of many of the executive board members.[13] Evans was responsible for the name change to Professional Sports Car Racing (PSCR).[14]
In 1998 the United States Road Racing Championship was revived as an alternative to Professional Sports Car Racing, involving the Sports Car Club of America and headed by a group of competitors and ex-IMSA personnel, including John Bishop, Bill France Jr., Rob Dyson, Roger Penske, Skip Barber, and Ralph Sanchez. They wanted to keep rules within the United States. When this initially failed, as a result Don Panoz and Barber departed to affiliate themselves with PSCR.[14]
American Le Mans Series era
In the spring of 1998, Don Panoz created a partnership with the
Under tremendous pressure from team owners and management, Evans sold Professional Sports Car Racing to
After the
Purchase by NASCAR and reunification
In 2012, Don Panoz sold the Braselton, Georgia-based ALMS to Grand-Am Road Racing, in turn owned directly by NASCAR and helped organize a merger between the ALMS and the Rolex Sports Car Series. In 2013 the unified series was announced as the Tudor United SportsCar Championship (now IMSA SportsCar Championship). The announcement also confirmed that IMSA will manage and sanction the new series, operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of NASCAR.
On September 19, 2019, Scott Atherton announced retirement from his position as the President of the International Motor Sports Association at the end of 2019. He had held that role since the merger of IMSA's American Le Mans Series with the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series in 2014.[15] One month following that announcement, then-director of Mazda's motorsports program in North America, John Doonan, was confirmed to be Atherton's replacement.[16] Ed Bennett, longtime NASCAR executive, was also President and CEO of Grand-Am Road Racing from August 2011 to December 2013 during the merger period and has continued as CEO of the modern era IMSA since January 2014. [17]
At the 2021 Daytona 24 Hours, IMSA and the ACO announced the historic alignment of the technical regulations for sportscar racing, which was further detailed in June of that year, which brought about the convergence of all sportscar regulations between the FIA, IMSA and the ACO. [18]
In January 2022, IMSA bought
Circuits
Current sanctioned series
These are the series that are currently sanctioned and managed by the IMSA organization.
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship
The
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge
The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge is a
IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge
The IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge is a development series featuring
Porsche Carrera Cup North America
The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama is a one-make series dedicated to the
Ferrari Challenge
The Ferrari Challenge is a one-make series dedicated currently to the Ferrari 488, which was previously sanctioned by Grand-Am prior to the merger.
Lamborghini Super Trofeo
The Lamborghini Super Trofeo is a one-make series dedicated currently to multi-class racing, showcasing both the new Huracán LP 620-2 Super Trofeo and the Gallardo LP 570-4 Super Trofeo that was the exclusive car for the first two seasons of the North America championship in 2013 and 2014. The series debuted in North America under IMSA sanction in 2013.
Mazda MX-5 Cup
The Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich Tires is the signature spec series for the Mazda Road to 24.
The MX-5 Cup race cars start as complete MX-5 road cars from the Mazda Hiroshima, Japan factory before being transported to engineering development partner Flis Performance in Daytona Beach, Florida, where they are transformed into a race car.
The series entered a sanctioning agreement with IMSA beginning with the 2021 season.
Ford Mustang Challenge
In July 27th, 2023, Ford and IMSA announced that the 7th Generation Mustang would have its own spec-racing series called Mustang Challenge, IMSA will sanction the championship with the organizaton of Ford themselves via the Ford Performance Racing School.[21][22]
IMSA HSR Prototype Challenge
On October 24th, 2023, it was announced that HSR (owned by IMSA since January 2022) and IMSA were forming a new prototype-only series for both LMP3 Gen 1 and Gen 2 cars called the IMSA HSR Prototype Challenge. A minimum 20-car grid was announced as the requirement for standalone races to be held, if not incorporated into races with other prototypes. The six-event calendar will follow HSR's usual events, including the Classic 24 Hour at Daytona and the Classic 12 Hour at Sebring.[23]
Defunct series
These are the series that were formerly run by the IMSA organization.
IMSA GT Championship
American Le Mans Series
IMSA IS
The International Sedan Series was short-lived and the genesis of the Radial Sedan Series. It is unclear if the 1969 inaugural IMSA Sedan race held at the Talladega Superspeedway Road Course was designated International Sedan Series or not[citation needed]. That being the only race held in 1969 details are sketchy[citation needed], but over the winter of 1969–70 rules were officially promulgated for this Series. It was initially to be known as the International 100 Series as it was intended for sedans up to 100 c.i or 1600 cc., however was revised prior to the start of the 1970 season to include larger engines and presumably the name change to International Sedan Series.
The next year, 1971, the Series was revamped and became the Radial Sedan Series with the revolutionary innovation of requiring DOT radial tires. New rules allowed for cars over 1.6 L divided between two classes. Class A was for Sedans under 2 L., except for overhead cam engines which were limited to 1.6 L. Class B was for larger engines up to whatever IMSA decided appropriate for the Class which was the AMC Gremlin's 232 c.i. for the duration of the 'original' RS Series.
As an aside, the "Baby Grand" moniker frequently applied to these IMSA Series was just that, a nickname. Around this same time a series that was officially designated Baby Grand (better and later known as the
IMSA RS
The IMSA RS Series (for radial sedan) began as the Baby Grand Series, in 1971. Originally sponsored by B.F. Goodrich (therefore known as Goodrich Radial Challenge) until they dropped sponsorship midway through 1975 (or 1976) and then by Goodyear (becoming the Goodyear Radial Challenge), and later as Champion Spark Plug Challenge.[citation needed]
The initial race held was in 1969 at
The idea was to attract racers who did not have the budgets that were required in the GT category as well as an emphasis on compact sedans such as the
The series became dominated mostly by
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2008) |
American Challenge
The American Challenge (in full, Kelly American Challenge), otherwise abbreviated as AAC was a category for US-built cars and throughout the series, it was always run as a support race to the premier GT series. Starting in 1977, the series ran until 1989.
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2008) |
IMSA Renault Cup
This section is written like a personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic. (March 2009) |
The
The genesis of the series was an association of drivers, Associated Road Racers (ARR), founded by Steve Coleman of Raleigh, North Carolina. The association's objective was to start an inexpensive but competitive series with large car counts. The main prerequisite requirement was a series that would allow drivers who had regular jobs and a life to compete with at least a chance to win the championship without having to travel coast to coast, as was the case with other similar series such as the VW Bilstein Cup. The preference was to have a roughly ten-race schedule, with each driver's best six finishes counting toward the Championship.
ARR's members were mostly
Renault not only responded, it jumped at the chance, since it was quite familiar with the concept of a one-make series. ARR and Renault negotiated to finalize a format competing with the Le Car R5. Due to classic concerns of track owners and sanctioning bodies, Renault was reluctant to agree to the drivers' points system. Their counterproposal was to run an East Coast series in lieu of nationwide. Since most of the interested drivers were from the East Coast, and the amount of travel required was somewhat limited, this was accepted by the drivers.
Once Renault was on board, John Bishop, President of IMSA, was approached to sanction the series. He was very skeptical at first. A meeting was held on April 4, 1981 at Road Atlanta between Bishop, B Clar, the US Competition Director of Renault, and Coleman representing the drivers. Renault offered a major support program and ARR would guarantee a minimum of twenty-five entrants for the first race. Bishop, still skeptical, agreed to sanction the series. Coleman even suggested there might be as many as fifty, if Renault and IMSA didn't revise the proposed series rules to a point the majority of drivers would pull out before then. Still skeptical he agreed, convinced by Renault's commitment and the driver's assurances of a full field for the inaugural race. Exactly one year to the date on April 4, 1982, the inaugural race was held at Road Atlanta. 51 Le Cars started the race.[citation needed]
One notable driver to come from the series was Parker Johnstone; he took runner-up spot on his debut season in 1984 and would virtually dominate the series following that.[35][36]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2008) |
IMSA Showroom Stock
In 1985, IMSA would undergo a major rules reformat while still retaining its sponsor, therefore it was still known by its sponsor's moniker. This time, the series was more restricted to current models, that is to say models then currently available for retail sale in dealerships throughout the US. Other than that, the series had rules and race formats that were similar to the RS series, being an endurance series.
At the end of the 1987 season, Champion stepped down as sponsor and was replaced by
Most of the drivers that competed in the series were amateurs or semi-professional, whilst a few made their living out of competing in the series.
During the sportscar racing "split" from 1998 until 2013, a rival series from Canada, the
There are three classes, sorted in order from the highest
- Grand Sport Class
- Pontiac Trans Am, Nissan 300ZX (twin-turbo), BMW M3, Ford Thunderbird, Ford Mustang, Porsche 944, Mazda RX-7(FC3S)
- Sport Class
- Touring Class,
- Audi 100 Quattro, Pontiac Grand Am
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2008) |
IMSA Bridgestone Supercar Championship
IMSA also hosted the Bridgestone Supercar Championship, sponsored by the sister brand of Firestone,
The series was not without controversy, mainly for the all-composite Consulier GTP, as it was bordering on a departure from the showroom stock ethos, as well as being criticised for having little common with cars that the general public ever saw on a public road.[37] The GTP debuted with just four silver Consulier Series II GTP at
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2008) |
Formula BMW USA
The Formula BMW USA series is the North American version of the open-wheel series supported by BMW. All running identical chassis powered by BMW motorcycle engines, the series serves as stepping stone for formula car drivers moving into higher international series. A world championship of all Formula BMW series is run at the end of the year, taking the top drivers from Formula BMW USA and the other similar series elsewhere in the world.
Atlantic Championship
In June 2008, IMSA began sanction of the Atlantic Championship for two seasons. The series later came under SCCA Pro Racing sanction in 2012.
Panoz Racing Series
Originally began as Women's Global GT Series, formed by Lyn St. James in 1999, the series began as a support race to ALMS for women racers, using the race modified version of the Panoz Esperante series of cars.[39] The series was an invitational affair with forty one drivers are selected out of four hundred applicants to participate in the Women's Global GT Series.[40] The grid would usually consists of experienced racers such as former Formula One drivers, Giovanna Amati and Divina Galica, NASCAR's Shawna Robinson, and Italian Audi factory team touring car driver Tamara Vidali against talented amateur drivers from varying degrees of professions, such as radio personality, police officer, law student, and racing simulations art designer for Microsoft.[39]
Ultra 94 Porsche Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama
In 2011, IMSA created the Ultra 94 Porsche Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama, which races in support of major Canadian motorsports events including, the
IMSA Prototype Challenge
The
References
- ^ "IMSA". IMSA. Archived from the original on 2017-07-04. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ @bobpockrass (October 20, 2019). "@DrewPalmquist IMSA Holdings is a division of NASCAR" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ a b c d e f "IMSAblog: A tribute to John Bishop". 23 April 2006. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
- ^ ISBN 1-893618-01-3.
- ^ By (2 February 1994). "James Kimberly, Kleenex heir, dies". Archived from the original on 2014-12-01. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ "IMSAblog: Do you want to know about GT racing in the 70s". January 2006. Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
- ^ a b "IMSA At 50: Part One, Overview & The 1970s – dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
- ^ "IMSA GT 1991 season". WSRP. Archived from the original on 2008-09-22. Retrieved 2014-06-23.
- ^ "Racing Sports Cars". Racing Sports Cars. 1991-02-06. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2014-06-23.
- ^ How Sebring Was Saved From Oblivion in 1973 - International Motor Racing Research Center / IMSA 1969-1989
- ^ 1975 – The First 24 Hours of Daytona Sanctioned by IMSA - International Motor Racing Research Center
- ^ ISBN 1-85532-228-5.
- ^ a b "IMSA wheels some of its people to NY, Indy dmyauthor=". Tampa Bay Business Journal. January 20, 1997. Archived from the original on 2010-12-09. Retrieved 2008-01-21.
- ^ a b c Smotherman, Mark (24 June 2007). "Selected Sports Car Racing History:1997 shakeup in US". Archived from the original on 2008-10-13. Retrieved 21 January 2008.
- ^ Pruett, Marshall (September 19, 2019). "Atherton to leave IMSA after 2019 season". racer.com. Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
- ^ Pruett, Marshall (October 15, 2019). "Doonan named new IMSA president". racer.com. Racer Media & Marketing Inc. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
- ^ a b "IMSA Acquires Historic Sportscar Racing | IMSA".
- ^ "IMSA Senior Leadership Team Organizational Structure Finalized". 18 June 2013.
- ^ "IMSA to Replace Prototype Challenge with New Sprint Racing Class in 2023". autoweek.com. Hearst Autos, Inc. July 1, 2022. Retrieved January 21, 2023.
- ^ "IMSA Confirms VP Racing SportsCar Challenge for 2023". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media, LLC. July 1, 2022. Retrieved January 21, 2023.
- ^ Gauthier, Michael (2023-07-27). "Whoa, Nellie! Ford Mustang Dark Horse R Introduced For One-Make Racing Series". Carscoops. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
- ^ "IMSA-Sanctioned Mustang Challenge Ready to Launch in 2024". IMSA Official Website. 2023-07-27. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
- ^ "HSR Prototype Challenge by IMSA Set to Launch in 2024". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. October 24, 2023. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
- ^ "1969 IMSA - round 1". Archived from the original on 2014-12-28. Retrieved 2014-12-27.
- ^ "IMSA International Sedan race". www.ultimateracinghistory.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ "1970 IMSA - round 2". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2014-12-27.
- ^ "Autodelta Ti Super - Alfa Romeo Bulletin Board & Forums". www.alfabb.com. Archived from the original on 2017-05-10. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ "The history of the Trans-AM 2.5 Challenge". www.bsedan.com. Archived from the original on February 24, 2014.
- ^ "Grassroots Motorsports » Potent Pintos: These Drivers Have No Worries About Being Hit from Behind". Archived from the original on 2007-02-21. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ "Mazda Motorsports – Mazda Motorsports Development". MazdaUSA.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ "AIM". members.aol.com. Archived from the original on 2007-03-18. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ http://www.wspr-racing.com/wspr/results/imsa/nf_imsa_home.html WSPR-Racing.com
- ^ My Renault Racing History
- ^ "Page D-1". 15 January 2014. Archived from the original on 2016-09-12. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ "Parker Johnstone - A Sponsors Dream Driver". Archived from the original on 2007-10-22. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ "INDYLIGHTS: Parker Johnstone Teams With Dorricott Racing". www.theautochannel.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ ISBN 0-87938-652-5.
- ^ "International Motor Sport Association". Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ a b "Giovanna Amati - Biography". Archived from the original on 25 July 2008. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ "A Sporting Life page 2". Archived from the original on 2007-08-13. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ "Prototype Lites: 2011 Season Preview". eSportsRacer.com. 11 March 2011. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
External links
- IMSA Racing - Official Website