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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 based in Braselton, Georgia. It was started by John Bishop, a former employee of SCCA (Sports Car Club of America), and his wife Peggy in 1969 with help from Bill France of NASCAR.
lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m3283125",this)' onMouseout='hide("m3283125")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/John_Bishop">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.
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Encyclopedia
The International Motor Sports Association (generally referred to as IMSA) is an American auto racing sanctioning body based in Braselton, Georgia. It was started by John Bishop, a former employee of SCCA (Sports Car Club of America), and his wife Peggy in 1969 with help from Bill France of NASCAR.
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. 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. He became well-known in the motorsport scene and enjoyed a good relationship with the organization's president, Jim Kimberly
In 1958, things would change for Bishop as the SCCA experienced internal changes. A new Executive Director position was created, to which each Regional Executive reported to. 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.
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.
The SCCA had now taken the big step up to professional racing. By 1962, the SCCA was tasked with managing major World Championship for Makes rounds, particularly at Daytona, Sebring, Bridgehampton and Watkins Glen. The club was also involved in the US Grand Prix. Bishop helped to create the USRRC (United States Road Racing Championship) series for Group 7 sports cars to recover races that had been taken by rival United States Automobile Club (USAC). Bishop was also instrumental in founding the SCCA Trans-Am series and the SCCA/CASC Can-Am series.
In 1969, the tension and in-fighting caused Bishop to resign.
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 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.
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.
The GT era
By the end of the 1970 season, Bishop realized that single-seaters were not capable of attracting large crowds. So he helped to establish the foundations of the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) "J appendix" for World Championship for Makes sports cars. For the end of the 1970 season, he advertised a new championship for Group 2 and Group 4 cars with equity between competitors.
The Grand Touring (GT) season introduced international endurance racing to North America. In , Camel Cigarettes became the new sponsor of the GT series and the sedan series became known as the B.F. Goodrich Radial Challenge. By , the organization gained recognition from the FIA and sanctioned the 12 hours of Sebring for the first time.
Bishop did not believe that factory teams would stick with the new series, so he tried to ensure that the rules were not biased in their favor. He was in favor of looking after privateer teams and helping them to become competitive. As European cars began to dominate, a new series was formed in called All American Grand Touring (AAGT) to give equal latitude to foreign cars. Turbocharged cars were permitted in .
In the same year, Bishop invited a pair of Jean Rondeau-built Inaltera's to compete as "special prototypes". They became the foundation of the newly formed Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) category in , with separate rules similar to Group C (Bishop was unhappy with the fuel consumption formula of the latter).
In , Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA), the organizers of the World Endurance Championship (WEC), attempted to unite the two organizations by scrapping the existing formula and adopting IMSA rules. This did not please Porsche, which was spending vast sums of money on engine development at the time. Porsche responded by boycotting the 24 Hours of Le Mans of that year. FISA responded by abandoning the rule change for the time being.
In , FISA president Jean-Marie Balestre almost made a successful attempt to settle the dispute by announcing that turbochargers and fuel restrictions would be phased out by 1989 (excepting naturally aspirated engines below 3.5 liters). This attempt failed, as did another in 1991, in which with chassis ballast penalties for turbocharged cars rendered them uncompetitive, except at Le Mans.
IMSA continued to have success with its own Camel GT series.
New ownership
In 1987, John Bishop had to undergo a heart bypass surgery, forcing him to rethink his priorities. He began to realise that the Camel GT series was in danger of becoming oriented toward the factory-backed teams and less to the privateers as Bishop originally intended. Rules were modified to accommodate the factory teams, which wanted to get into the series, despite Bishop's belief that would be unlikely to the series on the long run, especially if they failed to meet their objectives.
The following year, after their headquarters were relocated to Tampa, Bishop and his wife were approached by Mike Cone and Jeff Parker, owners of the IMSA Grand Prix of St. Petersburg with an offer that they were unable to refuse. By the following January (1989), the Bishops sold the company to Cone and Parker. Bishop shortly stepped down as the organisation's president in favor of Mark Raffauf, his deputy president and the organisation's representative on the ACCUS (Automobile Competition Committee for the United States), an FIA recognised sporting body. Cone and Parker in turn sold the organization to businessman Charles Slater by the early 1990s.
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. Evans and Vice-President of Marketing Kurtis Eide were responsible for the name change to Professional Sports Car Racing (PSCR).
A breakaway series formed by the USRRC in 1998 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 initially failed, as a result, Don Panoz and Barber departed to affiliate themselves with PSCR. 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 Champ Car and the IRL this split has been detrimental to the sport as a whole. Attendance, sponsorships and media coverage have dropped dramatically since the split in 1998.
Under tremendous pressure from team owners and management Evans sold the organisation to Don Panoz in 2001, to solidify the sanction for Panoz's American Le Mans Series which had been sanctioned by PSCR 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.
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.
The series
These are the series that are run by the IMSA organisation
Current series
American Le Mans Series
The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was launched in 1999 by Dr. Don Panoz as a replacement for the dwindling IMSA GT Championship. With keystone races such as the 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans, the series serves as qualifier for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) who runs the 24 Hours of Le Mans has given their full backing of the American Le Mans Series, which currently runs two classes of Le Mans Prototypes (LMP) and two classes of Grand Touring (GT) cars.
IMSA Lites
IMSA Lites is a series for single seater sportscars sponsored by Hankook Tire. There are three categories within the series, in each category. From 2007 on, all cars raced are identically to each other with identical engines of each class. The main category, Lite 1 uses an Elan Motorsports Technologies DP02, Lites 2 consists of West Racing WR1000, powered by a Kawasaki ZX-10R engine and Lites 3 consists of SCCA Sports Racer specification car powered by a Mazda MP2 engine.
Formula BMW USA
The Formula BMW USA series is one 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.
GT3 Cup
The IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge is a one make series dedicated to the Porsche 911 GT3 and is similar to the Porsche Supercup. The series is more cost effective then the Supercup in that drivers are allowed to race either newer 997-generation 911s or older 996s in a different class.
Star Mazda Championship
The Star Mazda Championship is a Mazda supported open-wheel road racing support series that serves to help drivers escalate through the ranks of American open-wheel racing. All teams run identical chassis with Mazda rotary engines out of a Mazda RX-8.
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. 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. 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.
One of its most notable drivers to graduate from the Women series is Milka Duno, who currently competes, as of the 2007 season, in Indy Racing League.
The series would run for another year before the rules was changed to allow male drivers to compete, therefore it became the Panoz Racing Series. In 2004, the series would be split into a two-season series, a Winter and Summer GT series which would consist of races held over three rounds followed by finale round at a major ALMS race. The Summer Series finale would take place at the Petit Le Mans. The Winter Series would follow after that race concluding at the 12 Hours of Sebring
Atlantic Championship
In June 2008, IMSA began sanction of the Atlantic Championship.
Defunct series
IMSA IS
The International Sedan series was ran between 1971 to 1993
IMSA GT
IMSA RS
The IMSA RS Series (abbreviation 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). [ NOTE Upcoming Revision: The initial race held was in 1969 at Talladega Superspeedway Road Course (Oval + Infield), Racey Frizzell (sp?) was 1st overall in an Alfa Sedan; the Series first year was actually 1970 with only two races, the inaugural race was at the newly constructed Summit Point Motorsports Park (née Summit Point Raceway) on Memorial Day weekend, Racey Frizzell (sp?) was 1st overall in an Alfa Sedan; the second race was held at the Montgomery Speedway, Alabama, Red Farmer won in a "specially round track prepared" Datsun 510, Racey didn't fare too well having to drive against the local 4 Cylinder "beater class" cars brought in to fill out the field, with their protruding wheels rubbing Racey's "immaculate" Alfa, infuriated, he quit and never ran another IMSA RS race after that; Reference: Steve Coleman, 1972 IMSA Class A RS Series Drivers Champion. He competed in both 1970 races, the only driver that ran both of these races and then continuously in the Series throughout the early years; 1970-1977 ]. The idea was to attract racers who did not have the budgets that was required in the GT category as well as an emphasis on "compact sedans" such as the AMC Gremlin and the Qpel Manta. [ NOTE Upcoming Revision: There were two classes from 1970 through 1973. Class A for Under 2 L and Under 1.6 L w/ OHC and Class B for Over 1.6 L w/ OHC and Over 2 L up to the largest permitted engine being the 232 CI AMC Gremlin. In 1974 all cars were placed in one class, with the only parity for the smaller engines being free carburetion for Under 1.6L.] Limited preparation was permitted, and since the entrants were meant to be street-driven race cars, the rules required the retention of headlights, seats, upholstery, window cranks, stock brakes and original springs and radial tires. Only the exhaust systems and shock absorbers were free. [ NOTE Upcoming Revision: From the beginning, engine modifications similar to SCCA B Sedan were permitted, with the main difference being that over-boring cylinders was not allowed, and stock carburetors being required, but modifications allowed. In addition, springs and alignment were free; Reference: Steve Coleman, 1972 IMSA Class A RS Series Drivers Champion ]. The series was loosely based on rival SCCA Trans-Am's Two-Five Challenge rule. The series, which would later be known as Champion Spark Plug Challenge, became dominated mostly by Mazda's rotary powered RX-2 and RX-3 prompting IMSA to specify heavier weights than piston-engined cars and prohibited any modifications to the rotors and more importantly to intake / exhaust ports. Datsun also had a fair share of success within the series with cars such as the 510 and 200SX. Many drivers would cut their teeth in this series such as Don Devendorf, of Electramotive fame, Jim Downing, of Kudzu and Bobby Rahal. The final season was run in 1984 before it was essentially replaced by the IMSA Showroom Stock class the following year, while retaining its sponsor until 1988. As with most now-defunct racing classes, there are revival races run for this category and the SCCA sanctions events for mostly stock and all stock, cars.
American Challenge
The American Challenge or known in full as Kelly American Challenge, otherwise abbreviated as AAC was a category for US built cars and throughout the series, it has always been run as a support race to the premier GT series. Starting in 1977, the series ran until 1989. In 1992, all this was rewarded, when the premier GTO category was renamed to GTS due to sponsor reasons, rather than leaving the GTO category redundant, the title was reallocated to the former American Challenge cars, as a result, they would be run alongside GTS cars. This series started the careers of Irv Hoerr, Kenny Irwin, Jr, Patty Moise, Clay Young, Lyn St. James and Paul Gentilozzi.
IMSA Renault Cup
The Renault Cup is an one-make racing series that ran between 1982 to 1985. The series began with the Renault LeCar for two seasons until the car's discontinuation in the US. The series went on for the remainder of the three seasons with the Renault Alliance.
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.
Andy Pilgrim also got his start in the Renault Cup Series.
IMSA Showroom Stock
In 1985, IMSA would undergo a major rules reformat while still retaining its sponsor, therefore it was still known as its sponsor's moniker. This time, the series was more restricted to current models that is being available in dealerships throughout the US, other than that, the series had rules and race format 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 Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, therefore, the series was renamed IMSA Firestone Firehawk Endurance Championship or commonly known as Firehawk Series, after the brand of Firehawk performance tires.
Total prize purses, year-end point funds and manufacturer contingency awards in 1991 amount up to $1 million. As required by the sponsor, all cars are required to use its own Firehawk SZ or Firehawk SV tires which can be shaved to racing depth or the all season Firehawk GTX, Bosch and Kendall Oil are also associate sponsors. Most of the drivers that compete in the series are amateurs or semi professional, with a few made their living out of competing in the series, Dorsey Schroeder and John Andretti are one of the few drivers that cut their teeth in the series. Meetings usually attracts over ninety entries and are often televised and duration of the race varies from one 2 hour and a helf event to one 24 hour race. The series would solder on until 1998, by then known as Speedvision Cup.
There are three classes, sorted in order from the highest
- Grand Sport Class
- Sport Class
- Touring Class,
IMSA Bridgestone Supercar Championship
IMSA also hosted the Bridgestone Supercar Championship, sponsored by the sister brand of Firestone, Bridgestone, which was for medium to higher end sports cars such as the Chevrolet Corvette, Porsche 911 Turbo, Mazda RX-7, Nissan 300ZX or Lotus Esprit and was run between 1991 up until 1995. Usually a support race to the GT races, running at 30 minutes which were televised, the series attracted some of the well known professional drivers such as Hans Joachim Stuck, Hurley Haywood, Elliot Forbes-Robinson and Paul Newman. with a total prize fund of $555,555 for the 1992 season. All cars had to run on roadgoing Bridgestone Potenza RE71 tires which are trimmed to semi-racing depth and during a wet race, cars race on full depth.
The series was not without controversy, mainly for the all composite Consulier GTP as it was bordering on the showroom stock ethos as well as being criticised for having little common with cars that the general public see on public road.
The GTP, debuted with just four silver Consulier Series II GTP at Lime Rock in 1991, despite having a 2.2 liter turbo with about connected to a 5 speed gearbox, weighing at , the car took a pole to chequered flag finish easily outpaced the other more powerful but heavier cars, especially if they were piloted by talented and more experienced drivers such as Hurley Haywood in a factory Porsche, Boris Said's Callaway Twin Turbo Corvette, and Jim Minnaker in a factory ZR1 Corvette. It was subsequently announced by IMSA felt that it was not in the best interests of the series to allow the Consulier to win, so as a result they added a weight penalty to the GTP before being barred from the series at the end of the season despite taking a runner up spot..
World Sports Racer
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