The series peaked in the early 80s but as the CART Indycar series and IMSA's GTP championship grew in stature it faded.
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The second incarnation of Can-Am faded away as IMSA and CART racing became more popular in the early 1980s but remained active until 1987.
Broadly similar rules were used in the North American IMSA Grand Touring Prototype series GTP.
The facility became one of the most popular road racing tracks in the United States, hosting also IMSA, Grand-Am, IROC, SCCA, motorcycle racing, vintage events, and various other races.
He won several championships racing in formula car and sports prototype series in IMSA, ALMS, Atlantic Championship, and SCCA.
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In 2009 Mällinen made his debut in the IMSA Atlantic Championship racing for Swan Racing and won the Championship (C2) with 4 wins and 3 pole positions.
In March 1990, Pruett was seriously injured in a preseason testing crash at West Palm Beach, Florida, an IMSA street course.
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Concurrent with their primary CART effort, Truesports ventured into IMSA racing on several occasions in the mid-1980s.
IMSA | IMSA GT Championship | 1984 IMSA GT Championship season | 1983 IMSA GT Championship season | 1982 IMSA GT Championship season |
Len Lonnegren, PR boss at Saab Cars USA, Inc., had heard that Skip Barber was planning to launch an open-wheel "spec car" professional race series, and that it was to run on the same IMSA programs as the GTPs and Camel Lights.
Invited to join the factory backed Group 44 race team in 1980, he spent time co-driving with Bob Tullius in the Triumph TR8 in the IMSA series and had GTO class victories at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Road Atlanta, Mosport, and Road America, as well as a victory at Daytona where he drove alone.
After his experience in CART, Mead moved onto the popular IMSA Camel GT series where he drove for a variety of different teams from 1983 to 1988 without much success.
Between 1978 and 1988, he regularly placed in the top 10 of the IMSA circuit.
The European Le Mans Series is similar to the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) based in the United States and Canada that has been running with ACO backing since 1999, which is run by IMSA.
Also unlike other IMSA GTP designs, the Intrepid was never intended to be suitable for endurance races such as the 24 Hours of Daytona or 12 Hours of Sebring.
Sponsored by the Mazda factory for his entire IMSA career, Jim progressed up the competition ladder from the near showroom stock Radial Sedan series Mazda RX-2 & Mazda RX3, to GTU Mazda RX3 & Mazda RX7 and GTO in the Mazda RX7, then up to the ultra-quick purpose-built GTP category prototypes, all powered by two, three, and four rotor versions of the Mazda Wankel engine.
Grand Prix of Las Vegas, an IMSA/American Le Mans Series race held from 1997-2000
Following years of success building prototypes for Chevrolet in the IMSA GTP series as well as Nissan in the World Sportscar Championship and All Japan Sports Prototype Championship, Lola ended the 1991 season without a major manufacturer to back their sports car effort.
In 2008, Mällinen raced in the IMSA Lites L1 class driving an Élan Motorsport Technologies DP02 sports prototype and won the 2008 Formula Atlantic championship driving a Swift Engineering TRD 014.a for Swan Racing in the southeast division.
The GTP ZX-Turbos were featured as part of a Miami Vice episode revolving around the IMSA GT Miami Grand Prix, although this was primarily using footage of the race itself.
He won the IMSA Camel Lights sports car championship 3 years in a row, from 1991 to 1993, setting all-time qualifying and race win records, including winning the 24 Hours of Daytona twice, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and 1000km Suzuka event in Japan.
From 1969 until 1976, Phil participated in 19 races with SCCA and IMSA.
Rhys Millen (born in New Zealand), nephew of IMSA GTS driver Steve Millen, son of Rod and elder brother of Ryan, is one of the America's top competitors in drifting.
Due to Hagan's intense interest in automobile racing, Stratagraph has fielded several race teams of various types through the years, most notably in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now NEXTEL Cup Series), and in IMSA sports car events and endurance racing.