IMSA 1990-1999: The Turbulent Years of American Sports Car Racing

Product description

The International Motorsports Association (IMSA), developed from nothing into one of the biggest and most successful sports car racing sanctioning authorities in the world in just under twenty years. Documented first in IMSA 1969–1989: The Inside Story of How John Bishop Built the World’s Greatest Sports Car Racing Series, this new volume covers the turbulent 1990s and all that changed in that time.

IMSA 1990–1999: The Turbulent Years of American Sports Car Racing covers the next decade of constant change in ownership, sponsorship, racing car design, and virtually everything else that was envisioned and created by founder John Bishop. Despite the turmoil and ownership changes, the organization flourished, brought in new corporate sponsorships, created an entirely new category of top-tier prototype sports cars that eventually became accepted worldwide, and most importantly survived, though in a completely different configuration from what it once was. So strong were its integrity and strength of staff that initially, despite what many in the industry thought, the organization grew and created value to many as it went through four different ownership and management changes in six years.

Throughout all that, IMSA racing remained influential and strong, competition was good, and opportunity was high for numerous brands, companies, and competitors to showcase their products and abilities on a world motorsports stage.

The authors and main contributors, Mark Raffauf, Martin Raffauf, and George Silbermann share their personal experiences and comments from being there through all of it, along with the experiences of many individuals with different perspectives who also made their way through it all.

This is the behind-the-scenes story of all that happened in the decade of change that sowed the seeds for two diversely different organizations, both of which would carry the IMSA legacy into the next century.

Table of Contents:

Foreword by Rob Dyson
Preface by Jonathan Ingram
Introduction by Mark Raffauf
Chapter One 1990: The Momentum Continues
Chapter Two 1991: Factories Level the Playing Field
Chapter Three 1992: Storm Clouds at the Peak of GTP
Chapter Four 1993: GTP Chapter Comes to a Close
Chapter Five 1994: World Sports Cars Take Over
Chapter Six 1995: WSC Hits Full Speed
Chapter Seven 1996: Close Finishes Highlight WSC
Chapter Eight 1997: A PSR Season Full of Change
Chapter Nine 1998: The Split Begins
Chapter Ten 1999: The Split Continues