1981 Mosport Park

In 1981, Mosport Park hosted the Molson Canadian 1000, a six-hour contest for the FIA World Endurance Championship of Drivers and the IMSA GT Series. In addition to the Mosport event, the two race organizations shared North American race dates at Daytona International Speedway, Sebring International Raceway, Riverside International Raceway, Watkins Glen International and Road America.

The World Endurance Championship for Drivers season began in January with the first of two visits to Daytona International Speedway. After Daytona, teams stayed in Florida to compete in the 12-Hours of Sebring. Then the championship returned to Europe for races at Mugello and Monza before travelling across the Atlantic for an event at Riverside International Raceway. Back in Europe, races were conducted at Silverstone, Nurburging, the 24-Hours of Le Mans and Coppa Forio. Then championship went back to North America for stops at Daytona and Watkins Glen International. The 24-hours of Spa-Francorchamps took place in late July and was followed by Mosport Park and Road America. The finale was held at Brands Hatch.

Six of these events – the 24-Hours of Daytona, Monza 1000-km, Silverstone 6-Hours, Nurburgring 1000-km, 24-Hours of Le Mans and Watkins Glen 6-Hour – counted towards the World Endurance Championship of Makes.

The IMSA GT Series also kicked off with the 24-Hour event at Daytona International Speedway. Next on the schedule were the 12-Hours of Sebring followed by Road Atlanta, Riverside International Raceway, Laguna Seca, Lime Rock Park, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Brainerd International Raceway and a second stop at Daytona. Prior to the 6-hour event at Mosport in August, the teams visited Sears Point Raceway and Portland International Raceway. After the series only Canadian event, the championship competed at Road America and returned to Road Atlanta, followed by the penultimate race of 1981 at Pocono Raceway. Daytona hosted the final contest of the season.

Competitors in the IMSA GT Series collect points in the GTU, GTO or GTX divisions.

GTU - The GTU category is for vehicles prepared to FIA Group 4 rules with an engine displacement of less than 2.5-liters. The Mazda RX-7, Porsche 911 and Datsun 280ZX compete in this group.
GTO – GTO is for cars over 2.5-liters and built in accordance with FIA Group 4 regulations. This division is home to the Triumph TR8, Chevrolet Corvette, BMW M1, Porsche Carrera and 934.
GTX – Grand Touring Experimental cars are based on the FIA Group 5 rules. Porsche is the dominant manufacturer in the category with their 935 model. In 1981, Grand Touring Prototype vehicles built to FIA Group C specifications were introduced and competed in GTX.

Round thirteen for the FIA World Endurance Championship of Drivers and race twelve for the IMSA GT Series were conducted during the Molson Canadian 1000 at Mosport Park. Teams would compete in a six-hour contest around the ten turn 2.459-mile road course.

A field of thirty-three drivers enter Mosport Park’s turn ten in anticipation of the start of the Molson Canadian 1000. Getting a jump is the pole-winning No. 3 Andial Meister Racing Porsche 935 shared by Harald Grohs and Rolf Stommelen. On the outside is the No. 0 Interscope Racing Porsche 935 K3 driven by Bill Whittington and team owner Ted Field. In the second row are the JLP Racing Porsche and Chris Cord Lola.

The No. 3 Andial Meister Racing Porsche 935 was driven by Rolf Stommelen and Harald Grohs. Stommelen earned his first podium of the season in round six at Lime Rock Park. The pairing of Stommelen and Grohs started on the pole at Mosport and shot into an early lead. During the race, they faced challenges from the JLP Racing, Fitzpatrick Racing and the Cooke Woods Lola but held on for the victory.

One of the new generation GTP cars was entered by Cooke Woods Racing. Sharing the No. 7 Lola T-600 at the Molson Canadian 1000 were Brian Redman and former Trans Am champion Eppie Wietzes. Rain and mechanical issues prevented the team from qualifying. Despite starting from the rear, Redman passed seventeen cars on the opening lap. A penalty and incident with a back-marker resulted in a second-place result.

Capturing the GTO honours in round twelve at Mosport Park were Dave Cowart and Kenper Miller. The team did not hit their stride until race three at Road Atlanta, where Cowart scored the class victory in the No.25 Red Lobster sponsored BMW M1. They went on to win seven of the next eight races. At Mosport, the BMW qualified eleventh overall and first in class. In earning the victory, the duo finished fifth overall.

The No. 92 Kent Racing prepared Mazda RX-7 was driven by Lee Mueller and the defending GTU champion, Walt Bohren. The pair won the GTU category at the 12-Hours of Sebring and in a solo drive, Mueller was victorious at Brainerd. They were dominant in round twelve at Mosport Park. The duo qualified first in class and finished ninth overall - winning the GTU class by a three-lap margin.

To date, the highlight of Interscope Racing’s Ted Field was a runner-up result in a sprint race at Lime Rock Park. Field and his regular co-driver, Danny Ongias, were not having the same results as they enjoyed during previous seasons. The No. 0 Porsche 935 was shared by Field and Bill Whittington in round twelve. The Porsche started on the outside of the front and finished third but was never a factor during the race.

Dick Barbour Racing closed their operation and the reigning IMSA GTX champion, John Fitzpatrick, was forced to form his own team. The first two rounds of the season were a disaster, but Fitzpatrick returned to the winners circle at Road Atlanta and Riverside. At Mosport, he was paired with Jim Busby. The No. 1 Porsche started in the fifth spot and took a turn out front but would finish eleven laps behind the leaders in sixth.

John Paul Sr. and Jr. started their 1981 campaign with retirements at Daytona and Sebring. By round four at Riverside, they were on the podium. Paul Jr. collected a couple more rostrum finishes in the sprint races. During the qualifying session at Mosport Park, the No. 18 JLP Racing Porsche 935 K3 was the third fastest. Paul Jr. moved into the lead during the first hour but crashed the car in turn four and retired.

The GTX BMW M1 entered by BMW Motorsports set the fastest lap at Lime Rock but wasn’t always reliable. David Hobbs’ best result to date was a fourth at Portland. Hobbs and his co-driver Hans Stuck were gridded seventh for the start of the six-hour event. Hobbs drove the first stint but pitted several times to repair a sticking throttle. Problems continued throughout the contest and they finished fourteenth.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	ENTRANT	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	GTX	Stommelen / Grohs	Porsche 935 K3	Andial Meister Racing	229	-
2	GTX	Redman / Wietzes	Lola T-600	Cooke Woods Racing	229	-
3	GTX	Field / Whittington	Porsche 935K3	Interscope Racing	222	-
4	GTX	Henn / Doren	Porsche 935K3	Preston Henn	219	-
5	GTO	Miller / Cowart	BMW M1	Red Lobster Racing	218	-
6	GTX	Fitzpatrick / Busby	Porsche 935 K3	John Fitzpatrick Racing	217	-
7	GTX	DeNarvaez / Garretson	Porsche 935	DeNarvaez Racing	215	-
8	GTO	Garcia / Naon / Cruz	BMW M1	Montura Racing	210	-
9	GTU	Bohren / Mueller	Mazda RX-7	Kent Racing	209	-
10	GTX	Jamsal / Galdamez	Porsche 935	Scorpio Racing	206	-
11	GTU	Davenport / Carney	Datsun 280ZX	Raytown Datsun	206	-
12	GTU	McKitterick / Akin	Porsche 935 K3	Bob Akin Racing	205	-
13	GTU	Winters / Bergstrom	Porsche 924 Carrera GTR	Whitehall Capital	203	-
14	GTX	Hobbs / Stuck	BMW M1	BMW Motorsport	192	Transmission
15	GTO	Heimrath / Heimrath, Jr	Porsche 924 Carrera GTR	Heimrath Racing	186	-
16	GTO	Romero / Febles	Porsche 935	Pepe Romero	185	-
17	GTO	Aschenbrenner / Tescher	Porsche 914/6	Alps Restoration	182	-
18	GTO	Bulkowski / Berhar	Triumph TR8	Peter Bulkowski	182	-
NRAF	GTX	Bartling / Hochreuter / Ridgely	Porsche Carrera	Fritz Hochreuter	170	-
20	GTX	Deacon / Freberg	BMW M1	David Deacon Racing	168	-
21	GTO	Vincentz / Bell	Porsche 934	Electrodyne Racing	145	-
22	GTU	Lax / Lansberg / Moennick	Porsche 911	Stephen Lax Racing	141	Accident
23	GTU	Overby / Baker	Porsche 914/6	Personalized Autohaus	139	-
24	GTO	Kjoller / Kjoller	Porsche Carrera	Russell Porsche	123	-
25	GTU	Blackburn / Frellsen	Datsun 280ZX	Logan Blackburn Racing	122	-
26	GTX	Moretti / Rahal	Porsche 935	Momo/Penthouse	105	Accident
27	GTX	Carter / Adam	Chevrolet Camaro	Maurice Carter Racing	105	Accident
28	GTU	Baker / Overby	Porsche 914/4	Personalized Autohaus	95	-
29	GTX	Cord / Adams	Lola T-600	Chris Cord Racing	56	Engine
30	GTX	Paul / Paul, Jr	Porsche 935 JLP-3	JLP Racing	41	Accident
31	GTO	Stiff / Honegger / Posey	Mazda RX-7	Z & W Enterprises	34	Accident
32	GTX	Russo Taylor / Taylor	Chevron GTP Buick	Janis Taylor	4	Accident
33	GTU	Bye / Bieri	Porsche 911	Hi-Fi Express	0	-

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