1982 Mosport

By 1982, John Bishop’s International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) was in its twelfth season. The championship began at Daytona in January and ended at the same track in late November. There were nineteen race weekends with all classes racing at twelve of these events.

In 1982, there were three classes:

GTP: Grand Touring Prototype was IMSA’s premier class. The Lola T-600, March 82G and, the very popular, Porsche 935 competed in this division.

GTO: This category was for production based GT cars with an engine capacity over 2.5-liters. Competitors in the class raced cars such as the Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro, Porsche Carrera RSR, Porsche 934, Porsche 924 Carrera and BMW M1.

GTU: Production based vehicles with an engine displacement less than 2.5-liters competed in GTU. This class included the Datsun 280ZX, Mazda RX-7 and Toyota Celica.

The Mosport event included all three classes and was one of the longer IMSA events at six hours. It had a strong entry list with thirty-one starters.

Corner one during the opening laps. Danny Ongais qualified the No. 0 Interscope Lola T-600 on the pole but the team owner, Ted Field, chose to start the car. He is followed by third place starter John Paul, Jr. in the JLP Racing Porsche 935 JLP-3. Slotting into third is the Lola T-600 shared by Chris Cord and Jim Adams. The car in fourth is Bob Akin’s Porsche 935 which he drove with, endurance veteran, Derek Bell.

Danny Ongais driving the Interscope Lola T-600 was the class of the field. He put the car on the pole with a time of 1:17.643. Field, who started the car, lost the lead to Paul, Jr. but when he was replaced by Ongais the No. 0 Lola moved back out front. Unfortunately, Ongais’ great drive came to end on lap-169 when the car retired with gearbox issues.

The Paul’s were content with their third place starting position. They knew the Interscope and Rayfin Lola T-600s would be quicker but their focus was to take a conservative approach and score points which would build on their championship lead. They ran with the T-600s but when the Lola’s encountered problems they cruised to an easy victory – 4-laps ahead of second place.

As usual, Joe Varde was the quickest in GTU. He and Jeff Kline shared the Casey-Montex Mazda RX-7. While the team were often contenders for the class victory they were not consistently at the top of the results sheet when the checkered flag fell. In the final GTU driver standings, Varde finished third behind Jim Downing and Roger Mandeville.

The Rayfin Lola T-600 shared by Chris Cord and Jim Adams was running third overall at the mid-point of the race when the team had to make an unscheduled pit-stop. The car lost a number of laps to address an issue with the front suspension. They were able to return to the contest but were not a threat to the Paul’s Porsche or Interscope Lola. They finished second – 4-laps behind the winners.

The No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro was driven by, car owner, Billy Hagan and Gene Felton. The Camaro was the quickest in the GTO class and started tenth overall. They fell to second in GTO during the race but with the retirement of the class leading Deacon BMW M1 they moved back out front. Unfortunately, they ran out of gas exiting Moss corner on lap-90 which led to their retirement.

Kent Racing won the 1981 GTU Championship with a Mazda RX-7. They started the new season with Toyota. Two Celicas were entered at Mosport – No. 92 – Rick Knoop and Ron Grable and No. 98 – Lee Mueller (1981 GTU Champion) and Kathy Rude. The quicker of the two Toyotas was the Celica of Knoop and Grable. At Mosport, they finished second in GTU.

Local racers David Deacon and Rudy Bartling started thirteenth overall and third in GTO. The BMW M1 was leading the class and running eleventh overall when they had an incident with the Taylor Chevron GTP. The car owner, Deacon, was behind the wheel when the BMW made hard contact in corner one – there was too much damage for the team to continue.

An alternative to the Porsche 935 and Lola T-600 was the March 82G. Three of these models competed in the 1982 IMSA GTP championship. One of these cars was driven Kenper Miller and Dave Cowart and powered by a BMW engine. The No. 16 March 82G used a Chevrolet engine and was shared by Marty Hinze and Randy Lanier. At Mosport, Hinze and Lanier finished third. They scored a second podium finish at Mid-Ohio.

A pack of GTU cars exits corner-one. Leading the group is the Datsun 280ZX of George Alderman and Brett Lunger. This car was first in class after six hours but excluded for an illegal engine. The Alderman Datsun is followed by the Raytown Datsun 280ZX, Downing/Atlanta Mazda RX-7 and Dunham Racing Mazda RX-7. The GTU category victory went to Roger Mandeville and Amos Johnson driving a Mazda RX-7.

Bob Akin shared the No. 5 Porsche 935 K3 with Derek Bell and finished fourth. Akin also brought his latest project – the Porsche 935 L-1 but chose to compete in the team’s race proven Porsche 935 K3. With the introduction of so many new and fast cars in the GTP class, Akin felt that the K3 would soon become obsolete. As the team had a large inventory of 935 parts it was decided to take advantage of the rules and build the 935 L-1.

Dick Davenport and Frank Carney were successful Sports Car Club of America amateur racers. Davenport had four National Championships while Carney had finished second on three occasions. They teamed up and moved to the professional ranks in 1980. In 1982, they shared a GTU Datsun 280ZX and finished third in class at Mosport.

Finishing second in the GTO class was Rene Rodriquez and Ernesto Soto. They drove the No. 04 Porsche Carrera RSR and started twenty-second overall and six in GTO. With consistent results and car swapping, to a quicker Chevrolet Corvette, for certain events, Rodriquez finished second in the GTO championship. At Mosport, the GTO category was won by Chet Vincentz and Wayne Baker in a Porsche 934.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	ENTRANT	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	GTP	Paul, Jr. / Paul	Porsche 935 JLP-3	JLP Racing	227	-
2	GTP	Cord / Adams	Lola T-600	Rayfin, Inc.	223	-
3	GTP	Hinze / Lanier	March 82G	March Racing	221	-
4	GTP	Akin / Bell	Porsche 935 K3	Bob Akin Motor Racing	220	-
5	GTP	Speer / Wolters	Porsche 935 JLP-2	JLP Racing	210	-
6	GTP	Cooper / Smith	Porsche 935 K3	Charles Ivey Racing	209	-
7	GTU	Mandeville / Johnson	Mazda RX-7	Mandeville Racing Ent.	208	-
8	GTO	Vincentz / Baker	Porsche 934	Electrodyne Racing	208	-
9	GTU	Knoop / Grable	Toyota Celica	Kent Racing	206	-
10	GTU	Carney / Davenport	Datsun 280ZX	Raytown Datsun	206	-
11	GTU	Downing / Maffucci	Mazda RX-7	Downing/Atlanta	205	-
12	GTO	Rodriguez / Soto	Porsche Carrera	T & R Racing	205	-
13	GTO	Schramm / Brezinka / Hochreuter	Porsche Carrera	R & H Racing	198	-
14	GTU	Mueller / Rude	Toyota Celica	Kent Racing	190	DNF
15	GTO	Bulkowski / Armstrong	Triumph TR8	Peter Bulkowski	186	Transmission
16	GTU	Aschenbrenner / Dören / Smith	Audi 80 Coupe	ALPS Restoration Racing	180	-
17	GTP	Cowart / Miller	March 82G	Red Lobster Racing	179	-
18	GTU	Bieri / Zingg / Lausberg	Porsche 911	Bieri Auto Service	177	-
19	GTP	Varde / Kline	Mazda RX-7	Casey-Montex	172	DNF
20	GTP	Field / Ongais	Lola T-600	Interscope Racing	169	Transmission
21	GTU	Dunham / Mullen	Mazda RX-7	Dunham Trucking Co.	168	Accident
22	GTU	Fowells / Mummery	Mazda RX-7	Scuderia Rosso	164	-
23	GTP	Taylor / Taylor	Chevron GTP	Mark Wagoner	121	DNF
24	GTP	Henn / Henn / Wilson	Porsche 935 K3	Swap Shop Racing Team	92	DNF
25	GTO	Hagan / Felton	Chevrolet Camaro	Stratagraph	90	DNF
26	GTO	Heimrath / Heimrath, Jr.	Porsche 924 Carrera	Heimrath Racing	70	DNF
27	GTO	Madren / Gilgan	Porsche Carrera	Regasus Racing	39	DNF
28	GTO	Almeida / Soto	Ford Mustang	T & R Racing	33	DNF
29	GTO	Bartling / Deacon	BMW M1	Deacon Racing	16	DNF
30	GTP	Henn / Henn / Wilson	Porsche 935 K3	Swap Shop Racing Team	6	DNF

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