1987 Watkins Glen

The Kodak Copiers race at Watkins Glen for GTO and GTU cars was 92-lap event held in late September. There were fifty-two starters and thirty-four cars running at the finish. This was round fifteen for the GT cars with only two events remaining in the 1987 season – Columbus and Del Mar.

Coming into Watkins Glen the Driver and Manufacturer titles were yet to be decided although Chris Cord in GTO and Tom Kendall in GTU had commanding points leads. At the conclusion of this weekend, the pair had won their respective Driver’s titles. Cord efforts contributed to Toyota taking the Manufacturer’s title in the GTO class. The situation in GTU was similar - Kendall played a significant part in Mazda securing their championship.

Starting on the pole was the driver pairing of Greg Pickett and Tommy Riggins. Their Corvette was the class of the field qualifying 2.5-seconds quicker than the Ford Mustang of Scott Pruett and Tom Gloy. Behind them were title contenders Jack Baldwin and Chris Cord.

Willy T. Ribbs failed to qualify the All American Racers Toyota Celica Turbo due to flywheel failure in practice. However, he took the lead on lap-35 and never looked back. He was followed to the checkered flag by his teammate Chris Cord. Ribbs and Cord drove Toyota Celica Turbos entered by Dan Gurney’s All American Racers. A third entry was shared by Dennis Aase and Juan Fangio II.

Qualifying on the GTU pole was point’s leader Tom Kendall. However, it was fourth fastest qualifier Amos Johnson in a Mazda RX-7 that secured the class victory. In the process, Johnson set the fastest race lap but the second place by Tom Kendall was enough to give him the Driver’s Championship.

The leaders enter turn two for the only full-course caution of the race. The yellow flag period occurred when a suspension failure caused local driver Clint Welding to crash his Chevrolet Camaro.

The Peerless/Hendrick Chevrolet Camaro of Jack Baldwin suffered a rear hub problem during the race. The team managed to make repairs which allowed Baldwin to finish fifteenth in GTO. This result ended Baldwin’s hope of winning the championship.

George Alderman and Max Jones qualified Alderman’s Nissan 300ZX Turbo third in the GTU class. The team led early in the race but numerous pit-stops to correct fuel problems resulted in a thirteenth place finish.

The Protofab prepared Chevrolet Corvette was shared by Pickett and Riggins. The car was powered by a Ryan Falconer built turbocharged V6 and proved to be very quick. Pickett had a comfortable lead when the Corvette began stalling this contributed to the car's retirement.

The No. 22 Ford Mustang was shared by Scott Pruett and Tom Gloy. A transmission problem just prior to the start of the race was repaired by the Roush crew. But they were unable to secure the transmission cover and Pruett had to endure heat and fumes from the engine until the first pit-stop.

Lyn St. James – seen in turn one – qualified the Roush prepared Ford Mustang in ninth. An on-track incident caused her to lose car’s front bodywork. This caused the Mustang to overheat and the car was retired on lap-54.

Driving the No. 21 Bodymotion Racing Porsche Carrera was Mike Bavaro. Bavaro started twentieth overall and fifteenth in GTO. He ran a steady race completing 84-laps to finish eleventh in class.

POS.	CLASS	DRIVERS	CAR	ENTRANT	LAPS	RETIREMENTS
1	GTO	Willy T. Ribbs	Toyota Celica Turbo	All American Racers	92	-
2	GTO	Chris Cord	Toyota Celica Turbo	All American Racers	92	-
3	GTO	Gloy / Pruett	Ford Mustang	Roush Racing	91	-
4	GTO	Kneifel / Adam	Chevrolet Camaro	Protofab Racing	91	-
5	GTO	Bob Earl	Pontiac Fiero	Dingman Bros Racing	90	-
6	GTO	Jenner / Akin	Ford Mustang	Roush Racing	90	-
7	GTO	Vincentz / Bauer	Porsche 930	Electrodyne Performance	89	-
8	GTO	Mandeville / Marsh	Mazda RX-7	Mandeville Auto Tech	88	-
9	GTU	Amos Johnson	Mazda RX-7	Team Highball	87	-
10	GTU	Kendall / Kendall	Mazda RX-7	Clayton Cunningham Racing	86	-
11	GTU	Al Bacon	Mazda RX-7	Al Bacon Racing	85	-
12	GTU	John Morton	Mazda RX-7	Clayton Cunningham Racing	85	-
13	GTO	Bupp / Taylor	Chevrolet Camaro	Sentry Bank Equipment	85	-
14	GTO	Kimbrough / Perkinson	Chevrolet Camaro	Orm Engines	84	-
15	GTO	Mike Bavaro	Porsche Carrera	Bodymotion Racing	84	-
16	GTO	Doug Mills	Chevrolet Camaro	Cumberland Valley Racing	83	-
17	GTU	Reed Kryder	Nissan 300ZX	Kryderacing	83	-
18	GTU	Lively / Haynes	Nissan 280ZX	-	82	-
19	GTU	Hendricks / Jones	Porsche 914-6	Dynamic Air Condition	81	-
20	GTU	Altman / Altman	Porsche 914-6	Altman Bros Motor Racing	81	-
21	GTU	Broomall / Evans	Dodge Daytona	-	80	-
22	GTU	Paul Romano	Mazda RX-7	Simms Romano Enterprise	78	DNF
23	GTO	Aase / Fangio II	Toyota Celica Turbo	All American Racers	76	DNF
24	GTO	Fariss / Williams	Chevrolet Camaro	-	66	DNF
25	GTO	Jack Baldwin	Chevrolet Camaro	Peerless/Hendrick	66	-
26	GTU	Durkheimer / Vollum	Porsche 911	Escort Racing	64	DNF
27	GTU	Dembs / Dembs	Mazda RX-7	-	59	DNF
28	GTU	Alderman / Jones	Nissan 300ZX-T	Alderman Nissan	57	-
29	GTU	Chilsen / Dawe	Porsche 924	-	56	DNF
30	GTO	Lyn St. James	Ford Mustang	Roush Racing	54	DNF
31	GTO	Kicak / Volk	Chevrolet Corvette	David Kicak	51	-
32	GTO	McCall / Bohren	Chevrolet Camaro	Skoal Bandit Racing	49	DNF
33	GTU	Greer / Mees	Mazda RX-7	Dick Greer Racing	38	DNF
34	GTO	Pickett / Riggins	Chevrolet Corvette	Protofab Racing	36	DNF
35	GTU	Bob Leitzinger	Nissan 300ZX	Leitzinger Racing	30	DNF
36	GTU	Church / Church	Mazda RX-7	-	29	DNF
37	GTU	Fred Apgar	Porsche 911	-	27	DNF
38	GTU	Paul Haas	Porsche 924	Innovon Motorsport	16	DNF
39	GTU	Dick Murray	Pontiac Fiero	Murray Racing	4	DNF
40	GTO	Clint Welding	Chevrolet Camaro	-	3	DNF

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