The Porsche Carrera RS has been introduced in the US road racing scene in 1973. From that moment, it has become one of the most successful car ever. The first race of such a car was to happen at Daytona in 1973. This race was the first of the World Sportscar Championship and, there it faced true racing Prototypes as Matra, Mirage and Lola. Not still homologated in GT, the cars were forced to run against stronger machinery. Two brand new Carreras were entered by Brumos Racing and Penske Racing. These were RS cars because fitted with 2,7L engines. The drivers were Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood on the Brumos car and Mark Donohue and George Follmer on the Penske car. After eight hours of grueling fight between the two sister cars and the retirement of every works car, the Brumos car took the lead of the race! Now the two cars were fighting for overall victory. The Brumos car eventually won the race and had set the Carrera's future in a significative way. From that moment, the Carrera began to dominate the series when introduced in IMSA racing. The first other team to acquire a Porsche Carrera RSR was Dave Helmick's and Gray Egerton's. The first car won at Sebring that year with Peter Gregg, Hurley Haywood and Dave Helmick at the wheel. The Porsche Carrera had won two of the greatest international races in its race debut. Fitted with a 2,8L F6 engine given for 300hp, the car was one of the most effective ones when in the hands of potent drivers. Its low fuel consumption coupled with a great reliability made this car a winner. The 1973 Porsche Carrera was the IMSA Champion with Peter Gregg that year. In 1974, a new version was born, this time the engine grew up to 3,0L. With a new tail section and an increase of power, such a car was nearly unbeatable. Furthermore, their number increased in a significant way. The IROC Series was no stranger to this fact. At the end of the 1973 season, a string of a dozen cars was left unused. These cars needed very few changes to adapt to the IMSA rules, and they found new owners very quickly. The 1974 season began with the cancellation of two of the longest events in the schedule. The Arab-Israeli war had put an embargo on the fuel and restrictions were made to long distance races. The season began thus at Road Atlanta with a 6Hour event. This first race was won by Al Holbert and Elliot Forbes Robinson. In fact, the Porsche Carreras won all but one event this year, clearly dominating the series. Peter Gregg emerged again as the series champion, as he proved his talent once again. This domination proved to become some kind of a threat to the series, as John Bishop sensed the fact that it would bore the crowds. The solution would be to bring new competitors to the German Make. It would take some time before the opposition would clearly materialize. For 1975, the Porsche fleet would face new challengers as BMW brought a pair of factory CSLs, and the new AAGT category was now launched. These welcome additions would add some excitement to the series and the attendance increased in a significant way. A new step was now accomplished to International recognition. The first race of the season was the 24 Hours of Daytona which saw a new Porsche Carrera sweep. Once again Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood won that race. At Sebring, BMW proved to be the true Porsche contender and won the race with Hans Stuck-Allan Moffat-Sam Posey and Brian Redman driving. A quite international entry! The remainder of the season was a hard fought Championship between Porsche and BMW. John Greenwood won the only non-German race at Daytona in November for the Finale. The 1976 season would be the first season a Porsche Carrera did not win the Championship. The AAGT class was now fully operational and top-level contenders such as Al Holbert and Michael Keyser had made the move and purchased Chevrolet Monzas. Even Peter Gregg did not drive a Carrera that year, he had arranged a deal with BMW to run a CSL. However, the Porsche Carrera proved to be a solid contender in long distance races. Al Holbert and Michael Keyser won at Sebring. Jim Busby won at Ontario, George Dyer at Lime Rock, Jim Busby again at Sears Point, Mid Ohio and Laguna Seca 2. It would the last year the Porsche Carrera would win as much races. Clearly, the cars suffered from a lack of power. Porsche had already built a new car that would replace the Carrera, but John Bishop banished the 934 for the 1976 season. Porsche's Joe Hoppen found a new home for these cars in the SCCA Trans Am. This series needed a strong push to get revived, and Porsche did a lot while bringing these cars to the newly reborn series. Seeing this fact, John Bishop finally admitted that he made a mistake, and the Porsche Carrera had its successor. The 934 made its racing IMSA debut at Mid Ohio at the end of the 1976 season. The Porsche Carrera was not finished and soon would be raced for years in the new GTO and GTU categories. The Porsche Carrera was not over in 1977 as it began successfully the 1977 season by winning the 24 Hours of Daytona. Driven by John Graves-Dave Helmick and Hurley Haywood, the car defeated the Porsche 935 turbos to win one of its last great international success. The 12 Hours of Sebring was the very last with George Dyer and Brad Frisselle at fhe wheel. The two drivers finished five laps ahead of Diego Febles and Hiram Cruz in a similar car. The Porsche Carrera would prove its lack of hp in the shorter events. At Road Atlanta, John Paul was the best finisher in his lightened car, which sported a high wing, but he could do no better than seventh. Even when highly modified, it seemed that, in 1977, the cars would be simply outpowered. You must not forget that it was a three year car. Even such a successful car could not win forever. George Dyer almost made a miracle at Mid America when finishing second in a lightweight car. At Lime Rock, he finished third overall and fifth at Mid Ohio. Then he switched to a more powerful 934 with which he won at Daytona the Paul Revere night run event. Then, the different cars driven by Tom Frank or Robert Frostrom wound up one sixth and one seventh at Sears Point and Pocono. David Cowart and Kenper Miller were sixth at the Mid Ohio 3 Hours but David Cowart could do no better than eleventh at the Road Atlanta fall event. Laguna Seca saw one anonymous result by Eberhard Braun in fifteenth position and Mauricio de Narvaez made a promising debut at the Daytona Finale and placed fifth. For 1978, IMSA introduced a new set of rules as the GTX, GTO, AAGT and GTU classes were now the classes to be available for the fans. A new area for success was by this mean created for the Porsche Carreras which could fight against similar GT cars, mainly Camaros, BMW CSLs, Mustangs or others. The 1978 season would begin successfully with a third place overall for the Diego Febles and Hiram Cruz car, and a GTO class win. At Sebring, it was John Paul and Bonky Fernandez who who had a fifth overall for another class win. At Talladega, Bonky Fernandez and Dave Cowart took a fourth behind three Porsche 935s. Road Atlanta was a bit different as Kenper Miller brought an ex-Peter Gregg BMW 3.0CSL in ninth overall and beat Dave Cowart's Carrera. At Laguna Seca, John Morton's similar CSL defeated Howard Meister Carrera to win the GTO class. At Hallett, Kenper Miller had a new win over Howard Meister and Werner Frank Carreras. Lime Rock would see another another Porsche defeat but it was Diego Febles Ford Capri who took the class laurels, this time over Dave Cowart and Howard Meister. At Brainerd, Dave Cowart had its first victory of the year : he defeated Paul Brand in a Camaro. Daytona saw a new victory by Kenper Miller's fast BMW as he won over Mauricio de Narvaez car, this one being followed by Diego Febles and Bonky Fernandez cars. Howard Meister went for the first time into Victory circle at Sears Point. There he won over Bob Harmon and Kenper Miller's BMW who could do no better than third. At Portland, Dave Cowart won over Bob Bergstrom and Ren Tilton, who drove a 2,7L Porsche 911. Mid Ohio was a victory for Dave Cowart-Mauricio de Narvaez, just ahead of Bonky Fernandez-Walt Bohren and Diego Febles car. At Road Atlanta, Howard Meister had a very good run to win the GTO class : he beat Kenper Miller's BMW on a track where horsepower was on the BMW's edge. The Daytona Finale was the worst results for the Porsche horde as Rick Thompkins took the win in his Corvette, second was Bob Tullius on his Jaguar XJS, Mauricio de Narvaez finished third, Diego Febles and Bob Beasley took the two next spots. At the end, Porsche won the GTO title with its Carrera. Dave Cowart won the first GTO title aboard a Porsche Carrera, second was Diego Febles, who shared his drives between a Porsche Carrera and a Ford Capri. The Porsche Carrera's career had taken a new start, and victories for these cars were far from being over. The 1979 season would prove even more successful for these cars as Howard Meister brought a very well prepared car to seven wins and an easy final GTO Championship. The season started at Daytona and the Porsche Carreras were beaten for the first time by a very reliable Ferrari 365GTB4 driven by John Morton and Tony Adamowicz. They took a fantastic second overall behind a single Porsche 935, driven by Ted Field-Danny Ongais and Hurley Haywood. The first Porsche Carrera finished at a distant eighth place overall, far away from the leading Ferrari. It was even behind the best GTU cars, which looked quite unbelievable! Things changed at Sebring as Bonky Fernandez-Tato Ferrer and Chiqui Soldevilla took a well deserved victory, three laps ahead of Horst Kroll-Rudy Bartling car, and four over Tony Garcia-Juan Montalvo and Alberto Vadia on another Carrera. Howard Meister entered his first race at Road Atlanta, and he easily won the GTO category over Mauricio de Narvaez on a Carrera too, and Carl Shafer's Oftedahl Camaro. At Riverside, Dave Cowart was co-driven by Kenper Miller, who had not brought his BMW, to win the class over Tony Garcia and Terry Herman, the pair finishing on the same lap as the winners. Howard Meister had a successful run at Laguna Seca and he won over Honorato Espinosa, Tato Ferrer, Mauricio de Narvaez, Dave Cowart, Terry Herman, Tony Garcia. In fact, Porsche took the first eight GTO spots in this race! At Hallett, Porsche dominated the same way and Howard Meister again won the race over Dave Cowart and Honorato Espinosa. At Lime Rock, it seemed that Howard Meister got accustomed to victory and he won over Dave Cowart and Mauricio de Narvaez. At Brainerd, however, he had to fight hard against Tony de Lorenzo, but he won again over the Corvette. Third was Phil Currin in his usual Corvette. At the Paul Revere race, Phil Currin did bring his car to victory and he beat the Porsches on the Daytona track. Jorge Cortes and Howard Meister took second and third. Howard Meister was partnered by Alan Johnson to win the category at Mid Ohio over Luis Mendez Porsche and Mauricio de Narvaez-Tony Garcia for a new 1-2-3 for Porsche. At Sears Point, Howard Meister was the winner again and Luis Mendez was second, Mauricio de Narvaez and Dave Cowart were next. Portland was quite different as Neil Shelton took a surprise victory in his Carrera over Phil Currin in his Corvette, and Howard Meister in his Porsche. The Road America 500 Miles were a new defeat for the Porsches, and it was a unique victory for the Group 44 Triumph TR8, driven by Bob Tullius and Bill Adam who won over the Tony Garcia-Terry Herman car, third was the Mauricio de Narvaez-Albert Naon car. The fall Road Atlanta event was another non-Porsche victory, as Kenper Miller took his sole 1979 victory over Bob Tullius Triumph and Tony de Lorenzo Corvette. The best Porsche was Francisco Romero's fourth place. Surely one of the worst race for the Porsche contingent. The Daytona Finale would look as a revenge for the German make : Mauricio de Narvaez won over Carl Shafer's Camaro. Werner Frank took third in his Porsche 934. At the end, Porsche had proved its consistency, and won a new GTO Championship. The 1980 would be as successful for the Carrera and a new driver would emerge from the GTO ranks : Luis Mendez. The season began as per usual at Daytona with a victory for the Tony Garcia-Alberto Vadia and Terry Herman car, second was the Mauricio de Narvaez-Albert Naon and Ricardo Londono car. At Sebring, the Porsche squadron had to face a new threat as the Group 44 Triumph TR8 was entered for Bob Tullius and Bill Adam. This threat did materialize in a very clear victory for the Triumph drivers. They won by a fourteen laps margin over the best Carrera, the Luis Mendez-Jaime Rodriguez and Ernesto Soto car. The Werner Frank-James Brolin Porsche 934 was third. Road Atlanta was a new non-Porsche victory : Phil Currin won over Bob Raub Camaro and Luis Mendez, the best Carrera driver. The Riverside race proved to be a true enduro as the Porsche Carrera driven by Tony Garcia-Terry Herman survived the 5Hour race to take the class win over Ernesto Soto and Pierre Honegger car. The next race was to be held at Laguna Seca. There the Tony Garcia car defeated the Triumph in a convincing manner. Third was Luis Mendez, just behind Bob Tullius. At Lime Rock, Luis Mendez earned his first victory of the season. He won over a pair of Triumph TR8s, driven by Bob Tullius and Bill Adam, and John Caruso, on a Corvette. Brainerd was a special event, featuring a GTO-GTU race. Luis Mendez won overall, just ahead of two Mazda RX7s, driven by Jeff Kline and Brad Frisselle. Tony Garcia was fourth, and second in GTO. The Porsche Carreras were unchallenged on that race. At Daytona, it was another story and the Triumphs driven by Bob Tullius and Bill Adam won the class over Ernesto Soto, the best Porsche driver. At Sears Point, it was again Luis Mendez, who won over Casey Mollett's Datsun 280Z and Tom Marx on a Carrera too. He continued his winning streak by winning at Portland over Phil Currin Corvette, and Tony Garcia Carrera. At Mosport, once again the Triumph TR8 proved the best and outlasted the Porsche Carreras. Mauricio de Narvaez-Tony Garcia were second, eight laps down. The next race, at Road America, was again won by the Triumph, who won the class over the Porsche 911, fitted with a bigger engine, driven by Dennis Aase and Bob Bergstrom. Tony Garcia and Terry Herman were third. At Road Atlanta, again Porsche was beaten, this time by Phil Currin in his Corvette. Bob Tullius Triumph was second and Dennis Aase Porsche Carrera was third. The final race at Daytona proved again difficult to the Porsches as the two Triumphs made it one-two. Bill Adam won over Bob Tullius and Carl Shafer in his Camaro. The best Porsche was the Roger Schramm-Werner Frank car, which placed fourth. At the end of the season, it was a Porsche driver who won the title, but it looked far more difficult to the Porsche. The next year would be even be worse : new cars, such as the BMW M1, would be far more powerful. The car was getting old and was no longer developed. The next chapter will be dedicated to this career end. In 1981, the Porsche Carrera RSR was continuing to be one of the most popular cars. Even though it became to be really outdated, many teams and drivers were counting on its reliability. At Daytona however, it was a 2,5L Porsche 911 that proved to be extraordinary reliable by finishing third overall behind two Porsche 935 Turbos. At Sebring, it was still a Porsche Carrera, driven by Chuck Kendall-Pete Smith and Dennis Aase that took fifth overall to win the GTO category. It was a neat victory by a well driven car. For the sprint races that were to be held after, the cars were simply outclassed by the newer and much more powerful cars. At Road Atlanta, Dave Cowart took an easy win and the best Carrera could do no better than fifth. At Riverside, the car driven by John Hotschkis-Robert Kirby was again fifth in class. Terry Herman was third at Laguna Seca in a standard car. At Lime Rock, Tico Almeida-René Rodriguez took a fifth in their well prepared car. At Mid Ohio, Tim Selby and Earl Roe took fourth in their car but they were behind eight GTU cars! It seemed that the cars could no longer fight for the top spots. At Brainerd, no Carrera were to be entered, it was the first time in IMSA history that, since its introduction in 1973, no Carrera took part of an IMSA race! It seemed that the ring of changes was on its way. After that every Carrera entrant would post some anonymous result. At the Paul Revere race, Doug Lutz finished 29th overall, and tenth in class. But the winning BMW had finished an astounding second overall! The gap between the best GTO cars and the Carreras seemed to increase at a very high rate. At Sears Point, René Rodriguez put an excellent fourth in class, on a slow circuit, needless to say. At Portland, Neil Shelton was a fantastic second to David Cowart : he managed to finish ahead of Don Devendorf's powerful Datsun 280ZX Turbo! Some kind of a feat! At Mosport, the local Carrera driven by Fritz Hochreuter-Rudy Bartling and Norm Ridgely took an honest sixth in class, but finished behind the top GTU runners. At Road America, the Earl Roe-Tim Selby entry was again the best Carrera, and finished second in the GTO category. Once again, the best GTU contenders were ahead! At Mid Ohio, the Bob Beasley-George Stone car finished fourth. At that time, the newly introduced Porsche 924GTRs began to wind up better results. These cars were powered by turbocharged engines and proved to be honest racers. The Road Atlanta fall event was as disappointing for the Carreras as René Rodriguez and Ernesto Soto finished sixth in the GTO category. At Pocono, the Steve Southard-Mark Altman-Gary Altman car was forth in the GTO class. Three BMW M1s took the three first GTO spots. For the Daytona Finale, the best car was sixth : it was Roger Schramm-Werner Frank who placed sixth behind more powerful cars. The 1982 began with the usual 24 Hours of Daytona. Here, the Tico Almeida-René Rodriguez and Ernesto Soto Carrera finished a fantastic fifth overall, and second in GTO, behind a factory Mazda RX7. It proved once again its extraordinary reliability in long distance races. The Porsche Carrera was not quite over and would be seen for some more years. At Sebring, Diego Febles-Tato Ferrer-Chiqui Soldevilla did ever better than at Daytona by finishing fourth overall and first in GTO. It was a different story at Road Atlanta where the best car, the Tico Almeida one, could do no better than ninth. Once again, the speed matter problem! At Riverside, the Tico Almeida-René Rodriguez car was again the most efficient one and finished tenth overall : they won their class but finished behind the best GTU cars. Again at Laguna Seca, the best entry could do no befter than fourteenth, and seventh in GTO. At Charlotte, the Ken Madren-Denny Wilson pair finished fourth in GTO. At Mid Ohio, Tim Selby again proved that his car was outclassed and finished a distant eighth. At Lime Rock, the sole car, driven by Earl Roe, was an early dnf to finish last in class! Ken Madren had a better race at the Paul Revere and finished sixth, which was quite a good result. No Carrera was entered at Brainerd and Al Thomas was the best entry at Sears Point, finishing a distant eighth in class. Karl Durkheimer was the best finisher at Portland with a fifth but the next race at Mosport would be again the Tico Almeida-René Rodriguez car who finished second to the Electrodyne Porsche 934. It was a 6Hour event, the typical long distance suited to the undauntable Carrera. The third place was again taken by a Carrera driven by Roger Schramm-Rainer Brezinka and Fritz Hochreuter. At Road America, the T and R Carrera was the best placing car. The Madren-Wilson pair took a fourth at Mid Ohio and the Lance van Every-Ash Tisdelle entry took a third at Road Atlanta. With a seventh at Pocono, things did not improve as for the Daytona Finale, where Lance van Every-Ash Tisdelle took a seventh in GTO, and fifteenth overall. For 1983, you could still find your usual Porsche Carrera, and even as high finishing as fifth overall for the Diego Febles-Kikos Fonseca-Roy Valverde, however, they were beaten by the fantastic Mazda RX7 entered by Racing Beat. It was a fantastic result for such an old car. The Miami event, which was a separate GTO race, saw a fourth place by Jamsal, some kind of interesting result that those cars could produce on street circuits. Sebring was a strange race as it was won by a GTO car, but it was the Garretson Porsche 934 that made it. This car was much more powerful than the Carreras but the Luis Gordillo-Manuel Villa and Chiqui Soldevilla finished seventh overall and third in GTO. For the next event, Kikos Fonseca did his best to finish fifth in class. At Riverside, the Rick Borlase-Michael Hammond car was fifth in class, far away from the GTO winning Porsche 934. It was a disaster at Laguna Seca as no Carrera made it to the finish. At Charlotte, Jack Lewis-John Ashford were eighth, out of the winning pace. The only car entered at Lime Rock was a dnf as well. Things remained unchanged at Mid Ohio with a fifth in class for Al Leon-Wayne Pickering, in a rainy event. The same car was driven by Jack Griffin-Paul Gilgan at the Paul Revere for a eighth in class result. Brainerd seemed to be the race to avoid as no Carrera was entered. Terry Herman again was fifth, very far from the Electramotive winning Datsun 280ZX. Unknown drivers Parke Duff-John Gilson were the best Carrera finishers at Portland, with a fourth in class. At Mosport, the best car was the Bobby Hefner-Jack Griffin-Wayne Baker car who finished fourteenth overall and fourth in class. Philip Byrd and Richard Silver took their beautiful car to a sixth in class at Road America. Pocono was to give a sixth in class to John Hulen-Ron Coupland and the Daytona Finale was a fifth for the Jack Griffin-Chris Price entry. In 1984, the Porsche Carrera was no longer a winning car. But it was a car that would be seen for some more yezrs on the track. It had been adopted by so many drivers that it was some kind of an unbypassable car. The Daytona race was not so bad for the Carrera squad as the Lance van Every-Ash Tisdelle was second in class, but the winning Camaro was nine laps ahead. At Miami, Luis Mendez proved he had not lost his racing abilities and finished third behind two GM products. That same Luis Mendez finished first in class at Sebring, but far behind the GTU winners. But did it matter? For the purists, surely it did. Bob Beasley and Jack Lewis were fourth at Road Atlanta, Larry Chmura-Brent Regan and Jon Koobation were second to Roger Mandeville Mazda RX7 at Riverside and Gary Auberlen was the only entrant, and a dnf, at Laguna Seca. At Charlotte, Lance van Every had a good race and finished fourth on a horsepower track. Lime Rock saw no Carrera and Mid Ohio was a fourth in class for John Hulen-Ron Coupland. It was becoming clear that the Porsche Carrera would never win any more race, even in its category. George Hulse would end up fourth at Watkins Glen. At Portland, Gary Auberlen and Peter Jauker finished fourth, Bob Zulkowski was very far away at Sears Point and John Hulen-Ron Coupland finished eighth in GTO at Road America. Gone were the days where you could count on a Porsche Carrera to win its class! By now, no more than two or three cars could be seen on the track. And it was only for fun. From that moment, Porsche Carreras became difficult to be seen. The Luis Mendez car would finish seventh at the Daytona Finale. The rules changes would soon raise the displacement to 2,8L and then 3,0L. The ubiquitous Porsche Carrera/Porsche 911 would soon evolve in the lower class. The glory days of the Carrera were definitively over, its career would have lasted as much as 15 years. Many success were met by a lot of drivers and this car remains one of the most successful in IMSA history. The Porsche Carrera has really made IMSA.

Jim Busby at Laguna Seca 1976.