Phil Conte's IMSA story

Phil Conte grew up in Brooklyn and spent the early part of his Life in California. He was the 'luckiest Man in the world', as he would put it. Everything he did just worked. He started an electrical manufacturing business, building high-voltage switch Gear. He got involved in 1975, while watching the Long Beach Grand Prix. He met with John Morton and told him he wanted to go Can Am racing. A few years after, when the series was in its second decline, he would jump on the Prototype opportunity. He was a sponsor for the Le Mans Mirage trip in 1982. This First attempt was a failure, but the car ended up in Phil Conte's hands, who got it unraced. The car would be driven by John Morton, who set up the car, and Bob Lobenberg. The car was not suited to the series, and soon was traded for a Lola T600, which was more reliable, while somewhat outdated. The team did not do so well in 1983, with John Morton and Bob Lobenberg taking two seconds at Sears Point and Portland. In 1984, the team started with an eleventh place at Daytona and a third at Miami. The remainder of the season was a string of runner-up finishes, but no win. The car was then to be replaced by a March 84G Chevrolet, which was supposed to be a more efficient racer. While John Morton was still the lead driver, Tony Adamowicz, Richard Spenard and John Paul Jr were now co-Driving him. The old Lola would also run alongside the March, with Ray McIntyre and Mike Brockman going for runner-up positions. Then things would change by the end of 1984, when Phil Conte was approached by Buick. The team was then Hooked up with McLaren Engines, who would take care of the engines. By then, the team knew they would have horsepower. Phil Conte Racing was suddenly the official factory team for Buick. With John Paul Jr, Bill Adam and Whitney Ganz driving, the car was on the pole for the 1985 Daytona 24 Hour race. The car was always running fast but had frequent dnfs for the rest of the season. The team had two cars that were now called Hawks because they were no more Marches, after undergoing extensive modifications. The main problem was that, while having power, everything would break on the car, which meant that every race or so resulted in a dnf. The engine appeared to be the culprit of the breakdowns, but the team management was not the best you could imagine, with unexperienced people being landed into the whole team. Many problems would appear, pertaining to the relationship with March, and with John Paul Jr who was not at his best while his father was to be put to jail. Dan Binks would lose confidence with the Racing program and suddenly left the team. Things would go on in 1986, with the arrival of RC Cola, and GM supporting the team. John Paul Jr and Whitney Ganz took a great second place at Road Atlanta, which was the best finish ever for a Buick turbo engine. Many dnfs were to be recorded in 1986, with many drivers' combinations driving the cars. In 1987, something happened while Michael Andretti was looking at Phil Conte's disappointment. He called his dad, who arranged to meet Tony Cicale. He would work on the car, and made some radical changes on the car, such as moving the radiator to the side. Jim Crawford, who subbed for John Paul Jr, started second at Laguna Seca. He was out with an engine failure after twenty laps. Then, things would end up at Lime Rock, which was the team's very last race. Phil Conte was kind of burned out. The engines were having so much failures and the March cars were not getting better, with no support at all. So he decided to stop everything. It was also very disappointing because he had a great desire to win, but the story turned into frustration. He just ran out of money trying to do his best with the cars. He would spend five great years of Racing, then leave a world he craved for.

The Hawk Buick was powerful but suffered from unreliablilty.