1983 GTP facts

Ted Field suddenly dropped out of racing when the engine Ryan Falconer was developing became ineligible.

William Karges entered a beautifully painted BMW 320, which was driven by dutchman Boy Hayje. He scored one victory at Laguna Seca.

Al Holbert drove a March 83G Porsche, prepared by Andial.

Zakspeed USA was to field the new Ford Mustang GTP, which was a front engined car, with ground effect tunnels and a lot of space age features. Klaus Ludwig was to drive this car.

John Cooper, who drove a Porsche 935K3 in 1982, wished to use his engines in order to fit them into a Grid chassis. He got in touch with Ian Dawson, who seemed to find some interest in the project.

Bob Tullius had Lee Dykstra design his Jaguar XJR5, powered by a V12 5,3L engine.

Bob Akin brought in a new radical Porsche 935 at the Daytona Finale.

The Red Lobster team purchased the March 83G Chevrolet that Al Holbert drove at the beginning of the season.

Kathy Rude escaped death when her Porsche 935 took off at Brainerd.

Bruce Leven tried to convert a Lola T600 to Porsche power but with with no success.

Hurley Haywood suffered a badly broken leg at Mosport when he crashed heavily in Preston Henn's car.

M.L Speer and Ken Madren shared a Porsche 935 throughout the season, but debuted a new March 84G Buick at the Daytona Finale.

Pierre Honegger introduced a new Mazda GTP, built by Walt Bohren's former mechanic Charles Hurst.

The Aston Martin Nimrods used a modified Lola T600 chassis and a stock block four cam aluminium V8 engine.

1983 GTO facts

Wayne Baker took the Porsche 935 that won the 1981 Daytona 24Hour race and stripped off the parts to build a Porsche 934.

Racing Beat entered a tubeframe Mazda RX7 powered by a 13B engine.

Billy Hagan and Gene Felton drove the Stratagraph Chevrolet Camaro.

Electramotive entered a Datsun 280ZX Tc which was developed to its highest degree. It was a real crowd pleaser and could have won a couple of times.

Chuck Kendall entered a BMW M1 he purchased from BMW North America. It was the only Procar car never to be used by the drivers.

1983 GTU facts

Roger Mandeville had built a brand new tubeframe Mazda RX7.

Dave Kent had brought back his old Bergstrom RX7 and struck a deal with Firestone, running on street tires.

Engine displacement rose from 2,5L to 2,8L, with Porsche 924GTRs now eligible.

GTU class rules were much more liberal.

The Toyota Celicas were now entered by Dan Gurney's All American Racers team.

John Schneider entered a Porsche 924GTR for his first professional racing season. He teamed up with Elliot Forbes Robinson and earned some fine results.