Cars that did not start

Al Holbert did it in a fine way, driving two Porsche 962s. At first sight, however, it looked like things would not be easy for the German cars. Sarel van der Merwe was on the pole, blasting the previous mark by almost two seconds in the Chevrolet Corvette GTP. Alongside him was David hobbs, who powered the brand new BMW GTP to a fine second place on the grid. Al Holbert was next, and followed by Drake Olson's Porsche 962, who drove Rob Dyson's car. Pete Halsmer and Bob Wollek were right behind him, with Jo Gartner's car just ahead of John Paul Jr, who sat in 8th place. The car had to be improved, with a new electronic injection system having to be fixed. Bob Tullius was ninth in his Jaguar XJR7, followed by Jim Busby, who had a 1986 specs Porsche 962, which meant more weight and less boost. A very big field of 74 cars would take the green, with the usual GTP, Lights, GTO and GTU mix of cars. Al Unser Jr would start in Holbert's car, and the latter would take the wheel of Preston Henn's machine, in 25th position. The Lights class was already earned by Jim Downing, but he entered a new Argo JM19 Mazda for the first time here at Daytona, which was a valuable testbed for the car. In GTO, Wally Dallenbach and Lyn St James seemed to have it done before the start, with Darin Brassfield and Scott Pruett being the only valuable opposition. The GTU seemed to be the most competitive, with a big fight between Porsche 924s, Mazda RX7s and Toyota Celicas. Elliot Forbes Robinson set the pace in qualifying in the Performance Motorsport Porsche 924GTR. The start of the race saw Sarel van der Merwe fly away from the rest of the field. Pete Halsmer, Bob Wollek, David Hobbs, Al Unser Jr and Jo Gartner putting up a nice show. The two Jaguar XJR7s driven by Bob Tullius and Brian Redman were behind, with Al Holbert closing in on them. Drake Olson had stopped in the very first lap, with a broken gearshift. While Sarel van der Merwe easily led the race, the Chevrolet Corvette GTP suddenly exploded on lap 8, its rear cowling blown off. A caution period would follow. David Hobbs pitted on lap 8, with gearbox problems, which were to last for some time. Sarel van der Merwe would be back, however, but he lost more than a lap in the process. At that time, Pete Halsmer was in the lead, followed by teammate Jim Busby. Pete Halsmer would pit for fuel, and Al Holbert suddenly appeared in the lead after overtaking Jo Gartner, Jim Busby and Bob Wollek. He held this position for six laps, then pitted for refueling, and jumped in his own car! Bob Wollek had recovered the lead in the Bayside Disposal car. AJ Foyt had taken the wheel of Preston Henn's car in second place, followed by both BF Goodrich Porsche 962s. Later in the race, Al Unser Jr, who replaced Al Holbert for another stint, would lose some time while hit by one Light and GTO car. Bob Akin was also hit by a backmarker and had to stop for repairs. Chip Robinson spun his car had to get towed in order to get back to the race.John Paul Jr had disappeared from the race with a turbo failure, but found a seat in Ken Madren 's sister car. The race had to be fraught with two extra caution periods, in order to remove damaged cars from the track. It meant that another pit stop would be required. At the restart, everything seemed possible, but some cars went bust. Bob Wollek, Rick Knoop and AJ Foyt went into mechanical trouble. Bob Wollek would spit a rod, with AJ Foyt blowing a turbo. That left three cars for a potential victory. Al Holbert, Hurley Haywood and Pete Halsmer would throw their arms in the battle. Al Holbert could maintain his lead on the banking while Hurley Haywood was able to get around him in the infield. Pete Halsmer would drop one lap down because of a tire failure. A last caution period added some drama to the end of the race. At the restart, Al Holbert would push a little harder and pull ahead of the Jaguar driven by Hurley Haywood. He won by a 8,360s margin. Jim Downing and John Maffucci took the Lights class win over Brent O'Neill and Mike Hackney who drove a Buick powered Argo JM16. The GTO class was hot, with Tommy Riggins setting the pace in the early laps. Craig Carter then passed him and took the lead for a dozen laps. John Jones maintained his pace, only challenged by Darin Brassfield-Scott Pruett Ford Thunderbird, who lost some time in the pits due to a lost door and a tire failure. Craig Carter's Chevrolet Camaro blew an engine on lap 38. The Roush Ford Mustang then had a clear path to victory, winning by five laps over the Brooks Thunderbird. The GTU race was clear, with John Schneider and Elliot Forbes Robinson taking the lead for half the race. The engine blew up then, and Chris Cord took the lead until the chequered, not to be challenged by Amos Johnson and Jack Dunham, who were passed by Al Bacon's Mazda RX7 before the end of the race. Al Holbert won the 1985 IMSA Camel GT Championship, taking nine wins in his Löwenbrau backed Porsche 962.