Cars that did not start

Three wheeling to the chequered

The concrete runways would be utilized for the very last time this year. The track would have to be redesigned for the next events. It would be yet another Porsche fest, with six 962s entered. They would have to be challenged by the Conte Racing Hawk Buick driven by John Paul Jr, whitney Ganz and Ken Madren and the two Group 44 Jaguar XJR7s driven by Bob Tullius-Chip Robinson and Claude Ballot Léna and Brian Redman-Hurley Haywood-Vern Schuppan. The other cars were less competitive. In practice, Whitney Ganz would put up a new track record, with a 2m11s416, which would be the fastest ever recorded at Sebring. The practice sessions would prove less proficient for the BMW GTPs, with both cars having to be withdrawn, after suffering from various mishaps. The race would feature 76 cars, including GTPs, 3 GTX cars, Lights cars, GTOs and GTUs. John Paul Jr would jump into the lead, but he was overtaken by Al Holbert, who would settle into a pace of 2m20s per lap. After four laps, Lew Price was out of the race with a broken transmission, as well as Bob Bergstrom, in an Oldsmobile Toronado. Gianpiero Moretti would not go any further, and nurse his car to the pits after spinning. The turbo was not doing its job properly. The next car to retire was the Bayside entered Porsche 962 driven by Bob Wollek and Paolo Barilla, who was in third place by the end of the first hour. The car was losing power due to vibrations. While the Al Holbert-Derek Bell-Al Unser Jr Porsche 962 was still in the lead, the AJ Foyt-Drake Olson and Bob Akin-Hans Stuck cars were always threatening. John Paul Jr-Whitney Ganz were also in contention for the lead, and they were in first place during the second hour, but they would lose time in the pits, with a leak in the clutch slave cylinder. They would drop to third place, six laps down. Brian Redman and Vern Schuppan were running strong, and they were as high as second by the end of the second hour. They would experience various trouble within the next few hours. Three Porsche 962s were leading, with Bob Akin-Hans Stuck and Jo Gartner in the third spot, just ahead of the first JaguarXJR7, which was driven by Bob Tullius-Chip Robinson and Claude Ballot Léna. By the fifth hour, however, they had to retire with an oil pump failure. Just before the end of the third hour, Al Holbert would pit to replace a broken brake line. He would hand his car to Derek Bell, who was running very strongly. He and Hans Stuck would swap the lead for many hours. Derek Bell would later hit the tire wall at turn eight, with his car bouncing up in the air, landing hard on the grass. The Coke machine took the lead for good. Derek Bell was back on the track, but his car suddenly lost power, a blown turbo was to be diagnosed. The AJ Foyt-Drake Olson Porsche 962 also was in trouble, with broken rear-right upright. The car had been hit many times during the race, but its day was over after six hours when the transmission broke. The Holbert car had lost one half hour, but was not giving up. Al Unser Jr began pushing hard behind the leaders, running six seconds per lap faster than the Coke 962. While the gap was narrowing to one lap, Al Holbert had to stop again with a broken brake line. Six minutes were lost. The John Morton-Darin Brassfield and Jim Busby car was now in second place. By the ninth hour, an incident occured to the leading car, who lost a wheel. The errant wheel would hit a member of Jim Downing's crew. Jim Jensen was hit in the head and spent the remainder of the day at the hospital for observation. The Holbert Racing Porsche 962, still running strong, regained second place while Darin Brassfield had to stop for yet another nosepiece. Losing again some minutes, he finally regained second place when the Löwenbrau car had a suspension failure. Jo Gartner would head the leading car to the finish, but he would also lose one wheel i n the final lap. Just another odd Sebring finish.

Hans Stuck, Jo Gartner and Bob Akin had a strong, but not trouble free win.

The Alba Ferrari driven by Martino Finotto and Ruggero Melgrati tiok the lead innthe early laps of the race. The car broke its transmission after forty laps, leaving first place to Kelly Marsh Argo JM16 Mazda. His co-driver would hit thetire wall in turn eleven, bringing out a full caution period. The lead would be swapped between Brent O'neill-Seve Shelton -Don Courtny Argo JM16 Buick and the Tiga GT286 Buick driven by Logan Blackburn-Charles Morgan. The Tiga evntually dropped a valve, and the Argo led the class by six laps by the seventh hour. Electrical ptroblems developed, and they lost forty five minutes. The Royale RP40 Mazda took the lead, unchallenged by Jim Downing's Argo JM19 Mazda, whose team was somewhat overwhelmed by Jay Jensen's fate. Jack Baldwin was the fastest GTO qualifyer, but he had trouble taking the green. Strangely, the two Roush Ford Mustangs would pit with a loose spark plug wire. Bill Elliott would do the same shortly afterwards. Wally Dallenbach Jr and EFR would fight for the lead until both of them retired, around the seven hour stint. Both Ford Mustangs driven by Scott Pruett-Bruce Jenner and Bill Elliott-Ricky Rudd were in the lead, well ahead of anyone else. A full course caution reduced the gap, and both cars could win. An ailing transmission and a pitboard displayed at the wrong car by Bruce Jenner, gave the win to his teammate by ten seconds. A controversial win. The GTU class was won by Roger Mandeville-Danny Smith, who ran most of the race without the rear-left fender. Running into trouble with a broken throttle return spring. Tom Kendall-Bob Reed and John Hogdal, were in the lead and not to be threatened, but they went into trouble after hitting some debris on the track. They would lose fifty eight minutes. Roger Mandeville and Danny Smith recovered the lead, after another incident which made the car lose its lights. The car ended up the race with one light on, fourteen laps ahead of the CCR car, and won the class.