Willy T Ribbs again

The race was to feature à nice field of GT cars, with 21 GTO and 23 GTU entries. This race saw the debut of the Protofab Morrison Chevrolet Corvette, which was to be driven by Greg Pickett. This car was designed by Bob Riley and built by Protofab. Another interesting entry was the Newman/Sharp Nissan 300ZX 2+2 driven by Paul Newman, who was always at home at Road Atlanta. Gene Felton was back with à new Pontiac Firebird built by the Team of Wes Burnette. Roger Mandeville was also back with à rebuilt car, which proved to be quite efficient. The practice proved to be very fast, with Jack Baldwin setting à new GT track record with 1m20s987. Willy T Ribbs Toyota Celica was second, but nearly one second down. Behind them were Chris Cord, Scott Pruett, Tom Gloy, Greg Pickett and Bob Earl's Pontiac Fiero. Paul Newman was only in 9th place, but he was hampered by à broken sway bar. The race would feature another Chevrolet-Toyota-Ford battle, with Pontiac and Nissan waiting for their time. Willy T Ribbs did not want to wait for someone to pave the way, so he took the lead in the very first turn of the race. Jack Baldwin, Scott Pruett and Chris Cord followed closely, and Tom Gloy, Greg Pickett and Bob Earl did what they could to follow the four of them. Paul Newman was running behind, with à car that wore its rear tires. Behind those guys, Roger Mandeville drove with Walt Bohren Chevrolet Camaro and Chet Vincentz Porsche 934. Jack Baldwin managed to take the lead from Willy T Ribbs on lap 18. Scott Pruett and Chris Cord were 5s behind. Tom Gloy and Greg Pickett were slightly behind. Aided by a huge traffic, Scott Pruett managed to get past Willy T Ribbs, then Jack Baldwin, who had begun to lose his edge. While the Ford Mustang seemed to get away from the pack, Scott Pruett's car would break its transmission and eventually retire on lap 28. Jack Baldwin Chevrolet Camaro was having trouble with tire wear, and he began to lose ground on the leaders. Willy T Ribbs and Chris Cord were now one-two. Tom Gloy and Greg Pickett were farther (15s) the Toyota duo. As the refueling pit stop session was approaching, however, Chris Cord would experience one of his very rare dnf of the season. He was hit by Steve dePoyster's Mazda RX7, and had to retire on lap 38. After everyone had pitted, except Bob Earl in his Pontiac Fiero, Willy T Ribbs, now in second place, had only two seconds over Jack Baldwin and five over Greg Pickett. Thé Toyota overtook Bob Earl's Pontiac Fiero on the front straight on lap 48. Jack Baldwin broke his differential one lap later. Bob Earl then pitted, letting Greg Pickett in second place, just ahead of Tom Gloy. It looked in the first place That the Chevrolet Corvette could get closer to the Toyota, but the engine lost a cylinder. In fact, it was Tom Gloy, in à Ford Mustang, who could get close to the Corvette, but he would miss second place by four seconds. Bob Earl kept his fourth place, fifty second in arrears. Roger Mandeville took fifth while Paul Newman was seventh, two laps down. The GTU class saw an avid battle between the Pontiac Fiero driven by Terry Visger and the Nissan 300ZX driven by Max Jones, which could count on a very high top speed on the straights. Terry Visger was faster in practice, but the Nissan was right behind him. The Pontiac Fiero was able to run without having to pit for fuel. The Nissan had to pit for fuel, so the strategy was quite simple : run as fast as possible before refueling. While Max Jones pulled ahead of the pack, Terry Visger ran his pace. Amos Johnson overtook him on lap 10. He would have to pit later with a broken differential. Max Jones had gathered a 30s lead over Terry Visger when he pitted for fuel. When he was back, he was 30s down. His car began to jump out of gear, so his hopes for victory began to fade away. So all he had to do was maintain his second place, which he did somewhat easily. Terry Visger won his third straight race, and he was already wondering why his schedule was so limited. Tom Kendall reliable and old Mazda RX7 finished third, one lap down.