It seems that with every passing week we receive more sad and disappointing news from the TUDOR United Sports Car Challenge.
For ten years from 2004 to 2014 Flying Lizard Motorsports has been a constant presence in IMSA GT racing. First with Porsche and now Audi, the red and silver colors have provided many exciting moments for both the team and race fans through the years. Off the top of my head I can recall one epic battle between Flying Lizard and Team Corvette at Mid Ohio.
It now seems to see the Lizard colors in the future you will have to attend Pirelli World Challenge events.
Not having access to the inner workings of TUSC, I would think all this recent activity would have alarm bells ringing. Teams have always come and gone, mostly due to financial reasons. I am not sure if this is the case in more than a couple of instances this year. As of now no team has come out and admitted their reason for moving has anything to do with how the series is run, but that’s just common sense. No reason to burn bridges, things may turn around and make it worth returning to the series.
However it does signal that are more serious underlying issues involved, issues that may have made some just as soon not be there until they are resolved. We can only hope this tide does not continue.
It’s hard to believe it has only been three years since its inception. The factory SRT Viper program came onto the scene in the 2012 American LeMans series. Fielding a two car team, they were competitive right from the start. Just two short years later under the Dodge banner they won the 2014 TUDOR United Sports Car GTLM championship.
I’m not sure exactly what the reason was for pulling the plug on the program. Chrysler’s press release was somewhat vague, but that’s exactly what they did at the end of a championship winning season. There will be other independent teams who will run the SRT Viper in future GT class racing, but the level of factory support for them is not yet known.
While Chrysler may feel they have accomplished what they set out to do, they may have (quite by accident) proved another point. With the right resources and motivation, a factory effort can be put together, and achieve success in a reasonable amount of time.
2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the Ford Mustang. Being introduced in 1964, the Mustang was by no means the first sporty car either foreign or domestic. It was however the first sports car for the masses. With a base package starting at $2,368, it made it possible for the average person to afford something stylish and sporty. With a less than whiplash inducing 164 Hp 260 cu in V8 as the base engine, Ford was able to keep it affordable and still provide plenty of pep given the size and weight of the car. The engine was upgraded to the 210 Hp 289 cu in within six months of production. Each successive generation saw larger and more powerful engines.
One of Roush Racings Mustangs which compete in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.
The Mustangs arrival had a much bigger impact on the automobile market than just a new stylish car. It created a new class of car. With the later introduction the Chevy Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, Dodge Challenger, Plymouth Barracuda, and the AMC Javelin, a whole new class of cars was created. The Pony car. New racing series were created to showcase the performance of this growing class of cars. In drag racing, the pony car helped usher in the Pro Stock class. This is still a very popular class because unlike other drag racing classes, spectators can see the very cars they might own on track competing.
This vintage 1970 Boss 302 Mustang is similar to the one Parnelli Jones drove to a Trans-AM championship.As seen here Cliff Ebbens composite body modern Trans-AM mustang is a long way from the original.
High horsepower, small wheel bases, and nimble handeling made these cars extremely popular, and lead to the inevitable, racing. The Mustang made it’s first track appearance not as a race car, but as pace car for the 1964 Indianapolis 500.
While competing in multiple racing series, where it really shined was in Trans-AM in the late sixties and early seventies. Run on North American road courses, this European style road racing was very popular, and the Trana-AM Series lives on to this day. The great Parnelli Jones and George Follmer drove a Boss 302 Mustang to the Trans-AM championship. The GT 350 R version, the race version of the Shelby GT 350 was very successful in SCCA racing.
Here we have a vintage GT 350 R, the racing version of the Shelby GT 350 Mustang.
From it’s inception to present generations (six in all), the Mustang proved to be a capable competitor in most every form of racing in which it has competed. It doesn’t look as if that will change anytime in the near future.
A Roush Racing SCCA Mustang.The GTS class of the Pirelli World Challenge series has several Mustang competitors.Another Mustang from the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.
