IMSA was one hell of a racing series, especially when it rose to great heights in the 1980’s with the wild prototypes, and lots of factory money backing larger teams. The whole thing would come way back to Earth in the early to mid-1990’s, but it was a great ride while it lasted.
Few people know that IMSA’s formation and launch in 1969 was largely possible because of Bill France Sr. He had a 75% ownership stake in IMSA while John Bishop, the man who really birthed the idea for the series had the remaining 25% and was the sole authority behind the organization. Whereas NASCAR had a board of directors, IMSA was ruled by Bishop.
France was interested in creating for road racing what he had done for stock car racing with NASCAR and the SCCA was leaving a lot on the table in terms of hosting and operating a professional racing series.
Lots of cool stuff participated in IMSA racing over the years and this site is the most comprehensive collection pf photos we’ve ever run across and it spans from the early days, right through the most modern stuff that ran under the IMSA banner.
