Sports car racing in America, while a shorter history compared to endurance racing in Europe, has had a storied history. Through the split of the American Le Mans Series and Rolex Sports Car Series, to their reunification under the IMSA banner in the United SportsCar Championship, great teams and owners built the foundation of endurance racing in North America.
But in 2015, many of IMSA’s legendary teams of yesteryear have disappeared from the track. Doran Racing, one of the stalwarts of the series and former Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona winner, no longer fields a prototype entry, instead focusing on the IMSA feeder series, the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. Bob Stallings Racing began scaling back their prototype program to only run the endurance races, and now has moved over to the Pirelli World Challenge series.
However, possibly the biggest blow to the legend and lure of American sports car racing was announced just this week, as it was reported that the Brumos dealerships were sold and would be renamed. Brumos prior to this fielded a race team, dating back to 1971, with multiple Rolex 24 victories. Running Porsches throughout their existence, the team started off in GT racing, before moving into prototype racing during their Grand-Am days. However, those days for the team appeared numbered with limited funding, and a move back to GT in 2011.
In the end, much like the rest of the motorsports world, strong funding and continued on-track success, are a necessity for any team to survive in this era of racing. And while many of these familiar faces like Doran, Stallings, and Brumos fall out of the spotlight of sport car racing, it falls upon those who remain to pick up the torch and carry on the legacy.
Main Image
