Sebring 12 hour race 1973

The Porsche Carrera RSR with the start number 59 and the yellow warning light on the roof as a special feature at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2008. Peter Gregg , Hurley Haywood and car owner Dave Helmick won the race with this vehicle

Chevrolet Corvette C3

The 22nd Sebring 12-hour race , also Sebring-Camel 12, The Camel GT Challenge, Sebring , took place on March 24, 1973 at the Sebring International Raceway and was the first race of the IMSA GT series of that year.

The race

After 21 years, the era of Alec Ulmann as the organizer of the race ended in 1972 . The Russian- born aviation engineer launched the Sebring 12-hour race in 1952 and for two decades ensured sufficient funding and funding for the entry and prize money. From 1953 to 1972 the race was part of the international sports car world championship 20 times . Not only did Ulmann's time end in 1972, the world championship status was also lost. When the sports cars stayed away, the race also lost the big international teams, the drivers, some of them world-famous, and the rich and famous who had always been attracted to the racing event in Florida . In 1973 the International Motor Sports Association took over the organization of the race. A sports car race became a GT race and spectator interest collapsed. Only 30,000 interested people found their way to the racetrack on race day.

Nevertheless, the race had significance in the aftermath, as it marked the beginning of the great sports car careers of Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood, alongside the 1973 Daytona 24-hour race . Gregg and Haywood won together with Dave Helmick in his new Porsche Carrera RSR , which was delivered two weeks before the race , one lap ahead of their brand colleagues Michael Keyser and Milt Minter .

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	GTO	59	Dr. Dave Helmick	Peter Gregg Hurley Haywood Dave Helmick	Porsche Carrera RSR	226
2	GTO	1	Toad Hall Motor Racing	Michael Keyser Milt Minter	Porsche Carrera RS	225
3	GTO	50	John Greenwood Racing	Ron Grable John Greenwood Mike Brockman	Chevrolet Corvette	219
4th	GTO	81	Far West Racing	Gray Egerton Elliot Forbes-Robinson	Porsche Carrera RSR	217
5	TO	17th	Vince Gimondo	Vince Gimondo Billy Dingman	Chevrolet Camaro	212
6th	TO	37	Dan Moore	Dan Moore David McCullough	Ford Mustang	210
7th	GTU	27	Don Lindley	Don Lindley Stephen Behr Brian Goellnot	Porsche 911S	209
8th	GTU	76	Silverstone Racing Team	George Stone Mike Downs	Porsche 911S	209
9	TO	24	TC Racing	Tim Chitwood Joie Chitwood junior Bob Nagel	Chevrolet Camaro	208
10	GTU	91	Holbert's Porsche-Audi	Dieter Oest Mike Tillson Harry Bytzek	Porsche 911S	198
11	GTO	99	Phil Currin	Phil Currin Danny Fortin Bill Johnson	Chevrolet Corvette	197
12	TO	42	Garcia Racing	Luis Sereix Tony Lilly Dave Yoder	Chevrolet Camaro	193
13	GTU	77	Bruce Jennings	Bruce Jennings Bob Beasley	Porsche 911S	193
14th	GTU	89	Thomas Barrick	Don Parish Dave Causey Edwin Taylor	Porsche 911S	193
15th	GTU	82	Bob Bergstrom	Bob Bergstrom Jim Cook	Porsche 911S	191
16	GTO	94	Leldon Blackwell	Wilbur Pickett Bill Bean	Chevrolet Corvette	186
17th	GTO	41	George Garcia Racing	George Garcia Vic Shinn	Chevrolet Corvette	186
18th	GTU	84	Airport Motorsports	Klaus Selbert victory Glage	Porsche 911S	186
19th	TU	114	Jim Grob Racing	Jim Grob Juan Montalvo	BMW 2002	180
20th	GTO	61	Sebring Racing Inc.	Scott Chapman John McLaren Bill Hood	Chevrolet Corvette	179
21st	GTU	67	David McClain	David McClain Dave White	Porsche 914/6	177
22nd	GTO	47	Sebring Racing Inc.	Terry Keller Bob Gray Neil Potter	Chevrolet Corvette	175
23	GTU	92	Holbert's Porsche-Audi	Dieter Oest Don Heth David Olimpi	Porsche 911S	174
24	TU	90	Z & W Mazda	Ray Walle Richard Schuck	Mazda RX-2	173
25th	TO	00	Levi's team highball	Whit Diggett Amos Johnson	AMC Gremlin	154
26th	GTU	85	Don Parish	Don Parish Ron Jones John Hulen	Porsche 914/6	154
27	GTU	74	JG Racing	Jacques Groleau Craig Ross Bill Shaw	Datsun 240Z	153
28	TO	78	Manuel Quintana	Manuel Quintana Reinaldo Almeida	Ford Mustang	150
29	GTU	86	Jim Lynch	Jim Lynch Toby Milne	Porsche 911S	148
30th	GTO	80	Kirby Stumpff	Kirby Stumpff Dick Vreeland James Pirie	Shelby GT500	137
31	TO	7th	Eddie Johnson	Eddie Johnson Clay Young	Chevrolet Camaro	132
32	GTO	97	Ansley Racing Enterprises	Tony Ansley Ron Connelly Steve Avera	Chevrolet Corvette	131
33	TU	175	US Davis Racing	Jack Baldwin Bobby Clark	Datsun 510	130
34	GTO	32	Roberto Auto Electric	Roberto Boza Daniel Hernandez José Romero	Shelby GT500	127
35	GTU	88	Bob Lapp	Bob Lapp Mike Meldeau	Datsun 240Z	124
36	TO	72	Alberto Naon	Alberto Naon Tony Garcia John Freyre	Chevrolet Camaro	123
37	TO	83	Houghton Smith	Bert Gafford John Belperche	Chevrolet Camaro	121
38	TO	29	Ralph Noseda	Ralph Noseda Ray Mummery Richard Small	Chevrolet Camaro	113
39	GTO	5	Race Enterprise & Developments	Dave Heinz Jerry Thompson	Chevrolet Corvette	110
Failed
40	GTO	49	John Greenwood Racing	Jim Greendyke Robert Johnson	Chevrolet Corvette	182
41	TO	9	Ray Kessler Inc.	Ray Kessler Jim Fitzgerald	Chevrolet Camaro	178
42	TU	33	RaceCo of Coral Gables	Marc Davis Richard Melville Bob Beatty	Alfa Romeo GTV	165
43	GTO	3	Performance Associates	Dick Bauer Jim DeStefano Nick Engels	Chevrolet Corvette	159
44	TO	71	Bob Christiansen	Bob Christiansen Gary Myers John Tremblay	Chevrolet Camaro	149
45	TO	57	Garcia Racing	Javier Garcia Reinaldo Almeida	Ford Mustang	148
46	GTU	95	George Dickinson	George Dickinson Eddie Wax Ernest Pultz	Porsche 911	125
47	GTO	69	WGB Niagara Wines	Ron Goldleaf John Tunstall	Chevrolet Corvette	124
48	TO	30th	Dallmeyer Racing	Dennis Dallmeyer Nick Dunn	Chevrolet Camaro	124
49	GTO	11	Troy Promotions Inc.	Tony DeLorenzo Steve Durst	Chevrolet Corvette	113
50	GTO	48	John Greenwood Racing	John Greenwood Donald Yenko	Chevrolet Corvette	105
51	GTO	40	Pironell Racing	Tom Nell Richard Dagiel Joe Pirrotta	Chevrolet Corvette	104
52	TU	138	PDF Racing	Paul Fleming Roger Mandeville	Mazda RX-2	102
53	TO	87	Miller Hey	Sam Miller Rob Henry	Ford Mustang	91
54	GTU	2	Dean Donley	Dean Donley Ben Scott	MGB	81
55	GTU	46	Bytzek Automotive	Klaus Bytzek Rudy Bartling	Porsche 911S	80
56	TO	0	Byron Cook Racing	John Elliott Bill McDill	Chevrolet Camaro	80
57	GTO	34	Murray Racing Team	Ike Knupp Bob Tullius	Chevrolet Corvette	74
58	GTO	98	Loren Pearson	Loren Pearson William Spencer Brian Taylor	Shelby GT500	71
59	GTO	62	Jeff Stevens Racing	Jeff Stevens Pete Sherman	Chevrolet Corvette	53
60	TO	19th	US Davis Racing	Jose Rodriguez Bob McClure	Chevrolet Camaro	50
61	TU	25th	Libra International Racing	John Buffum Bert Everett	Ford Escort	48
62	TO	44	Larrauri Racing	Manuel Garcia Daniel Vilarchao Jose Nunez	Chevrolet Nova	44
63	TU	110	Bolus & Snopes	Bob Mitchell Jim Williams	Dodge Colt	41
64	GTO	54	Iroquois Racing	Bill Schumacher Rick Hay	Chevrolet Corvette	37
65	GTU	70	Marc Dancose	Marc Dancose Jacques Bienvenue	Porsche 911S	30th
66	GTU	75	Tom Kuenz	Tom Kuenz Tom Shelton	Porsche 912	23
67	TO	14th	CC Canada	Russ Boykin Mike Meldeau CC Canada	Chevrolet Camaro	22nd
68	GTU	4th	Western Sizzlin 'Steak Houses	Bob Lillquist Bill Webbe Dennis Merrick	Porsche 911S	19th
69	TO	28	Ed Fleming	Ed Fleming Jim Corwin	Chevrolet Camaro	17th
70	TO	8th	Automotive engineering	Gene Felton Tom Nehl	Chevrolet Camaro	6th
71	GTO	6th	Alex Davidson	Alex Davidson Bob Baechle	Chevrolet Corvette	3
72	TO	26th	Wayne Alexander	Charlie Cook Wayne Alexander Bob Barrett	Chevrolet Nova	2
Not started
73	GTU	15th	Johnson Bozzani	Robert Kirby Michael Sherwin John Hotchkis	Porsche 911S	1
74	GTO	21st	Grand Touring Cars Inc.	Sam Posey Harley Cluxton	Ferrari 365 GTB / 4	2
75	GTU	64	Pete Harrison	Pete Harrison Bob Buchler	Ferrari Dino 206 GT	3
76	GTU	65	Lee Cutler	Lee Cutler Peter Kirill	Porsche 914/6	4th
77	TU	169	Performance engineering	Steve Coleman Dennis Shaw	Opel Manta 1900	5
Not qualified
78	TU	22nd	Mark IV Racing	Hoyt Overbagh Bill Freeman Sam Peters	Ford Pinto	6th
79	TU	111	Jeffrey Brooks	Jack Swanson Brad West	Austin America	7th
80	TU	168	Whitaker Vance	Robert Whitaker Harold Vance	Volvo 122S	8th
81	TU	176	Laurence Oliva	Laurence Oliva Ron Polimeni	Volvo 122S	9
82	TU	188	Dave Wolin	Dave Wolin Gerry Cohen	Ford Pinto	10
83	GTO	23	Riley Racing	Randy Lewis Jon Milledge Max Sebba	De Tomaso Mangusta	11

¹ not started ² engine overheated before the race ³ not started ⁴ not started ⁵ not started ⁶ not qualified ⁷ not qualified ⁸ not qualified ⁹ not qualified ¹⁰ not qualified ¹¹ not qualified

Only in the entry list

Here you will find teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the race but did not take part for a variety of reasons.

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis
84	GTO	12	Daniel Muniz	Daniel Muniz Roberto Quintanilla	Porsche Carrera
85	GTO	38	TR Smith	Terry Wolters TR Smith	Chevrolet Corvette
86	GTO	63	Jeff Stevens Racing	Gary Belcher Pete Peters	Chevrolet Corvette
87	GTU	68	Rollin hostage	George Rollin Fred Geisel	Porsche 911S
88	GTU	73	Dale Kreider	Dale Kreider Rick Silvers	Triumph GT6
89	TU	141	Mark IV Racing	Rick LaCroix Tom Wilson	Ford Pinto

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
GTO	Peter Gregg	Hurley Haywood	Dave Helmick	Porsche Carrera RSR	Overall victory
GTU	Don Lindley	Stephen Behr	Brian Goell doesn't	Porsche 911S	Rank 7
TO	Vince Gimondo	Billy Dingman		Chevrolet Camaro	Rank 5
TU	Jim Grob	Juan Montalvo		BMW 2002	Rank 19

Racing data

• Registered: 89
• Started: 72
• Rated: 39
• Race classes: 4
• Spectators: 30,000
• Race day weather: warm and dry
• Route length: 8.369 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 12:00: 35.024 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 226
• Total distance of the winning team: 1,891.301 km
• Winner's average: 157.481 km / h
• Pole position: DeLorenzo - Chevrolet Corvette (# 11)
• Fastest race lap: Milt Minter - Porsche Carrera RS (# 1) - 2.33.800 - 195.885 km / h
• Racing series: 1st round of the IMSA GT series in 1973

literature

• Ken Breslauer: Sebring. The official History of America's Great Sports Car Race. David Bull, Cambridge MA 1995, ISBN 0-9649722-0-4 .
• Peter Higham: The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing. A complete Reference from Formula 1 to Touring Car. Guinness Publishing Ltd., London 1995, ISBN 0-85112-642-1 .

Web links

• Race results at Racing Sports Cars

Previous race 250-mile race of Daytona 1972, 2nd race

IMSA GT Championship

Successor to the 3-hour race of Daytona 1973