Sebring 12 hour race 1979

The Porsche 935 was also the defining racing car at Sebring in 1979. The first four places in the overall standings were taken by 935

Second generation Chevrolet Camaro. The best Camaro at the finish was Jack Swanson and Dick Gauthier's car in 24th place overall

The 27th Sebring 12-hour race , also known as the Coca-Cola Twelve Hours of Sebring International Grand Prix of Endurance, Sebring , took place on March 17, 1979 at the Sebring International Raceway and was the second round of the IMSA GT series and the sports car world championship this year.

The race

The 1979 race marked the end of a turbulent decade for the Sebring 12-hour race. The era of the founder and longstanding organizer of the race, Alec Ulmann , which lasted from 1952 to 1972 , was followed by the difficult and controversial phase of John Greenwood , in which the event was sidelined, mainly for safety reasons. With the takeover of the event rights by Charles Mendez in the previous year , the trend of negative news was stopped.

In 1979 the race was all about Porsche . Most of the registered teams started with racing cars of this brand. The long-distance race was dominated by the Porsche 935 , who took the first eleven places in qualifying. The fastest was Rolf Stommelen with a time of 2: 38.038 minutes.

In the race there was a quadruple victory for this type of racing car, led by Bob Akin , Rob McFarlin and Roy Woods .

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	GTX	9	Dick Barbour Racing	Bob Akin Rob McFarlin Roy Woods	Porsche 935	239
2	GTX	5	Busch Beer Racing	Charles Mendez Brian Redman Paul Miller	Porsche 935	228
3	GTX	3	Dick Barbour Racing	Bob Garretson Gary Belcher Bob Bondurant	Porsche 935	235
4th	GTX	6th	Dick Barbour Racing	Rolf Stommelen Dick Barbour Rick Mears	Porsche 935 / 77A	234
5	GTO	38	Boricua Racing	Bonky Fernandez Tato Ferrer Chiqui Soldevilla	Porsche Carrera RSR	233
6th	GTX	13	Hal Shaw Racing	Hal Shaw Norm Ridgely	Porsche 935	231
7th	GTO	69	Bytzek Automotive	Horst Kroll Rudy Bartling	Porsche Carrera RSR	230
8th	GTO	54	Montura Ranch Estates	Tony Garcia Juan Montalvo Alberto Vadia	Porsche Carrera RSR	229
9	GTO	98	Van Every Racing	Lance Van Every Ash Tisdelle	Porsche Carrera RSR	226
10	GTO	37	Botero Racing Team	Honorato Espinosa Francisco Lopez Jorge Cortes	Porsche Carrera	219
11	GTU	60	EJ Pruitt & Sons	Rusty Bond Ren Tilton	Porsche 911	219
12	GTU	39	Barrick Motor Racing	Jim Trueman John Higgins Chip Mead	Porsche 911	215
13	GTX	77	Roger Mandeville	Roger Mandeville Amos Johnson Jim Downing	Mazda RX-7	213
14th	GTO	07	Morrison's	Dave Cowart Kenper Miller David McClain	Porsche Carrera	205
15th	GTO	89	Hector Huerta	Francisco Romero Ernesto Soto	Porsche Carrera	201
16	GTU	33	Peter Welter	Peter Welter Richard Aten Jack Refenning	Porsche 911	198
17th	GTO	2	Thunderbird Swap Shop	Bonnie Henn Lyn St. James Janet Guthrie	Ferrari 365 GTB / 4	194
18th	GTX	70	Walt Drilling Racing	Walt Drilling James Besmer	Mazda RX-7	193
19th	GTO	91	Framm Promotions	Roger Schramm Werner Frank	Porsche Carrera RSR	192
20th	GTU	51	Personalized Porsche	Robert Kirby Wayne Baker Tom Winters	Porsche 914/4	188
21st	GTU	08	Moran Construction	Terry Wolters Bob Buchler Nort Northam	Porsche 911	182
22nd	GTU	62	Koll Motor Sports	Bill Koll Jim Cook Dennis Aase	Porsche 914/6	182
23	GTU	93	Rocha's Porsche	David Deacon Reagan Riley Hank Franczak	Porsche 914/6	179
24	GTO	52	Ours & Hours Racing	Jack Swanson Dick Gauthier	Chevrolet Camaro	158
25th	GTU	01	Roehrig Racing	Dave White Robert Overby	Porsche 911	147
26th	GTU	44	SUD Porsche Racing	George Van Arsdale Kent Murry	Porsche 911	131
27	GTU	02	Roehrig Racing	Dana Roehrig Kurt Roehrig	Porsche 911	128
28	GTX	53	Guy Thomas	Guy Thomas Milton Moise Tom Nehl	Chevrolet Camaro	122
29	GTX	43	Meldeau Tire Stores	Bill McDill Tom Frank	Chevrolet Camaro	118
Failed
30th	GTX	18th	JLP Racing	John Paul Sr. Al Holbert	Porsche 935 JLP-1	176
31	GTX	09	Thunderbird Swap Shop	Hurley Haywood Preston Henn Peter Gregg	Porsche 935 / 77A	157
32	GTO	66	Sunset Racing	Jeff Loving Richard Small Ralph Noseda	Chevrolet Camaro	148
33	GTO	46	Mauricio de Narváez	Mauricio de Narváez Albert Naon	Porsche Carrera RSR	147
34	GTO	12	Ford Smith Racing	Ford Smith Jimmy Tumbleston Neil Potter	Chevrolet Camaro	139
35	GTU	71	Bruce Jennings	Bruce Jennings Bob Beasley	Porsche 911	136
36	GTX	00	Interscope Racing	Ted Field Danny Ongais	Porsche 935 / 77A	120
37	GTO	81	Jones Ind. Racing	Steve Lazy Herb Jones Fred Lang	Chevrolet Corvette	116
38	GTO	29	Stratagraph	Billy Hagan Hoyt Overbagh Ron Reed	Chevrolet Monza	115
39	GTU	50	R & H Racing	Rainer Brezinka Gary Hirsch Fritz Hochreuter	Porsche 911	109
40	GTU	75	Mike Ramirez	Mike Ramirez Manuel Villa Luis Gordillo	Porsche 911	108
41	GTU	36	Case Racing	Ron Case Dave Panaccione	Porsche 911	106
42	GTX	94	Whittington Bros. Racing	Bill Whittington Don Whittington	Porsche 935/79	104
43	GTU	72	Bill Scott Racing-Z & W	Bill Scott Pierre Honegger	Porsche 911	99
44	GTO	92	Whittington Bros. Racing	Dale Whittington Don Whittington Milt Minter	Porsche 934	94
45	GTU	88	Day Enterprise Racing	Dave Yerger Dario Orlando Del Russo Taylor	Alfa Romeo GTV	90
46	GTU	85	John Hulen	John Hulen Ron Coupland Bob Speakman	Porsche 914/6	82
47	GTO	56	Peerless Racing	Craig Carter Murray Edwards Richard Valentine	Chevrolet Camaro	81
48	GTX	23	Kemp Motoracing	Charlie Kemp Kees Nierop Carson Baird	Ford Cobra II	80
49	GTU	27	Miami Auto Racing	Ray Mummery Tom Sheehy Luis Sereix	Porsche 911S	80
50	GTX	97	Ricardo Londoño	Ricardo Londoño George Garces John Gunn	Porsche 935	77
51	GTU	8th	Automobiles International	Anatoly Arutunoff José Marina Danny Sullivan	Lancia Stratos	75
52	GTU	34	Drolsom Racing	George Drolsom Mark Greb John Maffucci	Porsche 911	75
53	GTO	03	Motorcito Racing	Tico Almeida Rene Rodriguez Pepe Romero	Chevrolet Corvette	73
54	GTU	31	Hiram Cruz	Hiram Cruz Juan Lopez Mandy Gonzalez	Porsche 911	66
55	GTO	58	Diego Febles Racing	Diego Febles Phil Currin	Porsche Carrera	65
56	GTU	79	Sports Ltd. Racing	Bob Bergstrom Brad Frisselle	Mazda RX-7	64
57	GTO	04	Rick Thompkins	Rick Thompkins Dave Heinz	Chevrolet Corvette	61
58	GTO	95	Ozone Industries	Stephen Bond Philip Then	Chevrolet Monza	49
59	GTO	22nd	Oftedahl Racing	Peter Kirill Gerry Wellik Carl Shafer	Chevrolet Camaro	37
60	GTU	25th	Metal craft racing	Bob Zulkowski Gerard Raney	Porsche 914/6	34
61	GTX	17th	Kenneth LaGrow	Kenneth LaGrow William Boyer	Chevrolet Camaro	29
62	GTU	16	Overstreet Racing Ent.	Darrel Overstreet Dwight Mitchell	Porsche 914/6	25th
63	GTX	28	Desperado Racing	Clif Kearns Giampiero Moretti	Porsche 935	22nd
64	GTU	61	Bill Bean	Bill Bean Al Cosentino Tom Ashby	Mazda RX-3	19th
65	GTX	7th	Heimrath Racing	Ludwig Heimrath senior Enrique Molins Carlos Moran	Porsche 935	17th
66	GTU	67	John Tremblay	John Tremblay Bob Lapp	Datsun 240Z	12
67	GTU	40	Performance specialists	Steve Southard Earl Roe	Porsche 914/6	11
68	GTU	67	Quintana Racing	Manuel Quintana Joaquin Balaguer Jorge DeCardenas Pedro Vazquez	Porsche 911	9
69	GTO	48	Fillingham Racing	Sam Fillingham Courtney Canfield Tim Chitwood	Chevrolet Corvette	8th
70	GTO	21st	Oftedahl Shafer Farms	Carl Shafer John Wood	Chevrolet Camaro	8th
71	GTO	15th	Bavarian Motors	Alf Gebhardt Bruno Beilcke	BMW CSL	4th
72	GTO	4th	BR Racing Team	Mark Leuzinger Mike Van der Werff	De Tomaso Pantera	1
Not started
73	GTO	0	Interscope Racing	Danny Ongais Ted Field	Porsche 935/79	1
74	GTU	06	Gary Wonzer	Gary Wonzer George Van Arsdale	Triumph GT6	2
75	GTO	14th	Precision School of Racing	Josele Garza Bill McVey Glen Cross	Porsche Carrera	3
76	GTX	41	Jones Ind. Racing	Herb Jones Dean Hollis	Chevrolet Camaro	4th
77	GTO	47	Tim Chitwood	Tim Chitwood Joie Chitwood junior	Chevrolet Nova	5
78	GTU	68	Al Cosentino	Al Cosentino Bill Bean Tom Ashby	Mazda RX-3	6th
79	GTO	74	Raul Garcia	Raul Garcia Manuel Cueto	Chevrolet Camaro	7th
80	GTU	76	Associated Speed ​​& Performance	Ken Williams Wiley Doran	Datsun 240Z	8th
81	GTX	78	Iggy Gonzalez	Iggy Gonzalez Eugenio Matienzo	Chevrolet Camaro	9
82	GTX	86	Team Ross Racing	Tom Ross Paul Tavilla	Ford Pinto	10
83	GTO	87	U-Mo Racing	Mike Williamson Wayne Miller Charles Gano	Chevrolet Corvette	11
84	GTO	87	Bob's Speed ​​Products	Bob Lee Rick Kump	AMC AMX	12

¹ Replacement car ² not started ³ withdrawn ⁴ not started ⁵ withdrawn ⁶ not started ⁷ not started ⁸ withdrawn ⁹ not started ¹⁰ not started ¹¹ not started ¹² withdrawn

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
85	GTX	10	Levi's team highball	Amos Johnson Dennis Shaw	AMC spirit
86	GTX	24	Graham Shaw	Graham Shaw Donald Yenko Jerry Thompson	Chevrolet Monza
87	GTO	26th	Alejandro Cortes	Alejandro Cortes Mike Powell	Ford Mustang
88	GTU	83	Hamilton House Racing	Joseph Hamilton Rob Hoskins	Porsche 911

Class winner

class	driver	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
GTX	Bob Akin	Rob McFarlin	Roy Woods	Porsche 935	Overall victory
GTO	Bonky Fernandez	Tato Ferrer	Chiqui Soldevilla	Porsche Carrera RSR	Rank 5
GTU	Rusty Bond	Ren Tilton		Porsche 911	Rank 11

Racing data

• Registered: 88
• Started: 72
• Rated: 29
• Race classes: 3
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: warm and dry
• Route length: 8.369 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 12:00: 42.186 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 239
• Total distance of the winning team: 2000.093 km
• Winner's average: 166.512 km / h
• Pole position: Rolf Stommelen - Porsche 935 / 77A (# 6) - 2: 38.038 - 190.632 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Rolf Stommelen - Porsche 935 / 77A (# 6) - 2: 39.145 - 189.305 km / h
• Racing series: 2nd round of the IMSA GT series 1979
• Racing series: 2nd round of the 1979 World Sports Car Championship

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 of the 1979 Daytona 24 Hours

Sports car world championship

Successor to the 6 Hours of Mugello 1979

Previous race of the 1979 Daytona 24 Hours

IMSA GT Championship

Succession race 100-mile race at Road Atlanta in 1979, the first race