1978 Daytona 6 Hours

Racing version of the Mazda RX-2

The 1978 Daytona 6-hour race , also known as the Pepsi 6 Hours Champion Spark Plug Challenge, Daytona International Speedway , took place on July 2 at Daytona International Speedway and was the tenth round of this year 's World Sports Car Championship .

The race

In 1978, the 6-hour race established itself as a second world championship run on the Daytona International Speedway for a few years. The event must not be confused with the 1972 Daytona 6-hour race . This year the 24-hour race was shortened to a driving time of 6 hours due to the energy crisis. In 1978, the World Challenge for endurance drivers was the first time since the introduction of the sports car world championship in 1953 that a drivers' championship was announced within the world championship. This championship included the race that had only one racing class. RS or “Regular Sportscars” was a class for touring cars , analogous to the highest vehicle class, as it was approved as an example at the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps in the 1970s. The vehicles were technically simple and inexpensive and enabled the organizer to have a large starting field. The course of the race was dominated by the duel between the Mazda RX-2 team of Jim Downing and John Paul senior and the AMC Pacer of Brad Frisselle and Dennis Shaw , which Downing and Paul decided with a lead of 1 minute and 20 seconds on the competitors.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	RS	63	Jim Downing	Jim Downing John Paul Sr.	Mazda RX-2	143
2	RS	6th	Amos Johnson	Brad Frisselle Dennis Shaw	AMC Pacer	143
3	RS	11	Brumo's Porsche	Don Devendorf Dick Starita Peter Gregg	Datsun B210	142
4th	RS	54	Byron Wever	Byron Wever James Reeve Cary Palmer	AMC Pacer	141
5	RS	7th	Amos Johnson	Dick Barbour Amos Johnson	AMC Pacer	141
6th	RS	09	Gary Belcher	Gary Belcher Joe Varde	AMC Gremlin	138
7th	RS	27	Mike Meyer	Mike Meyer Rusty Bond	Mazda RX-2	138
8th	RS	38	Roger Mandeville	Diego Febles Roger Mandeville	Mazda RX-3	136
9	RS	16	Danny Smith	Danny Smith Gene Rutherford	AMC Gremlin	136
10	RS	2	Jim Roberts	Jim Roberts Ed Moths	AMC Gremlin	136
11	RS	33	Dennis Bowman	Dennis Bowman Dennis Colomb	Oldsmobile Starfire	134
12	RS	23	Linda Sharp	Jim Fitzgerald Linda Sharp	Datsun B210	133
13	RS	94	Ron Duprey	Warren Phelps Ron Duprey	Chevrolet Vega	132
14th	RS	47	Crosby Brothers	Jim Crosby Bob Crosby Ken Mullins	AMC Gremlin	132
15th	RS	40	Tom Pyne	Tom Pyne JR Taylor	Ford Pinto	132
16	RS	36	Luis Botero	Honorato Espinosa Francisco Lopez	BMW 2002	131
17th	RS	49	Brant Doell	Buzz Cason Rick Knoop	AMC Concord	130
18th	RS	93	Russ Boy	Russ Boy Art Yarosh	AMC Gremlin	130
19th	RS	64	Preston Miller	Bob Akin Carlos Garza Steve Earle	BMW 320i	129
20th	RS	21st	Andy Vann	Andy Vann Joel Neshkin	AMC Gremlin	129
21st	RS	67	Larry Denayer	Larry Denayer Buddy Cox	AMC Gremlin	128
22nd	RS	90	James Bobo	James Bobo Terry Parker	Mazda RX-2	127
23	RS	0	Bob Lee	Guy Church Bob Lee Rick Kump	Chevrolet Vega	127
24	RS	9	Jerry Reid	Billy Hagan Hoyt Overbagh Jerry Reid	Ford Pinto	125
25th	RS	8th	Ray Kessler	Ray Kessler Guido Levetto	Datsun 610	122
26th	RS	57	Loon Racing	Lee Wiese John Poulos	Ford Pinto	121
27	RS	34	Peter Marinelli	Mike McKee Peter Marinelli Jeff Doehring	AMC Gremlin	119
28	RS	62	Speight Sugg	Rick Gaines Speight Sugg	BMW 1600	112
29	RS	48	Tom Lyttle	Ron Jones Tom Lyttle Jim Story	Datsun 510	111
30th	RS	19th	Southwind Enterprises	Charlie Cook Ralston Long	AMC Gremlin	109
31	RS	59	Milton Moise	Milton Moise Phil Currin	AMC Gremlin	107
32	RS	17th	Rob Jackson	Rob Jackson Robert Weaver	AMC Gremlin	100
33	RS	84	William Kull Sr.	William Kull senior William Kull junior Daniel Bonner	Ford Pinto	98
34	RS	3	Preston Henn	Preston Henn Hal Sahlman	AMC Pacer	97
35	RS	69	Randy Blue	Carson Baird Bill Shaw	AMC Gremlin	95
36	RS	37	Kevin Coffey	Fred Snow Kevin Coffey	Mazda RX-2	88
37	RS	81	Dave Emmert	Dave Emmert Jerry Walsh	Ford Pinto	86
Failed
38	RS	30th	Monarch Motor Racing	Bonky Fernandez Walt Drill	Mazda RX-2	125
39	RS	80	Randy Hoerr	Scott Hoerr Bobby Allison	Datsun 510	110
40	RS	86	Randy Hoerr	Irv Hoerr Donnie Allison	Datsun 510	105
41	RS	96	Gene Felton	Gene Felton Nick Craw	Buick Skyhawk	80
42	RS	72	Jim Stricklin	Jim Stricklin Dave Dunkin	Datsun 510	73
43	RS	51	Tom Waugh	Tom Waugh Claude Ballot-Léna	AMC Gremlin	68
44	RS	02	Alan Marsh	Alan Marsh George Drolsom	Ford Pinto	65
45	RS	88	Bob Picariello	Bob Picariello Jim Raptis	Plymouth Arrow	63
46	RS	1	EJ Pruitt	Gary Ouellette John Carusso	Mazda RX-2	57
47	RS	92	Roger Mandeville	Bill Whittington Don Whittington	Mazda RX-2	57
48	RS	85	George Kiricenkov	George Kiricenkov Tom Ashby	Ford Pinto	51
49	RS	4th	Juan Lopez	Hiram Cruz Juan Lopez	Datsun 510	49
50	RS	28	Ray Korman	Ray Korman Kenper Miller	BMW 320i	49
51	RS	18th	Creative Group	John Freyre Albert Naon AT Garcia	Ford Pinto	47
52	RS	08	Keith Swope	Keith Swope Dale Swope	AMC Gremlin	46
53	RS	08	Keith Swope	Keith Swope Dale Swope	AMC Gremlin	46
54	RS	26th	Juan Valdes-Pages	Philip Gutierrez Juan Valdes-Pages	AMC Gremlin	36
55	RS	78	Performance innovations	Rob McFarlin Hurley Haywood	Datsun 200SX	35
56	RS	03	Bobby Diehl	Bobby Diehl Jacques Groleau	AMC Gremlin	34
57	RS	14th	Cliff Rickmers	Emory Donaldson Cliff Rickmers Lyn St. James	BMW 2002	33
58	RS	98	Richard Kitchell	Richard Kitchell Clint Abernethy	AMC Gremlin	30th
59	RS	22nd	Dale Kreider	Dale Kreider Dave McNeal Jim Lazzaro	AMC Gremlin	28
60	RS	31	Randy Davis	Randy Davis Herb Canada	AMC Gremlin	28
61	RS	42	Quality Car Service	Manny Matz Stephen Behr	BMW 2002	27
62	RS	5	Bill Starcevic	Bill Starcevic Dan Rice	AMC Pacer	24
63	RS	73	David Ellis-Brown	David Ellis-Brown John Tremblay	Volvo 142E	20th
64	RS	46	GH Sharp	John Morton GH Sharp	Datsun 200SX	13
65	RS	15th	Larry Parker	Larry Parker Robert LaMay	Ford Pinto	12
66	RS	76	Ricardo Vadia	Tony Garcia Mauricio de Narváez	Chevrolet Cosworth Vega	11
67	RS	39	Wayne Barker	Dermott Meehan Peter Uria Wayne Barker	Ford Pinto	8th
68	RS	25th	Ramrod Racing	Steve Whitman Rod Bannerman	AMC Gremlin	5
69	RS	04	Gus Chevres	Gus Chevres Mandy Gonzalez	BMW 2002	5
70	RS	82	North Star Racing	Bill Johnson Craig Ross	Datsun 710	5
71	RS	71	Troy Media Productions	Gary Witzenburg Richard Ceppos	Datsun 710	2
Not started
72	RS	01	George Hair	George Hair William Harris	Datsun 510	1
73	RS	29	Bill Kane	Bill Kane Donald Flores Phil Panos	BMW 2002	2
74	RS	35	St. Lucie dealership	Bill Boye Gary Brooks	Subaru DL	3
75	RS	44	Joe Amato	Joe Amato Carson Baird	AMC Gremlin	4th
76	RS	45	Jan Chudziak	Jan Chudziak	Mazda RX-3	5
77	RS	52	James Reeve	James Reeve Ford Smith	Buick Skyhawk	6th

¹ not started ² not started ³ not started ⁴ not started ⁵ not started ⁶ not started

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
78	RS	4th	Mike Downs	Mike Downs Miles Gupton	Datsun 510
79	RS	41	Chuck Cox	Chuck Cox Charles Mendez	BMW 320i

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
RS	Jim Downing	John Paul Sr.	Mazda RX-2	Overall victory

Racing data

• Registered: 79
• Started: 11
• Rated: 37
• Race classes: 1
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: light rain in the middle of the race
• Route length: 6.180 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 6:02:12,000 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 143
• Total distance of the winning team: 883.723 km
• Winner's average: 146.392 km / h
• Pole position: Gene Felton - Buick Skyhawk (# 96) - 2: 19.251 = 159.766 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Jim Downing - Mazda RX-2 (# 63) - 2: 20.268 = 158.607 km / h
• Racing series: 10th round of the 1978 World Sports Car Championship

literature

• 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

Previous race 6-hour race of Misano 1978

Sports car world championship

Successor to the 6-hour race at Watkins Glen 1978