1981 Daytona 6 Hours

Sketch of the Daytona International Speedway, the race was held on the oval course

The 6-hour race at Daytona in 1981 , and 6 Hours of Daytona Champion Spark Plug Challenge, Daytona International Speedway , took place on 2 July at the Daytona International Speedway held and was the tenth championship round of the World Sportscar Championship this year.

The race

The tenth round of the sports car world championship in 1981 was a curiosity and only counted towards the driver’s championship. Why this race was advertised exclusively for racing cars (RS class) has remained largely unclear to this day. The US RS-Class almost corresponded to the technical regulations of the European Touring Car Championship ; The races were naturally contested with different silhouette vehicles than those in Europe. Mainly makes from the USA and Japan such as the Mazda RX-3 and RX-2 , the Ford Pinto and various models from the American Motors Corporation were used .

Due to this strange class division, which was not matched at any event during the entire season, almost exclusively US private teams and drivers were at the start. Mention should be made of the driver Hurley Haywood , who at this point in time ( 1977 ) had already celebrated the first of his three Le Mans victories , and the young Bobby Rahal . The arrival of Art Cross , a monoposto pilot from the 1940s and 1905s, was also amazing . Not only had Cross not raced for almost 25 years in 1981, he is now a true veteran at 63.

The race was won by Roger Mandeville and Amos Johnson in a Mazda RX-3, ahead of their brand colleagues Tom Waugh and Jim Downing .

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	RS	38	Mandeville Racing	Roger Mandeville Amos Johnson	Mazda RX-3	152
2	RS	63	Downing Maffucci Racing	Tom Waugh Jim Downing	Mazda RX-3	152
3	RS	27	Mike Meyer	Jack Dunham Hurley Haywood	Mazda RX-3	147
4th	RS	13	Malone Freight	Fred Stiff Jay Elmore	Mazda RX-3	145
5	RS	35	Chuck Ulinski	Chuck Ulinski Marion Speer	Mazda RX-3	145
6th	RS	94	Jim Nealon	Jim Nealon Bill Jobe	Mazda RX-3	145
7th	RS	9	Budweiser Racing	Luis Sereix Javier Garcia	Buick Skyhawk	143
8th	RS	06	William Koll	Ian Pearce Rob McFarlin	AMC spirit	142
9	RS	53	Sandpiper Racing	Danny Smith HW Alexander Paul Elvis	Mazda RX-3	140
10	RS	5	Paul Lambke	Paul Lambke Alf Zellmer	Mazda RX-3	140
11	RS	59	Famous Amos	Milton Moise Tommy Riggins Brent O'Neill	AMC spirit	139
12	RS	15th	Rob Jackson	Rob Jackson Robert Weaver	AMC spirit	138
13	RS	8th	Paul Romano	Paul Romano Bill Johnson	Mazda RX-2	137
14th	RS	90	James Bobo	Gary English James Bobo	Mazda RX-3	136
15th	RS	7th	Amos Johnson	Dennis Shaw Bob Akin	AMC spirit	132
16	RS	30th	Harvey Racing	Harvey Hardy Bob Gray	Ford Pinto	130
17th	RS	26th	Great Bay	Craig Rubright Smith Coachman	AMC Gremlin	127
18th	RS	56	Famous Amos	Don Courtnay Patty Moise	AMC spirit	126
19th	RS	25th	Pegasus Racing	Joseph Lowman Terry Keller	Ford Pinto	125
20th	RS	6th	QFM-96	John Rankin Galvy Gordon	Ford Mustang	125
21st	RS	98	Richard Kitchell	CC Canada Thompson Franklin Harry Cochran	AMC Gremlin	124
22nd	RS	34	Music City Racing	Buzz Cason Charles Moseley	Mazda RX-3	120
23	RS	04	Jim Cox	Nort Northam Jack Rynerson	Honda Civic	119
24	RS	76	American Marine	Art Yarosh Bill Barber	AMC Pacer	119
25th	RS	14th	Dave Panaccione	Art Cross Bill Mazzoni	AMC Concord	116
26th	RS	96	Amick / Indicott	Brad Indicott Paul Morgan John Amick	Ford Pinto	113
27	RS	60	Buddy Brogden	Dave Cowart Buddy Brogden	Mazda RX-3	108
28	RS	68	Keith Lawhorn	Keith Lawhorn William Kleiber	Datsun 510	106
29	RS	61	Toad Hallow Racing	Bobby Rahal Tide Ebding Roger Barron	Mazda RX-3	105
30th	RS	03	Bill Peck	Carl Sloan Bill Peck	Mazda RX-3	103
31	RS	58	Michael Lindsley	Michael Lindsley Larry Figaro	Subaru DL	92
Disqualified
32	RS	82	Tom Baker	Michael Newman Tom Baker	Ford Pinto	11
Failed
33	RS	81	Scott Smith	George Clark Scott Smith	Oldsmobile Starfire	132
34	RS	86	Hoerr Brothers	Irv Hoerr Scott Hoerr	AMC spirit	124
35	RS	99	Kai Showkat	Kai Showkat Phil Currin	AMC spirit	112
36	RS	80	Ralph Evans	Mike Miller Ralph Evans	BMW 320i	107
37	RS	54	Wever / Palmer	Byron Wever Cary Palmer	Mazda RX-3	104
38	RS	87		Dario Orlando Dave Yerger	Ford Pinto	104
39	RS	37	RJL Racing	Gene Felton Joe Llauget	Mazda RX-3	97
40	RS	0	Bob's Speed ​​Products	Bob Lee Timothy Lee Guy Church	Chevrolet Monza	93
41	RS	23	Kim Kenyon	Kim Kenyon Peter Uria	AMC Gremlin	90
42	RS	01	Joe Varde	Joe Varde Bob Garretson	Mazda RX-3	88
43	RS	47	Tom Lyttle	Tom Lyttle Don Jones	Datsun 510	83
44	RS	51	Robert Buchtler	Robert Buchtler Ed Odum	Ford Pinto	80
45	RS	16	Danny Smith	Rodney Ashcroft Garrett Jenkins	AMC Gremlin	78
46	RS	55	Doug Moser	Doug Moser Ron Johnson King Smith	Datsun 1200	78
47	RS	02	Joe Varde	Steve Zadrick Jose Rios	AMC spirit	75
48	RS	46	Southwind Enterprises	Ralston Long Bob McGraw	AMC Concord	72
49	RS	89	Wayne Barker	Wayne Barker Harry Robinson	Ford Pinto	72
50	RS	21st	National Car Rental	Bobby Engels Timothy FM Lee	Chevrolet Vega	71
51	RS	50	Eddie Mecum junior	Eddie Mecum junior Eddie Mecum	Buick Skyhawk	32
52	RS	88	J & M Racing	Mick Robinson John Trollo	Datsun 510	30th
53	RS	78	David Ellis-Brown	David Ellis-Brown Bill Barnes	Volvo 142	23
54	RS	4th	EJ Pruitt	Gary Quellette Kyle Petty	Mazda RX-3	18th
55	RS	12	Holbrook / Sparks	Michael Sparks Carl Holbrook	Ford Mustang	15th
56	RS	97	Amick / Indicott	Dale Whittington John Amick	Ford Pinto	14th
57	RS	44	Joe Amato	Del Carson Joe Amato	AMC spirit	14th
58	RS	3	Joe Varde	Steve Paquette Tom Diehl	AMC spirit	11
59	RS	17th	S team	Jim Stricklin Tim Stringfellow	Datsun 510	10
60	RS	08	Keith Swope	Keith Swope Mauricio de Narváez	AMC spirit	1
61	RS	00	Mike Meyer	Hurley Haywood Mike Meyer	Mazda RX-3	1
Not started
62	RS	09	Horacia Ferrea	Julio Miqueo Antonío Aventine	Ford Mustang	1
63	RS	2	Jim Shelton	James Shelton Dean Jameson	Ford Pinto	2
64	RS	11	Jim Trueman	Jerry Thompson Donald Yenko	Plymouth Citation	3
65	RS	20th	Eddie Mecum	Eddie Mecum Don Yenko	Buick Skyhawk	4th
66	RS	31	Randy Davis	Randy Davis Jim Crosby	AMC Gremlin	5
67	RS	64	Wayne Stradley	Wayne Stradley Jim Fowell's Ray Mummery	AMC Pacer	6th
68	RS	72	Tampa Bay Racing	Craig Ross Charles Mendez	Datsun 200SX	7th
69	RS	73	Mike Levine	Mike Levine David McIntosh	Plymouth Arrow	8th
70	RS	74	Glen Cross	Glen Cross Dave Cowart	Datsun 200SX	9
71	RS	75		Cameron Worth Alex Priest	Mazda RX-3	10
72	RS	83	Larry O'Brien	Larry O'Brien William Heath	Mazda RX-2	11

¹ not started ² not started ³ engine failure during training ⁴ not started ⁵ not started ⁶ not started ⁷ not started ⁸ not started ⁹ not started ¹⁰ defect on the drive shaft during training ¹¹ 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
73	RS		AJ James	AJ James Donny Fraser Ron Bowker	AMC Gremlin
74	RS	03	Jack Ries	Jack Ries	Ford Pinto
75	RS	18th	S team	Tim Springfellow	Datsun 510
76	RS	36	Richard Cline	Rick cline	Mazda RX-3
77	RS	39	BK Layne	BK Layne John Morgan	Chevrolet Monza
78	RS	52	Atlanta Racing Enterprises	James Reeve	Buick Skyhawk
79	RS	57	Rick Jaeschke	Rick Jaeschke	Datsun 200SX
80	RS	74	Skip Grenier	Skip Grenier	Mazda RX-2
81	RS	83	Jerry Walsh	Jerry Walsh	Ford Capri
82	RS	85	George Kiricenkov	George Kiricenkov Harry Deacon	Ford Pinto
83	RS	96	QFM-96	John Rankin Galvy Gordon	Ford Mustang

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
RS	Roger Mandeville	Amos Johnson	Mazda RX-3	Overall victory

Racing data

• Registered: 83
• Starter: 61
• Rated: 31
• Race classes: 1
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: warm and dry
• Route length: 6.180 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 6:00: 29.730 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 152
• Total distance of the winning team: 939.342 km
• Winner's average: 156.341 km / h
• Pole position: Irv Hoerr - AMC Spirit (# 86) - 2: 14.272 = 165.690 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Jim Downing - Mazda RX-3 (# 63) 2: 16.620 = 162.843 km / h
• Racing series: 10th round of the Sports Car World Championship in 1981

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 at wspr

Previous race 6-hour race of Pergusa 1981

Sports car world championship

Successor to the 6-hour race at Watkins Glen in 1981