Road Atlanta 6 Hours 1978

Road Atlanta route layout

The 1978 Road Atlanta 6-hour race , also known as Road Atlanta 6 Hours Champion Spark Plug Challenge, Road Atlanta , took place on the Road Atlanta circuit on September 3rd and was the 13th and final round of the World Sports Car Championship of that year .

The race

The 1978 World Sports Car Championship ended with the 6-hour race in Road Atlanta . The event was part of the World Endurance Challenge and took place on the same day as the Vallelunga 6-hour race . In Road Atlanta the driver teams James Reeve / Pete Harrison and Don Devendorf / Dick Starita fought a long duel for the overall victory. At the finish, Reese and Harrison on their Buick Skyhawk had a lead of eight seconds on the Datsun B210 from Devendorf and Starita after 6 hours of racing . The Driver World Challenge was won by John Paul Sr. ahead of Bonky Fernandez and Peter Gregg .

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	RS	52	Atlanta Racing Enterprises	James Reeve Pete Harrison	Buick Skyhawk	198
2	RS	11	Dick Starita	Don Devendorf Dick Starita	Datsun B210	198
3	RS	63	Jim Downing	Jim Downing John Paul Sr.	Mazda RX-2	197
4th	RS	2	Jim Roberts	Jim Roberts Tom Waugh	AMC Gremlin	195
5	RS	38	Roger Mandeville	Roger Mandeville Diego Febles	Mazda RX-3	194
6th	RS	92	Roger Mandeville	Don Whittington Bill Whittington	Mazda RX-2	194
7th	RS	51	Brandt Doell	Steve Griswold Chris Cord	AMC Gremlin	193
8th	RS	10	Richard Kendrick	Phil Currin Richard Kendrick	BMW 2002	191
9	RS	79	IPD	Richard Gordon John Spelled Milt Minter	Volvo 412E	190
10	RS	7th	Amos Johnson	Dick Barbour Amos Johnson	AMC Pacer	188
11	RS	22nd	Landing	Linda Sharp Jim Fitzgerald	Datsun B210	188
12	RS	94	Eric Morrow	Eric Morrow Bruce Cargill	Dodge Colt	187
13	RS	6th	Amos Johnson	Dennis Shaw Rick Knoop	AMC Pacer	185
14th	RS	08	Keith Swope	Keith Swope John Hamilton	AMC Gremlin	184
15th	RS	64	Distant Thunder	Carlos Garza Steve Earle Bob Akin	BMW 320i	184
16	RS	25th	Ralph Steele	Del Carlson Tony DeLorenzo	AMC Gremlin	181
17th	RS	27	Mike Meyer	Mike Meyer Rusty Bond	Mazda RX-2	180
18th	RS	47	Tom Lyttle	Tom Lyttle Ron Jones Mike McKee	Datsun 510	178
19th	RS	37	Kevin Coffey	Kevin Coffey Randi Coffey	Mazda RX-2	177
20th	RS	20th	Eddie Mecum	Javier Garcia Eddie Mecum	Buick Skyhawk	176
21st	RS	90	James Bobo	James Bobo Nick Angelos	Mazda RX-2	176
22nd	RS	62	Speight Sugg	Speight Sugg Rick Gaines	BMW 1600	169
23	RS	50	Handle goad	Handle Goad Len Murphy	Ford Pinto	151
24	RS	69	Randy Blue	Randy Blue John Watterson	AMC Gremlin	149
Failed
25th	RS	30th	Monarch Motor Racing	Bonky Fernandez Walt Drill	Mazda RX-2	194
26th	RS	09	Joe Varde	Joe Varde Gary Belcher	AMC Gremlin	190
27	RS	80	Hoerr Brothers	Scott Hoerr Brad Frisselle	Datsun 510	182
28	RS	78	Performance innovations	Rob McFarlin Hurley Haywood	Datsun 200SX	173
29	RS	49	Brant Doell	Buzz Cason Richard Valentine	AMC Concord	162
30th	RS	4th	Ted Schumacher	Harry McPheron Ted Schumacher	Ford Capri	159
31	RS	85	George Kiricenkov	George Kiricenkov Tom Ashby	Ford Pinto	156
32	RS	17th	Rob Jackson	Rob Jackson Robert Weaver	AMC Gremlin	155
33	RS	86	Hoerr Brothers	Irv Hoerr Danny Smith	Datsun 510	154
34	RS	31	Preston Henn	Preston Henn Hal Sahlman	AMC Pacer	137
35	RS	68	Metric shop	Ron Sattele Tom Davenhall	Ford Capri	133
36	RS	03	Joe Varde	Bobby Diehl Tim Smith	AMC Gremlin	131
37	RS	73	David Ellis-Brown	David Ellis-Brown John Tremblay	Volvo 142E	128
38	RS	9	Jerry Reid	Jerry Reid Ron Reed Billy Hagan	Ford Pinto	116
39	RS	00	John Winston	Bob Mitchell John Winston	Ford Pinto	113
40	RS	72	Tampa Bay Racing	Craig Ross Charles Mendez	Datsun 200SX	93
41	RS	89	TF performance	Marv Thomson Dave Headley	Oldsmobile Starfire	75
42	RS	41	Chuck Ulinski	Chuck Ulinski Nick Lawrence	Mazda RX-2	71
43	RS	96	Gene Felton	Gene Felton Peter Gregg	Buick Skyhawk	65
44	RS	21st	Andy Vann	Andy Vann Dave Richardson	AMC Gremlin	63
45	RS	59	Milton Moise	Lyn St. James Milton Moise Emory Donaldson	AMC Gremlin	59
46	RS	1	Holbrook Sparks	Michael Sparks Carl Holbrook	Ford Pinto	54
47	RS	82	North Star Racing	Corky Bell Bill Johnson	Datsun 710	50
48	RS	12	Ed Vogt	Ed Vogt Dennis Cloud	BMW 2002	47
49	RS	34	Dennis Bowman	Dennis Bowman Dennis Colomb	Oldsmobile Starfire	44
50	RS	16	Danny Smith	Gene Rutherford Clif Kearns	AMC Gremlin	36
51	RS	19th	Southwind Enterprises	Ralston Long Charlie Cook	AMC Gremlin	34
52	RS	39	Wayne Barker	Wayne Barker Peter Uria Dermott Meehan	Ford Pinto	33
53	RS	93	Kind Yarosh	Art Yarosh Marty Hinze Dale Whittington	AMC Gremlin	20th
54	RS	01	George Hair	George Hair William Harris	Datsun 510	17th
55	RS	46	GH Sharp	GH Sharp Sam Posey	Datsun 200SX	16
56	RS	57	Loon Racing	Lee Wiese John Poulos	Ford Pinto	15th
57	RS	42	Sam Chitwood	Bob Field Sam Chitwood	AMC Gremlin	12
58	RS	14th	Cliff Rickmers	Cliff Rickmers Earl Fellin Lou Timolat	BMW 2002	11
59	RS	98	Richard Kitchell	Rod Bannerman Richard Kitchell	AMC Gremlin	11
60	RS	99	Steve Jones	Steve Jones Bill Underwood	Ford Pinto	7th
61	RS	26th	Union Capital	Carlos Diaz Juan Valdes-Pages Philip Gutierrez	Ford Pinto	6th
62	RS	91	Jerry Walsh	Jerry Walsh Bob McClure Don Yenko	Ford Pinto	4th
63	RS	8th	William Kull	William Kull junior William Kull senior	Ford Pinto	4th
64	RS	13	EJ Pruitt	Gary Ouellette John Carusso	Mazda RX-2	3
65	RS	87	Larry Schumacher	Larry Schumacher Don Yenko	Oldsmobile Starfire	2
66	RS	40	Tom Pyne	Tom Pyne JR Taylor	Ford Pinto	1
67	RS	36	Luis Botero	Honorato Espinosa Francisco Lopez Luis Alberto	BMW 2002	1
Not started
68	RS	18th	Ray Pericles	Ray Pericles Matt Pericles	Mazda RX-3	1
69	RS	43	Bavarian Motors International	Jack Baldwin Dave Sloyer	BMW 2002	2
70	RS	48	Bill Shaw	Bill Shaw Nort Northam	Honda Civic	3

¹ no training time ² not started ³ 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
71	RS	3	Gary Strebin	Gary Strebin Larry McKinley	Ford Pinto
72	RS	44	Joe Amato	Joe Amato Carson Baird	AMC Gremlin
73	RS	55	Lee White	Lee White	Ford Pinto
74	RS	77	Holbrook Sparks	Michael Sparks Carl Holbrook	Ford Pinto
75	RS	84	Bob Buchler	Bob Buchler Clay Young	Ford Pinto
76	RS	88	Bob Picariello	Bob Picariello Chuck Baker	Plymouth Arrow
77	RS	95	Steven Heron	Steven Heron Rich Lee	Honda Civic

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
RS	James Reeve	Pete Harrison	Buick Skyhawk	Overall victory

Racing data

• Registered: 77
• Started: 67
• Valued: 24
• Race classes: 1
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: hot and humid
• Route length: 4.056 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 6:00: 11.251 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 198
• Total distance of the winning team: 802.998 km
• Winner's average: 133.764 km / h
• Pole position: Gene Felton - Buick Skyhawk (# 96) - 1: 44.207 = 140.103 km / h
• Fastest race lap: James Reeve - Buick Skyhawk (# 52) - 1: 45,000 = 139.047 km / h
• Racing series: Round 13 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 Hours of Vallelunga 1978

Sports car world championship

Successor to the 24-hour race at Daytona 1979