Talladega 6 Hours 1978

Entrance to the Talladega Superspeedway

The 6 Hours of Talladega 1978 , also 6 Hours of Talladega Camel GT Challenge, Talladega , took place on April 2nd on the Talladega Superspeedway and was the third round of the IMSA GT series and the fourth sports car world championship for drivers this year.

The race

Similar to the 24-hour race in Daytona , the race in Talladega took place on an oval course . While at the Daytona International Speedway just a steep curve during the endurance race was run, the Road Course of Talladega included both oval curves. In the routing of the road course, the track turned left at an angle of almost 45 degrees into the infield after crossing the start-finish line and after a few slow curves and short straights led back to the oval track shortly afterwards. This track variant had become necessary in order to sustainably reduce the speed on what was then the fastest racetrack in the world. Although the drivers had to brake their cars hard on the start-and-finish straight and drive through the slow corners of the infield, average speeds of over 200 km / h were achieved.

The race was won by Peter Gregg and Brad Frisselle in their Porsche 935 with a lead of eight laps on the Whittington brothers Bill and Don , who also drove a Porsche 935.

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Round
1	GTX	59	Brumo's Porsche	Peter Gregg Brad Frisselle	Porsche 935	175
2	GTX	94	Whittington Brothers Racing	Bill Whittington Don Whittington	Porsche 935 / 77A	167
3	GTX	6th	Dick Barbour Racing	Dick Barbour Johnny Rutherford	Porsche 935 / 77A	161
4th	GTO	33	Boricua Racing	Bonky Fernandez Dave Cowart	Porsche Carrera RSR	161
5	GTX	32	Earle & Akin Racing Associates	Steve Earle Bob Akin	Porsche Carrera RSR	159
6th	GTX	1	Dale Kreider	Dale Kreider Bruce Davidson	Chevrolet Corvette	156
7th	GTU	76	Quality Inn	Lee Mueller Frank Thomas	Porsche 911	156
8th	GTX	68	Rick Hay	Rick Hay Phil Currin	Chevrolet Corvette	156
9	GTU	01	Dana Roehrig	Dave White Dana Roehrig	Porsche 911S	151
10	GTU	34	Drolsom Racing	George Drolsom Hugh Davenport	Porsche 911S	149
11	GTU	62	Bill Koll	Bill Koll David Hamren	Porsche 914/6	148
12	RS	7th	Amos Johnson	Amos Johnson Roger Mandeville	AMC Pacer	144
13	RS	16	Amos Johnson	Dennis Shaw Jim Woodward	AMC Pacer	143
14th	AC	0	Gene Rutherford	Gene Rutherford Tom Wallace	Oldsmobile Cutlass	142
15th	GTU	27	Ray Mummery	Ray Mummery Jack Refenning Tom Sheehy	Porsche 911S	142
16	AC	10	Clay Young	Clay Young Eddie Johnson Bob Buchler	Pontiac Grand Am	141
17th	GTX	67	Charles fur	Charles Fur Neil Upchurch	Chevrolet Camaro	140
18th	GTU	19th	Anatoly Arutunoff	Anatoly Arutunoff José Marina	Lancia Stratos	133
19th	GTO	65	RJV Enterprises	Richard Valentine Roger Pierce	Chevrolet Corvette	133
20th	GTO	58	Diego Felbes Racing	Diego Febles Francisco Romero	Porsche Carrera RSR	132
21st	GTU	36	Ron Case	Dave Panaccione Ron Case	Porsche 911	129
22nd	GTX	13	Hal Shaw Racing	Tom Spalding Hal Shaw	Porsche 935	127
23	RS	21st	Andy Vann	Andy Vann Joel Neshkin	AMC Gremlin	125
24	RS	99	Southwind Enterprises	Ralston Long Charlie Cook Mike Danner	AMC Gremlin	114
25th	GTU	45	Vann's auto body	Jim Gaeta Gary Steele	Porsche 911	109
Failed
26th	GTX	9	Dick Barbour	John Paul Sr. Bob Bondurant	Porsche 935	133
27	GTX	23	Overbagh Motor Racing	Hoyt Overbagh Billy Hagan	Chevrolet Monza	125
28	GTX	95	Bob Hagestad	Hurley Haywood Bob Hagestad	Porsche 935	124
29	GTU	60	R&R Racing	Rusty Bond Ren Tilton	Porsche 911	88
30th	RS	79	Robert Wood	Robert Wood Keith Swope	AMC Pacer	80
31	GTU	78	Abingdon Ashley Motors	Rod Bremner Don McKnight	Triumph TR7	57
32	GTX	30th	Electrodyne Inc.	Giampiero Moretti Charles Mendez	Porsche 935	52
33	GTX	28	Desperado Racing	Clif Kearns Milt Minter	Porsche 935	50
34	GTU	61	Al Cosentino	Al Cosentino Jim Downing	Mazda RX-3	42
35	GTX	06	Shulnburg Scrap Metal	Michael Keyser Robert Shulnburg	Chevrolet Corvette	39
36	AC	96	Gene Felton	Gene Felton Vince Gimondo	Buick Skylark	34
37	GTU	51	Wynn's International	John Hotchkis Dennis Aase	Porsche 911	29
38	GTO	46	Mauricio de Narváez	Mauricio de Narváez Albert Naon	Porsche Carrera RSR	8th
39	GTO	15th	Bavarian Motors International	Alf Gebhardt Franz Romer	BMW 3.5 CSL	1
40	AC	49	Doell Assoc.	Bo Montgomery Buzz Cason	AMC Concord	1
Not started
41	GTU	26th	John Foshee Ernie Smith	John Foshee Ernie Smith Red Brennan	Alfa Romeo GTV	1
42	GTX	3	Whittington Brothers	Bill Whittington Don Whittington	Porsche 934/5	2

¹ not started ² 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
43	GTO	03	Cliff thank god	Cliff Thank God Danny Terrill	Chevrolet Corvette
44	GTO	07	Morrison's Inc.	Dave Cowart	Porsche Carrera RSR
45	RS	16	Bob Dean	Bob Dean Bob McGraw	Mazda RX-3
46	GTO	25th	KWM Racing	Kenper Miller Walt Drilling	BMW 3.5 CSL
47	RS	38	Roger Mandeville	Roger Mandeville	Mazda RX-2
48	RS	42	Chitwood Racing	Sam Chitwood	AMC Gremlin
49	GTO	48	Autodyne Inc.	John Carusso	Chevrolet Corvette
50	RS	48	GH Sharp	GH Sharp	Datsun 200SX
51	GTX	53	Joe Dawkins	Joe Dawkins	Ford Mustang
52	RS	63	Jim Downing	Jim Downing	Mazda RX-2
53	GTU	70	Race car	ML Speer Windle Turley	Porsche 911S
54	AC	80	Herb Adams	Herb Adams Pat Bedard	Oldsmobile Cutlass
55	RS	80	Hoerr Brothers	Scott Hoerr Irv Hoerr	Datsun 510
56	GTU	84	Worldparts	Bob Speakman John Maffucci	Datsun 260Z
57	GTU	86	John Hulen	John Hulen Ron Coupland	Porsche 914/6
58	AC	92	David Sloyer	David Sloyer Jim Fitzgerald	Plymouth Volare
59	GTX	98	Racing team	Ralph Tolman Rick Hurst	Saab 900 Turbo

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
GTX	Peter Gregg	Brad Frisselle	Porsche 935	Overall victory
GTO	Bonky Fernandez	Dave Cowart	Porsche Carrera RSR	Rank 4
GTU	Lee Mueller	Frank Thomas	Porsche 911	Rank 7
AC	Gene Rutherford	Tom Wallace	Oldsmobile Cutlass	Rank 14
RS	Amos Johnson	Roger Mandeville	AMC Pacer	Rank 12

Racing data

• Registered: 59
• Started: 40
• Valued: 25
• Race classes: 6
• Spectator: unknown
• Race day weather: warm and dry
• Route length: 6.437 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 6:00: 41.283 hours
• Total laps of the winning team: 175
• Total distance of the winning team: 1126.541 km
• Winner's average: 187.399 km / h
• Pole position: Peter Gregg - Porsche 935 (# 59) - 1: 52.364 = 206.245 km / h
• Fastest race lap: Peter Gregg - Porsche 935 (# 59) - 1: 53.400 = 204.361 km / h
• Racing series: 3rd round of the IMSA GT series 1978
• Racing series: 4th 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

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Talladega route layouts

Previous race 6 Hours of Mugello 1978

Sports car world championship

Successor to the 6 Hours of Dijon 1978

Previous race of the Sebring 12-hour race in 1978

IMSA GT Championship

Successor race 100 Mile Race of Road Atlanta 1978