Al Holbert

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Holbert's Porsche 962 from the IMSA-GTP series

Alvah Robert "Al" Holbert (born November 11, 1946 in Abington , Pennsylvania , † September 30, 1988 in Columbus , Ohio ) was an American entrepreneur and racing driver .

Career

Al Holbert came into contact with automobiles and motorsport at a young age. His father Bob drove sports car races and ran a Porsche dealership in Warrington , a local town near Philadelphia . During his engineering studies he worked for Roger Penske , for whom he also drove his first car races. In 1974 Holbert became a professional racing driver and won his first major title with overall victories in the IMSA sports car championship. His emergency vehicle was a Chevrolet Monza .

Through his business connections to Volkswagen and Porsche , Holbert became a works driver at Porsche in the early 1980s and rose to become one of the best sports car drivers of the time.

He was the overall winner of the Le Mans 24-hour race three times . In 1983 he won together with Vern Schuppan and Hurley Haywood in the works Porsche 956 . In 1986 and 1987 he sat in the victorious Porsche 962 and shared the success with Hans-Joachim Stuck and Derek Bell . Holbert was also able to enter the list of winners at the two major US endurance races. In 1986 and 1987 he won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1976 and 1981 and the 12-hour race at Sebring . He won the IMSA-GTP championship two more times for Porsche and built his own racing team with Holbert Racing. He won an IMSA title on a March 83G .

Between 1976 and 1979 he competed in 19 NASCAR races and finished fourth in the Indianapolis 500 mile race in 1984 .

In September 1988, Holbert, who was President of Porsche Motorsport North America and Managing Director of Holbert Porsche for many years, had a fatal accident in the crash of a Piper he had flown near Columbus , Ohio .

statistics

Le Mans results

year team vehicle Teammate Teammate placement Failure reason
1977 FranceFrance Inaltera Inaltera LM77 FranceFrance Jean-Pierre Beltoise Rank 13
1980 GermanyGermany Porsche system Porsche 924 Carrera GT United KingdomUnited Kingdom Derek Bell Rank 13
1982 GermanyGermany Rothmans Porsche System Porsche 956 United StatesUnited States Hurley Haywood GermanyGermany Jürgen Barth Rank 3
1983 GermanyGermany Rothmans Porsche Porsche 956 United StatesUnited States Hurley Haywood AustraliaAustralia Vern Schuppan Overall victory
1985 GermanyGermany Rothmans Porsche Porsche 962C United KingdomUnited Kingdom John Watson AustraliaAustralia Vern Schuppan failure Engine failure
1986 GermanyGermany Rothmans Porsche Porsche 962C United KingdomUnited Kingdom Derek Bell GermanyGermany Hans-Joachim Stuck Overall victory
1987 GermanyGermany Rothmans Porsche Porsche 962C United KingdomUnited Kingdom Derek Bell GermanyGermany Hans-Joachim Stuck Overall victory

Sebring results

year team vehicle Teammate Teammate placement Failure reason
1972 United StatesUnited States Holbert's Porsche-Audi Inc. Porsche 911T United StatesUnited States Dieter Oest United StatesUnited States Mike Tillson Rank 16
1975 United StatesUnited States Holbert's Porsche-Audi Porsche Carrera RSR United StatesUnited States Elliot Forbes-Robinson Rank 12
1976 United StatesUnited States Dickinson Holbert Porsche-Audi Porsche Carrera RSR United StatesUnited States Michael Keyser Overall victory
1979 United StatesUnited States JLP Racing Porsche 935 JLP-1 United StatesUnited States John Paul Sr. failure Power transmission
1980 United StatesUnited States Thunderbird Swap Shop Porsche 935K3 United StatesUnited States John Paul Sr. United StatesUnited States Preston Henn Rank 4
1981 United StatesUnited States Bayside Disposal Racing Porsche 935/80 United StatesUnited States Hurley Haywood United StatesUnited States Bruce Leven Overall victory
1982 United StatesUnited States Bayside Disposal Racing Porsche 935/80 United StatesUnited States Hurley Haywood United StatesUnited States Bruce Leven Rank 5
1983 United StatesUnited States Bayside Disposal Racing Porsche 935/80 United StatesUnited States Hurley Haywood Rank 3
1984 United StatesUnited States Bayside - Lion Brew Porsche 935/80 United StatesUnited States Hurley Haywood FranceFrance Claude Ballot-Léna failure Engine failure
1985 United StatesUnited States Holbert Racing Porsche 962 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Derek Bell United StatesUnited States Al our junior Rank 2
1986 United StatesUnited States Holbert Racing Porsche 962 United KingdomUnited Kingdom Derek Bell United StatesUnited States Al our junior Rank 3
1987 United StatesUnited States Holbert Racing Porsche 962 United StatesUnited States Chip Robinson Rank 2
1988 United StatesUnited States Holbert Racing Porsche 962 United StatesUnited States Chip Robinson failure Engine failure

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

Commons : Al Holbert  - collection of images, videos and audio files