Charles Mendez

Charles Mendez (born June 25, 1947 in Tampa ) is a former American automobile racing driver and motorsport official.

Motorsport official

Charles Mendez and his partner Dave Cowart initiated the return of the Sebring 12-hour race under the umbrella of the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile . In 1973 the racing event lost this status and regained it when it was held in 1978 . From 1978 to 1982 he was the organizer of the race.

Racing career

As a driver, he was mainly active in the well-known North American sports car races in Sebring, Daytona , and in the IMSA GTP series . He also competed twice in the Le Mans 24-hour race . After a failure in 1980 , he reached the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1981 in 13th place overall. Mendez drove a WM P79 / 80 from Welter Racing . His teammates were the two Frenchmen Denis Morin and Xavier Mathiot .

His greatest success at Sebring was overall victory in 1978 in the Porsche 935 , alongside Brian Redman and Bob Garretson . This makes him the only Sebring organizer who was able to win the race as a driver. A year later he was second overall and third in 1982 .

His best placement in Daytona was ninth in 1977 .

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1980	Racing Associates Inc.	Porsche 935K3	Skeeter McKitterick	Leon Walger	failure	accident
1981	WM AEREM	WM P79 / 80	Denis Morin	Xavier Mathiot	Rank 13

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1976	Charles Mendez	Porsche 911T	Dave Cowart				Rank 12
1977	Morrison's Inc.	Porsche Carrera RSR	Dave Cowart				Rank 10
1978	Dick Barbour performance	Porsche 935	Brian Redman	Bob Garretson			Overall victory
1979	Busch Beer Racing	Porsche 935	Brian Redman	Paul Miller			Rank 2
1980	Mendez Woods Akin	Porsche 935K3	Brian Redman	Paul Miller			failure	Engine failure
1981	Momo penthouse	Porsche 935J	Giampiero Moretti	Mauricio de Narváez			Rank 6
1982	JLP Racing	Porsche 935JLP-2	Marion Speer	Terry Wolters			Rank 3
1994	Konrad Motorsport	Porsche 911 Turbo	Örnulf Willheim	Franz Konrad	Ferdinand de Lesseps		Rank 7
1995	Arthur Pilla	Porsche 911 ME Turbo	Arthur Pilla	Kenper Miller	Dave White		Rank 21
1996	Konrad Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2 Evo	André Ahrlé	Franz Konrad	A.Herman	K.Dolejší	failure	drive shaft

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

• Charles Mendez at the Road Racing Drivers Club
• Charles Mendez at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 1977 Daytona 24 Hours