Dave Cowart

Kenper Miller's and Dave Cowart's March 83G at the 1983 IMSA GTP race at Sears Point

David "Dave" Cowart (* in Tampa ) is a former American racing car driver and racing team owner.

Racing career

Dave Cowart began his driving career in the 1970s. He became known as a sports car pilot in the IMSA racing series . Cowart was never able to celebrate an overall victory, six times he was waved off as second overall. However, he achieved 16 class wins. In 1981 he won the overall standings in the GTO class in the new IMSA GTP series . In 1978 he was able to secure this annual ranking. At that time, the series was still called IMSA-GT series.

Cowart had few teammates in his career; at most of the races he started with his long-time friend Kenper Miller , with whom he had a long friendship and with whom he ran his own racing team.

On the initiative of Dave Cowart and Charles Mendez , the return of the Sebring 12-hour race under the umbrella of the international motorsport association Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile . In 1973 the racing event lost this status and regained it when it was held in 1978 .

Red Lobster Racing

In 1980 Cowart and Miller merged their racing activities in a common racing team. They bought a Pro-Car - BMW M1 and had it converted so that the car complied with the IMSA GTO regulations. The sea food chain Red Lobster , founded in 1968, was won as a sponsor . Red Lobster's entry was unusual, as sponsorship in US motorsport traditionally came from the automotive industry, its suppliers, breweries and the tobacco industry. Although the team could not achieve an overall victory in the three years of partnership, the sponsorship activity was considered a success by the Red Lobster Board of Directors.

In 1981, however, the team dominated the GTO class with the BMW and was victorious twelve times in 16 races. At the end of the year, the two drivers and their car were invited to Munich by the then Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG , Eberhard von Kuenheim , and honored at an event. It was the first success of a BMW in North American motorsport. On the M1, the two followed in the years to March - IMSA Prototoypen 82G and 83G .

statistics

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1982	Bob Akin Motor Racing	Porsche 935L	Kenper Miller	Bob Akin	failure	no petrol

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1976	Charles Mendez	Porsche 911T	Charles Mendez		Rank 12
1977	Morrison's Inc.	Porsche Carrera RSR	Charles Mendez		Rank 10
1978	Morrison's Inc.	Porsche Carrera RSR	Nick Craw	Joe Castellano	failure	suspension
1979	Morrison's	Porsche Carrera	Kenper Miller	David McClain	Rank 14
1980	Red Lobster Racing	BMW M1	Kenper Miller	Derek Bell	Rank 25
1981	Red Lobster Racing	BMW M1	Kenper Miller		Rank 23
1982	Red Lobster Racing	March 82G	Kenper Miller		failure	Engine failure
1983	Red Lobster Racing	March 82G	Kenper Miller	Mauricio de Narváez	failure	accident
1984	Red Lobster Racing	March 82G	Kenper Miller		failure	suspension
1985	de Narváez Enterprises	Porsche 935J	Kenper Miller	Mauricio de Narváez	failure	Engine failure
1986	MSB Racing	Argo JM19	Kenper Miller	Jim Fowells	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 .
• JA Martin and Ken Welles: Prototypes - the History of the IMSA GTP Series . Bull Publishing, Phoenix 2000, ISBN 1-893618-01-3 .

Web links

• Dave Cowart at the Driver Database
• Dave Cowart at Racing Sports Cars

Individual evidence

1. ↑ IMSA GTO class 1981
2. ↑ GTO class 1978