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Years
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Sanctioning Bodies
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Series Name
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1985
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SCCA
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Playboy Cup
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|
1986-1989
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SCCA
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Escort Endurance Challenge
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1985-1994
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IMSA
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Firehawk Series
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|
1995-1998
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PSR
|
Endurance Challenge
|
|
1997-2000
|
BMG
|
Motorola Cup
|
|
2001
|
Grand Am
|
Grand Am Cup
|
In 1972, the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) formed a new class for showroom stock vehicles. In the summer of 1979, a 24-hour race was held on the Ohio track of Nelson Ledges for these street stock vehicles. The success of that 24-hour race over the next several years prompted SCCA to form a professional series for 1985, called the SCCA Playboy Cup, giving birth to the modern era of professional street stock endurance racing.
Powell Motorsport campaigned two Corvettes in the SCCA Playboy series with future stars such as Ron Fellows, Scott Goodyear, R.K. Smith, and Richard Spenard driving for them. Powell Motorsport competed in the SCCA series until the end of the 1987 season, claiming multiple top threes, and a win at Sears Point in 1985. For Powell Motorsport, the next few years were spent with team leader John Powell developing, promoting, and organizing the very successful Corvette Challenge series.
At the same time that SCCA started their professional series in 1985, the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) was working in conjunction with the tire manufacturer Firestone, to develop a similar professional series to showcase Firestone's high performance brand, Firehawk.
The two ran as rival series to each other until the fall of 1989 when SCCA decided to restructure the Escort Endurance Challenge, and in doing so they shortened the races in the series. With the series no longer being endurance based (longer than one hour races), the only professional street stock endurance series in North America was the Firehawk Series being sanctioned by IMSA.
By 1990, the Corvette Challenge Series had served its purpose in American racing and it was no longer in existence. Powell Motorsport returned to the 1990 SCCA Escort World Challenge (sprint based) Series, and won the season long Driver's Championship with R.K. Smith driving a Chevrolet Corvette.
Powell Motorsport then took the next few years off from racing. Team leader John Powell took the down time from racing to grow the Powell Motorsport driving school. John's son, Devon, had taken an interest in racing, and wanted to start driving if, but only if, his father wanted to be involved with teaching him. The Powell’s spent the next several years traveling throughout the USA, and Canada, even Europe as Devon began to develop into a very strong kart driver.
Back in the world of sedan racing, the IMSA Series thrived over the next ten years. With the backing of Firestone the series grew as manufacturers began to show their support and interest in the series. The 1996 season saw IMSA renamed Professional Sportscar Racing (PSR), as it changed ownership several times from 1995 through 1998.
With PSR was suffering from instability, Canadian promoter David Berman started a Canadian based professional street stock endurance series in 1997. The timing couldn't have been more perfect for Powell Motorsport. Devon had some strong successes in karting, but knew that his real passion lie in driving real cars, and real General Motor cars to be more specific.
With Devon driving a Chevrolet Camaro SS, Powell Motorsport won the inaugural Driver's Championship. By also winning the Team Championship, and the Manufacturer's Championship, Powell Motorsport captured their first of a record breaking three consecutive Triple Crowns (Driver, Team, and Manufacturer Championship).
With a series sponsor in the form of the multi-national conglomerate, Motorola, The 1998 season saw Berman take the series south of the Canadian border, and many American competitors from the PSR Endurance Challenge came over to race in the series. Powell Motorsport traded in their Camaro for a Pontiac Firebird, but continued to dominate. Facing increased competition from their American counterparts, Powell Motorsport took home five wins and their second straight Triple Crown with their Pontiac Firebirds.
Berman's success with the series, along with management changes at PSR, meant that the PSR Series was discontinued at the end of 1998. Berman's Motorola Cup was now the premiere professional street stock endurance series in North America. The 1999 season saw Powell Motorsport facing even more competition as more competitors now infiltrated the series from the now dead PSR series, yet Powell Motorsport was still able to take their third straight Triple Crown home as well as three wins.
The 2000 season saw a change in professional street stock endurance racing, as for the first time since the mid 80's, the series allowed for super exotic cars such as the Chevrolet Corvette, Dodge Viper, and the Saleen SR.
Powell Motorsport returned to their roots as they once again campaigned a Corvette for the first time since R.K. Smith won the World Challenge Championship in 1990 driving for them. They already had extensive experience with the LS1 motor in the Corvette, from their development of the Firebird, and felt that they could apply that knowledge to the Corvette. However, the LS1 motor was not ready for the increased horsepower and cornering loads that the Corvette presented it with, and Powell Motorsport spent much of the 2000 season developing the reliability of the Corvette. Despite reliability issues, Powell Motorsport still took home two wins and the Manufacturer's Championship for General Motors.
When the Motorola sponsorship money went away in the fall of 2000 David Berman worked with the Grand Am sanctioning body, and Grand Am took over the series, but allowed for the same rules and venues as 2000, giving the series a virtually seamless transition from the Berman Group to Grand Am.
Powell Motorsport continued to run their Corvette in 2001. With the engine development that took place in the 2000 season, most of all the reliability issues had been worked out of the engine, and in the ten race season, Powell took home six wins , and Powell Motorsport took home their fourth Triple Crown in five years, and fifth straight Manufacturer's Championship for General Motors
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