Double Champion: Peter Gregg’s 1973 IMSA GT and SCCA Trans-Am Seasons
by Sean Cridland
Foreword by Hurley Haywood | Dedication by Bruce Meyer
At the end of 1972, Peter Gregg was known in the American sports-car racing world as a gentleman, semi-professional driver capable of taking small-bore class wins in the Trans-Am and as a mid-field racer in the Can-Am. But for the small cadre of people working with him at Brumos Racing and the engineers at Porsche, Gregg was a man with the vision, drive, and an ambition to become America’s best.
In that era, Porsche was undergoing significant changes in its racing and road-car programs. After winning Le Mans with the 917K and dominating the Canadian-American Challenge Cup with the all-powerful 917-30, they withdrew from prototype racing to concentrate their competition program on cars representative of their production line. At the same time, the FIA realigned their Championship of Makes to the “silhouette” formula which encouraged manufacturers to base their racing programs on street cars. Porsche was among the first to jump on the bandwagon with their new more powerful and better-handling 911 RS and RSR models. After years of carrying the Porsche torch in the lower classes, Peter Gregg was in position to claim the top step he so coveted in American GT racing.
Starting with back-to-back wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring with protégé Hurley Haywood, Gregg led the 1973 Porsche juggernaut to take the overall championships in both the SCCA Trans-Am and the IMSA Camel GT series. Those accomplishments put Gregg and Porsche at the forefront of the GT-racing world for years to come. This is the story of that year that put Porsche on the path to dominating the GT category for the next ten years.
Hardbound | 195 pages | 255 images
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