[h=2]Bruce Leven 1938-2017[/h] Thursday, 21 September 2017


Image courtesy ISC Archives & Research Center)









Bruce Leven, a Seattle businessman whose privately entered Bayside Disposal Racing team drove to wins at the 12 Hours of Sebring, has died. He was 79.
Leven turned Bayside Disposaal, a one-truck waste-and-scrap hauling business, into a multi-state operation with 400 trucks and 500 employees by the time he sold the company in 1987. He purchased several other disposal and landfill businesses in the 1980s and operated them until he died on Sept. 15. But his love for racing and the Porsche marque led him to local SCCA competition, where he earned the 1977 B-Improved Production-class regional championship. He subsequently raced in the Trans-Am Series and was the 1979 Rookie of the Year, then moved into IMSA Camel GT competition with an ex-Brumos Porsche 935.
As a gentleman racing driver, Leven surrounded himself with international stars that led to the success of his privately-entered Bayside Disposal Racing team - including three victories in the 12 Hours of Sebring (1981, 1987, 198. He enlisted such drivers as Peter Gregg, Hurley Haywood, Al Holbert, Scott Pruett, Hans Stuck, Bob Wollek and others to compete in the IMSA GT series in Porsche 935s and 962s, and Dominic Dobson and Jeff Andretti in Lola open-wheel racers in the CART Indy Car series.
In Leven's best-ever 1987 season his team earned six wins, with drivers Jochen Mass and Bobby Rahal finishing third and fifth in the IMSA championship despite entering only half the races. Three-time Le Mans winner Klaus Ludwig also contributed with a solo win. In 1988, Stuck, Klaus Ludwig and Sarel van der Merwe finished fourth in the Rolex 24 At Daytona in the No. 86 Texaco Havoline Porsche 962. Six weeks later, Stuck and Ludwig claimed the outright victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring, giving the team its second consecutive victory in the event.

Leven disbanded the racing team in the 1990s and turned his attention back to business. In his later years, Leven built customized cars and hot rods, winning multiple Best of Class wins at SEMA, the National Roadster Show and Goodguys Rod & Custom Association national events. His last project, a custom 1951 Ford Club Coupe, was chosen as the 2016 SEMA Grand Turismo Award winner and will appear in a future edition of Sony's PlayStation video game. The Ford has continued to rack up accolades across the U.S., including the Gene Winfield Award, three Goodguys Builders Choice Awards, Custom Rod of the Year finalist (Scottsdale Goodguys), PPG Dream Car and will be featured on the Jay Leno's Garage YouTube channel.

 

Veteran IMSA official Mark Raffauf visits with RACER's Marshall Pruett to share memories of the late Bruce Leven, who was an integral part of the 1980s GTP scene as a race-winning driver and team owner.

Many pics of his race cars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=0004o_fdYXE

 

Won 1964 Sebring 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona in storage until 2001

 

Alex Job closes pro team to focus on vintage racing

Wednesday, 22 November 2017


By Marshall Pruett



523 Shares

Alex Job originally from Tampa, has decided to close the pro racing side of his championship-winning team to concentrate on servicing clients in the booming vintage motorsports sector.


"We have had a great run in professional racing," said Job, who ran Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler in IMSA's GT Daytona category. "Together with my wife Holly we built a close-knit racing team from basically our garage at home. We went from running a Porsche 911 in SCCA enduro to winning the 12 hours of Sebring race 10 times as both a Porsche factory team and independent operation. A great line-up of drivers has driven our cars to wins at Le Mans and Daytona, all backed up by a great team of mechanics who really became our extended family over the years.


"We have a few projects that are under way and I have a dedicated staff of people who want to continue to rebuild the past. I am proud of the restorations we have completed so far. It is rewarding to see the transformation of the cars when they arrive in our shop and we restore them and then the reaction from the owner when we deliver them fully restored and ready to hit the track again."



Alex Job Racing leaves the pro world with 10 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring and two Rolex 24 At Daytona victories, five championships and 70 wins to its credit.
--------------------------------------------------

Back about 2016, All Porsches withdrew when Porsche had a dispute over a
racing organizations adding weight to all Porsches.

As a pro racer, racing for money, Alex would not have just totally stopped racing.
I knew something was up. Now we learn more to the story.
-------------------

10 Sebring wins and two Daytona 24's?
Alex you did a lot for Porsche.
I admire your loyalty.
------------------------

 

Road Racing with Visit Florida Racing website:
Visit FloridaVisit Florida Racing | IMSA* | TUSCC Racing Team

video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=V_uFptA-y6g

 

Tying some racing history together
See last post in thread:
See it before it goes away.

 

1986 IMSA GT 12 Hours of Sebring original TBS sports broadcast and it has some imperfections that have to be skipped around.
part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkx-xf4hJ9Q

Al Holbert held 1st for some time....

part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMxMxu9h5mI

IMSA Camel GT Championship Coca-Cola 12 Hours of Sebring Sebring International Raceway Sebring, Florida 287 laps on 4.86 mile road course; 1394.82 miles March 22, 1986 before they had drones, an overall track shot around 10 minutes.

Announcer Ken Squirer now owns a small stock car track in New Hampshire....

HypeType
Thx for posting this. It was my second year going to Sebring with my father, and one of the best times of my life, I was ten years old. This brought back great memories.

 

[h=2] A.J. Foyt Named Sebring Grand Marshal[/h] Published: Thursday, 30 November 2017 11:54 Sebring, FL - Racing legend A.J. Foyt will serve as Grand Marshal at the 66th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, March 14-17, 2018, at Sebring International Raceway.
Foyt recorded the final win of his illustrious driving career at the 1985 Sebring 12-hour race, co-driving with Bob Wollek in a Porsche 962. Other Sebring podium finishes for Foyt were a second-place in 1967 driving a Ford GT with Lloyd Ruby and third place in 1984 driving a Porsche with Wollek and Derek Bell.
Foyt’s incredible career includes four Indianapolis 500 victories, plus a fifth win as a car owner. Foyt teamed with Dan Gurney to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1967, and he won the Daytona 500 in 1972. Foyt also recorded two wins at Daytona’s Rolex 24. “Super Tex” holds the United States Auto Club (USAC) record with 159 career wins.
“A.J. Foyt is America’s greatest race car driver,” said Sebring Raceway President Wayne Estes. “Whether in sports cars, Indy cars, stocks cars or anything with four wheels, and whether on a road course, superspeedway, dirt or mountainside, A.J. Foyt fielded and drove winners in every form of motorsport. That he put his final exclamation point on his incredible driving career by winning at Sebring makes his return here all the more meaningful to the fans and competitors at the 66th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.”
“I really used to enjoy racing at Sebring in my younger days, and am glad to have won the 12 Hour race there with my good friend Bob Wollek,” stated Foyt. “It’s an honor to be named Grand Marshal and I’m looking forward to that weekend.”
In addition to serving as Grand Marshal, Foyt will be inducted into the Sebring Hall of Fame in 2018. Other inductees and details of the ceremony will be announced at a later date.
Sebring’s 12-hour race is the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Gates open at 6 am on Wednesday, March 14th. Tickets are available at sebringraceway.com or by calling 800-626-7223.

 

Tying some racing history together
See last post in thread:
See it before it goes away.

 

Sebring Hall of Fame Announces 2018 Inductees

Wednesday, 03 January 2018


RACER Staff / Image by IndyCar


The Sebring Hall of Fame has announced its 2018 inductees. A.J. Foyt, Rinaldo "Dindo" Capello, Paul Newman, Joest Racing and the civic organization Sebring Firemen, Inc. will join Sebring's prestigious Hall of Fame in 2018.
The induction dinner will take place Friday, March 16, the night before the 66th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The Chateau Elan Hotel and Conference Center will host the event.

A.J. Foyt is an American motorsports legend. In 1985 he drove the Swap Shop Porsche 962 to victory with Bob Wollek at Sebring in the final victory of his illustrious career. Foyt has two other podium finishes at Sebring: second place in 1967 driving a Ford, and third in 1984 driving a Porsche.
A four-time Indy 500 winner as a driver, plus an additional Indy win as a car owner, Foyt earned a record 159 victories in United States Auto Club (USAC) competition. In 1967 Foyt won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Dan Gurney driving for Ford. He also won the Daytona 500 in 1972 and twice co-drove the winning car at the Rolex 24 in Daytona.
Foyt will be serving as Grand Marshal for the Sebring 12-hour race.


Rinaldo "Dindo" Capello has five overall Sebring victories, second all-time behind Tom Kristensen, one of his teammates on the incredible Joest Audi team that dominated the American Le Mans Series. His wins came in 2001, 2002, 2006, 2009 and 2012. He earned three additional podium finishes at Sebring and a class victory in 2008. The Italian also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times.
Paul Newman (1925-200, actor, director, philanthropist and racecar driver, was one of sports car racing's greatest boosters. As a driver, he competed at circuits around the world, including Le Mans, Sebring and Daytona. He finished second overall at Le Mans in 1979 and won the GT class at Daytona in 1995 (at the age of 70). Newman recorded many wins in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) competition, winning four National Championships. He also found success as a team co-owner in the Indy Car series. More importantly, Newman earned the respect of colleagues in both the motorsports and entertainment industry with his professionalism, philanthropy and activism.


Joest Racing, founded by Reinhold Joest in 1978, has been a sports car racing dynasty. At Le Mans, Joest orchestrated an astonishing 15 overall wins in 25 years. His Sebring accomplishments are no less impressive. In 2000 at Sebring, Joest gave Audi their first major international endurance win. They would go on to win Sebring nine more times, setting virtually every record possible at America's oldest endurance race. In 2018 Joest returns to Sebring managing the Mazda program in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.


The Sebring Firemen, Inc., a non-profit organization established in 1927, played a key role in the origin of Sebring's famed 12-hour classic. Serving as the operational arm for race founder Alec Ulmann, the Sebring Firemen provided critical local manpower to help make the event a success during its formative years. Without the help of this organization, it is unlikely Sebring could have achieved the status of an internationally acclaimed event.


Tickets to the Hall of Fame dinner will go on sale to the public later this month.
The Sebring Hall of Fame was founded in 2002 to recognize the competitors, officials, promoters, manufacturers and teams who helped make Sebring North America's most historic road racing facility. The Hall of Fame operates the Gallery of Legends building in the Alan Jay paddock, which annually features a display of historic racecars. Hall of Fame inductions are held every other year.