The 1991 SCCA Escort World Challenge was the second running of the Sports Car Club of America's World Challenge series. It was the final year under sponsorship from Escort radar detectors. The series would not find another corporate sponsor until television network SpeedVision bought the series in 1999. The race in Mexico would be their final race outside of North America (i.e. the United States and Canada) until their race in Puerto Rico twelve years later. The series also added a Super Sport group alongside its World Challenge and Super Production groups. The series would also adopt a 24-hour race at Mosport Park.
The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional racers.
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is a multi-track motorsport venue located north of Bowmanville, in Ontario, Canada, 64-kilometre (40 mi) east of Toronto. The facility features a 3.957 km (2.459 mi), 10-turn road course; a 2.9 km (1.8 mi) advance driver and race driver training facility with a 0.402 km (0.250 mi) skid pad and a 1.5 km (0.93 mi) kart track. The name "Mosport", a portmanteau of Motor Sport, came from the enterprise formed to build the track.
Michael Mario Andretti is an American semi-retired auto racing driver and current team owner. Statistically one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, Andretti won the 1991 CART PPG Indy Car World Series and amassed 42 race victories, the most in the CART era and fourth-most all time. Since his retirement from active racing, Andretti has owned Andretti Autosport, which has won four IndyCar Series championships and five Indianapolis 500 races.
The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive director of SCCA, and his wife Peggy in 1969 with help from Bill France Sr. of NASCAR. Beginning in 2014, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the premier series resulting from the merger of Grand-Am Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series. IMSA is owned by NASCAR, as a division of the company.
Circuit Mont-Tremblant is a 4.218 km (2.621 mi) race circuit located approximately 130 km (81 mi) north of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the second-oldest existing race track in Canada, and was originally known as Circuit Mont-Tremblant-St-Jovite until it was renamed in the 1970s. Set in the shadow of the Mont-Tremblant ski hill, the twisting fifteen-corner track uses the natural topography and elevation of the land.
The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the Stephane Ratel Organisation since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club since 2017.
Road America is a motorsport road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship, Sports Car Club of America GT World Challenge America and Trans-Am Series and the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship.
Virginia International Raceway is a race track located in Alton, Virginia, near Danville. It is less than a half-mile from the North Carolina/Virginia border just outside Milton, North Carolina, on the banks of the Dan River. VIR hosts amateur and professional automobile and motorcycle events, driving schools, club days, and private test rentals.
The Grand Prix of Minnesota was an auto racing event held from 1996 until 1998 on an Alan Wilson-designed temporary street circuit in Minneapolis, Minnesota near the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. It was known as the Children's Grand Prix of Minneapolis in 1996, changing its name to The Sprint PCS Grand Prix of Minneapolis for its final two years.
Elliott Forbes-Robinson is a road racing race car driver. He is known for his race wins and championships in many different series, including the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), Super Vee, Trans-Am Series, CanAm, IMSA GTU, and the World Challenge. He is known in NASCAR circles as a road course ringer. He is also a founder of the Legends Cars of 600 Racing and he designed their original car.
The Longest Day of Nelson was conceived in 1980, when a group of racing enthusiasts, led by John McGill, Grover Griggs and Ann McHugh, came up with the idea to hold an amateur 24-hour endurance race for purely showroom stock vehicles at the Nelson Ledges Road Course in Ohio, which would take place on or near the summer solstice each year. Sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), the host of the event was the Northeast Ohio Region of the SCCA.
The Circuit Trois-Rivières is a street circuit in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada. The circuit has been the home of the annual Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières, the longest-running street race in North America, since 1967. The circuit is located on the Terrain de l'Exposition (fairgrounds) and is unusual in that it passes through Porte Duplessis, the narrow concrete gateway of the grounds at turn 3.
The 1986 SCCA/Escort Endurance Championship season was the second year of the SCCA Endurance Championship. It was the first season of title sponsorship by Escort, replacing title sponsor Playboy Magazine from the previous season. The class structure was also modified, adding the Super Sports (SS) class and combining the C class of the previous year into the B class. The per race purse was set to US$28,000 and the year-end points fund grew to $80,000 - to be split among the four classes.
Peter "P.D." Cunningham is an American race car driver and owner of RealTime R&L, Inc., based in Saukville, Wisconsin and currently competing in the Pirelli World Challenge GT Championship. His name and his team, RealTime Racing, have become synonymous with the Honda and Acura brands. Through 2013, he has claimed 91 professional race wins across 12 different North American road racing series and holds numerous World Challenge records.
SCCA Pro Racing is the pro racing division of the Sports Car Club of America. SCCA Pro Racing was formed in 1963, the company is a fully owned subsidiary of SCCA.
The 1999 SpeedVision World Challenge was the tenth running of the Sports Car Club of America's premier series. It was the first season that the series would be covered by the SpeedVision network. The season also marked a new format, with Touring 1 becoming Grand Touring and Touring 2 becoming Touring Car. 1999 was also the first year in which the series would have a corporate sponsor since 1991. Pontiac got its final series win this season, joining Oldsmobile and Saturn as General Motors brands gradually disappearing from the World Challenge. It was not until the rise of the Cadillac CTS-V that a GM division other than Chevrolet would see a win. This also led to the beginning of a longtime BMW-Mazda-Acura affair in touring car.
The 1992 SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge was the third running of the Sports Car Club of America's World Challenge series. It was the first not to be sponsored by Escort radar detectors. The series would not receive another corporate sponsor until its acquisition by SpeedVision in 1999. It included a 24-hour race at Mosport Park. It would be the final year with four or more groups until 1996. The season would also mark the end of the endurance racing the series was founded upon, gradually phased out until by 1999 its endurance races were replaced with one-hour sprints. The classes were changed from World Challenge, Super Production, and Super Sport to A, B, C, and D.
The 1990 SCCA Escort World Challenge season was the inaugural season of the Sports Car Club of America's World Challenge series under the sprint race format, after changing its name from the Escort Endurance Championship while keeping the corporate sponsor of Escort radar detectors. The series would also have to share attention with the SCCA's main series, Trans Am. This would be the only season to feature only two classes until 1997, between which the series would use three to five classes per season. Peter Cunningham got his first win, finishing first at Laguna Seca Raceway in a Honda CRX. This would begin a longtime relationship between Cunningham and Honda, as well as his longtime career in the series, in which he is now the best-performing driver by number of wins.
Ken Murillo is a former racing driver from Santa Rosa, California. Murillo won the 1987 Barber Saab Pro Series and the 1988 Formula Super Vee USA Robert Bosch/Valvoline Championship. Murillow currently co-owns Michelin Pilot Challenge team Murillo Racing.
Lawson L. Aschenbach is an American professional racing driver. He is a four-time Pirelli World Challenge champion, and most recently, the 2014 Pirelli World Challenge GTS Champion. He is the 2006 SPEED World Challenge Rookie of the Year and became the first person to win the SPEED GT Championship in his rookie season. He is also the champion of the 2010 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge ST Championship and 2014 Lamborghini Super Trofeo ProAM World Champion. Aschenbach first raced professionally in 2005. He currently races for Stevenson Motorsports in the IMSA Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.