Derek Bell

By H.A. Branham

While most attention accorded the IMSA Camel GT Series in the 1980s tilted the way of the headlining, exotic GTP class, the production-based GTO class had its own splendid show going. Unreal cars that sort of looked like showroom models – you had to squint and imagine – but were exotic in their own right, driven by then-current and future stars.

The Roush Mustangs, another legendary car type joining human counterparts in the IMSA Hall of Fame, were some of the dominant GTO entries in the late ’80s and early ‘90s. Roush, who also was fielding cars in the SCCA Trans-Am and NASCAR Cup Series during some of those years, truly was a wily “Cat in the Hat” during the era, deftly shifting driver lineups.

The list is remarkable. IMSA Hall of Fame inductee Scott Pruett is on it, as is NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin and female racing trailblazer Lyn St. James, Wally Dallenbach Jr. and Robby Gordon … the great George Follmer, Tom Gloy, Tommy Kendall, Paul Newman and Caitlyn Jenner.

Bob Riley worked with Jack Roush – a fairly good combination – on the design of the Roush Racing Mustangs. The 550-horsepower Mustangs evolved from Mercury Capris that Roush had helped build for a 1984 championship season in Trans-Am.

The 1985 and ’86 seasons were the peak. John Jones and Pruett won GTO driver championships as Ford won consecutive manufacturer titles. White Motorcraft liveries looked cool. The bright-red Whistler cars may’ve been cooler.

Roush Mustangs ruled IMSA’s biggest stage, Daytona International Speedway – and the Rolex 24 At Daytona – in GTO/GTS (the class name changed in 1992). Ten championships in 10 appearances in the demanding endurance race, then and now the premier event on the IMSA schedule: 1985-93 and ’95 (the team did not participate in 1994).

Jack Roush, in 1985: “The critics said the cars were too boxy. They said the engines wouldn’t last. We knew they were wrong.”