{"id":492049,"date":"2011-10-01T15:00:29","date_gmt":"2011-10-01T15:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=32315"},"modified":"2025-01-06T00:46:38","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T00:46:38","slug":"imsa-and-the-935","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/imsa-and-the-935\/","title":{"rendered":"IMSA\u2008and the 935"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Prior to 1980, I had raced in the United States on a few occasions\u2014I\u2019d done Daytona two or three times with Porsche and I\u2019d been to Watkins Glen. I won at The Glen in \u201978 with a 935, but I hadn\u2019t done many races. Just two or three a year. Ironically, I was down at Bathurst in Australia toward the end of \u201979 and Dick Barbour was there. Dick finished 2nd at Le Mans that year and had big plans for the following year.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/a>
John Fitzpatrick
Photo: Mike Jiggle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Australia we\u2019d got to chatting, we went out and ate and that sort of thing, and he asked me what I was doing. He asked if I would like to go to the United States and drive IMSA full time. I grabbed the chance immediately because I really enjoyed racing in the States. The Porsche fans in the States were even keener than the Porsche fans in Europe, and it was just a great place to be. And of course, there were a lot of new circuits for me, as well. Quite a lot of the smaller tracks, and the big ones I hadn\u2019t done before, so that was interesting. So I actually moved with my family at the beginning of 1980 to San Diego and drove for Barbour. And, of course, we had a fantastic year, I mean we won virtually everything. It was really incredible.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n