November 21, 1971: IMSA’s first Daytona 200 race and Corvettes ROMP the GTO class!

Dateline: 11.21.17 – We’re not sure how often this has happened, but “not often” is a safe bet. This was the inaugural season of IMSA’s GT Championship racing series. The cars were Grand Tour-style racecars that ran in the GTU and GTO classes. “GTU” class was for cars with engines under 2.5-liters and “GTO” class was for cars with engines over 2.5-liters. At the end of the 200-mile race, Don Yenko and Dave Heinz came in 1st overall and 1st in the GTO class, followed by SEVEN other Corvettes!

It was a banner season for Corvettes and Chevrolet in IMSA GTO racing in 1971 with Chevrolet winning the Constructor’s Championship for the year with 51 points and Shelby way back in 2nd place with 13 points.

Here’s how the cars crossed the finish line:

1st in GTO class and 1st overall is the Toye English #57 1969 Corvette L-88 driven by Dave Heinz and Don Yenko. 2nd in GTO class and 6th overall is the #22 Corvette driven by Denny Long.
3rd in GTO class and 12th overall is the #99 Corvette driven by Phil Currin.
4th in GTO class and 13th overall is the #63 Corvette driven by Jim Jeffries.
5th in GTO class and 27th overall is the #28 Corvette driven by Andrew Bach.
6th in GTO class and 39th overall is the #24 Corvette driven by John Floyd.
7th in GTO class and 44th overall is the #81 Corvette driven by Ron Stafford.
8th in GTO class and 51st overall is the #46 Corvette driven by Billy Coates.

So THERE, Porsche! – Scott

PS – Check out our story about the Rebel L88 Corvette HERE.

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