1996 North American Touring Car Championship

The 1996 North American Touring Car Championship was the first season of the North American Touring Car Championship. The series was organized by CART, and ran to Super Touring regulations. 16 rounds at 8 race meetings were organized, all but two (Lime Rock and Trois-Rivières) supporting the CART IndyCar World Series.

Teams and drivers

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Team Car No. Drivers Class Rounds
Rod Millen Motorsports Toyota Carina E 2   Rod Millen C 1–2, 4, 8
Archer Petty Motorsports BMW 318is 3   Steve Petty I All
Leitzinger Racing Ford Mondeo Ghia 5   Jeff Andretti C 2–8
Ecurie Atlanta Mercedes-Benz 190E 6   Martin Stretton I 1
PacWest Touring Car Group Dodge Stratus 7   Dominic Dobson C All
8   David Donohue C All
Mirko Racing Honda Accord 9   Albert Mirko I 5–8
Delong Motorsports BMW 318is 10   Ed Delong I 1–2, 4
20   Jim Kenzie 4
TC Kline Racing Honda Accord 12   Randy Pobst C All
21   Peter Hardman C 1–7
Hartong Motorsports BMW 318is 18   Darren Law I 1–2, 4, 6–8
Motorsport Team Schemes Vauxhall Cavalier 25   Nigel Smith I 4, 6
Fastech Group Racing Ford Mondeo 27   Víctor González C 3
  David Welch 5, 8
  Paul Charsley 6
Honda American Racing Team Honda Accord 62   Forrest Granlund C 1, 3–4
  Peter Cunningham 5–8
Metalcraft Pontiac Sunfire 81   Dave Jolly I 8
Team Contour Racing Ford Contour 86   Chris Reinke I 6–8
Icon Class
C Constructor
I Independent

Calendar

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The calendar initially included an event at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 20, as a support race for NASCAR's The Winston.[1] By December 14, 1995, Charlotte was dropped from the calendar, replaced with a doubleheader at the Molson Indy Vancouver.[2] The Portland event was added to the schedule on April 15.[3]

Round Date Circuit Location Pole position Winning driver Winning team Winning Constructor Winning Independent Winning Independent Team
1 1 May 27   Lime Rock Park Lakeville, Connecticut   Dominic Dobson   David Donohue PacWest Touring Car Group   Dodge   Steve Petty Archer Petty Motorsports
2   Dominic Dobson   Dominic Dobson PacWest Touring Car Group   Dodge   Steve Petty Archer Petty Motorsports
2 3 June 8   Belle Isle Park Detroit, Michigan   Randy Pobst   Darren Law Hartong Motorsports   Dodge   Darren Law Hartong Motorsports
4   Darren Law   Dominic Dobson PacWest Touring Car Group   Dodge   Ed Delong Delong Motorsports
3 5 June 22   Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon   Randy Pobst   Randy Pobst TC Kline Racing   Honda   Steve Petty Archer Petty Motorsports
6   Dominic Dobson   Randy Pobst TC Kline Racing   Honda None
4 7 July 13   Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario   Dominic Dobson   Randy Pobst TC Kline Racing   Honda   Steve Petty Archer Petty Motorsports
8   Dominic Dobson   Peter Hardman TC Kline Racing   Honda   Steve Petty Archer Petty Motorsports
5 9 August 3   Circuit Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières, Quebec   David Donohue   Dominic Dobson PacWest Touring Car Group   Dodge   Steve Petty Archer Petty Motorsports
10 August 4   Randy Pobst   Randy Pobst TC Kline Racing   Honda   Steve Petty Archer Petty Motorsports
6 11 August 10   Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio   Peter Cunningham   Peter Cunningham Honda American Racing Team   Honda   Darren Law Hartong Motorsports
12   Randy Pobst   Peter Cunningham Honda American Racing Team   Honda   Darren Law Hartong Motorsports
7 13 August 31   Concord Pacific Place Vancouver, British Columbia   Dominic Dobson   Dominic Dobson PacWest Touring Car Group   Dodge None
14 September 1   Dominic Dobson   Peter Cunningham Honda American Racing Team   Honda   Steve Petty Archer Petty Motorsports
8 15 September 8   Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California   Randy Pobst   Randy Pobst TC Kline Racing   Honda   Darren Law Hartong Motorsports
16   Peter Cunningham   Peter Cunningham Honda American Racing Team   Honda   Darren Law Hartong Motorsports

Championship standings

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Drivers' Championship

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Pos Driver Class LRP
 
DET
 
POR
 
TOR
 
TRV
 
MDO
 
VAN
 
LAG
 
Pts
1   Randy Pobst C 2 3 6 2 1* 1* 1 2* 3 1* 10 3* 2* 4 1* 2 282
2   Dominic Dobson C 3 1* 4 1* 4 5 2* 3 1* 2 3 4 1 5 3 9 241
3   David Donohue C 1* 2 2 4 2 4 3 4 7 8 2 6 4 2 5 4 221
4   Peter Hardman C 10 7 3 3 5 2 5 1 2 3 5 2 5 6 176
5   Peter Cunningham C 4 6 1* 1 3 1* 2 1* 145
6   Steve Petty I 5 6 DNS DNS 8 8 6 7 6 4 8 7 7 3 8 DNS 139
7   Jeff Andretti C 5 6 6 6 DNS DNS 9 5 6 10 6 7 9 5 106
8   Darren Law I 9 8 1* 8 9 8 4 5 8 DNS 7 6 95
9   Forrest Granlund C 4 4 3 3 5 7 78
10   Rod Millen C 8 5 8 5 4 6 4 10 63
11   David Welch C 5 7 6 3 48
12   Ed Delong I 7 9 7 7 8 9 47
13   Nigel Smith I 10 DNS 9 9 23
14   Víctor González C 7 7 20
15   Paul Charsley C 7 8 19
16   Albert Mirko I 8 DNS 11 11 10 7 17
17   Martin Stretton I 6 DNS 11
18   Dave Jolly I 11 8 6
NC   Jim Kenzie I 11 DNS 0
NC   Chris Reinke I DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 0
Pos Driver Class LRP
 
DET
 
POR
 
TOR
 
TRV
 
MDO
 
VAN
 
LAG
 
Pts
Color Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green 4th & 5th place
Light Blue 6th-10th place
Dark Blue Finished
(Outside Top 10)
Purple Did not finish
Red Did not qualify
(DNQ)
Brown Withdrawn
(Wth)
Black Disqualified
(DSQ)
White Did not start
(DNS)
Blank Did not
participate
(DNP)
Not competing
In-line notation
Bold Pole position
Italics Ran fastest race lap
* Led most race laps

Manufacturers' Championship

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Pos Manufacturer LRP
 
DET
 
POR
 
TOR
 
TRV
 
MDO
 
VAN
 
LAG
 
Pts
1   Honda 2 3 3 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 298
2   Dodge 1 1 2 1 2 4 2 3 1 2 2 4 1 2 3 4 271
3   Ford 5 6 6 6 5 5 6 8 6 7 6 3 136
4   Toyota 8 5 8 5 4 6 4 10 63
Pos Manufacturer LRP
 
DET
 
POR
 
TOR
 
TRV
 
MDO
 
VAN
 
LAG
 
Pts

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Series announcement press release". Press release. Retrieved 24 December 2010.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "A synopsis of the North American Touring Car Championship press conference held December 14, 1995". Press release. North American Touring Car Championship. Archived from the original on 26 December 2005. Retrieved 24 December 2010.
  3. ^ Hnatiw, Tom. "Super Tourers to Appear at Portland International". Press release. Retrieved 24 December 2010.[permanent dead link]
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