1988 Trans-Am Series Explained

The 1988 SCCA Escort Trans-Am Championship^[1] was the 23rd running of the Sports Car Club of America's premier series. 1988 would mark the end of the "GT era", in which the series had been the support series, and often the lesser classes, of the more popular IMSA GT Championship, which had overtaken Trans Am as the most popular road racing series in the United States beginning in 1973 after the decline of muscle cars and the 1973 Oil Crisis. This led to an increase in competitiveness from foreign manufacturers.

The Audi 200 quattro won the manufacturer's championship^[2] and Hurley Haywood won the driver's championship.^[3]

Results

^[4]

Round	Date	Circuit	Winning driver	Winning vehicle
1	16 April	Long Beach	Paul Gentilozzi	Oldsmobile Cutlass
2	1 May	Dallas	Hurley Haywood	Audi 200
3	29 May	Sears Point	Willy T. Ribbs	Chevrolet Camaro
4	18 June	Detroit	Hurley Haywood	Audi 200
5	26 June	Niagara Falls	Walter Röhrl	Audi 200
6	2 July	Cleveland	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Audi 200
7	17 July	Brainerd	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Audi 200
8	23 July	Meadowlands	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Audi 200
9	6 August	Lime Rock Park	Scott Pruett	Merkur XR4Ti
10	3 September	Mid-Ohio	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Audi 200
11	10 September	Road America	Scott Pruett	Merkur XR4Ti
12	25 September	Mosport	Darin Brassfield	Chevrolet Corvette
13	23 October	St. Petersburg	Walter Röhrl	Audi 200

Championship standings (Top 20)

^[4]

Pos	Driver	LBH	DAL	SPT	DET	NGF	CLE	BIR	MEA	LRP	MDO	ROA	MSP	SPG	Pts
1	Hurley Haywood	2	1*	6	1	13	4	2	2	4	3	4	22	18	151.5
2	Irv Hoerr	5	2	2	18	3	2	5*	7	3	8	28	5	4	141
3	Scott Pruett	7*	27	3	2	2	34		3	1*	16	1*			117
4	Jim Derhaag	6	5	7	4	23	10	3	8	8	14	9	6	9	104
5	Darin Brassfield	21	3**	9	38	4	32	25	12	2	6	27	1*	2*	101
6	Hans-Joachim Stuck	29			35		1*	1	1*		1*	2		28	100
7	Lyn St. James	3	11	11	9	7	7	7	11	11	10	8	8	8	98
8	Les Lindley	4	19	4	12	5	3	21	10	6	4	30	11	7	95
9	Walter Röhrl		13	5		1*				5			4	1	80
9	Paul Gentilozzi	1	23	8	3	17	5	4	4	32	32	36	13	26	80
11	Willy T. Ribbs		4*	1*	11	24			5			3		3	78.5
12	Bruce Nesbitt	15	6		7	9	24	27	14	10	7	18	14	10	52
13	Deborah Gregg	12	20	13	5	11	9	29	28	9	26	14	20	6	48
14	Mike Ciasulli	27	14	36	6	18	27	6	9	36	9	6	17	DNS	46
15	Ron Fellows											5	3	5	36
16	Bob Sobey	9	10	30	32	19	8	9	13	22				14	33
17	Jerry Clinton	18	17	16	30	10	12	18	20	14	29	11	10	11	28
18	Jack Baldwin										2	7			25
19	Jerry Brassfield		3**	10			29								20
19	R.K. Smith		29	20	28	DNQ	37	26	24		5	DNS	7	21	20
Pos	Driver	LBH	DAL	SPT	DET	NGF	CLE	BIR	MEA	LRP	MDO	ROA	MSP	SPG	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)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
Blank	Not competing

In-line notation
Bold	Pole position
\|style="background:#F2F2F2;" align=center\|Led most race laps\|-\|style="background:#F2F2F2;" align=center\|*\|style="background:#F2F2F2;" align=center\|Darin Brassfield started in the #88 car at DAL, falling out (30th/DNF) before the green flag, switching to the #87 and finishing 3rd. Both Darin and Jerry Brassfield were credited with the finish.\|}\|}\|} References ]

Notes and References

Web site: Trans-Am (page 3) - Championships - Racing Sports Cars.
Achorn. George. 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed. Quattro Quarterly. Fall 2013. XXIII. 4. 31.
Web site: Trans Am history enshrined in Sebring Hall of Fame as Peter Gregg and Bob Tullius inducted. gotransam.com. Trans Am Racing. May 6, 2014. March 18, 2014.
Web site: Archived copy . cms.scca.com . 15 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130518144323/http://cms.scca.com/documents/Pro%20Racing/Archives/Trans-Am/1988.pdf . 18 May 2013 . dead.