By: RACER Staff | February 12, 2019 5:44 PM Sponsored Content: BMW USA During his short, but illustrious tenure as a BMW AG board member, Bob Lutz (LEFT) set up BMW Motorsport, then led the establishment of BMW North America

Inc. in March 1975.Within days, the No. 25 BMW 3.0 CSL (MAIN) piloted by Brian Redman, Allan Moffat (substituting for Ronnie Peterson), Hans-Joachim Stuck and Sam Posey won the 12 Hours of Sebring. It was a seminal moment for both BMW and IMSA, as BMW’s inaugural

marketing program in North America was also the company’s first motorsport program in the States.For BMW, it began an almost continuous relationship with IMSA that would yield 190 victories through the end of the 2018 season, placing it fifth on the manufacturer’s win list – a

remarkable achievement when considering that BMW has never fielded the volume of cars that those ahead of them on the list have.For IMSA, the arrival of the BMW Motorsport team, led by Jochen Neerspach and master engine designer Paul Rosche, along with drivers like

Redman, Stuck, Peterson and Posey – known as “The Cowboys” for being the first Bavarians to compete in the “Wild West” – helped to truly put the “International” in IMSA by paving the way for more drivers and teams from abroad to race in the series.


The BMW “Batmobiles” won five times during their debut IMSA season. A year later, Peter Gregg left Porsche to partner Redman in the No. 59 BMW 3.0 CSL. The pair took overall victory at the 1976 24 Hours of Daytona and Gregg scored a second win, at Talladega.“Those first two

seasons established a fast friendship between IMSA and BMW, and made it clear to North American consumers that BMW stands for Bavarian Motor Works,” says BMW NA Motorsport Manager Victor Leleu. “One more lasting gift from Lutz was our tag line, ‘The Ultimate

Driving Machine’ – something we’ve endeavored to reinforce ever since.”In 1977, BMW partnered with McLaren North America Inc. to create the “Flying Brick,” a flame-spitting BMW 320i Turbo that produced an unreal amount of power from a turbocharged, 2-liter, four cylinder engine.

David Hobbs tallied eight wins over three seasons against a battalion of Porsche 934s and 935s.“The 320i Turbo was North America’s introduction to the then all-new BMW 3 Series – perhaps the single most important model to BMW over the years,” says Leleu. “Furthermore,

the turbo technology pioneered for the 320i Turbo IMSA program laid the foundation for BMW’s 1983 Formula 1 World Championship-winning engine in the Brabham BT52.”By the early 1980s, GT-based cars had reached their zenith, at least as the top class in sports car racing.