The 1988 SCCA Escort Trans-Am Championship 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.
During the first race, driver Dan Croft was critically injured and later died as the first casualty of the Long Beach Street Circuit.
The Audi 200 quattro won the manufacturer's championship and Hurley Haywood won the driver's championship.
Results
Round Date Circuit Winning driver Winning vehicle116 AprilLong Beach Paul GentilozziOldsmobile Cutlass21 MayDallas Hurley HaywoodAudi 200329 MaySears Point Willy T. RibbsChevrolet Camaro418 JuneDetroit Hurley HaywoodAudi 200526 JuneNiagara Falls Walter RöhrlAudi 20062 JulyCleveland Hans-Joachim StuckAudi 200717 JulyBrainerd Hans-Joachim StuckAudi 200823 JulyMeadowlands Hans-Joachim StuckAudi 20096 AugustLime Rock Park Scott PruettMerkur XR4Ti103 SeptemberMid-Ohio Hans-Joachim StuckAudi 2001110 SeptemberRoad America Scott PruettMerkur XR4Ti1225 SeptemberMosport Darin BrassfieldChevrolet Corvette1323 OctoberSt. Petersburg Walter RöhrlAudi 200
Championship standings (Top 20)
Pos Driver LBH DAL SPT DET NGF CLE BIR MEA LRP MOH 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 MOH 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 competingIn-line notationBoldPole position*Led most race laps**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