2025 IMSA Hall of Fame Inductees Named

Photos: Rick Dole

IMSA has named its 2025 Hall of Fame inductees ahead of today’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, featuring six men and three race cars that have carved its unique place in sports car racing history.

Launched in 2023, the IMSA Hall of Fame celebrates more than 50 years of North American sports car racing excellence and lives digitally at imsahalloffame.com.

Inductees are selected from a nomination committee that includes past and present IMSA executives and members, as well as a rotating group of media members with intimate knowledge of IMSA’s rich history.

The 2025 class will be officially enshrined in the IMSA Hall of Fame at the WeatherTech Night of Champions, which celebrates the accomplishments and moments from the season after the Motul Petit Le Mans season finale in October.

IMSA Hall of Fame Class of 2025

Bob Akin

Known as the consummate gentleman racer and a two-time winner at the Twelve Hours of Sebring, Akin’s most remembered time came in the iconic red Coca-Cola Porsche 962 in the mid- to late-1980s.

A mentor and team owner who helped advance the careers of countless sports car racers.

His legacy lives on with the annual presentation of the Bob Akin Award to the top Bronze-rated driver in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GTD class each year that includes an invitation to drive in the following year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Rob Dyson

Another racer/team owner, Dyson’s start in the sport can be traced to club racing in 1974. He began competing in IMSA as a driver/owner in 1983, moving up to the GTP class in 1985 and becoming instantly successful, the team collecting wins in four straight seasons in the highly competitive class.

From 1995-2002, Dyson Racing won 36 races including the overall victory at the Rolex 24 At Daytona in 1997 and ’99. The team owner was part of the driver lineup for the ’97 triumph as well as the SR class win at Daytona in 2000.

Elliott Forbes-Robinson

An 18-time IMSA race winner, including overall Rolex 24 At Daytona victories in 1997 and ’99 with Dyson Racing, Forbes-Robinson was noted for his versatility that spanned more than 40 years across a myriad of racing disciplines from sports cars to NASCAR to Can-Am to Formula 5000 and more.

In IMSA alone, Forbes-Robinson drove everything from the Nissan GTP to Mazda GTOs to the Howard-Boss Motorsports Daytona Prototype.

Dan Gurney

The “Big Eagle” is a legend in many forms of racing, from Indy cars to Formula 1 to off-road and sports cars. His All American Racers team took IMSA by storm with its Toyota-powered Eagle MkIII in the original GTP class.

From 1991-93, the team’s two cars dominated the class, winning a combined 21 races including the 1993 Rolex 24 At Daytona and the ’92 and ’93 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The secret to the MkIII’s success was the first carbon-fiber monocoque which the AAR team produced in-house.

Prior to the team’s GTP success, All American Racers fielded Toyota Celicas in IMSA’s GTU and GTO classes, winning the GTO driver and manufacturer title in 1987.

As a sports car driver, Gurney won the Twelve Hours of Sebring in 1959, the inaugural three-hour Daytona Continental (what would eventually become the Rolex 24 At Daytona) in 1962 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1967 alongside A.J. Foyt in the Ford GT40 Mk IV.

Don Panoz

One of the most influential figures in motorsports in his time, Panoz was an innovator and business leader who helped spur the evolution of sports car racing in North America.

He was co-founder of Panoz cars, which developed the Panoz GT-LM that won both the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Twelve Hours of Sebring in 2006.

He purchased Professional Sports Car Racing (an IMSA successor) and formed an alliance with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) to bring Le Mans specifications to North American racing in the form of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) starting in 1999.

ALMS merged with GRAND-AM in 2013 to form what is today known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. As part of the merger, Panoz became vice chairman of the modern-day IMSA, which was a role he held until his death in 2018.

Bob Tullius

His long affiliation with the British Leyland fleet of cars eventually led to Tullius bringing the memorable Group 44 Jaguar XJR-5 and XJR-7 to IMSA GTP competition in the 1980s.

Tullius’ marketing expertise and sponsorship association with Quaker State Motor Oil led the team to creating its iconic white-and-green look that spread across the team’s race cars, transporters and even crew uniforms.

As a driver, Tullius collected 10 IMSA race wins and a 24 Hours of Le Mans class win in 1985.

BMW CSL

Nicknamed the “Batmobile” for its look, the BMW CSL entered IMSA competition in 1974. What followed was a lineup of driver heavyweights that included Hans-Joachim Stuck, Brian Redman, Sam Posey and Allen Moffatt, who teamed to drive the CSL to victory at the 1975 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

BMW Motorsport followed with three more wins that season. The following year, Redman, Peter Gregg and John Fitzpatrick drove the CSL to the overall victory at the Rolex 24 At Daytona.

The car is still noted by racing aficionados for its classic design and paint scheme.

Group 44 Jaguar GTP XJR-5 and XJR-7

Regarded as one of the most beautiful GTP cars ever made, both cars won races over a five-year period in the 1980s. The cars were designed and built by Jaguar North America behind the leadership of Mike Dale and designer Lee Dykstra.

Bob Tullius, who is also being inducted into the IMSA Hall of Fame class of 2025, and his Group 44 team ran the operation. The cars featured a 6.5-liter, V-12 engine whose sound still resonates today with sports car fans.

The successes of the XJR-5 and XJR-7 led to it eventually being absorbed into Jaguar’s worldwide racing program.

Lola T600

Remembered as the first IMSA customer GTP car, the Lola T600 stormed onto the scene midway through the 1981 season and won five races to clinch the class championship behind driver Brian Redman and the Cooke-Woods Racing team.

The T600 claimed a partial championship in 1982 when John Paul Jr. scored seven wins split between the Lola and a Porsche 935 to win the title.

Powered initially by a Chevrolet 6.0-liter V-8, the T600 was the first to employ tunnel ground effects and totaled 10 IMSA wins over its span of some seven seasons.