AMC vs The World: How Two 1979 AMC Spirits Won Class At The 24 hours of The 'Ring

AMC vs The World: How Two 1979 AMC Spirits Won Class At The 24 hours of The 'Ring The Dork-O-Motive Podcast · Jun 23, 2026

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Brand

BF Goodrich

BF Goodrich is a tire company. In a long race, the tires are a huge deal because they control grip and how quickly they wear out.

Car

The AMC AMX is a performance car made by AMC. It was built to be quick and sporty, and it was also used in racing events. The podcast mentions it because it had a role in endurance racing, not just everyday driving.

Place

Nuremberg ring

They’re talking about the Nürburgring in Germany. It’s famous for being extremely hard on cars and drivers, especially in long races like a 24-hour event.

Term

class-winning honors

Endurance races often split cars into groups (“classes”) based on rules. “Class-winning” means they were the best in their group, which is still a big win even if another class won overall.

Term

radial TA street tires

Radial tires are a modern tire design that tends to last well and work efficiently. The point here is that they weren’t race-only slicks—they were street-oriented tires, yet they still helped the cars win class in a 24-hour race.

Car

Jeep Commander

The Jeep Commander is a larger SUV made by Jeep. It’s meant to fit more people and handle everyday driving with extra space. The podcast likely brings it up because it’s part of Jeep’s SUV lineup and may be connected to a story or list being discussed.

Car

1979 AMC Spirit AMX

This is a 1979 AMC muscle car called the Spirit AMX. What makes it special in this episode is that it was raced for 24 hours and still managed to win its class at the Nürburgring.

Term

Radio TA

Radio TA sounds like the name of a specific BF Goodrich tire. The point is that it was marketed as a high-performance tire meant to do well under racing-style conditions.

Term

slicks

Slicks are race tires with no tread grooves. They usually grip the road better on dry tracks, but they’re not meant for wet weather or normal street driving.

Topic

SCCA A sedan class

This is a specific kind of race class run by the SCCA. It groups cars that are eligible under the same rules, so competitors are more comparable.

Car

Pontiac Firebird

The Pontiac Firebird is a classic American performance car made by Pontiac. It was designed to be fast and fun to drive, and it became well known during the muscle-car era. It may come up in a podcast when talking about old racing and performance parts from that time.

Term

BFG Firebird Tirebird

This refers to a specific BF Goodrich tire model the host calls legendary. It was developed as part of the racing program to improve grip and handling compared with slicks.

Term

suspension engineering upgrades

Suspension upgrades are changes to the car’s handling system. Better suspension helps the tires stay planted so the car turns and brakes more predictably.

Person

Herb Adams

Herb Adams is an engineer the host credits with improving the suspension. Suspension tuning is about how the car controls body movement and tire contact during cornering and braking.

Person

Jerry Titus

Jerry Titus is credited as a developer of the Firebird program before his passing. The host frames his work as part of the engineering that made the car work “very well,” implying a key role in development beyond just tire choice.

Topic

SCCA Northeast division

This is a regional part of the SCCA racing series. Finishing well in the Northeast division means the car did well against other eligible cars in that region.

Car

Chevrolet Corvette

Corvettes are Chevrolet sports cars. The host is mentioning them because they were the race cars used in an endurance-racing program tied to tire development.

Person

John Greenwood

John Greenwood is a race driver. Here, the host is saying BFGoodrich teamed up with him and his Corvette race cars for long-distance endurance races.

Person

Amos Johnson

Amos Johnson was a race driver who wasn’t just good behind the wheel—he also helped organize and run winning racing efforts. The host credits him with early success in American road racing.

Term

IMSA GT

IMSA GT is a type of sports-car racing run by IMSA, focused on “GT” (grand touring) style cars. The host is pointing out that someone won their class in the first IMSA GT event in 1971.

Company

American Motors Corporation

American Motors Corporation (AMC) is the automaker the host is talking about. They’re described as getting into racing later than bigger rivals, after initially not being interested in racing.

Person

George Romney

George Romney is mentioned as the person who led AMC in the 1960s. The host says his leadership period included an “anti-racing” attitude before AMC later got involved in racing.

Brand

Rambler

Rambler was an AMC car brand name. The host is quoting an old ad where the company basically said racing wasn’t what mattered to them.

Term

trans-M racing

“Trans-M racing” sounds like a specific racing program name tied to AMC. The host is saying AMC worked with well-known racing figures and series, not just random one-off events.

Person

Penske

“Penske” refers to a major racing name. Here, the host is saying AMC worked with that kind of experienced racing team/leadership to get into big-time competition.

Person

Donahue

“Donahue” is a racing figure mentioned as part of the people involved in AMC’s racing programs. The host is using him to connect AMC to major names in American racing.

Person

Bob Swain

Bob Swain is mentioned as the person running an AMC racing program. The host says his job was basically managing the sports-car racing activities for AMC.

Car

Dodge Spirit

The Dodge Spirit is a car model made by Dodge that was sold in the 1970s. It’s a sedan, meaning it’s built for regular driving with seats for passengers and a trunk for cargo. The podcast mentions it as part of a set of car stories from that decade.

Topic

IMSA radial sedan class

IMSA is a racing organization that ran sports-car races in the U.S. A “radial sedan class” is a category of race cars grouped by rules, including using radial tires.

Term

endurance racing

Endurance racing means you race for a long time, not just a short sprint. Teams have to manage tires, fuel, and driver changes to last the whole event.

Place

24 hours of the Nuremberg rig in Germany

This is the Nürburgring’s famous 24-hour race in Germany. It’s a major endurance event, and the hosts are saying Americans weren’t really competing there at the time.

Term

Grand Prix

A “Grand Prix” is a big, high-profile race event in motorsport. Here, the host is saying the Nürburgring was already well known to Formula One fans.

Term

BFG radial TA tires

“Radial” refers to how the tire is built. The “TA” part is the specific tire line, and the host is saying using those tires in a big 24-hour race would help BFGoodrich’s reputation.

Term

FIA Group 1 racing

FIA is the organization that sets rules for international racing. “Group 1” is a specific set of race rules that determines what cars are allowed and how they must be built for that competition.

Term

roll cages

A roll cage is a strong metal frame inside the car that helps keep the driver safe if the car flips or crashes hard. Race cars use them because they’re safer and can also help the car handle more consistently.

Term

304 cubic inch AMC V8

This is the engine size and type: a V8 with 304 cubic inches of displacement. Bigger displacement generally means more potential power, and in a 24-hour race it also has to be tuned to last.

Term

four speed manual transmissions

This means the race cars used a manual gearbox with four gears. Drivers shift it themselves, and the gear spacing helps the engine stay in the right rev range for speed and control.

Term

red line

The red line is the highest safe engine speed. For a 24-hour race, teams often keep it lower than the absolute limit to avoid breaking parts.

Term

nodular iron or armasteel crankshaft

The crankshaft is the main rotating part inside the engine. The host is saying the race engine used a strong crankshaft material (either nodular iron or Armasteel) to better survive the hard use of racing.

Term

forged rods

Connecting rods are parts that transfer force from the pistons to the crankshaft. “Forged” means they’re made stronger, which helps them handle the stress of racing.

Term

four barrel carburetors

A carburetor is how the engine gets the right mix of fuel and air. “Four-barrel” means it has four throttle openings, and the host is pointing out these engines used a simpler setup that’s easier to keep running for 24 hours.

Term

OE delivered tire

OE means “factory-installed.” So the host is saying the car originally came with a different tire brand than the one the race team wanted to run.

Term

60 series

“60 series” describes the tire’s sidewall height relative to its width. That affects how the tire feels and how it handles bumps and cornering forces.

Term

road course

A road course is a race track made of lots of corners and changing terrain, not a simple oval. Drivers have to brake and steer carefully through many turns to stay fast.

Person

Heinz Henrici

Heinz Henrici is the expert the team found to help them learn the track. He was a highly experienced racer there, and the story says he could drive it extremely well even with one arm.

Place

24 and 84 hour endurance races at this track

Endurance races are long races where you keep going for many hours, not just a sprint. The goal is to stay fast and keep the car running reliably the whole time.

Term

stick shift

“Stick shift” means the car uses a manual gearbox. The driver has to change gears with a lever (and usually a clutch pedal) instead of letting the car do it automatically.

Term

apexes

The apex is the inside point of a turn that drivers aim for. Hitting it well helps the car turn smoothly and get out of the corner faster.

Term

tech inspection

Tech inspection is the official check before the race. It’s where race officials make sure the car is legal and safe to drive.

Term

brakes were sketchy

“Sketchy” brakes means the brakes didn’t feel trustworthy or worked inconsistently. The team thought something in the brake setup—possibly the brake fluid and bleeding—was causing the bad braking.

Term

fully bled

Bleeding the brakes removes trapped air from the brake lines. If you don’t bleed them properly, the pedal can feel soft and the brakes may not work as strongly or consistently.

Term

brake fluid was upgraded

Upgrading brake fluid means using a better brake fluid meant to handle heat better. If the brake system wasn’t fully bled afterward, air can get in and make the brakes feel bad or stop poorly.

Term

DNF

DNF means “did not finish.” It’s what you get when the car can’t complete the race, usually because of a problem or an incident.

Term

DQ

DQ means disqualification—your car is removed from the official results because of a rules violation. In endurance races, even small rule breaks can be punished.

Term

shorter gearing

Gearing is how the car’s transmission is geared to trade acceleration for top speed. Shorter gearing usually helps the car feel quicker, especially out of corners, but it may not reach as high a top speed.

Term

tightly wound engine

When someone says an engine is “tightly wound,” they usually mean it’s tuned to work best at higher revs. That can make it feel more eager when you rev it, which helps in racing.

Term

more aggressive suspension setup

An aggressive suspension setup is tuned to help the car turn in and stay stable during hard cornering. The downside is it can feel harsher and less comfortable over rough or wet track conditions.

Term

taller gears

Taller gears let the engine run at lower RPM for the same road speed. That can help save fuel and reduce wear during a long race.

Term

more compliant suspension

A compliant suspension is set up to soak up bumps instead of feeling stiff. That can help the car stay controllable and reduce strain during a long, messy race.

Car

two-liter Ford Escorts

A Ford Escort is a small car that can be raced with the right modifications. In this story, the faster “pole-setting” Escorts show how much quicker some other cars were compared with the AMXs.

Term

throttle cable

A throttle cable is the physical cable that moves the engine’s throttle when you press the gas. If it comes loose, the car may not respond correctly to the driver’s pedal.

Term

brakes on car number two were deadly bad

In endurance races, brakes have to work over and over, and they can start to perform poorly. If the brakes aren’t stopping the car well, drivers have to work them harder, and that makes the car slower through corners.

Term

one-way radios

These radios let the drivers talk to the pit crew, but the pit crew can’t talk back. So if something goes wrong, the crew can’t give instant instructions to fix it while the car is out on track.

Term

camber adjuster

Camber is the angle of the tire. If the camber adjuster is loose, the tire angle can shift while cornering, so the car won’t grip consistently and can feel unpredictable.

Term

driving lights

Driving lights are extra headlights meant to help you see farther down the road. If they’re aimed wrong, you end up lighting the ground right in front of the car instead of what’s ahead—bad news when you’re going fast.

Term

shock failures

Shocks are what keep the car stable over bumps and during cornering. If the shocks fail, the car can start bouncing or handling badly, and the team has to scramble to fix it.

Term

rear spring mount

The spring mount is where the rear suspension spring is bolted in place. If it breaks, the suspension can’t hold the car correctly anymore, and the car can become undriveable.

Term

auxiliary fuel pump

An auxiliary fuel pump is a backup fuel pump. If the main fuel supply runs low or fails, the backup pump can keep fuel flowing so the engine can still start and run.

Term

backup fuel tank

A backup fuel tank is extra fuel stored for emergencies. If the main tank runs out, the car can switch to the backup so it can keep going instead of stopping.

Term

BFG radial TAs

This is a specific kind of tire from BFGoodrich. They’re saying these tires lasted around eight hours and didn’t fail, which matters a lot because tire changes cost time in endurance races.

Part

front shocks

Front shocks are the parts that help the front wheels stay controlled over bumps. If they’re damaged, the car can feel unstable and handle poorly, particularly when braking.

Part

front chin spoiler

A front chin spoiler is a low front aero piece meant to help the car’s airflow. If it scrapes the ground, it usually means the car is sitting too low or the suspension is damaged.

Term

clutch began slipping

Clutch slipping means the clutch isn’t gripping properly, so power doesn’t go to the wheels as it should. The car can feel weak and may overheat as you keep driving.

Term

drink oil

“Drink oil” means the engine is using oil faster than it should. In a long race, that can be dangerous because the engine can run low on oil.

Term

lap times

Lap times are how long it takes to drive around the track once. Teams use them to see if the car is still going fast enough.

Car

1979 AMC Spirit

This episode is about a 1979 AMC Spirit race car. One of the cars was found in a barn and restored for racing again. The other one was used in American racing events and rebuilt to match the rules for those series.

Place

Road Atlanta

Road Atlanta is a well-known race track in the U.S. In this story, it’s where the AMC Spirit was used as a pace car during an IMSA event, and it got stuck after spinning in heavy rain.

Term

pace car

A pace car is a car that leads the race cars at a controlled speed when the race needs to slow down or regroup. It’s not racing for position during that time.

Person

Lynn St. James

Lynn St. James is a professional race driver. Here, she was driving the AMC Spirit when it was used as a pace car at Road Atlanta, and the car later spun off in the rain.

Term

rock hard tires

“Rock hard tires” means the tires were stiff and didn’t grip well. In heavy rain, that can make it much easier to lose control and spin.

Term

dry sump

A dry sump is a special racing oil system. It helps make sure the engine always has oil where it needs it, even when the car is being pushed hard around corners.

Place

1981 24 hours of Daytona

This refers to the famous 24-hour endurance race at Daytona. The car raced there in 1981 after being repaired and updated to the right class rules.

Person

Dennis Shaw

Dennis Shaw is one of the drivers who raced the car at the 1981 Daytona 24-hour race. In a 24-hour race, multiple drivers share the workload so the car can keep running fast for a long time.

Term

360 cubic inch

“360 cubic inch” is the engine’s size. It’s a way of measuring how much air and fuel the engine can move, and in racing it often affects what rules the car can compete under.

Place

Kelly American Challenge Daytona 50

This is another named race at Daytona that the car competed in during 1981. The host brings it up to show the Spirit kept racing after the earlier 24-hour event.

Car

1979 AMC AMX

The AMC AMX is a famous American muscle car. Here, the host is saying the 1979 AMX wasn’t just a flashy-looking car—it really proved itself in a long, grueling endurance race and still exists today.

Term

sticker and tape special

“Sticker and tape special” is a dismissive phrase for a car that’s believed to be more about appearance and marketing than real engineering or performance. In racing talk, it implies the car is underprepared or not truly competitive, despite looking like it’s been set up for the track.

Term

class victory

A class victory means the car won within its specific competition category (class), rather than winning the race overall. Endurance races often group cars by rules like engine size, weight, or modifications, so “class” is how teams compete fairly against similar machinery.

LIVE

Racing stories come in all shapes, sizes, endings, and frames.

The stories of dominating machines running away from the field, plucky underdogs succeeding

in the face of long odds, and unique personalities pushing the limits of endurance and good sense

throw apart of the fun.

One common thread between them all though is when you dig into them, you're sure to

find some interesting, provocative, sometimes contradictory and always eye-opening details

that typically have been lost over the course of time and their copious retellings.

That's the case here, the case in the tale of the BF Goodrich AMC AMX two-car team that

took on the 24 hours of the Nuremberg ring in 1979 and took home shockingly, or so it

seems, class-winning honors at one of the world's most brutal endurance races.

Beyond that obviously cool thing, the fact that this was all done on radial TA street

tires makes it all the more incredible.

Add in the cast of driving characters that range from journalists, professionals, a Hollywood

star and a swashbuckling American road racing boss among others, and you have the recipe

for a truly scintillating story.

All that and I've not even mentioned the one-armed former Panzer commander who topped

this interesting lot how to most expediently get around what is widely regarded as the

world's toughest road course.

Nor does it include the chosen equipment that was picked to take on the task, a car considered

a pretty lowly animal in the annals of American high performance motoring, a 1979 AMC Spirit

AMX.

We're going to go through this awesome story and we'll land on a kind of M Night Shyamalan

style plot twist at the end which, in all of my research, reading every account of this

adventure by those that were there, those that promoted it, and those that reported

on it is never ever mentioned.

One thing I want to make really clear about my intentions and approach here, I am not

discounting what this group of people did, how they did it, and the truly awesome way

the whole thing came together.

Instead, I'm trying to give some fun retrospective insight into this whole scene, wacky as it

was, and how it was used to perfection by the parties involved to do exactly what they

wanted it to do.

My research here comes in the form of stories across publications like Automobile Quarterly,

Motor Trend, Hagerty, BF Goodrich, and others.

That along with the film of the whole program made by BF Goodrich called The Ultimate Challenge.

So our story really has to start in the early 1970s with the BF Goodrich Tire Company and

the release of their new high performance radio that they would call the Radio TA.

This tire would go on to become one of the most iconic names in all of American automotive

history and it's still in production today.

Back then, BFG wanted to make an impact and illustrate just how good these babies worked,

so they along with their advertising agency hatched a daring plan to promote them.

They'd actually race these street tires on a full blown road racing car against open

competition and a field wearing slicks.

Yes, they were going to battle in the SCCA A sedan class.

The legendary BFG Firebird Tirebird was created while it was certainly a struggle and certainly

the BFGs were not nearly as good as a slick on a one to one comparison test.

The very trick Firebird which had amazingly subtle and inventive suspension engineering

upgrades by Herb Adams of Pontiac and others developed by Jerry Titus before his passing

really made this car work very well.

Through the 1971 season, the car had two pole positions, one win, two seconds, three thirds

and landed second in the points of the SCCA Northeast division in the A sedan category.

This was also the first car to win or even lead races at this level on a legitimate radio

tire rather than the ubiquitous bias ply racing slicks everybody else was using.

In 1972, BFG changed gears and changed teams.

They went with John Greenwood on his Corvettes to go endurance racing.

Some say they did okay but most everybody else says the results were less than stellar.

I'll just leave it at that.

But the 1971 campaign established the radial TA in the exact way BFG wanted it.

A tire good enough for a race car should surely be good enough for your street car and a star

was born.

Also, in the early 1970s, Amos Johnson was turning heads in the American road racing

world with his acumen not only as a driver but as someone who was capable of assembling

a high level team and winning.

He won his class at the very first IMSA GT race in 1971 and it was onward and upward

from there.

The American Motors Corporation much later into the racing game than most other companies

came in hot right about the turn of the 1970 decade.

Famously, when led by George Romney in the 1960s, the company had an anti-racing attitude

and these guys even ran an ad campaign that declared, quote,

the only race Rambler cares about is the human race.

End quote.

After witnessing the benefits that other companies were reaping from high-performance

cars and racing, they entered the fray.

Donahue and Penske went trans-M racing with AMC and NASCAR racing as well.

And then there was the other program being overseen by Bob Swain, the AMC performance

activities manager, and yes there was his actual job title, that of sports car racing,

which was led by Amos Johnson.

When I say sports cars, understand that I mean gremlins,

paces and spirits through the 1970s.

Now they had solid success with these cars in the IMSA radial sedan class.

When Bob Swain was moved out of his position, Jim Rader would take over and things kept

rolling along through the 70s when the real meat of our story begins in 1979.

Gary Pace was a racer himself and a high-level public relations guy with BFG and he had an idea.

It harkened back to the days of the Firebird Tirebird, but it had a more grandiose approach.

He wanted to go endurance racing in Europe, not Le Mans.

That was such an international spectacle, it would be hard to cut through the noise

and frankly regulations may have kind of squashed the ideas he wanted to execute.

Instead he looked to a race that few Americans had ever heard of,

and a race that no American team had ever competed at, the 24 hours of the Nuremberg rig in Germany.

Unlike today where ring times are used and released on a weekly basis to sell high-performance

sports cars in both the United States and internationally, in 1979 the ring was known

to hardcore fans of Formula One as a formally long-standing Grand Prix site and really dedicated

fans of European sports car racing in the U.S. Pace saw an opportunity to make history for both

running a 24-hour race and perhaps winning some part of it on BFG radial TA tires would

give the company the marketing juice the likes of which it hadn't had for a decade.

As the race would be in October of that year and the meter was running,

Pace started making phone calls. Whether it was personal relationships and racing,

the reputation of Amos Johnson or some other factor, Pace got a hold of Jim Raider at AMC.

In various pieces, the talented and still very active automotive journalist Gary

Whitsunberg has penned, he mentioned that AMC and their 1979 AMX model were already obligated

for FIA Group 1 racing and the way the cars were configured actually made them a reasonably

attractive package in the rulebook. Add in the previously mentioned success Johnson had achieved

with the platform and IMSA radial sedan and all of this made a lot of sense.

Jim Raider was in on the idea, got in touch with Johnson and things really kicked into high gear.

Raider offered AMC to build two cars to meet Pace's needs and vision and Johnson set forth

to assemble a team of six drivers and it was a good one. There was Johnson and Whitsunberg,

then engine builder and great driver Dennis Shaw, Jim Downing arguably one of the best

drivers in the country and incidentally a man who would later help invent the Hans device,

Lynn St. James who was impressing people at every turn in her career and finally actor

James Brolin who added serious star power and had become a pretty active racer in his own right

on road courses across the country. Combining journalists, engineers, ace mechanics, high

level drivers and a bona fide celebrity in one package is pretty flip and epic if you ask me.

Incredibly, the cars were built by high ball racing in three weeks. They were equipped with

roll cages, suspensions were fortified, they carried a 304 cubic inch AMC V8 and those engines

were prepared by Shaw. They were backed by four speed manual transmissions. Little 304s were

rated at about 125 horsepower from the factory in 1979 but with the tune and work that Shaw did,

I gotta guess they were making 250 to 300 horsepower for the race. And look, the 304 had

a nodular iron or armasteel crankshaft, forged rods and the team set their red line at an incredibly

and smartly conservative 5000 RPM. The strategy here of course at least they hoped that their

little small blocks would survive the 24 hour race. There was nothing exotic about these engines

with their four barrel carburetors and iron heads but exotic and 24 hour racing are words that tend

to be allergic to each other. The simpler the better, the more stone reliable, even better than

that. One point of interest here, BF Goodrich was not the OE delivered tire in a 1979 AMC AMX.

The cars came from the factory with 60 series good years in the corners, which was yet another

potential coup for BFG if they could bump the good years off and succeed with their stuff on the

race car. A film crew would accompany the whole team and drivers to Germany and they would document

this whole experience and create a short movie. They hoped that movie would be a triumphant experience

which BFG could use to promote the tires, their brand and again fingers crossed an international

success. As the team arrived to Germany and attract none of them had ever seen in person,

the first thing they needed to do was learn the most challenging road course in the world.

Just over 14 miles long, made up of some 176 turns, it undulated, wove and twisted through

the countryside and presented itself as some sort of an unconquerable automotive beast.

Far ahead of their race cars, the team practiced in the only things they had, their rental cars.

The four car rental fleet consisted of three Mercedes 6 cylinders and one little 4 cylinder

4 speed Opel. Wittenberg talks about lapping with his then girlfriend who he would later go

on to marry as she read a massive course map while he was wheeling around the racetrack.

As much as they ran, BFG was paying the freight on their on the fly education,

it was seemingly divine provenance that would shine down on the team as their

training window was narrowing and their confidence was starting to wane in the process.

That providence arrived in the form of a one-armed former Panzer commander named Heinz

Henrici. As the story goes, the innkeeper at the place the team was staying may have overheard

their lamentations about learning the racetrack and this person suggested they enlist the help of

a man who had won there many times and the man who knew the course like few other living people,

perhaps better than any other living human on the planet. After learning about this person,

the entire team was very excited to meet them and there is no indication that the innkeeper

led on about the fact that the person was missing a limb. They were expecting to meet a dashing,

elder German racing driver. What they got was a very small man who spoke no English and as it

would turn out, Heinz didn't need to explain what needed to be done, he needed to show it.

Henrici had won 24 and 84 hour endurance races at this track and he had done it one-armed

in stick shift race cars, often while smoking a cigarette. The Americans were flabbergasted

to ride with him as he tore around the course, shifting gears, clipping apexes and showing

them the fast way around lap after grueling lap. They rode with him, they followed him,

they were chased by him and in the end they were educated by him and he did it all while

banging gears, steering with one hand, holding the wheel with his knee when he was wildly gesturing

to show them the line and any other weird trick in the book he had to get a car around the ring.

This is an astonishing thing to watch, isn't it?

Meanwhile, there were larger issues. The trucks were stuck in customs and it was race week and

time was running out. Gary Pace of BFG managed to sort this whole situation by, in his words,

quote, kissing more ass than he had in a lifetime, end quote. And going through such

histrionics as having to unload the entire truck down to bare trailers and singularly

inventorying every item in them from lug nuts to t-shirts.

When hope had seemingly given way to despair, the cars arrived in their big American tractor

trailer trucks, apparently after damaging some fences, lawns and other fixed objects on the

tight German country roads. The cars were available to finally take to the track on Thursday with

tech inspection being on Friday. The number one car was running well and doing what the team had

hoped. The number two car was not. The brakes were sketchy as all get out and power was not

where it should have been. Shaw worked on the engine but the brakes, those were not going to

get any better. At all. A few tellings of this story mention that the brake fluid was upgraded to

a different more racy blend and the system was not fully bled so there is lingering speculation

that the fluid characteristics were what caused the bad braking issues but we'll talk more about

that in a minute. As the cars were being teched on Friday, the team was lapping in their rentals

again and after some language-related rules interpretations in tech, the AMX's were allowed

through and the next order of business was the driver's meeting where the ground rules for the

race were laid out. Tire changes and small repairs could be made by the driver if they pulled off the

course but if they abandoned their car for even a short stretch of time, their results would be a

DQ or more appropriately a DNF. Fueling would be done at a set of normal looking gas pumps near

the entry of the pits. Now this had to be done with the car shut off and the driver's helmet on.

If at any point the car was shut off on the course, it would need to be pushed by the driver

all the way back to the pits. As this was October in the mountains, the weather was cold and wet.

It was pretty miserable. Fog as it turns out would also be an issue. The double down is that the

course is actually so long and sprawling that conditions can change multiple times per every

lap. After the meetings and after the inspections, all the team drivers got two practice laps and

then the cars qualified. There were some slight differences between the two AMX's. Car one was

hotrod. It had shorter gearing, a more tightly wound engine and a more aggressive suspension setup.

This was intended to be the faster of the two. The second car had taller gears, a more mild engine

and a more compliant suspension. It was designed as the sure finisher of the two.

109 total cars qualified for the starting grid. Amos Johnson put the number one car in the

20th spot and Jim Dowding put the number two car in the 21st spot. As a reference point,

these cars are running lap times in the middle 10 minute range. Of course, when compared to the

hypercars of today, that seems pretty pokey, but at the time it wasn't too bad. The pole-setting

two-liter Ford Escorts were about a minute faster than the AMX's. The 10 classes at the event were

divided into three groups of three separate standing starts and the AMX BFG crew were there for the

first one. At 4pm sharp, they rumbled off into the German afternoon and the countdown clock that

started at 24 hours began to tick down with agonizing slowness. Amos Johnson had a small

spot of trouble early in the race with a throttle cable slipping out of its bracket,

which he was able to fix quickly and the second car was tweaked so that wouldn't happen to it.

The drivers started on short stints to monitor fuel usage and the early sunset of fall plunged

the track at a darkness shortly after the race began. The true challenges of endurance racing

begin to crop up after a while on the track. The brakes on car number two were deadly bad.

The drivers were pumping them furiously to get them to do anything and it made for slow cornering.

Dealing with traffic and generally managing the course are really frightfully high intensity

experience. Lynn St. James reported that the car was all over the place when trying to make

left hand turns at first and then it got bad in both directions. Equipped with one-way radios,

the drivers could talk to the pits but the pits couldn't talk back to the drivers.

The AMX's were capable of clipping about 140 miles an hour on the straights, I should mention that.

These things had some guts, pretty fast cars. The handling issue, at least the first one,

was a loose camber adjuster that would pop back into the right position at rest in the pits but

would shift around in the corners. When that was snugged up there was no longer an issue as far as

getting the car to turn. The driving lights were horribly aimed and they were kind of shooting

at the ground instead of ahead of the car so that kind of made life pretty treacherous when you

couldn't see anything in front of you at 140 miles an hour. Those also got fixed in the pits.

Shock failures began to appear on car number one and then a rear spring mount failed and this

plunged the team into a full-on thrash as Lynn St. James was roaring around the course in car number

two. Because of the thrash and the distraction, St. James was left out for an 11th lap and the car

ran out of gas. Coasting as far as she could and within distant sight of those fuel pumps at the

pit entry, she was able to engage the auxiliary fuel pump and the backup fuel tank and had enough

gas to fire the car up and basically burn rubber all the way to the pumps themselves. This was a

disaster averted. As the race dragged on overnight, more shock failures were starting to bring the

inventory of spare parts to a dangerous low. There was one thing that didn't trouble this team,

the tires. They were getting eight hours out of a set and suffered not a single failure. Now that's

pretty incredible. Remember, we're talking about BFG radial TAs here and I'm not questioning people's

integrity or the storytelling, but obviously this is a BFG car, this is a BFG promotion,

this is a BFG everything. So a superhuman retelling of what they got out of the tires

kind of is the PR reason we're here, right? Again, we're talking radial TAs either way.

As the sun began to come up, Johnson and Whitsunberg got in for their two-hour shift from 6am to 8am.

As much as those guys had tried to nap, the cold, the noise and the adrenaline were not letting that

happen. Groggy, they got in their race cars and tore off. Another shock failure from car one brought

the team down to its very last spare. The front shocks and car number two were so chewed up that

the front chin spoiler would drag the ground when the brakes were pumped up and really hammered on.

On the driveline side of things, the clutch began slipping pretty badly in car number one

and the engine, yet began to drink oil like a sailor on shore leave. But as the day wore on,

the AMXes kept plugging along, running lap times in the neighborhood of which they qualified and

as the clock wound down to zero and the finish line was crossed, the final time both cars completed

the race and finished overall 25th and 43rd. But most importantly, they finished first and

second in their class. It was the incredible international triumph Gary Pace had wanted,

BFG had banked on and the successful conclusion of the film being made, the headline of every

story about the effort and to this day, every story about this effort and every retrospective

piece talks about this number one and two finish and how this pluggy American team who had never

seen the course took these cars that really seemingly had no business even being on it

to a first and second place finish. But there's a catch and this is the plot twist.

They were only two cars in the class. No matter where or how they finished, they were going to

one and two in that order, whether they ran all the laps, half the laps or one of the laps.

If they had finished the race second to last and last, they still would have been able to

trumpet a class win as being one and two in their own individual class. Not shockingly,

this point is never mentioned, hinted at or alluded to in any of the stories about the AMC AMX

1979 effort and Gary Pace as the publicity man surely was not going to be the one to put it out

there. What blows me away in that all the stories about this moment that you can find on the internet

and there are hundreds, no one has ever bothered to look at the entry sheet or the results to

actually see this is the real situation. It sounds like I'm being a negative Nancy here and I'm not.

To me, the fact that 109 cars started and 72 finished is something, but it's doubly as impressive

that these two cars were 25th and 43rd overall. These AMCs beat a lot of bonafide European

rippers and that's awesome. Of course, the promotional value of a class win is definitely

the sales point here, but it's truly astonishing that no one else has ever mentioned this point

that I could ever find. So what happened after the race? Car 1 stayed in Europe. I have no idea

where it was or when it raced or how it did or who had it, but I do know that it was found in a barn

and is being restored to competition spec as we speak and heck, it may already be done by now.

Car number two has had a more interesting life. It came back to America and was used as the

pace car at the 1980 IMSA stop at Road Atlanta. Lynn St. James was driving. It was pouring rain,

the car had rock hard tires and it spun off the course getting stuck in the mud.

Now rather than winch it out, race organizers left it there and you can see where this is going.

It was struck by another car that spun off in the same corner.

Repaired and brought up to IMSA GT specs and raced at the 1981 24 hours of Daytona driven by Dennis

Shaw, Steve Whitman and Les Blackburn. Power came from a Penske prepared, dry sump equipped,

360 cubic inch AMC engine. Unfortunately, it started 37th and finished 48th.

The car would race a few more times in 1981, most notably at the Kelly American Challenge Daytona

50. Yes, 50 driven by Robert Kerr where it finished 18th. Happily, that car has also

been found and restored to its glory days. It is more of a hybrid now with the nasty 360 engine

in the 1979 Nuremberg Ring look.

The gang of six that raced these cars all share a special and awesome bond as well as memories

that could never be replicated in six lifetimes. Gary Whitsemberg continues to be an industry

leading automotive journalist. James Brolin became an iconic movie star and Barbara Streisand's husband.

Amos Johnson would rise to be a pillar in the U.S. road racing world becoming the IMSA competition

and technical director as well as writing the original rules for the world sports car class

among many other things. Jim Downing would rise to incredible heights in the racing realm.

Lynn St. James would have an amazing, highly decorated career as a racer. She was the 9,500

rookie of the year among many other things and Dennis Shaw continued his long and successful

engine building and racing career into the 80s winning 24 hours of Daytona events and other

high level road racing style competitions for many years hence this 1979 effort.

I love this story for the brilliance of the concept, the cool people involved,

the absolutely fantastic and cunning coup Gary Pace achieved for both AMC and BFG and for the fact

that both cars still exist. The 1979 AMC AMX gets a bad rap as being an underpowered sticker

and tape special from the dark days of Detroit of Kenosha in this case but it really is a car that

stood up to and actually survived among the toughest automotive tests on the planet then and now

all because of a smart PR guy, an enthusiast auto executive, a one-arm driving instructor

and six racers who put their all into delivering the best result.

That's the story of how the AMC AMX captured class victory and international acclaim at the 1979

24 hours of the Nuremberg ring. Pretty sweet right? Now you know and knowledge is horsepower.

I'm Brian Loans, thanks for watching, like and subscribe to help the channel and also

score a shirt in the store right here on the channel. See you next time!

About this episode

A BF Goodrich–backed two-car 1979 AMC Spirit AMX team took class honors at the 24 Hours at the Nürburgring in 1979, and the hosts make the win feel even wilder by pointing out it was done on radial TA street tires. Gary Pace’s push for a European endurance race, plus conservative 5000 RPM tuning and a reliability-first second car, helped the AMXes survive brake, shock, and clutch troubles. The “plot twist” is there were only two cars in the class.

1981 24 hours of Daytona 24 and 84 hour endurance races at this track 304 cubic inch AMC V8 360 cubic inch 60 series American Motors Corporation Amos Johnson apexes auxiliary fuel pump backup fuel tank

AMC AMX Chevrolet Corvette Dodge Spirit Ford Escort Jeep Commander Pontiac Firebird

Original notes

This is the story of how a 1979 AMC AMX won its class at the 1979 24 Hours of the Nurburgring. Not only that, how it was done with two hastily built cars, a group of six drivers that included a Hollywood star, and how they did it all on street tires.

Oh, they also had a one armed German driving instructor. Not all publicity stunts are made the same and this video will be proof of that. In this case, Gary Pace of BFG had a big idea and teamed up with just the right people to execute it. Not only that, they had an ace up their sleeve which has gone largely ignored or simply not reported to this point in history.

The first American team to ever compere at the 24 Hours of The 'Ring battled hard for 24 hours against the elements, exhaustion, their cars...and the competition? Watch and find out why that's the ultimate question

The Dork-O-Motive Podcast

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