25th Anniversary Celebration of Don Panoz‘s Dream
Story and Photography by Terry Check
In 1998, Dr. Don Panoz, the owner of Road Atlanta, had a dream of creating a 24-hour endurance sport car race fashioned after the famous French 24 Hours of Lemans. His dream became true and on October 1, 2022, the 25th Anniversary of the Petit Le Mans was featured at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. It was the 12th and final race of the 2022 IMSA Sports Car Championship. The 2.54-mile track at Road Atlanta was designed for endurance racing with 12 turns including the famous “esses” (sequence of alternating turns resembling the letter S) between turns three and five; and Turn 12, a downhill, diving turn.
The race consisted of five classes Daytona Prototype International (DPI), Le Mans Prototype (LMP2, LPM3), Group GT3 Pro (GTD Pro) and Group GT totaling 43 cars. The winners included DPI – Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, LMP2 – Tower Motorsport, LMP3 – Andretti Autosport, GTD – Gradient Racing and GTD Pro – Vasser Sullivan Racing.
“Hats Off” to the men and women behind the scenes who travel with the racing teams making sure everything works safely and properly for the drivers and crew. The long ,tedious hours of preparation for the race demonstrates the passion for the sport. The intensity of the race was felt in the pits with the heat from the cars, and intense smells of rubber and fuel.
