John Bishop, the man most responsible for the establishment of professional sports car racing in America, has died at the age of 87. As executive director of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), Bishop’s vision took the club down the path to professionalism in the 1960s, forming first the United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC) and then guiding the creation of the popular Can-Am, Trans-Am and Formula 5000 series. When the politics swirling within the organization became too restrictive for his role as an agent of change, however, he resigned.
He wasn’t on the sidelines long before NASCAR founder Bill France asked him to form a new sanctioning body, the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), which grew gradually but then found its popularity burgeoning with Bishop’s creation of the dynamic Grand Touring Prototype category.
As the Trans-Am had done for production sport sedans, GTP offered automobile manufacturers an arena for direct competition with each other where they could explore the boundaries of power production and aerodynamic efficiency. GTP flourished in the late ’80s and early ’90s as Porsche, Ford, Chevrolet, BMW, Nissan, Jaguar, Toyota and Mazda all fielded factory-backed entries that drew huge crowds to tracks across North America—setting speed records everywhere, some that still stand today.
Perhaps seeing the writing on the wall once more, Bishop sold his interest in IMSA in 1989, just as GTP was peaking, perhaps wary that the costs of participation were spiraling out of control—as they had in the Can-Am—and that GTP would all too soon find itself consigned to the pages of history.
Now Bishop himself—whose wife and business partner Peg died last summer—is taking his own well-earned place in those pages, and the many eulogies being offered mention the qualities that endeared the Bishops to their family of competitors over the years. Dan Gurney spoke of the freedom allowed by rules that encouraged racers to be creative. RRDC President Bobby Rahal cited the respect that competitors had for the Bishops. Longtime entrant Rob Dyson noted Bishop’s skill in creating a rules package that optimized the spectacle the racing could provide for the fans. Others noted his fairness, friendliness and efficiency, but perhaps ACCUS President Nick Craw summarized him best when he noted that sports car racing would not be where it is today without John Bishop.
Already elected to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America at the time of his death, Bishop will be inducted posthumously this August in Detroit. He is survived by son Mitch, daughter-in-law Julia, four granddaughters, brother Peter Bishop and sister Ruth Rodger. To them and all of John’s many friends in the sport, Vintage Racecar|Vintage Roadcar offers its sincerest sympathies.
by John Zimmermann
