Grand-Am

The Grand American Road Racing Association was established in 1999 and headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida, near the homes of NASCAR, the International Speedway Corporation and Daytona International Speedway. Although originated by members of the NASCAR community, Grand-Am centred on sports car and touring car racing on road circuits across North America rather than oval racing. On September 4, 2008, NASCAR Holdings announced the buyout of the association to consolidate communications, research and marketing resources, while allowing each organisation to retain control of its own series.

The Rolex Sports Car Series was Grand-Am's premier division, launched in 2000 as successor to the defunct United States Road Racing Championship. It combined Sports Racing Prototypes and Grand Touring production-based cars, anchored by the Rolex 24 At Daytona and visiting tracks across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

In 2003 the series replaced its Sports Racing Prototypes with Daytona Prototypes, a custom-built class designed for cost-effective racing with controlled technology to ensure close competition and approximate parity across different chassis and engine combinations. For the 2012 season the series introduced Gen-III prototypes with new bodies, engines and chassis, headlined by Corvette and Ford prototypes, designed to keep costs low while giving cars more brand-distinctive body shapes.

The GT classes accommodated manufacturers including Audi, Chevrolet, Ferrari, BMW, Porsche, Ford and Mazda. Teams could use tuned production cars or custom tube-frame chassis. In 2013 the GX class was added for cars running alternative fuel and new technology not already present in GT competition; entries came from Mazda, Porsche and Lotus.

Originally based on a Canadian series before being acquired by Grand-Am, the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (originally called the Grand-Am Cup) was a production-based touring car series split into two classes: Grand Sport (GS) for large-capacity GT-style cars, and Street Tuner (ST) for smaller sedans and coupes including some front-wheel-drive models. The series supported some Rolex Series events and headlined its own dates. Following the 2014 merger it continued under the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

Grand-Am sanctioned the North American arm of the Ferrari Challenge, using identical race-tuned Ferraris that evolved from the F355 to the 360 Modena, then to the F430 in 2006 and the 458 Italia in 2010.

The Shell Historic Challenge ran alongside the Ferrari Challenge as an exhibition of older Ferrari, Maserati and Scuderia Ferrari-run Alfa Romeo models.

The Ford Racing Mustang Challenge for the Miller Cup launched in 2008 as a one-make series for amateur drivers using identical Ford Mustang FR500S cars co-developed by Ford Racing and Larry H. Miller. The series held its final event on September 12, 2010 at Miller Motorsports Park, after which the FR500S chassis became eligible for the GTS class of the SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge.

The SunTrust Moto-ST Series, launched in 2007, was Grand-Am's sole motorcycle series: a production-based endurance series for four-stroke, twin-cylinder motorcycles contested in events ranging from three to eight hours. From 2009 the series was sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association.

Grand-Am also sanctioned an online series through iRacing, featuring digital versions of a Riley Daytona Prototype and the McLaren MP4-12C.

Grand-Am initially sanctioned the North American arm of the Formula Renault series under the 2.0-litre formula; the series was later reorganised under the National Auto Sport Association as the Formula TR.

Grand-Am's primary domestic competitor throughout its existence was the American Le Mans Series. The merger announcement came on September 5, 2012; both series continued through 2013 before fully integrating in 2014 as the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship under IMSA.

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