By Bill Oursler
NSSN Correspondent

Road racing has long been a part of the annual July 4 week NASCAR Nextel Cup parade at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
These days, however, the race is run on qualifying night after the Cup cars have gone back to the garages. However, in previous times the Paul Revere 250 was, indeed, a reflection of the ride by the famous Boston silversmith and Colonial patriot who alerted his Boston area countrymen to the arrival of the British army.
The link between the Daytona affair and the events of that 18th-century night lay in the fact that both happened at midnight, and while Paul Revere might not have been quite as punctual, the race named after him was, with the green flag waving at the dot of 12 a.m.
The Paul Revere 250 was first run in 1967, sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America. The winner that year was Indy ace Parnelli Jones, whose Bud Moore-built Mercury Cougar beat the Mustangs of Jerry Titus and Bob Johnson. In 1968, when the race was jointly sanctioned the SCCA and NASCAR, the winning car was again a Cougar, this time in the hands of another Indy 500 veteran, Lloyd Ruby, who crossed the line ahead of John McComb’s Mustang. The third time around for the midnight affair saw it become part of NASCAR’s Pony Car tour. Future Daytona 500 winner Pete Hamilton’s Camaro bested Tiny Lund’s Cougar. Jim Paschal’s AMC Javelin won in 1970.
The following July, Buck Baker drove a Firebird to victory, with Bobby Allison second in a Mustang. The last Grand Am Pony Car Paul Revere came in 1972 when Vince Gimondo drove a Camaro to victory.
The Paul Revere was about to undergo a significant change in 1973, when for the first time it became part of the International Motor Sports Assn’s Camel GT tour. Although the IMSA championship had begun in 1971 and had first appeared at Daytona under its Camel moniker in the spring of 1972, the 1973 Paul Revere round marked the first time it played to an established oval-track audience, an important step for a series that under IMSA founder John Bishop became the premier road-racing tour in North America for more than two decades.
That inaugural IMSA Midnight run was a classic confrontation between European sophistication and American muscle, with Gene Felton driving a Camaro to victory over the Porsche 911 handled by Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood. A huge field of 44 cars started the event.
In 1974, when the Paul Revere was run just four days after the Mid-Ohio Six-Hour event, Haywood drove a Porsche to victory. Interestingly, the night-time event was the first appearance that season for IMSA at Daytona; the 24-Hour race then SCCA-sanctioned was cancelled because of the energy crisis.
In 1975, the German contingent at the Paul Revere included the Munich-based BMW folks as well as their Zuffenhausen counterparts. The presence of the factory BMW CSL coupes was evidence of how important the Camel GT had become to the high-end European manufacturers selling cars in North America. With Brian Redman, Sam Posey and Hans Stuck all wheeling factory BMWs, Stuck took the victory, with Porsche Carreras finishing second through eighth. Gimondo’s Camaro was the best-finishing American-built car in 12th.
Bishop had plans to correct that imbalance, however. His solution was to create the All American GT tubeframe category for Detroit entries that would not require the approval of international officials, as did his present off-shore competitors. In 1976, on the 200th birthday of the United States, longtime Porsche dealer Al Holbert found himself in the Paul Revere winner’s circle.
However, the vehicle he was standing with at nearly three o’clock in the morning wasn’t made in Zuffenhausen, but rather in Liberty Ill., as Holbert and builder Horst Kwech had brought the AAGT division to life with the Lee Dykstra-designed Dekon Chevy Monza.
The next summer, George Dyer drove a Porsche 934 turbo to victory. The car carried a potent six-cylinder powerplant, starting an era which saw no normally aspirated vehicle win the Revere until Danny Ongais and Ted Field triumphed in a Chevrolet V-8 Interscope Lola T600 GTP coupe in 1982.

SPORTS-CAR MANIA: The No. 12 Pontiac Riley of Lowe’s Fernandez Racing leads the No. 76 Ford Riley of Krohn Racing into a turn during the 2006 Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona Int’l Speedway. The No. 76, driven by Jorg Bergmeister and Colin Braun, captured the overall victory. (Grand Am Photo

In between it was all turbocharging and all Porsche in the Midnight Run. Peter Gregg won in 1978 with his Porsche 935 turbo; Haywood and Charles Mendez did likewise in 1979 in the 935; Englishman John Fitzpatrick and his updated K3 935 took the 1980 edition; and Haywood and Mauricio DeNarvaez ended the German manufacturer’s streak in 1981 with their 935.
Holbert and Jim Trueman restored Porsche to the front of the field, though, in 1983 when they won in the Zuffenhausen-powered March 83G turbo. It was the last Midnight Run for the IMSA title chase.
In 1984, the Trans-Am made its only appearance at the Paul Revere, with Willy T. Ribbs winning in his Roush Mercury Capri. With the completion of that event, the classic 250 went on hiatus until it was revived under the Grand American Road Racing Assn’s Rolex Sports Car Series banner in July 2000.
Dyson Racing’s James Weaver and Andy Wallace collected the overall victory in a Ford Riley. Following a year’s absence, the Paul Revere 250 returned in 2002 with Weaver and Chris Dyson again winning outright in the team’s Ford Riley.
For the new look Grand Am in 2003, Forest Barber and Terry Borcheller found themselves the victors in the Daytona Prototype division with their Chevy Doran.
Wayne Taylor and Max Angelelli brought their Pontiac Riley to the finish out front of their Daytona Prototype rivals during the 2004 edition of the race.
Butch Leitzinger and Elliott Forbes- Robinson drove their Howard Boss Pontiac Crawford to victory in 2005.
In what turned out to be a fuel-economy run, Jorg Bergmeister and 17-year-old Colin Braun outlasted the field in their Krohn Racing Ford Riley to pick up the victory last summer.
This year’s version of the Brumos Porsche 250 takes the green flag at 8 p.m. July 5. It will be televised live by the Speed Channel.