The North American Touring Car Championship was a touring car racing

Touring car racing

Touring car racing is a general term for a number of distinct auto racing competitions in heavily-modified street cars. It is notably popular in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Japan, Scandinavia and Britain.-Characteristics of a touring car:...

 series using the Supertouring

Supertouring

Super Touring, Class 2 or Class II was a motor racing Touring Cars category defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile for national touring car racing in 1993. It was based on the "2 litre Touring Car Formula" created for the British Touring Car Championship in 1990...

 formula that raced in North America in 1996 and 1997. The series was funded in part by IndyCar team owner Gerald Forsythe

Gerald Forsythe

Gerald Forsythe is an American businessman and auto racing magnate, best known for being one of the three men that owned the Champ Car World Series...

. He appointed his Vice-President of Business Operations, Canadian Roger Elliott to run the operation headquartered in Tampa, Florida. The Dodge Stratus

Dodge Stratus

The Dodge Stratus was a mid-size 4-door sedan introduced in 1995. It was based on the Chrysler JA platform Cab forward . The Stratus, Breeze, and Cirrus were all on Car and Driver magazine's Ten Best list for 1996 and 1997. It received critical acclaim at launch, but ratings fell over time...

 factory team engineered and crewed by PacWest Racing

PacWest Racing

PacWest Racing was a Champ Car racing team owned by Bruce McCaw founded in 1993. The team's first full time season was the next year, 1994, with drivers Dominic Dobson and future Indy Racing League co-champion Scott Sharp...

 and Honda Accord

Honda Accord

The Honda Accord is a series of compact, mid-size and full-size automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1976, and sold in a majority of automotive markets throughout the world....

 factory team operated by Tasman Motorsports

Tasman Motorsports

Tasman Motorsports Group is a former racing team owned by Steve Horne that competed in the Indy Lights series and, most notably, the CART series from 1995 to 1998. Tasman was one of the first teams to successfully field a Honda powered entry...

 dominated the series as they were one of the only truly professional outfits to contest the championship. The series ran as a support series to CART

Champ Car

Champ Car was the name for a class and specification of open wheel cars used in American Championship Car Racing for many decades, primarily for use in the Indianapolis 500 auto race...

 road and street course races.

While popular with fans the series struggled to attract teams, with most races in the 1996 season only having 11 or 12 entrants. 1997 saw even fewer entrants with only 9 or 10 cars on track for most of the races. The series was not continued for 1998.

Champions

Season	Drivers' Champion	Manufacturers' Champion	Season article
1996	Randy Pobst Randy Pobst Randy Pobst also known as "RFP" or "The Rocket" is an American race car driver, born 26 June 1957, in Dayton, Ohio.Currently active in the SCCA World Challenge GT series and the Grand American series' GT class, Pobst is the 2003, 2007, 2008, and 2010 SCCA World Challenge GT champion and is a...  (Honda Accord Honda Accord The Honda Accord is a series of compact, mid-size and full-size automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1976, and sold in a majority of automotive markets throughout the world.... )	Honda Honda is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...	season 1996 North American Touring Car Championship season The 1996 North American Touring Car Championship was the first season of the North American Touring Car Championship. The series was organized by CART, and ran to Super Touring regulations...
1997	David Donohue David Donohue David Donohue is an American race car driver currently active in the Grand-Am's Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype class for Brumos Porsche....  (Dodge Stratus Dodge Stratus The Dodge Stratus was a mid-size 4-door sedan introduced in 1995. It was based on the Chrysler JA platform Cab forward . The Stratus, Breeze, and Cirrus were all on Car and Driver magazine's Ten Best list for 1996 and 1997. It received critical acclaim at launch, but ratings fell over time... )	Honda Honda is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...	season 1997 North American Touring Car Championship season The 1997 North American Touring Car Championship was the second and final season of the North American Touring Car Championship. The series was organized by CART, and ran to Super Touring regulations...

Notable drivers

Jeff Andretti

Jeff Andretti

Jeff Andretti is an American race car driver. He competed in CART, and was the series' Rookie of the Year in 1991.-Racing career:...

 Neil Crompton

Neil Crompton

Neil Crompton is a well-known V8 Supercars presenter and commentator for Australia's Channel Seven, having previously worked in a similar role at Network Ten...

 Peter Cunningham

Peter Cunningham (racing driver)

Peter Cunningham is an American race car driver.Cunningham began his professional racing career in SCCA World Challenge in 1990 driving a Honda CRX, finishing second in class. He drove an Oldsmobile Cutlass in the 1991 24 Hours of Daytona...

 Dominic Dobson

Dominic Dobson

Dominic Dobson is a German-born former CART and Craftsman Truck Series driver who made 7 starts in the Indianapolis 500 with a best finish of 12th in 1992, over 60 starts in the CART , with a best finish of 3rd at the Michigan 500 in 1994...

 David Donohue

David Donohue

David Donohue is an American race car driver currently active in the Grand-Am's Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype class for Brumos Porsche....

 (1997 champion) Butch Leitzinger

Butch Leitzinger

Robert Franklin "Butch" Leitzinger is a professional racecar driver. He is best known as an ALMS driver with Dyson Racing, but he has also driven for a variety of other teams and race series....

 Rod Millen

Rod Millen

Rodney K. "Rod" Millen is a racing competitor, vehicle designer, and business owner. He has competed in numerous genres of motorsports, including rally racing, off-road racing, hillclimbing, drifting, and super touring.-Personal life:...

 Randy Pobst

Randy Pobst

Randy Pobst also known as "RFP" or "The Rocket" is an American race car driver, born 26 June 1957, in Dayton, Ohio.Currently active in the SCCA World Challenge GT series and the Grand American series' GT class, Pobst is the 2003, 2007, 2008, and 2010 SCCA World Challenge GT champion and is a...

(1996 champion)