Ever since the France Family acquired the IMSA in 2012, they have continued to strongly influence American motorsports. However, the news came with a bitter update from an iconic team.

IMSA celebrates bittersweet day as Acura steps away

Although Acura has become much more of a household name over the past years, it seems proven now that all good things must come to an end. The team has achieved massive success, winning multiple titles and the Rolex 24. Nothing seemed to be stopping the team, but they simply couldn’t help it as Honda failed to hit their target in selling EVs.

Their parent company’s failure to turn profits from their EV production became one of the major reasons that impacted their decision, and they decided to step away from the sport.

“We are extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished during this era of Acura prototype racing, which began back in 2018 with the introduction of the Acura ARX-05, and we are committed to compete for the championship in IMSA’s GTP category through 2026 with the hybrid Acura ARX-06 competing in IMSA’s GTP category,” David Salters, Honda Racing Corporation US President, said in a statement.

As massive as the news is, it is just as sudden. Although it had been reported earlier, there was no confirmation, and there seemed to be no other reason for the team to hang up their helmet.

While the France Family and a massive fanbase will have to bid farewell to the iconic team, there has also been a huge positive for the sport. Within this week, IMSA’s YouTube channel managed to out-subscribe NASCAR’s official channel. As of now, the latter sits with 1.68 million subs; meanwhile, IMSA has managed to cross the 1.7 million mark.

However, reports emerged a few months ago that Acura had made a bid to enter the FIA World Endurance Championship with Interpol Competition, which shows that their interest in such programs still remains.

While this seems to be a small achievement, it goes to show how massively the sport has changed under the France Family’s regime. There has been a surge in popularity across global motorsports for IMSA. In fact, it has also been referenced in pop culture recently. But even prior to that, the France Family had helped the sport through a major investment.

How NASCAR kickstarted IMSA’s journey

Back in 1969, John and Peggy Bishop wanted to move away from the shadows of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and wanted to create a more professional racing competition, and no one loved the idea more than Bill France Sr, who also founded NASCAR just decades prior and was becoming the next big thing in American motorsports.

As a culmination of his friendship with France, Bishop earned a massive financial injection from the NASCAR founder, and more importantly, his vision. It was this aspect that helped kick off IMSA’s journey to becoming one of America’s most popular motorsports series.

In fact, there was one moment back in 1970 when both Bill France Sr. and his son, Bill France Jr., participated in an IMSA race at Talladega Superspeedway (then called the Alabama International Motor Speedway). The father-son duo both ran Ford Cortinas, prepared in a very grassroots fashion.

Although their race result wasn’t very impressive, it showcased a much more hands-on endorsement from NASCAR in IMSA’s beginning stages. The latter eventually became a huge success that it set out to be. Decades later, in 2012, the France Family would end up with its acquisition, making it all the more successful. Today, even though an iconic team like Acura will have to step back from the sport, its success cannot be described by words. This was one of the France Family’s smartest moves, and it has turned massive profits for them.