– New Peter Auto and HSR Collaboration Takes NASCAR Classic Series to the Le Mans Classic Legend and Brings Early 1960’s Sports Cars to the HSR Daytona Classic 24 Hour in 2026
– Calendar Anchored by Return Visits and Maximum Track Time at Premier American Venues Daytona International Speedway, Sebring International Raceway and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for Two Race Weekends at Each Iconic Circuit
– Watkins Glen International on the HSR Calendar for the Fourth-Straight Year Hosting the HSR Watkins Glen Classic 6 Hour, Presented by Mission Foods
– Season Opens in January with Second Annual HSR IMSA Classic on Rolex 24 At Daytona Weekend; 12th HSR Daytona Classic 24 Hour Presented by Mission Foods Runs at the World Center of Racing in November
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (September 15, 2025) – The 2026 Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) schedule of events marks another milestone with the first overseas race in HSR’s nearly 50-year history and return engagements at America’s most legendary road courses with full race-weekend schedules offering competitors the maximum track time they have grown to expect at HSR events.
Among the big news on the 2026 HSR calendar is an “across the Atlantic” exchange between Peter Auto and HSR that brings 1960’s era classic sports cars to the HSR Daytona Classic 24 Hour presented by Mission Foods and take HSR’s NASCAR Classic presented by Goodyear series to the Le Mans Classic Legend.
The new collaboration between Peter Auto, which is the vintage and historic arm of the ACO, and HSR that is owned by leading North American sports car racing sanctioning body IMSA, is the latest cooperative initiative in a strong and ongoing partnership between the ACO and IMSA.
The first part of the high-speed exchange will see HSR’s growing NASCAR Classic presented by Goodyear series travel to France next year as a featured part of the inaugural Le Mans Classic Legend, July 2 – 5, 2026 at Circuit de la Sarthe. Completing its second season this year, HSR NASCAR Classic is a showcase of top-level American stock cars of various generations retired from contemporary competition.
Later in 2026, a special Peter Auto grid of cars from the organization’s F period, including iconic GT sports cars from 1962 to 1965, will step into the American spotlight at the HSR Daytona Classic 24 Hour presented by Mission Foods. The first and oldest HSR Classic race, the HSR Daytona Classic 24 will be run for the 12th time at Daytona International Speedway (DIS), November 11 – 15.
The eight-event schedule is anchored for the second-straight season by two races during the season at three different revered North American race circuits: Daytona International Speedway (DIS), Sebring International Raceway and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta (MRRA).
Adding to the industry-leading track time, a return to Watkins Glen International (WGI) for the fourth-straight year adds to the iconic circuit lineup when the upstate New York road course hosts for the fourth-straight year the HSR Watkins Glen Classic 6 Hour presented by Mission Foods.
It all begins at Daytona in January with the second annual running of the HSR IMSA Classic, a tribute introduced this year showcasing the legendary sports cars that have raced in the Rolex 24 At Daytona for more than 60 years. The IMSA Classic takes to the spotlight at the 64th running of the Rolex 24, which once again opens the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship season this January 21 – 24 on the 3.56-mile Daytona road course.
All authentic and period-correct sports cars between the years of 1990 and 2010 with a verifiable Rolex 24 history will be eligible to apply for entry in the 2026 HSR IMSA Classic, with the eventual field of 20 determined by a selection committee.
The IMSA Classic will be followed by the year’s first full points-paying championship weekend with the reformatted HSR Sebring Pistons & Props, presented by the Alan Jay Automotive Network, which features both historic cars and airplanes on new February 12 – 15 dates at Sebring International Raceway.
The Sebring opener will be followed by the 48th running of the HSR The Mitty presented by Hagerty at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, April 23 – 26. The oldest and perhaps most revered HSR race, the traditional featured Run Group of the 48th Mitty will be announced in the near future.
The HSR Watkins Glen Classic 6 Hour presented by Mission Foods is up next, June 11 – 14 and is the first of four-straight races in the second season of the HSR Classic Endurance Championship, presented by Mission Foods. Introduced this year, the Classic Endurance Championship by Mission Foods is North America’s first major endurance racing series for historic prototype sports cars retired from contemporary competition.
Then NASCAR Classic series heads to France, appropriately on Fourth of July weekend, a full 50 years after a pair of NASCAR stock cars literally took the 24 Hours of Le Mans by storm. A Dodge Charger driven by NASCAR legend Herschel McGriff and his son Doug McGriff, and a Junie Donlavey Ford Torino, co-driven by experienced Le Mans drivers Richard Brooks and Dick Hutcherson, made the guest appearances in what turned out to be a wildly popular attraction with France’s passionate race fans.
HSR’s now traditional summer competition break returns in August when HSR lends its operational and sanctioning expertise to the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and Pre-Reunion weekends at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the sixth consecutive year.
The 2026 HSR championship schedule resumes with the second running of the HSR Road Atlanta Classic 10 Hour, presented by Mission Foods, at MRRA September 17 – 20.
The HSR Daytona Classic 24 Hour, presented by Mission Foods, begins its second decade of competition on the November 11 – 15 dates in HSR’s second appearance of the 2026 season at the World Center of Racing.
The Peter Auto grid of 1960’s era classics at Daytona will pay tribute to the earliest editions of major sports car endurance races at the “World Center of Racing.” The first was the Daytona Continental, which was run in 1962 and won by Dan Gurney in an Arciero Racing Lotus 19. Shortly thereafter, the race expanded to the full 24-hour contest that runs for the 64th time this January. The Peter Auto lineup slated for the trip to Daytona perfectly represents the 1962 to 1965 golden era that was truly the dawn of America’s premier 24-hour race.
The HSR Sebring Classic 12 Hour, presented by Mission Foods, returns to its original season-ending date in 2026 to close out next year’s HSR’s racing season December 2 – 6 at Sebring International Raceway.
The HSR Classic event weekends at The Glen, MRRA, Daytona and Sebring share the card, respectively, with the Watkins Glen Historics, the Fall Historics, the Daytona Historics and the Sebring Historics. All four events are key rounds of HSR’s season-long championships and include races for the HSR Prototype Challenge presented by Michelin, Sasco Sports International/American Challenge presented by Hoosier, B.R.M. Endurance Challenge, HSR WeatherTech Sprint and HSR Global GT racing series.
2026 Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) Race-Event Schedule*
January 21 – 25: HSR IMSA Classic – Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida
February 12 – 15: HSR Sebring Pistons and Props, presented by the Alan Jay Automotive Network – Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Florida
April 23 – April 26: 48th HSR The Mitty presented by Hagerty – Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia
June 11 – 14: HSR Watkins Glen Classic 6 Hour, presented by Mission Foods, and The HSR Watkins Glen Historics – Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York
July 2 – 5: Lemans Classic Legend HSR NASCAR Classic – Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France
September 17 – 20: HSR Road Atlanta Classic 10 Hour, presented by Mission Foods, and the Fall Historics – Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia
November 11 – 15: HSR Daytona Classic 24 Hour, presented by Mission Foods, and the HSR Daytona Historics – Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida
December 2 – 6: HSR Sebring Classic 12 Hour, presented by Mission Foods, and the HSR Sebring Historics – Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Florida
*Event schedule subject to change and additions
John Doonan, HSR President: “The 2026 HSR calendar of events once again features maximum track time on the most legendary road racing circuits in North America and now HSR’s first competition visit overseas. All of us at HSR join our loyal member competitors in thanking Marc Ouayoun and the entire team at Peter Auto – and of course the ACO as well – in making this exciting across the Atlantic exchange a highly anticipated reality. Seeing examples of the same era of classic sports cars that raced in the first major endurance races at Daytona more than 60 years ago is truly a can’t-miss experience for competitors and race fans alike. We are also thrilled to be bring the HSR NASCAR Classic ‘Thunder of America’ back to France 50 years after Bill France and Le Mans organizers first worked together to showcase big-bore American stock cars at Le Mans. We are also grateful to the more than half dozen fine sponsor partners that have joined with HSR over the last year. The 2026 schedule reflects their input and outstanding support as well. Finally, it is our valued HSR-member competitors that tell us a key attraction of competing in HSR is the large amount of track time, and we are committed to continuing this abundance in 2026 and the years to come. We still have a great lineup of HSR race weekends and plenty of laps ahead in 2025, but the excitement for next year’s schedule is already building.”
About HSR: Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) is the premier vintage and historic racing series in North America. It was formed in the mid-1970s with an inaugural event at Road Atlanta and became a part of International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) in 2022. There was one goal then and it remains true today: to celebrate and enjoy the racing cars from the past. As a “time machine” of sights and sounds, HSR provides a venue for competitors and spectators alike to share in the wonderful history and excitement created by the cars that competed at race tracks around the world. HSR currently sanctions eight vintage and historic racing events at some of the world’s most renowned race tracks, including Daytona International Speedway, Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Sebring International Raceway, Watkins Glen International and more. The complete schedule and full event information can be found on HSR’s website at www.HSRRace.com. Look for the HSR Channel on YouTube and follow HSR on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/HSRrace/,on Twitter X @HSR_race and on Instagram @HistoricSportscarRacing.
