who was his deputy, and its representative on the ACCUS board. Cone and Parker sold it to businessman Charles Slater. Both lost millions attempting to revive the sagging TV ratings. By 1992, there were a number of factors that led to the decline of the GTP category. Porsche concentrated on its IndyCar(Porsche 2708)program when critics stated that the Zuffenhausen marque should have built a followup to its 962. Back in 1988, Al Holbert realized that the 962 was beginning to feel dated. He proposed a follow-up open-top Porsche powered racer which would also be sold to customer teams. That project never got off the ground due to Holbert's death in an aircraft accident later in the year. For some, much of the blame was on the organization for allowing the Japanese "works" teams to dominate the series. Under Bishop's original vision, privateers and "works teams" were able to race equally. Privateer teams walked away, while the Japanese economy started to go downhill. These factors led Nissan and Mazda to leave the series. Critics predicted that the decreased variety of cars would disappoint race fans, and in fact, it did finally kill the series in 1993. GTP cars ran their last race on October 2, 1993 at Phoenix International Raceway. The GTP category was credited for many innovations in the U.S., including antilock brakes, traction control, and active suspension. Dave Cowart and Kemper Miller's Red Lobster sponsored team of the early 1980s would innovate race team hospitality, practices which were subsequently adopted by virtually every other team. For those that competed, GTP was recognized for its camaraderie among drivers, especially rivals. But Hans Stuck, commenting in the foreword of the book "Prototypes: The History of the IMSA GTP Series", sarcastically compared the series' camaraderie to Formula One's lack of such. World Sports Cars With rising costs and factory teams walking away from the series, which meant diminishing entries and diminishing profit, IMSA introduced a new prototype category for in 1993: World Sport Car (WSC). WSC replaced GTP and Camel Lights' closed-top cars for the following year. The WSC cars were open-top, flat-bottomed sports-prototypes with production engines, as opposed to racing versions of production engines from GTP cars. The WSC cars made their debut at the Miami Grand Prix with the sole entry of Brent O'Neill. The car finished last among the cars that were still running. After skipping the 12 Hours