The Racing History

Back in 1969 at age 13, owner Joe Cogbill was introduced to Porsche racing by his father and in 1979 Joe began his racing career with a 1959 Porsche Speedster Convertible D. Only 2 years later in 1981, Joe finished second at the Atlanta Runoffs to another Speedster driven by John O'Steen. The following year in 1982, Joe claimed his first SCCA Runoffs national championship. And the rest was history.


  
 In 1982, 1983, and 1989, Joe won the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Runoffs with his Porsche Speedster. The victories brought Joe recognition from the Porsche factory in Stuttgart, Germany as being one of the top 20 drivers in the world. In 1982, 1987, 1988, and 1989, Joe was a recipient of the coveted Porsche Cup 



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Ad ran by Porsche after the 1989 SCCA National Championship for the third time
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Joe was recognized for the Porsche Cup in 1982, 1987, 1988, and 1989


1982 Porsche Cup 14th Place Finisher SCCA EP National Champion







1987 Porsche Cup 12th Place Finisher SCCA Runner Up 
National Champion 356 Speedster & Brumos 944 Turbo



1988 Porsche Cup 14th Place Finisher SCCA National Champion
 

1989 Porsche Cup 5th Place Finisher SCCA National Champion
96 Rock 356 Speedster & Brumos 944 Turbo


  In 1985 Joe campaigned the Brumos-Goodyear-P.A.P. 944 in the Playboy Endurance Series. Joe finished all 6 races and drove with such notable drivers as Sir Stirling Moss, Innes Ireland, John O'steen , Elliot Forbes-Robinson, Jim Truman, Doc Bundy, Manfred Janke (Racing Director For Porsche), Hurley Haywood, Dominic Dobson, Paul Tracy, Bob Snodgrass, and John Buffum.


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Sports Illustrated ran an article on the re-entry into racing of Stirling Moss who was truly one of the greatest racing drivers of all time. Stirling Moss was in a coma resulting from a practice wreck at the Goodwood racing circuit in England at the Formula One Race for seven months and then he awoke to think he would never race again. In 1985 at the now defunct Riverside Racetrack in Riverside, California. Joe Cogbill joined Sir Stirling Moss with one of his best sidekicks, Innes Ireland (1961 Formula One Champion) for the Playboy Cup Endurance Race for Stirling's first drive
 since the 1961 Formula One practice disaster. The press from all over the world was there to report on the event.

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Winner Panamera Carrera 7 Day Mexican Race 1992
Sports Minor A Class and 8th overall of 142 Entries
1958 Porsche 356 Coupe owned by Mike Wilfley co-driven and prepped by
Joe Cogbill for the Panamera Carrera race
Taking 3x 356 Engines Components to make one good engine for the 
last day in the parking lot in Monterey, Mexico 1992
This race starts near the Honduras and races through the middle of Mexico
through the old silver mining towns all the way to New Laredo, Texas for 7 days.
All the people of the towns in the path of the race turn out with schools out, main streets shut
down, and literally 100's of thousands of exited spectators enjoyed the spectacle.

In 1983 with the introduction of the Porsche 944  Brumos Porsche
and Bob Snodgrass wanted to mount a Porsche entry for the new SCCA
SSGT class and provided a new 944 for Joe to race and also to compete
in the Playboy Endurance Road Racing Series. 

On the Front Row for the Start of the 1984 Nelson Ledges 24 Hour Race. 
This race was near Detroit and very valuable to the car manufactures that wanted 
to show how their new models performed in off the showroom condition in a 
grueling endurance race setting. 


In 1986 Porsche introduced the 944 Turbo and again Joe was privileged to be provided one of
only six built Weissach edition showroom stock cars that were assembled at Porsche with all available
legal options to run showroom stock with Brumos Porsche sponsorship under the auspices of Bob Snodgrass.
These cars had Matter Germany mfg roll cages, M220 limited slip option, and special purpose electric Recaro 
racing seats to allow quick drivers change of different size drivers.


1987 SSCA class SSGT runner up National Champion at the SCCA Runoffs at Road Atlanta 

In the 1994-1995 International Motorsports Association (IMSA) seasons Cogbill
was selected to drive for Alex Job racing for the Endurance Events. Our Best finish was 
a victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring and excellent finishing positions at the
24 Hours of Daytona grueling endurance races


1995 12 Hours of Sebring Winner in Class S2 (old GTU) with IMSA owner Charlie Slater, soon to be BMW
factory driver Bill Auberlin, and Joe Cogbill. This was one of Alex Job's most prized wins as it was the first Sebring
win for Alex and he was later to campaign the Porsche Factory sponsored 911 entries for Porsche.
Alex Job has been recently inducted into the Sebring Hall of Fame for his many Sebring victories.


1985 Daytona 24 Hours 20 hours into the race. Cogbill was the first driver to break the 2 minute mark
in the Fabcar Built Alex Job Porsche 911 in qualifying.
The Alex Job car was a tube frame purpose built race car built by Dave Klem of Fabcar. It ran a G50 five speed
transmission and 3.6 911 engine with individual throttle stack high butterfly injection controlled by
Motec Fuel Injection all assembled personally by Alex Job.

With the advent of the Porsche 968 Joe wanted to build something unique to campaign
in the IMSA series and tapped Dave Klem of Fabcar to build a Porsche 968. The car was
actually chassis #7 of the 944 Turbo cars Fabcar built for SCCA Trans-AM
Fabcar utilized March 87C Indy car suspension corners that were magnesium uprights with Alcon brakes also
from the Indy car series. Bill Mitchell assisted with the suspension design and full scale drawings were made of the parts.
The fuel cell was special and located centrally in the car right behind the driver. The transmission was a Hewland DGB.

The car was basically a front engine Indy car as it was a transaxle car with the Hewland transmission in the back. The motor was a 968 3.0 liter inline four cylinder with a Porsche 928 Torque tube connecting to the transmission. Joe Cogbill personally built the engine which had to have all its parts developed and made as there were no competition parts
available. This exercise in engineering is one of the things that made CogsCogs a premier builder of Porsche
Transmissions as we understand these mechanical aspects and what their limitations are.


The car was very competitive even though Joe was an independent in the IMSA series that was dominated by
Car manufacturers. We were respected enough in the series to gain sponsorship from Royal Oak Charcoal
and a tire sponsorship for race tires for Yokahama.

Joe Cogbill of CogsCogs concluded his racing career driving for Brumos Porsche and Bob Snodgrass and Dan Davis as the owners of the Brumos Racing 914-6 Vintage race cars in Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) for 6 years.  Joe is 3 time overall Rolex Endurance Champion in HSR Vintage Racing

Joe most frequently drove with Brumos vintage drivers John Hayt and Bert Roberts in some of the most wonderful
Porsche 914-6 cars to ever grace the planet


Racing Performance History


 Over 100 SCCA national victories spanning 18 years in various classes SCCA Runoffs National Champion 1982, 1983, and 1989

 SCCA Runoffs National Champion Runner-up 1981, 1985, and 1987 

Twenty-three 24-hour endurance races attended including Daytona 24 hours and Sebring 12 hours. 

Sebring 12 Hrs. GT2 Winner 1995 with Alex Job Sebring 12 Hrs.

 GT2 Finisher 1993 with Jack Lewis Daytona 24 Hrs. 

GTO Finisher 1986 and 1987 Oftendahl Racing Daytona 24 Hrs. 
 
 GTO Finisher 1989 Clay Young Racing Daytona 24 Hrs. 

GTO Finisher 1992 and 1993 Jack Lewis Racing Daytona 24 Hrs.

 GTU Finisher 1994 and 1995 Alex Job Racing Daytona 24 Hours.

 La Carrera Panamericana Seven Day race through Mexico 1992 Winner Sports Minor A Class.

 Historic Sports Car Racing (HSR) Rolex Endurance Overall Champion 1995, 1996, 1997. 

 HSR Rolex Endurance driver for Brumos Porsche 1999 through 2006.