Throughout its forty plus year existence, Hylton Motorsports has had its share of outstanding drivers but none quite like sports car racing champion Al Holbert.  “You can say without a doubt that Al was one of the best drivers to ever get behind the wheel of a race car” stated team owner James Hylton “Al was a winner.”  Holbert did his fair share of winning with three victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, two victories in the 24 Hours of Daytona and five championships in the IMSA Series.  Holbert grew up in the Philadelphia suburb of Warrington P.A. and attended Lehigh University, majoring in mechanical engineering.  While attending Lehigh, Holbert worked for Roger Penske and racing legend Mark Donohue.  These two individuals would be quite instrumental in setting the stage for Holbert’s rise to stardom.

After graduating from Lehigh, Holbert began competing in the IMSA GT Series. Holbert captured both the 1976 and 1977 series championships while piloting his own Chevrolet Monza.  For 1978, Holbert moved to the highly competitive NASCAR Winston Cup Series and campaigned cars for veteran driver James Hylton and his Inman S.C. based racing operation.  Hylton would field his legendary number 48 Chevrolet  and Oldsmobile race cars for Holbert with sponsorship from Southland Industries. “Al was ready for a new challenge” explained Hylton “he had been pretty dominant for the last couple of years in IMSA and was ready to see how he could perform on the oval tracks of NASCAR.”

Holbert’s first start for Hylton Motorsports occurred on January 22, 1978 in the Winston Western 500 at the historic Riverside International Speedway road course.  The consummate road racer Holbert qualified an impressive ninth in his Monte Carlo and ran in the Top-Ten all day before finishing eighth in front of a record crowd of 70,000.  Hylton adds “Holbert really did an outstanding job for us at the Riverside race, he was one of the best road racers that NASCAR had ever seen.  He ran every lap of that race flat-out.”

Engines problems plagued the team during the next two events as Holbert finished 29th in the Daytona 500 and 31st in the Atlanta 500. Holbert’s fourth appearance of the 1978 season would be at legendary Darlington Speedway’s Rebel 500, where Holbert would capture the Fireball Roberts Rookie of the Race award after piloting his Monte Carlo to a seventh place finish. “Holbert was really impressive at Darlington” stated Hylton “that is a tough track for even the most season veteran to drive let alone a rookie. That seventh place finish was quite an accomplishment.” Holbert would back up his Darlington performance by recording a strong 10th place finish at Dover’s Mason – Dixon 500.

The next two races would unfortunately find Holbert and the Hylton Motorsports team sidelined by crashes after outstanding qualifying runs. At Charlotte’s World 600, Holbert qualified 8th but would finish 38th after becoming involved in a wreck with Ron Hutcherson on lap 113. Three weeks later, Holbert qualified his Chevrolet 14th for Michigan’s Gabriel 400 but a collision on lap 108 resulted in a 31st place finish.

When the Winston Cup series returned to Daytona for the Firecracker 400, Holbert qualified the Hylton Motorsports Oldsmobile 442 in 14th position. Unfortunately Holbert’s effort was plagued by engine issues and he was relegated to a 30th place finish. Holbert and the team rallied back and finished 12th at Pocono’s Coca-Cola 500 but engine problems plagued the team at the Talladega 500 with Holbert finishing a distant 30th.

Dover’s Delaware 500 would mark the first two-car Hylton Motorsports NASCAR effort since the 1972 Yankee 400 at Michigan. The two car team functioned impressively as Hylton qualified 17th and Holbert qualified 18th for the 500 lap event. On race day, Holbert produced another outstanding performance by capturing a 13th place finish at the treacherous one mile oval. Holbert’s last start in the number 48 would occur at Atlanta’s Dixie 500 where engine problems would force the car to retire early and finish in 35th place.

For the 1979 NASCAR Winston Cup Season, Holbert would form his own team and run a limited schedule of six races.  Al Holbert was a road racer at heart and he soon returned to the IMSA series to compile a record that would rank him inarguably as one of the greatest road racers of all time.  Holbert would capture the 1983 IMSA GTP Series championship while driving a March 83G in competition.  Holbert would also capture both the 1985 and 1986 IMSA GTP titles while driving his turbo-charged Porsche 962.  During his career, Holbert won a series record 49 IMSA GT series events.

In 1983, Holbert captured the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Porsche 956 and also was victorious in the 1986 and 1987 editions of the event while driving a factory-backed Porsche 962.  Holbert also drove a Holbert Racing Porsche 962 to victory in both the 1986 and 1987 24 Hours of Daytona.  Holbert competed in the 1984 Indianapolis 500, capturing fourth place in his CRC Chemicals March-Cosworth for owner Alex  Morales.  “I think Al’s first love was the Porsche” remarked Hylton “I think with his engineering degree and analytical skills, he made a good fit for their organization”.

Unfortunately on September 30, 1988, the 41 year old Holbert was killed in a tragic plane crash near Columbus, Ohio.  “Al was a an all around great guy” stated Hylton “he was a pleasure to work with and it was an absolute tragedy to lose him.”