Josef Hoppen, who founded Joe Hoppen Motorsport ("JHM") in 1990, was for years
the head of Volkswagen of America's Motorsport and High Performance activities.
There, he successfully oversaw the winning North American competition efforts of
Audi, VW, and Porsche. Before accepting the position at Volkswagen of America ("VWoA"),
Hoppen worked as a Service Manager, Race Car builder, and Driver at the Porsche
VW Dealership in Daytona Beach, Florida - winning several events, championships,
and factory service awards. Hoppen came to America in 1957 after leaving the
Porsche Factory Racing Department.
Educated in Germany, Hoppen joined VWoA in 1962 as an engineer, overseeing
technical matters, quality control, and warranty issues while also providing
technical dealer support. Hoppen soon found himself being asked to oversee
VWoA's interests on the Motorsport/Performance front. This led to his long and
most successful association within the industry that saw him establish Porsche,
Audi and VW as leaders in the Motorsport and Performance arena from 1967-1990.
VWoA established the all new Porsche Audi Dealer organization in 1968 which
brought new challenges to Hoppen's Motorsport Group. The first visible Porsche
Audi Racing effort started with Jo Siffert's 1969 SCCA Can-Am program. This
eventually formed the basis of the all out Porsche Audi 917 Turbo Can-Am
Challenge with 1000+ horsepower, winning most events and the 1972-1973 Can-Am
Championships. The team was guided and organized by Roger Penske and his
successful Penske Organization. The drivers were Mark Donohue and George Folmer.
Under Hoppen, this Porsche Audi Motorsport involvement expanded to the IMSA and
SCCA with Porsche Carrera, 924-944 Turbo, 934 Turbo, 935 Turbo, and finally 952
Turbo programs with nearly 200 victories and countless championships in
Trans-Am, National & Regional Races, Cam GT, GTO, GTU, GTX, and Prototype
events. Hoppen also started the Indy Project for Porsche. In addition to making
all models champions, Hoppen also made the Audi/VW powered 914 and 924 National
Champions.
On the VW side, Hoppen started making VW powered Dune Buggies Baja 500, Mint
400, and Baja 1000; winning products and National Champions. VW's power and
technology went into USAC Midgets Formula V and Super VEE, introducing both V
classes to many other countries and the introduction of several World
Championship events. In the process Bill Scott became the only American driver
to ever win at the difficult Nurburgring in Germany. Finally, Hoppen made the
GTI and Scirocco National Champions and introduced America's first one make
championships with the Scirocco Cup - Golf Cup and Bilstein Rabbit Cup.
During the early part of the 1980's Hoppen was asked to further build a
performance image for Audi products. This led to a rally program with John
Buffum and the Audi Sport Quattro Turbo winning 56 events between 1981 and 1988,
claiming U.S. National Championships between 1982-1987 and winning 5 North
American Championships during the same time period. Other Audi victories came in
the Alcan 5000, One Lap of America, Pro-Solo, and National Road Racing events.
In addition to those Rally triumphs, came victories at the difficult and
well-established Pike's Peak Hill Climb. Hoppen continued with Audi to develop
specially prepared Quattro's for this event, winning six years from 1982 onwards
with such drivers as John Buffum, Michele Mouton, Walter Rohrl, and Bobby Unser.
In the process, the turbo-charged Quattros set records that were to last
for most of the next 10 years.
Hoppen masterminded the Quattro's A-W-D turbo-charged entrance into the Trans-Am
and GTO tours. He guided engineers through the maze of U.S. regulations to
produce cars that were able to achieve a strong advantage over their rivals in
both championships. While concentrating on the headlining opportunities, Hoppen
also oversaw Audi's involvement in SCCA Showroom Stock Racing, where the 200
Turbo Quattro proved itself a success with victories at such venues as Sebring
and Road Atlanta.
As VWoA's head, Hoppen was key in helping to shape Audi's entry into the road
racing competition arena, working with Audi engineers directly to create the
kind of vehicles to make the brand a champion of this side of the Atlantic.
In the time since, Hoppen has continued to use those
relationships to form a partnership with Audi's High Performance engineers, as
well as Volkswagen counterparts and the leading Audi/VW tuners in Europe to
create, develop, and import the finest and most appropriate aftermarket
performance packages available for Audi and Volkswagen drivers.
Hoppen's knowledge and tuning experience led him to the MTM organization,
Europe's best and most experienced Audi/VW performance company, to become
America's importer of MTM engineered and developed products.
(Josef Hoppen 1/23/1933 - 11/16/2008)
If Hoppen's experience as a motorsport/performance tester helps give JHM an edge
than so too does it that his son Michael, who oversees the day-to-day operations
of the company. The younger Hoppen began his career at Vasek Polak Porsche &
Audi in Southern California, one of the best-known performance oriented
dealerships in the country. There, he was involved with Polak's racing efforts
as well as with the dealership's performance customers.
From there, Michael went in the early 1980's to establish and run Abt Motorsport
in Southern California, the first dedicated Audi tuning operation in the United
States. Michael Hoppen achieved a new level of success both for the company and
for himself by providing Audi enthusiasts the quality service, parts, and
technical knowledge to transform their vehicles into performance classics.
The younger Hoppen's association with Audi performance was likewise a personal
one as well, having prepared and raced successfully a Quattro (Ur-Quattro) in
SCCA competitions, - after competing in the Rabbit Bilstein Cup where he
showcased considerable talent, potential, and victories. During the latter part
of the 1980's and early part of the 1990's, he applied his skills helping to
make the Beddor family's Quattro Group operation , one of the leading centers
for Audi high perfromance - easily winning the Virginia City Climb beating
Corvettes, Ferraris, and Vipers.
Beddor's four (4) Sport Quattro's were turned into 480+ horsepower machines:
beating the tope leading perfromance cars at Quattro Club and Porsche Club track
events. They were key elements, as was Michael, in establishing the Quattro Club
USA.
Michael Hoppen, in addition to developing, preparing, and racing the Audi
Ur-Quattro - he continued the Audi association by developing and building two
Audi 200 Quattro Turbos for SCCA and IMAS Showroom Stock Racing. The cars were
very competitive and recorded the first road course victory ever in the U.S. for
Audi Quattro at the 6 Hours of Road Atlanta with Hurly Haywood as the lead
driver. In addition to Haywood, drivers included: Robby Unser, Gene Felton, John
Buffum, Doc Bundy, and Jeff Andretti. (The Audi also won the 6 Hours of
Sebring.)
Michael Hoppen is the key development person at Joe Hoppen Motorsport Inc. He
works with numerous engineers and Audi Technicians in Ingolstadt, Germany as
well as Audi contacts in the U.S.
