John Schneider (born July 14, 1938 inDallas,Texas[1]) is a formerAmericansports car racing driver.
Schneider came on the national scene in 1983 driving aPorsche 924 in theIMSA GT Championship GTU class for Performance Motorsports. He stayed in that car through 1985. In 1985 he also began racing aPontiac Firebird in theTrans-Am Series. In 1986 he moved to Performance Motorsports' newBuick Somerset Trans-Am car and drove aMazda rotary engine poweredArgo in the24 Hours of Daytona for Outlaw Racing. In 1987 he drove at Daytona in aCosworth poweredTiga for Cosmik-Roy Baker Racing while continuing to drive the Somerset in Trans-Am. In 1988's 24 Hours of Daytona race, Schneider drove aPorsche poweredRoyale for Diman Racing and drove a number of other IMSA races in a Tiga for Essex Racing Services. He also raced part-time in Performance Motorsports'Chevrolet Corvette Trans-Am car.
Schneider was away from racing from the end of 1988 to 1995. When he returned, he drove aStillenNissan 300ZX to a number of strong finishes in theIMSA Supercar Championship. In 1996 he drove anOldsmobile-poweredSpice for Bobby Brown Motorsports in theWorld Sportscar Championship but had few good results.[2] In 1997 Schneider signed onto an "all star" team to drive theDyson RacingRiley & Scott Mk III-Cosworth in the 24 Hours of Daytona with co-driversRob Dyson,James Weaver,Butch Leitzinger,Andy Wallace,John Paul Jr., andElliott Forbes-Robinson. The team won the race as many expected.[3] After the win, Schneider again took a lengthy sabbatical from racing, but returned to the 24 at Daytona in 2002 to drive a Chevrolet powered Riley & Scott for TRV Motorsport but the car failed to finish.[2] That was his last professional race.