The race was founded by Road Atlanta owner Don Panoz to bring the rules and spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans to North America.

The success of the inaugural event in 1998, held as part of the IMSA season with a special one-off format, led to the creation of the American Le Mans Series in 1999 with a similar formula.

IMSA agreed to let the race be the season finale of their series with a special one-off format, featuring competitors from Le Mans.

A satisfactory number of spectators attended the event, while overall honors for the race were contested between the factory Porsche 911 GT1-98 and LMP1-98 cars as well as multiple Ferrari 333 SPs and Panoz Esperante GTR-1s.

Before the race had finished, an agreement was made for Panoz to establish the American Le Mans Series in 1999 with the support of the ACO, replacing the IMSA GT Championship.

Rain created a flooded track the entire race causing multiple cautions and a red flag, allowing GTLM cars to leap-frog the prototypes that were struggling for grip in the conditions.