The Hornet looked like a fairly normal car (compared to a Pacer or Gremlin). The Varde Stealth Hornet that showed at Daytona was wildly fast in those pre-chicane days.
In fact, with the Pacer, Gremlin and Hornet, AMC was a powerhouse of motorsport, and I am sure Le Mans was next on the list
IMSA allowed virtually everything 'compact' at the time, controlling things with various prep rules and weights. Some good teams came out of it too, including Downing who went on to RX7's and then prototypes with the Argos and then the Kudzu line.
Renaults like the Alliance were built at AMC plants I think, wasn't it a partnership of some kind attempting to utlize the plants left over from AMC?
robert