By alley - Nov 2, 2016, 3:25 PM ET

PWC: Cunningham's RealTime Acura role evolves

Peter Cunningham, World Challenge's most successful driver, is stepping out of the cockpit as a full-time participant for the first time since 1990. As the owner of RealTime Racing, Cunningham has led the program to unparalleled success behind the wheel of Acuras and Hondas with seven championships and a throne atop World Challenge's record book as the all-time leader in starts, wins, poles, top threes, top fives, and top 10s.

Among other non-racing interests, the 54-year-old Wisconsinite will focus his efforts on RTR's new two-car Acura NSX program in the Pirelli World Challenge series while keeping the door open to racing again in the future.

RTR veteran Ryan Eversley and veteran sports car driver Peter Kox will pilot the team's PWC NSXs in 2017

"I'm not retiring, but it was my decision to not compete with the NSX program to focus on the behind the scenes portion of the team," Cunningham told RACER. "I've always done both all along, but I'm liking these opportunities more and the heat of battle less. It was the right time to look to younger people to fill that role with the team."

Eversley accounted for all three of RTR's wins with the Acura TLX GT program (pictured, top) that ran in PWC from 2014-'16, and 52-year-old Kox – who Cunningham charitably described as "young" – has been the primary development driver for the NSX GT3 and brings decades of factory experience to the team. Along with overseeing a greater portion of RTR's aftermarket business and corporate driving event services, Cunningham (below) is looking forward to developing his personal museum dedicated to the cars produced by his long-held Japanese partners.

"I'll be plenty busy without driving," he added. "I have other things pulling me in different directions including the RealTime Collection Hall as well as our other RealTime businesses. It is touted to be the finest privately-held Honda and Acura collection in North America, and it's also the largest. Honda has two museums of their own in North America – one that's public and another that's private – and ours is full of unique cars, many that weren't sold here."

The transition from driver/owner to owner/manager (while working alongside RTR team manager Nathan Bonneau) is something Cunningham has taken in stride.

"This is an important program with the NSX and we are fully committed to its success," he said. "The change of job descriptions for me makes a lot of sense right now."