By alley - Oct 17, 2017, 12:38 AM ET

Team owner Johnny Stevenson dead at 69

Championship-winning IMSA team owner Johnny Stevenson has died at the age of 69. The Continental Tire Series and WeatherTech SportsCar Championship entrant was reportedly found dead, on his own, in his office at the Stevenson Toyota dealership in Jacksonville, N.C.

While foul play is not suspected, according to Police Captain Ashley Weaver, the exact circumstances of Stevenson's passing was

under investigation

.

Among the most beloved members of the IMSA paddock, Stevenson Motorsports completed its run in the series earlier this month after Stevenson and his wife Susan announced their withdrawal from racing.

"The things that made Stevenson Motorsports so special for 15 years is John and Susan always wanted people to feel they were part of their family," long-time Stevenson team manager Mike Johnson told RACER. "It was never about money for the Stevensons; it was about associating themselves with people they cared about."

Johnson, who led the team for the last 11 years, says a crash with the No. 57 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Stevenson Motorsports entry during the recent swansong at Petit Le Mans presented a chance for the tight-knit program to say farewell in style.

"After the crash after Road Atlanta, we chose not to repair the car and just go to dinner because we knew it would be our last time together," he recalled. "Johnny went around the room and roasted everybody and just had a great time together."

Recreating the feeling of Stevenson Motorsports, especially without its founder, will be a challenge as team members move on to other projects.

"At that dinner, we figured there were nine kids born while people were employed by Stevenson Motorsports," Johnson said. "And Johnny did things differently. As people would walk by other trailers, everything would be hidden away behind barriers, but that's not the way he wanted things. You'd walk by ours and see kids and family and mothers and fathers, and it was like racing was a family vacation to Johnny and Susan. We all feel like we lost a family member."