The 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 52nd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 16 – 17 June 1984. It was also the third round of the 1984 World Endurance Championship. There were two big stories going into the race weekend: the absence of the Porsche works team and their drivers, and the return of Jaguar. Bob Tullius had commissioned the new Jaguar XJR-5 to run in the IMSA series and entered two for Le Mans. Earlier in the year, FISA had announced abrupt changes to the fuel regulations to bring them more in line with IMSA. Porsche and Lancia objected strongly because of their strong investment in the existing rules. In the absence of dominant Porsche works team, the race was left wide open between Lancia and the number of strong Porsche customer teams.

Robert Jean Wollek, nicknamed "Brilliant Bob", was a race car driver from Strasbourg, France. He won a total of 76 races in his career, 71 in Porsche cars, including four editions of the 24 Hours of Daytona and one edition of the 12 Hours of Sebring. He died in a road accident in Florida while riding a bicycle back to his accommodation after the day's practice sessions for the following day's race, the 12 Hours of Sebring.