I am done jonesin' for racin' this winter! Hallelujah!(sp?)

24 Hours of Daytona goes green flag @ 1330 EST today(Sat). Idiot Fox network covers the start; probably because of token Nascar drivers participating. SPEED takes over at 230 PM til 1000 PM; then 0600 Sun to the finish.

Last years winner #01 Ganassi/Sabates Lexus Riley was fastest in practice earlier this month. They start 6th. '07 polesitter and defending Rolex Champion #99 Gainsco/Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley starts 11th.

Michael Shank Racing has been a solid competitor the last 2 years with their Lexus Rileys. They ditched Lexi for FORD power this year and qualified their #6 and #60 cars on the FRONT ROW, onliest ones under 1:41...

The first few laps could be very interesting...

Personally, I am pulling for the #01 Telmex car of Scott Pruett. He has 2 overall and a record 7 class wins at Daytona. Teammates Memo Rojas and J.P. Montoya can only help. I worry about Dario Franchitti; he finished his last 2 IRL races airborne/inverted!

Another event we don't get.

*sigh*

I'm seriously itching for some racing action! Keep us posted on what happens.

^Hey, you shouldn't be complaining, you guys got the Austrailian V8 Supercars!!!

I'm going to record the whole thing. OK, not really, because my parents would get pissed...


The Rolex sports cars series is very exciting, but I don't know crap about it.....

^Hey, you shouldn't be complaining, you guys got the Austrailian V8 Supercars!!!

True, but what we don't get televised is quite a lot

We get delayed telecasts of F1, MotoGP & Superbikes (not all rounds I don't think) and Champ Car (again not all rounds I don't think)along with live telecasts of the V8s. I daresay that apart from F1 and MotoGP, the only reason we get the Superbikes and Champ Car is because they both have Australian rounds.

Timbit; live timing & scoring is always available:

http://www.grand-am.com/rolex/

There will also be some streaming video available.

Automatic Racing's M3s finished 4,5, & 7 in the Koni Challenge race Friday. Automatic debuts their Riley-built M6 in the Rolex today, starting 17th.

Timbit; live timing & scoring is always available:

http://www.grand-am.com/rolex/

There will also be some streaming video available.

Ahh, the wonders of the internet. Many thanks Steve!

Automatic Racing's M3s finished 4,5, & 7 in the Koni Challenge race Friday. Automatic debuts their Riley-built M6 in the Rolex today, starting 17th.

Unfortunately they've dropped down to 50th, 10 laps from the lead.

2 and a half hours into it now, Dixon leads Brian Frisselle by 6.145 seconds on lap 74, and seems to be increasing the lead.

Montoya's out as well, albiet down in 17th 1 lap from the leader and 16th.

I'm actually watching this right now on the speed channel. It's going pretty good so far.

I was going to go to it, but they were forecasting rain all day today. It hasn't rained yet, so obviously the weathermen successfully ruined another weekend for me, grr!

I'm watching it on TV though, I'm only an hour or so south of Daytona anyway. :p

Even though I recorded SPEED's portion of it, what Fox network and when was it on?!?!?!11

Well Steve, your lineup has won in a dominating fashion after a race that started out with many different leaders. At the end the 01 Telmex Lexus led the last 100 laps and Scott Pruett brought the car home first across the finish line up 3 laps over second place, the 99 Alex Gurney driven Lowes/Gainsco Pontiac. Third was occupied by the 9 Toshiba/Suntrust Pontiac driven by Ryan Briscoe.

As for GT, the rotary power is back in winning fashion. The 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 won by 7 laps over a trifecta of TRG Porsche GT3-Cups. Second was the 66 and third was the 67.

A long race that really wasn't too exciting at the end, congrats to Chip Ganassi and SpeedSource for racking up a win at one of the most challenging and prestigous road racing events in the world.

The race finished at about 4-5am here, so I got to about the 20 hour mark before I went to bed. At that time, Montoya was leading, and Briscoe was down in 8th! Nice to hear that he got a podium.

But still, good going from Pruett and Gurney. They were both always up the pointy end throughout the race.

Phoenix_22; don't blame the weatherman. I thank my friends for wimping out on going...

It rained at the start, causing half the field on dry tires to pit on the pace lap for wets. They were held at pit exit for 1 lap due to the split field (DP/GT). It drizzled/sprinkled intermittently, but only really rained occasionally. Drivers said they would have preferred a full wet or full dry track. The sun never shined on Daytona 'til almost 1000 AM Sunday. The continuous halfazz damp/dry track for 3/4 duration produced a record 60 lead changes among 25 drivers in 15 different cars.

At 8 hours there were 9 cars on the lead lap. At 12 hours it was 6 cars. At 15 hours there were 4-5. A little under 20 hours saw Barbosa in the leading #59 Brumos Porsche spun out of Nascar 4 with broken suspension and smack the inside wall. The #23 Alex Job Porsche blew up running 3rd on the lead lap after leading 59(!) laps. The 116 lap-leading #6 broke suspension (bellhousing mounts) with 3:15 to go, leaving the Ganassi #01 car (Montoya) with a 5-lap lead. Their minor overheating became a non-problem with a 5-6 sec/lap slowdown. A routine stop for fuel and driver (Pruett) gave them a 2 lap win margin w/o a mark on them by another car.

This was a record 3rd-straight win for Team Ganassi. (Salvador Duran set fastest lap in the #02 Ganassi car with multiple spins/off-course excursions w/damage for a 44th place finish -180 laps. He's sure to be a top choice for the next wet endurance race...)

Pruett & Montoya's repeat win was the first since Derek Bell, Al Holbert, and Al Unser Jr. did so in '86-'87.

This was Pruett's 3rd overall and record 8th class Daytona 24 win. It was also his record 15th Rolex DP win. (Don't count this guy out if he's behind you.)

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Some of the kewlest SPEED coverage came when the Gainsco #99 car went to the garage with no 2nd gear. Viewers watched the crew change the gear cluster and lose only 6 laps. They made 4 of them up to finish 2nd.

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Trivia: NOT counting this race; Hurley Haywood was scored for 17478 laps in 34 starts (5 wins) for a total of 63982.5 miles/2.57 times around the earth at Daytona.

I was most surprised that Nascar champ Kurt Busch did not trash the Penske-Taylor #9 Pontiac out of 3rd place -6 laps and make co-drivers Ryan Briscoe and "Dancing W/the Stars" winner Helio Castroneves look bad, LOL!

My pix from Daytona:

http://www.infieldparking.com/Gunman/Photos/23193

Great pics, Gunman! Welcome to SCF!

It's nice to see original race pics here for a change.

It's nice to see better-than-cell pics, also.

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Besides damp/clammy; how was the Rolex 24? Inquiring minds want to know...

I thought the race was great, the team car ran top 5 for a long time, and finished 8th. Plus, 9 of the top 10 were Riley's!!

I saw some pics from Jan test of the Krohn (Multimatic) Lolas. If I have it straight; any new Fabcar is a Cheever Coyote (will A.J. Foyt sue?) and new Dorans will be Taylor Dallaras.

I went to the 24 91-95. I remember it once being so damp w/o raining that if you stood up in the stands for 1 lap, your seat was wet.

I was used to 2-2.5 day party with occasional racing at RdATL for ages. As do the teams/drivers, so must a spectator pace for 24 hours. An endurance race is like learning a foreign languge; total immersion.

One article I read, said A.J. gave his blessing to Cheever to use the "Coyote" name. I was a bit surprised.

Nice pics Gunman!

I can't believe the 91 blew up with only a few hours to go, I was just about to head out when I saw it just lose the engine. Did they get it fixed, or was that it? I know they were actually leading but they dropped to ninth in the end.

And it looks like we'll have another Gainsco vs. Telmex duel this year.

One article I read, said A.J. gave his blessing to Cheever to use the "Coyote" name. I was a bit surprised.

Not to offend anyone from Europe, but US race fans considered Cheever to be sort of a "closet" american; living in the US little until his '30's. Maybe his entry into US racing from outside the usual career paths garnered respect from Ol' A.J., the ultimate Maverick.

Have I seen your name on (lost!) grand am boards?

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Phoenix_22; don't count out the (fast) Fords. Their 10-15% fuel mileage advantage got them points in '06 before GARRA negated it with the stupid 45 minute fuel stop rule (now gone). Gearing, mixture, and rev limit strategies for 24 hrs make any guesses for the rest of the season risky business.

Nice pics Gunman!

I can't believe the 91 blew up with only a few hours to go, I was just about to head out when I saw it just lose the engine. Did they get it fixed, or was that it? I know they were actually leading but they dropped to ninth in the end.

About 6a.m. they replaced the radiator, only loosing one lap with the help of a caution. About 7a.m. Johnny O had an off, that put the back end into a tire wall. Not a big hit, but it cracked some bosses on the rear gearbox case, which lead to a longer than expected pit stop, rather than a quick bodywork swap.

Have I seen your name on (lost!) grand am boards?

Very possible, I post on the official, and unofficial "cog" board.

About 6a.m. they replaced the radiator, only loosing one lap with the help of a caution. About 7a.m. Johnny O had an off, that put the back end into a tire wall. Not a big hit, but it cracked some bosses on the rear gearbox case, which lead to a longer than expected pit stop, rather than a quick bodywork swap.

When the 6 car broke (leading) under braking for the bus stop @ -3:16; the word was that suspension mountings had broken off of the bellhousing. Why was this a killer instead of just a "longer than expected pit stop?"

Grand-Am's new (1 day old?) site was abysmal, abominable, and excreble. (all of those words would get me banned from their boards; since they are Imperial Nascar Associated...!) I actually found (hours old) race notes through Google news search that I couldn't find on the site. Detailed info was seriously lacking.

PS. Johnny O. is my sister's neighbor. I sent her your pic of him.

When the 6 car broke (leading) under braking for the bus stop @ -3:16; the word was that suspension mountings had broken off of the bellhousing. Why was this a killer instead of just a "longer than expected pit stop?"

Hard to say. A bellhousing change would be a garage repair, and then what did they have ready in spare parts, and in what state of pre-assembly?