I dare say that if you didn’t at least take a little bit of time out of your weekend to watch some of the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, you’re not a racing fan.
Sports car racing may not be the biggest thing going, but this was the first race of the year (okay, so there was the Chili Bowl earlier in the month…) and the beginning of Speedweeks at Daytona (since there wasn’t any on-track testing for NASCAR).
Regardless, the action was great, and you couldn’t have asked for much more than four cars being in contention in the closing laps. This after 24 hours of full-throttle racing (without rain, they were flat-out the whole time) and covering over 2,600 miles.
But could you ask for more? I could, and will. Read on as I review the 47th Rolex 24 at Daytona from a good, bad, and ugly perspective.
Conditions:
Good: The weather. Mother Nature delivered perfection. No rain, the cold from earlier in the week moved out, and it looked like it was just a beautiful winter weekend in Florida.
Bad: No rain. I’m not talking about a monsoon here. But this would have really challenged the competitors. Consider last year in Formula 1; Silverstone separated the men from the boys. Otherwise they should set up a sprinkler system from Lake Lloyd in the infield and pump some water on the track for a few hours to make things a little more interesting. But honestly, I think they did okay without.
DP Competition:
Good: The run by the top-four cars. Brumos had the speed and overcame some pit-road miscues to take first and third on the podium. The 01 Ganassi car got lucky with a caution allowing them to repair splitter damage without losing too much ground and did everything they could to fall just short of a third-straight overall win. Wayne Taylor’s SunTrust Ford/Dallara ran great in fourth – showing the wisdom of going with proven engine technology to ensure reliability.
Bad: The run by the 99 Gainsco Bob Stallings car. It suffered an electrical problem taking out the tail lights which required repairs, and then the gearbox went kaput. This took the team I was hoping would dethrone Ganassi out of the running for the win. You had the primary pilots of Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty joined by former CART Champion Jimmy Vasser, and three-time defending Sprint Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson - So much talent gone to waste.
Bad: The 02 Ganassi Lexus Riley was strong early, but splitter damage would leave them in the not-so-envious position of having to make a change under green – effectively taking them out of contention. Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon are going to be tough to beat this season in IndyCar.
15 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete