David Donohue Ends Ganassi's Rolex Streak at Three

I had heard of the Grand Am racing, but I didn't understand how, why, or who would want to watch a 24-hour race. I'd caught some of the action before and it never caught on, so I wanted to make sure by watching the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

There were lots of Sprint Cup stars like Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears, Juan Pablo Montoya, AJ Allmendinger, etc., so I decided to catch the last two-and-a-half hours of it.

I saw lots of drivers I'd never heard of, like David Donohue and Darren Moore. But they showed me.

At the 40-minute mark Montoya took the lead in a Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Daytona Prototype, going for three overall wins in a row with co-drivers Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, and Ganassi's fourth consecutive Rolex 24 win.  

At the 18-minute mark Donohue took the lead. He battled through traffic and fought off the hard charging Montoya at the end.

I had witnessed the most laps completed, the most cautions, and the end of Ganassi's era of winning at Daytona.

Forty years after his father graced Victory Lane, David Donohue won from the pole. The team of Donohue, Darren Law, Antonio Garcia, and Buddy Rice won themselves a Rolex watch each.

Also, Rice joined names like Foyt, Unser, Franchitti, Montoya, Dixon, and more by winning both the Indy 500 and Rolex 24 at Daytona.

In the Grand Touring class, the winner was RJ Valentine and SPEED's coverage was great. They didn't cover GT much but they didn't have the big names like the Prototypes.

I personally didn't think I could watch it, but I absolutely loved it! It was exciting and fast-paced racing—nothing like NASCAR, but still a great show.

Now the Rolex Series heads to the road couse at Virginia International Raceway the weekend of April 24 and 25. The race will be broadcast on SPEED. Check your local listings for times.

This is bound to be a great season in this series and this was an absolutely great way to start off Speedweeks 2009.