Rolex 24 At Daytona - 2009

The 24 Hours of Daytona and I go a long way back. I first attended in 1973, and it was the second motor race that I'd been to. Back then, there wasn't much racing on TV, so the whole experience was new to me. In the early 80's, I was working for a Mazda dealership, and Mazda always had a tie in with the race, so we went most years. In those days, I was racing in SCCA events, so that was the only spectator race I'd go to.

The last time I went was in 1993. The day before the race we had scattered my father's ashes in the Gulf of Mexico. Since I was still racing at that point, I didn't go to see many spectator races, but would watch some on TV.

I wasn't too happy to see the rule change. I don't like the DP format, because I think it allows mediocre drivers to be more competitive than they should be. It was a fun race for a couple of years there with all the NASCAR, IRL, and CART drivers. but that seems to have diminished some lately, especially from the NASCAR side, and of course with the demise of CART. Still, it's a neat event and I'll catch what I can of it when I'm home. It's not something I'd record and watch later, which I would for any LeMans series race.

As for the rest of the Grand Am season, I have a hard time remembering that it even exists. I think I've seen one of those races on TV in the last few years, and that was because I was sick and had to stay on the couch.

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Originally Posted by FormerFF

I wasn't too happy to see the rule change. I don't like the DP format, because I think it allows mediocre drivers to be more competitive than they should be. It was a fun race for a couple of years there with all the NASCAR, IRL, and CART drivers. but that seems to have diminished some lately, especially from the NASCAR side, and of course with the demise of CART. Still, it's a neat event and I'll catch what I can of it when I'm home. It's not something I'd record and watch later, which I would for any LeMans series race.

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Would you mind explaining to me how the near equal cars in the DP class allow mediocre drivers to be more competitive than they should be? Typically in a spec race, the opposite happens.

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Originally Posted by call_me_andrew

Would you mind explaining to me how the near equal cars in the DP class allow mediocre drivers to be more competitive than they should be? Typically in a spec race, the opposite happens.

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The near-equality of the cars isn't the issue. The last years of ChampCar and the current specification of IndyCar had/have near equal cars, and both of those series were/are very demanding of driver skill.

From the beginning, Grand-Am has been very mindful of the gentleman driver's place in American sports car racing, and they have drawn up the series rules accordingly. Grand-Am's rule set defines a relatively heavy car on not too sticky of a wheel & tire, with a moderate amount of horsepower, and a lot of frontal area. All this adds up to a car that a moderately talented driver can drive effectively.

I'm not the only one who thinks this way. A few years ago, there was an article in "Excellence" magazine written by Peter Brock (the American racing engineer, not the Australian driver) that stated the same opinion.

I think because of the cars being so similar, it does neuter the great drivers somewhat because the car is relatively easy to drive compared to say some of the full blown prototypes. That said...it allows for close racing and that is fun.

I have only been to the race once, when the USRRC was more or less a stillborn idea while IMSA was undergoing turmoil and before Panoz took over and created the ALMS. The year I went I believe was 97 ( my memory is hazy on which year it was ) and it was the year Moretti won finally with the Ferrari 333sp. The Panoz "Batmobile" was there for the first time and I also remember a couple Porsche 911 EVO's from Klaus and Harry Bytzek out of Toronto with all Canadian drivers and I was down there helping out and learning in the timing and scoring. It was sort of a SCCA/IMSA all star team in the timing and scoring that year and us CTA (Canadian Timing Association) guys were down there just helping out.

I love any 24 hour race and there is a lot of drama and some great duels but it didn't have quite the NASCAR star power the Rolex has now. That said, the media pays more attention because of a few NASCAR people in the race and it says volumes about how dumb the American media is when it comes to sportscar racing. It was a great event when they ignored it...how did it get better with a few NASCAR guys who by the way...haven't won it?

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Originally Posted by FormerFF

From the beginning, Grand-Am has been very mindful of the gentleman driver's place in American sports car racing, and they have drawn up the series rules accordingly. Grand-Am's rule set defines a relatively heavy car on not too sticky of a wheel & tire, with a moderate amount of horsepower, and a lot of frontal area. All this adds up to a car that a moderately talented driver can drive effectively.

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Well if you had to design a car that was slow enough to race at Daytona safely and fast enough to not embarass itself when racing against a production car, how would you go about it?

There are two portuguese drivers in the entry list, so I will try to link live time to my site, and as possible provide information about the race (if they answer my calls, roaming is still exoensive)... :D

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Originally Posted by call_me_andrew

Well if you had to design a car that was slow enough to race at Daytona safely and fast enough to not embarass itself when racing against a production car, how would you go about it?

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With the chicane in place, I don't think that top speed is a problem any longer. The cars come out of the infield, immediately negotiate the west banking, and are still accelerating down the back straight, then have to brake for the chicane. Once they're out of the chicane, they're immediately into the east banking, and aren't going anywhere near a speed that would cause a disorienting level of G force when they exit the banking onto the front straight, and the dogleg isn't enough of a turn to cause an issue. I believe that any car from any series currently running could run Daytona's road course. The oval would be a different story altogether.

To answer your question on on what I'd do to the rules, Roger Edmonson has expressed a preference for coupes, so let's keep that in place. I'd put the cars on a diet and get them below 2000 lbs, and get the power up to 650 hp or so. I'd definitely get rid of whatever rule it is that causes the cab to be the full width of the car, and remove the rule that specifies the use of the spec rear wing. I would allow a limited diffuser and give the car more tire. I would also limit the size of the rear wing. I'd prefer a race car generate most of its grip mechanically, I think it is both safer and produces better racing.

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Originally Posted by FormerFF

With the chicane in place, I don't think that top speed is a problem any longer. The cars come out of the infield, immediately negotiate the west banking, and are still accelerating down the back straight, then have to brake for the chicane. Once they're out of the chicane, they're immediately into the east banking, and aren't going anywhere near a speed that would cause a disorienting level of G force when they exit the banking onto the front straight, and the dogleg isn't enough of a turn to cause an issue. I believe that any car from any series currently running could run Daytona's road course. The oval would be a different story altogether.

To answer your question on on what I'd do to the rules, Roger Edmonson has expressed a preference for coupes, so let's keep that in place. I'd put the cars on a diet and get them below 2000 lbs, and get the power up to 650 hp or so. I'd definitely get rid of whatever rule it is that causes the cab to be the full width of the car, and remove the rule that specifies the use of the spec rear wing. I would allow a limited diffuser and give the car more tire. I would also limit the size of the rear wing. I'd prefer a race car generate most of its grip mechanically, I think it is both safer and produces better racing.

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+1 :D

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Originally Posted by FormerFF

As for the rest of the Grand Am season, I have a hard time remembering that it even exists. I think I've seen one of those races on TV in the last few years, and that was because I was sick and had to stay on the couch.

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And I think that's a big problem - it's hard to find anything on Grand Am the rest of the season on television, in the news, etc. They need to hire a kick-a** PR person and really get the sport out there for people to see. I see their website has really improved - much more information - so maybe they are headed that way. The average race fan only knows about the Rolex 24 because of the way Daytona hypes it, multi-series drivers participating and the fact that it's on television. They need to chat with the folks at SPEED, ESPN or the other networks that are really making an effort to broadcast something more than just NASCAR.

The top-five in qualifying today were the following teams:

1. Brumos Porsche (No. 58 Porsche Riley) with David Donohue, Darren Law, Buddy Rice and Antonio Garcia (1:40.540 at 127.472 mph)

2. Penske Racing (No. 16 Porsche Riley) with Timo Bernhard, Ryan Briscoe and Romain Dumas (1:40.541 at 127.470 mph)

3. Michael Shank Racing (No. 6 Ford Riley) with Michael Valiante, John Pew, A.J. Allmendinger and Ian James (1:40.651 at 127.331 mph)

4. Krohn Racing (No. 76 Ford Lola) with Ricardo Zonta, Nic Jonsson and Darren Turner (1:40.892 at 127.027 mph)

5. Alegra Motorsports (No. 22 BMW Riley) with Ryan Dalziel, Carlos de Quesada, Chapman Ducote, Jean-Francois Dumoulin and Tomas Enge (1:40.915 at 126.998 mph)


** Unfortunately Danica's team Childress-Howard Motorsports in the #2 Pontiac Crawford lost an engine during qualifications and will have to start 18th which is the back of the Daytona Prototype grid. :(