'09 Rolex 24 @ Daytona

[dalyduo]

Half an hour from the start we wish good luck to all the usual Skippy and TJR suspects about to participate in one of the great endurance races in this country. Patterson, Pew, Pace, Pumpelly, Bonilla, Lowe, Yarab, Gomez, both Taylor brothers and many more.

The weak economy has shrunk the field somewhat which makes it all the more heartening to see Gerardo driving a Porsche with Randy Pobst in his first Rolex 24.

The Michael Shank boys with Pew and Patterson have very fast cars and with any luck either or both could be podium contenders at the end.

Jordan and Ricky Taylor will be part of the Beyer Racing Pontiac Riley effort and their dad Wayne will be part of his Sun Trust Dallara driver lineup.

Jim Pace and Jim Lowe have a strong car and great driver line up with Johannes van Overbeek in their Farnbacher/Loles prepared JLowe car. Having witnessed their podium finish two years ago in only their second try, can't wait to see the day unfold with what is now a seasoned and very focused team.

Spencer (What time is it?) Pumpelly who already has a Rolex 24 winners watch on his wrist and Tim George Jr. as a co-driver will be looking for a steady run in his TRG prepared Porsche.

Ron Yarab and Michael Gomez return in a Farnbacher/Loles prepared Children's Tumor Foundation Porsche with a great driver lineup and high hopes of raising lots of money for their cause.

We salute you all... God Speed and Good luck!

Big shout out to Murray and Michele Marden who are there as spectators. Murray's been filling seats for Farnbacher/Loles this past year giving them 6 GT cars, (more than any other team) in this years event.

And a hearty wave to CDH who is in the friendly confines of Daytona video recording the proceedings for Michael Shank Racing with the numbers 6 and 60 DP cars containing John Pew and Mark Patterson.

[dalyduo]

Sadly just over an hour and a half into the race we see Jim Pace in the #64 JLowe car being pushed behind the wall. No word yet on what the problem is but we hate to see them losing laps so early in the proceedings.

[cheekychica]

With under 30min. to go, Andy and Spencer are running 1, 2 in GT. Spencer's a lap down from Andy, and the P3 car is several laps behind Spencer. Is 30min enough time for Spencer to catch up? Will there be a race to the finish between the teammates? For those of us "watching" on the computer, we can only wait, but not see.

[dalyduo]

About 24 hours later the usual heartbreak and heart-stopping results that this race usually brings.

JLowe out early with a broken half-shaft. Both Michael Shank cars out with Ford engine malfunctions. (Mark Patterson reports that Ford has already put out a press release saying it was caused by faulty parts from a supplier.) Spencer Pumpelly was leading in the GT class but seems to have been put into 2nd place by team orders to give the first team with Andy Lally and Patrick Long the Rolex watch. Unless the wheels fall off TRG will take the first two podium spots in GT. With half an hour to go Farnbacher cars have 5th, 7th and 8th in GT class.

Thrilled to report Randy Pobst (Gerardo's lead driver) is having a fierce battle with Matt Plumb for 9th place with less than half an hour to go running very close lap times. Opps... Matt just got by as would be expected because the Mazda was a class leader that had problems early on.

Ron Yarab's car is a respectable 16th place in GT class.

Ricky and Jordan Taylor are in 9th place in DP class.

And all of this gets overshadowed by four DP cars battling for the podium and overall win after 23 1/2 hours. JP Montoya in the 2nd place Ganassi car is the agitated blue filling between two Brumos Porsche crispy white biscuits of this racing reverse oreo cookie. The Porsche's have the slightest of edge on power but Montoya is able to close any gap through the infield twisties to keep them all nose to tail every lap. The Sun Trust car driven by Max Angelelli was part of this group until a few moments ago when he seemed unable to maintain the scorching pace of the top three. With 12 minutes to go it looks like Brumos will win with Ganassi in 2nd and Brumos in 3rd to knock Ganassi off the top step for the first time in 3 years.

Less than 10 minutes and the DP leaders are running up on heavy GT traffic. David Donohue in the lead with Juan Pablo Montoya breathing down his neck now separated in traffic from the 3rd place Brumos Porsche. Nobody is breathing... Hurley Haywood looks to be paralized with nerves watching the finish.

Two minutes to go and Montoya is poised to strike if anything slows Donahue. White flag and they instruct Donahue to switch to the reserve tank. David Donohue wins the Rolex 24 40 years after his Dad did and puts Brumos Porsche back on top for the first time in decades. Very emotional for that team as founder Bob Snodgrass passed away 2 years ago.

Congratulations and hearty salute to all the competitors. We look forward to hearing from JP, Spencer, John Pew, Gerardo, Ron Yarab, and maybe even a Taylor brother or two for their first hand reports of this extraordinary event.

[WatertownNewbie]

Saw a great interview with Michael Gomez regarding the charity and while that was going on an in-car lap with Ron Yarab behind the wheel. Very nice publicity.

[Jim Pace]

Congrats to all the guys that participated in this years Rolex 24 at Daytona. Great racing up to the end and so happy for David Donohue and Brumos team with the win. Same to Andy Lally with Kevin Bucklers' TRG cars for the GT win. Outstanding performance to Spencer as well. I have not seen all the results but I know there were LOTS of friends driving there and it was great seeing them through out the weekend.

Jim Lowe can fill in the details for the JLowe car but the nut is we had trouble in the opening laps. We have an on board oil reservoir that adds oil to the system when it senses low oil pressure. Something (to be determined) malfunctioned and the aux pump added 8.0 liters of oil to an engine that was already at max capacity. This had the crankshaft swimming in oil with a loss of power. The standard Porsche oil tank began to leak from the added contents and pressure then the engine began blowing oil out onto the right rear tire making for some interesting handling characteristcs. "Slow but scarry" as Wally used to say. This happened in the first hour. Later we had several CV boot & drive shaft failures. For some reason the boots would split then loose the grease leading to failure of the CV joint. We went through five! This is not a normal item of failure in the Porsche. Many other Porsches suffered the same fate but obviously not all. Was it a different boot? Ride height/ joint angle related? More heat from a lower permissible ride height? New supplier to PMNA? Not sure but certainly makes for a long day. The car was retired about midnight to “fight another day”. However a long day at Daytona is still a good day. Next Rolex GT race for JLowe Racing is May 2-3 in New Jersey.
Thanks to those keeping track.
Thanks to Jim Lowe for everything!
JP

[jlowe]

Many thanks to Pat for checking in on the JLowe team, along with the other Skippy-related drivers and crew at the Rolex this past weekend. Thanks also for posting one of my favorite photos from the '07 podium - seems like a pretty great day from this perspective.

Jim Pace summarized best the technical troubles that sunk the fine effort we put together for this year's 24. With a year to plan, we had put together a great lineup featuring JP, Tim Sugden and Johannes van Overbeek to complement my slow-but-steady approach; with engineer Steve Bunkhall, strategist Thomas Blam and crew chief Roger Reis, we had a great chemistry to go with maximum experience and skill. What we didn't count on was the unpredictible mechanical failure(s) of a brand new 997 Cup car, making all of the above a moot point.

Everything seemed lined up perfectly to run towards a podium top step on Sunday, but instead we ended up drinking beer and talking story in the RV at 1am. Everyone seemed unwilling to believe it was really a dead deal, and more than once I returned to the garage to confirm that it was not just a pre-race nightmare.

By Sunday we were again enjoying Tim Sugden's rather hilarious stories over breakfast, and daring to talk about a 2010 effort, trying it on to see how it all sounded. Not quite ready to go that route yet, but it'll come and we'll then be able to file away the '09 race under "that's racin'."

Congrats to all the guys who ran hard at Daytona, whether they finished, finished first, or joined us on early flights home. Either way it was great to be there, and to be a part of it all.

[chsutherland]

Sure sounds like fun. Thanks for the run-down. I was certainly curious. Neat to get such inside info. I bet JLOWE and Daytona will dance many times. The car looks a lot lower than last year. Daytona is a very cool event to be a part of. Seems like more laps are completed every year, the pace gets faster and faster.

Roger Penske attends your events, JP tells me he might look out the window of the G5 to see mine. If he happens to be flying overhead, so far no dice. I am keeping a watchful eye.

[cdh]

Found this audio interview with Gerardo recorded prior to race. Great race by Gerardo and Gotham Racing putting the 26 in P10 at the end, a great accomplishment given the small scale of the team.

Working on a more complete post to follow....

[cdh]

News on the Ford failures -

DAYTONA BEACH, FL, (January 25, 2009) – Another 24 hours at Daytona is in the racing books, and after a long day and eventful night of racing, it was SunTrust and Wayne Taylor Racing that led the way for the seven Ford-powered machines entered into the famous endurance race.

“Last night about four or five hours in, John Maddox [Roush Yates Manager of Cammer Engine Programs] told me that it was possible that none of the Ford engines might finish. We spent about an hour talking about it amongst everyone and realized it was negative energy. We decided there was no point in worrying about it because if it was going to happen it was going to happen. So we said lets go race. If you take that perspective then this fourth-place finish is great, but we come here to win. We knew we couldn’t do anything about it so we just decided to fight and go race. Maybe we got lucky or maybe there wasn’t any problem at all.”

The rest of the Ford machines weren’t as fortunate as the SunTrust No. 10 to complete the entire race with the other six Ford entries experiencing the same electrical issue, resulting in early exits from the race.

“Our preliminary indications are that a common component failure related to the electrical systems was the problem in six of the Ford powered cars during the race,” said Pat DiMarco, Ford Racing vehicle dynamics and electronics supervisor. “The lone Ford-powered car to finish the race, the SunTrust Racing entry, was running the same part as the other Ford cars batch that failed during the race. We will continue to investigate this problem and work to correct the problem for the next race.”

QUOTES FROM THE GARAGE:
Michael Shank – Team Owner, Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley entries:
“This is a huge disappointment for us because we’ve never had any kind of problem like this before, and to have both team cars get knocked out while running so strong is just a punch in the gut. If we weren’t going to win this race, we wanted at least to start off right in the championship with some good points so unfortunately that’s not the way it played out tonight.”
A.J. Allmendinger – co-driver No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley:
“I hate it for the team because this is a great group and Mike Shank does a great job so this is really disappointing. We weren’t even pushing and the car was just so easy to drive that all we were doing was keeping to plan and setting a pace. This team works so hard, and that’s why I keep coming back. I hate this, but I want to come back and win that (Rolex) watch. I know this team is going to be strong again this year but unfortunately we wont be getting them the start to the season that we were looking to.”
John Pew – co-driver No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley:
“This car is such a pleasure to drive-I did my fastest lap ever here (at Daytona) in just my fifth lap of practice this weekend, so to not even get to drive in the race is really a disappointment. We were doing exactly what we needed to do, and I was really looking forward to taking the car over in the lead but unfortunately just didn’t get the chance. We had a great run here last year and there was no reason to think that we couldn’t have been strong again this weekend but we just didn’t get the racing luck to fall our way. But we are looking forward to the rest of the season. It’s been great to have Michael [Valiante] join us and the engineers have really made a lot of progress with this car.”
David Brown – Team Manager, Krohn Racing:
“The information that we have received from our engine tuner is that we suffered the same failure in the No. 75 car as we suffered earlier in the No. 76 car, as well as, we believe now, the 60 and the 6 and the 61 car, which is a crank sensor trigger failure inside the engine. It requires the removal of the engine, stripping of the front of the engine, stripping the front of the spare engine, taking the old part out of that and put that in the engine of the car. By the time we’ve done that, we will be in exactly the same position that we are now if we don’t run again. Therefore, there is no point in running. Very, very disappointing though it is, this is the end of our 24 Hours of Daytona.”
Eric van de Poele – co-driver, No. 75 Krohn Racing Ford Lola:
The car was perfect when I restarted for my stint. We changed the aero a little bit for the car. I was right behind the Ganassi car and I was going to pass it on the straight. It would have been the first time in two years. It would have been perfect. When I moved away to make the pass, the engine just shut off. I had just enough time to dive into the pits and to coast to the garage.”

[Doc Racer]

Anyone who got to be part of the show has my admiration and respect - guys, you are living the dream! Big Shout Out to JP and Jim Lowe -- hard to find two nicer guys at the wheel of a cup car. I have no doubt you will both be back on a podium very soon.

Great job by all our other friends and racing buddies throughout the field - proud to know you and cheer you on. I will be working towards you, albeit with somewhat cheaper seat time, throughout the upcoming year!

Chris

[cdh]

2009 Rolex 24 (half) Hours

Well I really didn't think I'd be there for 2009 but in the late hours Mark Patterson and John Pew asked "what is the freight" to get me to Daytona to shoot the Michael Shank Racing effort. I replied, they said OK, I booked flight, mental car and room and arrived at track Friday around 1:00 P.M.

As I exited the infield tunnel and rolled down my window the first names I heard on the PA were Scott Panzer and Todd Snyder who were riding a Mustang in the 3 hour Koni Challenge support race, already underway. I believe they were running in the top five at that point...cool. Got my Daytona bearings back, found a reasonable parking spot and headed for pit lane. Found Todd coaching Scott over the radio and Linda Snyder seated in the pit control box keeping track of the vital statistics. Familiar faces already, this is good.

Scott came in soon after, pumped from his stint, he was doing very well considering he had next to no practice time in a car and race very different from anything he had done at Skip, well done Mr. Panzer.

I head to garage areas and find the Shank teams busy fine tuning, cleaning, organizing, pacing, all in nervous anticipation of tomorrow's race. The Shank drivers are practicing the art of the driver change, a small ballet / acrobatic exercise, looking to shed the seconds that add up over 24 hours. I am feeling the buzz of energy that fills their garage, glad I am here.

Finish some more shooting and wandering till past sunset, but am tired from little sleep the night before so head back to the Super 8 dump I have called home at my previous 24's. No surprises here, no problems. This motel is directly on the flight path of the Daytona airport so I am used to aircraft buzzing over, but suddenly the calm is shattered by the sound of a screaming jet, so loud I thought it mistook the Super 8 lights for the runway threshhold, holy crap! What was that!??! Run outside but it was gone before I ever heard the sound, go back in and it all repeats, shit!!! We are under attack!! Run outside again but what ever it was is gone. I speculate they must be the fly-over jets for tomorrow’s opening festivities, which turns out to be correct. Shock and awe at the Super 8, scared the hell out of me.

I think I will just bullet random thoughts about the experience - try to keep this short...

Saturday A.M.

• See Doppler Dave Lunnenberg and Aaron Hippy Nash adding finishing touches to the Jim Lowe, Jim Pace Porsche, everyone looking very professional, very racy, great guys.
• Highlight - Michele Marden running over to greet me with big hug, so good to see her. Invites me into the Farnbacher - Loles hospitality room for coffee where I say hi to Murray and Ron Yarab - thanks Michele.
• See Spenser Pumpelly and chat a bit, wish them luck, they did very well, great job.
• Returning to the #26 car garage I see Gerardo has joined his Gotham Racing crew, fine-tuning things. Bobo was wearing his helmet so he was either practicing driver changes or being really cautious before the big race, I wasn’t sure as there were no other people wearing helmets. Just kidding there Bobo. Stopped by their pit during the race, Bobo introduced me to Randy Pobst, a driver I have admired for years.
• One of the great juxtapositions of the weekend was comparing the Gotham operation to the truly gigantic TRG or Farnbacher operations, real David and Goliath stuff. The TRG and F-L pit tents just go on and on and on, they were huge. Everything in them the latest in race technology, super pro, super slick. Everything at Gotham was scaled down, small pit tent (tiny actually), one small folding table with 2 laptops served as race control, clipboards with stop watches attached - whoa, don’t see that too often anymore, a couple coolers, basic pit equip, a food station, very modest. It all makes their P18 overall and P10 GT finish even better, congrats all, great drive! (and don’t read this as anything negative towards the big teams, they put out an incredible effort, truly amazing!)
• Looking at the collection of vintage cars I notice Jordan Taylor scrutinizing one of the older GTP cars. Stop and say hello, turns out his Dad Wayne drove it in an earlier 24, cool. Good seeing all the Taylors, hats off to them. Wayne’s car was the only Ford to survive, and they were close to a podium, good stuff.
• See Jim Lowe and Jim Pace - both are ready for battle and looking great. As previously noted, Murphy was in their pits also...I discovered a new-found dislike of Murphy this weekend. Tough race for the Jlowe gang. In the evening I saw Kim Herman in their pits tending to the many Lowe / Farnbacher guests. I am very sorry to say I never saw Ashlei Newkirk, bummer Ash!!! Apparently you were covering things in the fleet of team motor coaches, I left early, really sorry we missed each other, see you in Sebring??
• Driver’s meeting, Grand Marshal Brian Redman introduced, tells a brief but entertaining Rolex 24 story from one of his three wins, faces in the crowd comprised of so many great drivers. With cam on shoulder I get some credibility so approach Redman and shake his hand, kneel, kiss ring, etc.

Gridding and Race

• Time to get cars to grid, perfect weather, glorious day, flags flipping, engines blipping.
• We roll out with the two Shank cars, shooting video all the way, the crew and drivers are understandably pumped, cautiously optimistic, what I see thru my viewfinder looks great, this is fun.
• On the grid the crowds draw in. One of the great aspects of the 24 is how close fans can get to the racing, garages and the prerace grid. I was with the #6 car next to Allmendinger (hilarious guy, soooo fast). AJ is very popular so the fans were crowding in. Danica Patrick was nearby and she came over to chat with AJ, the crowds pack in closer, she really draws a crowd. I am getting squeezed. I was in a position to take the shots most in the crowd were shoving each other for and dying to get. I got some video but to be honest I don’t think Danica is worthy of all the hype so I wandered off to get other video, was too crowded to shoot! (and there were a few other famous drivers nearby). I did wish her luck as I left, she said thanks with a look of "why are you walking away from me with your camera?" HA! (pls note - I respect her driving a lot).
• Mark Patterson’s son Luke was there, he is a real character made even more so with his tufted mini-mohawk hair dyed bright orange to go with Dad’s car colors, very funny, he helped make what would become a tough night easier, a great guy. John, Mark, now Luke. Hmm, where is Matt Franc?
• A familiar sound rings out as the jets scream overhead during National Anthem, chills.
• Officials start to shoo us non-anointed ones off as it was time for Redman to make the famous call to start engines, that wonderful din breaks out, more chills as the audio meters in my viewfinder peg the red, sweet.
• The race goes long green, good stuff, conditions excellent. Video of first scheduled stops, so cool seeing Ozz light up the Pirelli’s leaving the pits in clouds of smoke and noise. Catch first round of driver changes, Ozz was laying down fast laps taking the #60 to P7 when he hands off to Hunter-Reay. Michael Valiante was really pedaling the #6 going from P14 to P4 by lap 26, damn these guys can race.
• Racing continues into the night, Shank cars looking great, then it starts to come apart. The Porsche engines were the strongest out there, AJ got in the #6, caught and passed the #59 Brumos Porsche for P1 and made it look easy. Just 15 laps later, still in P1 the Ford bug bit and it was over for the #6. You stare at the monitor but don’t believe your eyes, painful.
• The #60 car is still looking great, but late Saturday/early Sunday, running in a solid P4 on lap 262 the bug bites again and the #60 coasts to a stop, more staring, more disbelief, more pain.
• The rest is a story that has been told better than I can tell, other than adding a first hand feeling of immense disappointment for the teams. Felt bad for John not getting any time in the car during the race. Felt bad for the entire Shank organization, a terrific bunch, very hard working, very smart, just heartbreaking. Ian James, Colin Braun, Ryan Hunter-Reay, AJ, Valiante, Ozz, John, Mark, what a line up, all backed by the very savvy owner Michael Shank. These were two teams and cars with definite podium potential. Watching AJ take over the #6 and just blast into the lead was awe inspiring, the car/team was of winning caliber. A very frustrating game at times, to say the least.
• So it’s around 2:30 in the AM and I’m just standing there looking kinda down and Mike Shank himself comes over to cheer me up! Geeez, that was really something. It was a privilege working with this team, hope I get to do it again, what a great bunch, thanks all.
• Congrats to everyone who gave it a shot, hell of a race.

[Ricky T]

The race was amazing, it was great to see so many skip barber faces at the track once again. The 24 hour was like a lifetime of stories and experience crammed into one race, but the one that topped them all for us came at around one o'clock in the morning. I was in the motorhome with our new teammate David Martinez and we were discussing how the race was going while we were listening to the radio. Jordan was in the car when Jordan came over the radio, "the roof flew off." David and I turned to eachother, "what flew off." And when we got to the car in the garage Jordan was sitting in the car, fully exposed without a roof. It cost us an hour in the garage, but we were able to get out and run until about thirty minutes to go when the water pump broke and we did not finish. Even with all of the problems it was a great experience, we learned a lot, and we all had a fantastic time.

[LimeRockRacer]

Incredible stories guys. Congratulations to all! For us in the cold white north, we were rooting for all of you in the confines of our warm easy chairs.

Ricky, with happened to the roof? Was little bro too hot?

CDH, great re-cap. Let me know next year when you need wing man!

[GriffDogRacer]

Thanks for the posts, guys.

Great effort by all involved. I can only imagine the challenge, the triumphs and the heartbreaks...

[Yarab]

Hi to all,

What a diffeence a year makes. This year was and amazing 24 hrs
for me. Our #85 CTF car was prep to perfection and Wolf Henzler had
us in P5 for the start. I got in the second stint. My goal was to remain
on the lead lap which we did. My 2nd stint was from 11p to 1a we
were 11th when I got out. Richard Campollo, askippy shoot out guy
and now Formula Renault guy Had us up to 8th. Unfortunately, that's when issues began. Richard flat spotted a tire which eventually blew, damaging our radiators and front end. In the garage for an hour.
I got back in at 4a ran 3/4 of a stint and picked up a HUGE vibration coming into the banking. THe car was undriveable. I pitted and the Left rear had 4 studs sheared off. One more bolt would have spelled disaster. The crew got us back on the track in record time and I finished up my stint as Daylight came to the speedway. What an event to witness from the seat! As I got out of that car after doubling twice at night I was spent, mentally and physically.
The focus required to run this event is immense. Our clutch gave up the ghost with 2 1/2 hours to go and Richard did a great job of guiding us home to the checkers. YES CHECKERS, we finished !
16th. We were 4 bolts and 1 tire away from something special. Our other team mates, Dan Graeff & Micheal Gomez did not put a
wheel wrong. Our car did not leave the racing surface one time
during the 24 hr event. I don't know if I can claim that in any
skippy race I have been in.
The charity aspect of our team this year added a great
dimension and if made the event even more special.
We are already planning for next year.
A special thanks to JP for all his gospel and to JLowe for allowing me to do my first testing and Practice in his race cars ! Both as you all know are extrodinary People.

PLEASE DONATE (even 1 dollar) TO www.racing4research.org
these kids need our help[/LEFT]

[Ricky T]

Ricky, with happened to the roof? Was little bro too hot?

Maybe little bro was too cold, that "Lennox" air conditioner was on full blast.

Actually, we had a piece of rubber hit the windshield which caused it to flex inward. The flexing let air in which, due to the pressure, blew off the roof.

[dalyduo]

Wow... Imagine the size and weight of the rubber chunk needed to deform a Lexan windscreen enough to blow a roof panel off. That's a big impact.

One of those times when you tip your cap to the GE chemist (Dr. Daniel Fox) who came up with the Lexan formula in 1953. Technology old enough to take for granted that regularly does it's job elegantly and saves lives in the process. Very good stuff... And... Bet you didn't know your iPod was made of Lexan...

Ricky, what would your DP car top out at on the Daytona banking?

Originally Posted by Ricky T

Maybe little bro was too cold, that "Lennox" air conditioner was on full blast.

Actually, we had a piece of rubber hit the windshield which caused it to flex inward. The flexing let air in which, due to the pressure, blew off the roof.

[cdh]

Nice pic Ron, I was amazed at the number of kids there as your guests, great stuff, very touching, nice work pal.

Ricky - unbelievable! Didn't know Riley was offering a Targa option
Good thing it wasn't one of the buzzards you see everywhere down there hitting your windscreen...


I used to sell a lot of Lennox HVAC equip. Was surprized to see them as sponsor, good stuff.

Was a repair done to close up the roof or did you run topless? No Danica comments please....

[cdh]

forgot to ask - does anyone recall if on Sunday Speed reviewed what happened to the Shank 60 car after coverage stopped Saturday night? Will probably fast forward thru it but if anyone recalls that would help, thanks...

[dalyduo]

Because it went out in the lead they did show the #6 car in some of their ongoing recaps. I didn't see the 60 car mentioned but wasn't watching the whole time so could have missed something.

Originally Posted by cdh

forgot to ask - does anyone recall if on Sunday Speed reviewed what happened to the Shank 60 car after coverage stopped Saturday night? Will probably fast forward thru it but if anyone recalls that would help, thanks...

[jp56]

The #60 car had the same problem as us and the #75, #76, #61, #77.. The #10 was the only Ford that did NOT have the problem. Extremely disappointing..

I'm begining to think we're jinxed when leading that race.

[Gerardo]

Sometimes its the marathon that begs you to become a part of it. There's no question in racing circles that the Rolex 24 at Daytona is one of racing's most cherished endurance marathons. A true test of man and machine, the only way to understand it is to be a part of it.

Forty-nine cars of all shapes and sizes took the green this past Saturday January 24 and competed for 24 hours, taking the checker Sunday afternoon. Prototypes powered by Porsche, Lexus, Ford, BMW, and Pontiac joined GT sports cars from Porsche, Mazda, Pontiac, Ferrari, Corvette, and Ford. The race featured great duels, heartbreaking part failures, and a historic win by the Brumos Porsche team, winning overall for the first time in 40 years.

But, this is a story of seven days. The first four days included the preparations and running of the Rolex 24. Joe and Jerome Jacalone, owners of Gotham Competition were gracious to hire me to drive with them and two other pros, Randy Pobst and Shane Lewis. It was my first Rolex 24, and a very special personal milestone. I first walked the pit lane at age 16, watching Geoff Brabham and Chip Robinson dominate in their Nissan GTP-ZX turbos against the mighty Jaguars, Toyotas, and other contenders. I dreamed of driving in this race, but never would have thought it would take seventeen years to get here.

The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup we raced was very entertaining to drive. It has fantastic power, giving a great thrill through the Daytona banking, which unlike what you see on television, is very bumpy and narrow. Imagine driving a race car you've never driven before at 170 mph while being thrown around, lap after lap, by the bumps. Oh, and watch for those prototypes blasting by you on the outside... Certainly the car is much different from the open wheel cars and prototypes I've raced in recent years, but the real thrill comes when you get to compete. Our small team did that as a true David and Goliath story. Against powerhouse teams, we finished 10th in GT, 18th overall. This race rewards consistency, which is a combination of driving fast, staying out of trouble, and staying focused. Not easy to do in a 4-hour race, and definitely much harder for 24 hours straight. Elsewhere down the pit lane my friends from Mazda had early trouble with their super fast RX-8's and were not able to repeat their 2008 victory in GT, the win this time going to the #67 TRG Porsche.

One very special memory was the midnight to 3am shift I drove. I normally like to get to bed around 10pm each night. The team asked me to be available by 11pm for my next stint. I arrived at 10:45, but did not get into the car until around 12:20am. Imagine being very tired, already having driven a race distance earlier in the day. Imagine it being well past your normal sleep time. Now get in a race car and drive it for two and a half hours. Amazing how adrenaline works. When I emerged from the car, I felt a sensation like no other. Utter exhaustion, but complete happiness. Few life experiences can offer this kind of satisfaction.

Those were four days. My parents drove me home right after the race, I repacked my suitcases with whatever was left in the closet, and drove myself to Sebring. What was I thinking??! It wasn't an easy drive, harder than all the race drives, but I made it to the hotel. Next morning, I woke and went to the track to coach a driver in his IMSA Lites car, followed by two days coaching four drivers who drove for the powerhouse Andersen Racing Team in Star Mazda cars. I've learned that no matter how tired you are, you really can't get enough of something you love. I also reaffirmed what I've always believed that coaching and driving are equally satisfying. Those were a complete, and memorable seven days.

I am finally home and looking forward to spending time with my family, making a home cooked meal, and sleeping in a few times. Driving and teaching is all-consuming, and I am sorry I have been a little out of touch the last seven days.

Thanks again to Jerome and Joe Jacalone for allowing me to drive their Porsche race car. Thanks to Randy Pobst and Shane Lewis for mentoring me in a successful first Rolex 24 drive. Thanks to all the crew of Gotham Competition for your love of the sport and hard work. Thanks to the many of you who helped me to become a race driver. I don't yet know what's the next race I'll do, but I can assure you, it will happen.

Until the next time, drive smart and have fun.

Gerardo

Rolex 24 at Daytona Official Results
http://www.grand-am.com/assets/Rolex...tsofficial.pdf

[dalyduo]

Hard to say you'e been specifically jinxed when 5 out of 6 Fords fail for the same reason but... Offer only sympathy for your frustration John. Nothing fair or right about it. You were all dealt very bad cards. Can't even blame the racing gods as apparently it can be traced to a specific supplier... Or hopefully former supplier.

Suspect there may now be a viable business in fabricating Ford valve covers that fit Porsche engines.

Originally Posted by jp56

The #60 car had the same problem as us and the #75, #76, #61, #77.. The #10 was the only Ford that did NOT have the problem. Extremely disappointing..

I'm begining to think we're jinxed when leading that race.

[Yarab]

One of the amazing things to me about the race was driving at sunrise and seeing all the parts and pieces of race cars strewn around the track. It literally looked like a junk yard at the entry to the bus stop. There was a whole DP nose sitting at the entry with plastic scoops laying inches off the racing line.
It was great to see all the skip Alum, both as drivers and fans at the race. Hope to see all of you in Sebring !

Ron

[Ricky T]

Ricky, what would your DP car top out at on the Daytona banking?

We were doing between 190 and 193.