Comments on: A True All-Star Event

By: Brian McKay

Brian McKay — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:33:09 +0000

“Nothing mechanically exciting or exotic,”
a few silhouettes on chassis with big ECR, Roush, or Dinan motors – the France family’s bastardization of U.S. sports car racing
(‘We have some big race tracks, and other race series with identical silhouettes on tube frames with big motors, so, uh, let’s create another race $erie$)
The ‘Corvette’ silhouettes looked cool, especially in dark blue, without a horrible sponsor decal set. And the new R&S bodies looked cool, but… it’s still NASCAR-ized sports car racing that I boycott because I don’t like greedy tyrants’ split of top-tier North American sports car racing.

“Sure, big name drivers from IndyCar … draw interest,” and that’s what almost lured me from Panama City to Daytona – to see/hear/maybe meet Wilson, Hinch, Dinger, Tracy, etcetera in the paddock and pit lane, … but I held to my boycott. Once they’re in the cars, it’s similar bodies – R&S, ‘vette, 911 GT3, and RX-8 goin’ ’round and ’round and ’round and ’round (yawn) … reminds me of (yawn) NASCAR’s other three series on roundy-round tracks, except for the goofy, needless ‘bus stop.’
Mercifully, the 24 didn’t have any horrific crashes.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:20:18 +0000

After watching the 24 Hours of Le Mans the past two years, I watched a portion of the Daytona 24 this weekend. As I expected, I was not stirred by the cars on the track. Nothing mechanically exciting or exotic; almost like drones circulating the track. No Audi Turbo Diesels, Aston Martin V12s, nor V8 thunder from a Corvette. Sure, big name drivers from IndyCar and stock cars can draw interest, but sports car racing has ALWAYS been about the cars. Why else does each car have multiple drivers (even before regulations mandated it)? The technology poured into that car is used by that manufacturer (Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Porsche, etc) for implementation into their road cars (have you seen Audi’s Lightweight Technology ad? Porsche’s KERS-style hybrid?) In Grand-Amatuer, auto makers just get to put their name on the car (sound like another American series?) and that’s about it.

The real sports car racing season begins in Sebring.

By: JohnMc

JohnMc — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:47:56 +0000

I have always enjoyed the 24 Hours of Daytona. I thought it was so cool to see Paul Newman run in the race back in 2002 as well as see Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon win Rolex watches for winning. Lots of fun and you can catch some great interviews as well as stories and garage action. Yes, this makes for a good time on what is usually a cold winter’s weekend.

By: Vic

Vic — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:52:52 +0000

For me, I always view the 24 hours of Daytona as the official start of the racing year. I like the DP cars more than the GTs because of the amount of Indycar drivers racing them.

By: Tom G.

Tom G. — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:28:01 +0000

I’m not much of a follower of sports car racing, but I do enjoy the 24 hours of Daytona, along with Sebring and Le Mans. There’s something old school and romantic about endurance races and driving teams. This years edition was a great race, and the online, overnight coverage on Speed.com was excellent.

St. Pete can’t come soon enough.

By: redcar

redcar — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:47:59 +0000

I was also happy to see cars on a racetrack in spite of the fact that I share your lack of knowlege re: sports car racing. I will demonstrate: the two classes of cars running at the same time seems a little hectic. Like watching two races at once, but you only care about one of them. And the 24 hour endurance length means you have a race but only expect folks to watch a small part of it.

But the team driver concept is interesting. The cars are sorta cool. And I’d like to win one of those watches. It actually peaked my interest for a 3 hr. race during the Nascar weekend in Indy. Good for Allmendinger & Wilson & Michael Shank Racing.

By: Bent Wickerbill

Bent Wickerbill — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:02:31 +0000

The Rolex 24 Hour Race at Daytona, always a great way to kick off the race season, always some great racing and amazing efforts to be seen in the pits and padock.
Something to be witnessed in person at least once too… Generally it is easy enough to get a reasonablty priced room down the block from the track then simply walk to and from same as you wish to watch whichever portions of the race you like from nearly anywhere on the track you like, but bring your walking shoes. (however, this year being the 50th running, there was an unusually large crowd) Further, one of the best kept secrets of this Rolex race is the Roar before the 24, which is a four day period (Thurs-Sun) for set up and testing prior to the actual race and generally takes place two weeks before the actual race.
Oh, and this year after TV coverage ended Saturday night, Speed.com had the race streaming live from four cameras with continued live commentary … The Grand Am website also kept a running order for all racers for the entire race…
This race really is as George states an all-star event, filled with a group of highly competative and capable drivers who are there for only one reason…. They need a new dress watch…