The Rolex 24 at Daytona (frequently referred to by its historical title, the 24 Hours of Daytona) is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway
in Daytona Beach, Florida
. It is held on a combined road course, utilizing portions of the NASCAR tri-oval and an infield road course. Since its inception, it has been held the last weekend of January or first weekend of February, part of Speedweeks, and it is the first major automobile race of the year in the United States.
The race has had several names over the years. Since 1991, the
Rolex Watch Co. is the title sponsor of the
race under a
naming rights
arrangement, replacing
Sunbank (now
SunTrust) which in turn replaced
Pepsi in 1984. Winning drivers of all classes receive
a steel
Rolex Daytona watch.
In 2006, the race moved one week earlier into January to prevent a
clash with the
Super Bowl, which had in
turn moved one week later into February a few years earlier. In
effect, these two major events switched dates.
Beginnings
In 1962, a few years after the track was built, a 3-hour
sports car race was introduced, the
Daytona Continental, which counted towards the
World Sportscar Championship.
The first Continental was won by
Dan
Gurney, driving a 2.7L Coventry Climax powered
Lotus 19, dubbed the Monte Carlo after Stirling
Moss bringing Lotus their first Formula One win at Monaco in 1960
despite being a factory driver for
Porsche
at that time.
Many Porsche 718s
were driven by privateer, but
these 1600 cc cars were considered rather underpowered for a
relatively short and fast race despite having won the twisty
Targa
Florio
and the tough 12
Hours of Sebring.
In 1964,
the event was expanded to 2000 km (1220 miles), doubling the
classic 1000 km distance of races at Nürburgring
, Spa
and Monza
. The distance amounted to roughly the half of
the distance the 24 Hours of Le Mans
winners covered at the time and was similar in
length to the Sebring 12 hour race, which was also held in Florida
a few weeks later in the year. Starting in 1966, the Daytona
race was extended to the same 24 hour length as Le Mans.
24-hour history
As in the
Spa 24 Hours (introduced in
1924) and the
24 Hours
Nürburgring (1970), the purpose of the event is to determine
which team of drivers can take their
sports
car the farthest in a fixed time period, rather than the
shortest time over a fixed distance as in most conventional auto
races.
Unlike the
Le Mans
event, the Daytona race is conducted entirely over
a closed course within the speedway arena without the use of any
public streets. Most parts of the steep banking are
included, interrupted with a chicane on the back straight and a
sweeping, fast infield section which includes two hairpins. As
unlike Le Mans, the race is held in wintertime, when nights are at
their longest. There are lights installed around the circuit for
night racing, although the infield section is still not as well-lit
as the main oval. However, the stadium lights are turned on only to
a level of 20%, similar to the stadium lighting setup at Le Mans,
with brighter lights around the pit straight, and decent lighting
similar to street lights around the circuit.
In the past, a car had to cross the finish line after 24 hours to
be classified, which led to dramatic scenes where damaged cars
waited in the pits or on the edge of the track close to the finish
line for hours, then restarted their engines and crawled across the
finish line one last time in order to finish after the 24 hours and
be listed with a finishing distance, rather than dismissed with DNF
(Did Not Finish). This was the case in the initial 1962 Daytona
Continental (then 3 hours), in which Dan Gurney's Lotus had
established a lengthy lead when the engine failed with just minutes
remaining. Gurney stopped the car at the top of the banking, just
short of the finish line. When the three hours had elapsed, Gurney
simply cranked the steering wheel to the left (toward the bottom of
the banking) and let gravity pull the car across the line, to not
only salvage a finishing position, but actually win the race. This
led to the international rule requiring a car to cross the line
under its own power in order to be classified. Ironically, Gurney
himself fell afoul of the new rule at the Sebring 12 Hours in 1966,
when the engine in his race-leading Ford GT failed with two minutes
remaining. Gurney, in his frustration, attempted to push his car
across the line, leading to his disqualification.
After having lost in 1966 both at Daytona and at Le Mans to the
Fords, the
Ferrari P series prototypes
staged a triumphant 1-2-3 side-by-side parade finish at the banked
finish line in 1967.
To celebrate the victory over the rival at
his home race, Ferrari
named its
V12-powered road car Ferrari Daytona
after the race.
Porsche repeated this show in their 1-2-3 win in the 1968 24 Hours.
After the car of
Gerhard Mitter had a
big crash caused by tyre failure in the banking, his teammate
Rolf Stommelen supported the car of
Vic Elford/
Jochen Neerpasch. When the car of the
longtime leaders
Jo Siffert/
Hans Herrmann dropped to second due to a
technical problem, these two also joined the new leaders while
continuing with their car. So Porsche managed to put 5 of 8 drivers
on the center of the podium, plus
Jo
Schlesser/
Joe Buzzetta finishing in
3rd place, with only Mitter being left out.
In 1972, due to the
energy crisis,
the race was shortened to 6 hours, while for 1974 the race was
cancelled altogether.
In 1982, following near-continuous inclusion on the
World Sportscar Championship,
the race was finally dropped as the series attempted to cut costs
by both keeping teams in Europe and running shorter races. The race
continued on as part of the
IMSA GT series.
The regular teams were expanded to 3 drivers in the 1970s.
Nowadays, often four or five drivers compete, with occasional
"taxi" rides for less lucky team mates adding to the total. The
winning entry in 1997 featured as many as seven drivers taking a
turn in the cockpit.
Grand American & Daytona Prototypes
After ownership problems with
IMSA in the 1990s,
the Daytona event aligned with the
Grand-Am
series, a competitor of the
American Le Mans Series, which, as
its name implies, uses the same regulations as the Le Mans Series
and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, though Le Mans 24H itself is not on
the ALMS calendar. The Grand Am series, though, is instead closely
linked to
NASCAR and its focus is on
controlled costs and close competition.
In order to make
sports car racing
less expensive than elsewhere, new rules were introduced in 2002.
The dedicated
Daytona Prototypes
use less expensive materials and technologies and the car's simple
aerodynamics reduce the development and testing costs.
Specialist chassis makers like
Riley,
Dallara,
Lola and
Crawford provide the DP cars for the
teams and the engines are branded under the names of major car
companies like
Pontiac,
Lexus,
Ford, and
Porsche. Unlike elsewhere, the vehicles are
designated
Engine-Chassis at Daytona (e.g. "Lexus-Riley"),
as the chassis makers are relatively unknown and do not sell road
cars, similar to many specialised race car manufacturers.
Daytona GTs
The
Gran Turismo class
cars at Daytona are closer to the road versions, similar to the GT3
class elsewhere. For example, the more standard Cup version of the
Porsche 996 is used, instead of the
usual RS/RSR racing versions. Recent Daytona entries also include
BMW M3s,
Corvettes,
Mazda RX-8s and
Pontiac GTO.R.
In an effort for teams to save money, GT rules have now changed to
permit
spaceframe cars clad in lookalike
body panels to compete in GT (the new
Mazda
for example, and the forthcoming
Infiniti
G35). These rules are somewhat similar to the old GTO
specification, but with rather more restrictions.
The intent of spaceframe-clad cars is to allow teams to save money
-- especially after crashes, where teams can rebuild the cars for
the next race at a much lower cost, or even redevelop cars, instead
of having to write off an entire car after a crash or at the end of
a year.
2006 race
In the 2006 event, teams which are traditionally linked to
Porsche made an effort to "reconquer" Daytona, like
Brumos Racing, which has fielded
Porsches traditionally numbered as #58 and #59 since the 1970s.
Porsche factory drivers were also scattered around the teams
running Porsche engines in their DPs, and it was German
Lucas Luhr who set the pole position time with
the #23 Crawford-Porsche of Alex Job Racing. In the race, the car
that was also driven by
Mike
Rockenfeller and
Patrick Long led
for some time, but lost time during a repair of a driveshaft, and
finished only 3rd ahead of the #58 Red Bull Brumos Fabcar-Porsche
with fellow Porsche works driver
Sascha
Maassen. Two Riley-Lexus finished 1-2, with Target
Chip Ganassi's all-star line-up of
Scott Dixon,
Dan
Wheldon and
Casey Mears taking the
overall win.
The GT class saw, as usual, virtually dozens of Porsches, and their
faster drivers like
Wolf Henzler. The
Pontiac GTO.R of experienced team
The
Racer's Group not only set the GT pole, but also lead much of
the early part of the race, battling with the best 911s of the new
997 series, finishing 10th overall ahead of 21 prototypes. The #36
TPC Racing Porsche, driven by
Randy
Pobst, Driver/Owner
Michael
Levitas,
Ian Baas and
Spencer Pumpelly, did three laps more,
taking the GT class win plus ninth overall, though. The second best
non-
Porsche 996 GT was the other TRG
GTO.R at 26th overall, 13th in GT.
Star drivers appearances
As the Rolex 24 has a winter date during off-season for other
racing series, many top class drivers are able and willing to take
part in the Rolex if sponsorship commitments allow this. The
track's marketing machine has aggressively sold the roll call of
champions, with track officials focusing on the presence of
professional-level racing champions and superstars in the
race.
Recently retired NASCAR star
Rusty
Wallace joined IRL star
Danica
Patrick in the 2006 race, while
Tony
Stewart has gained a reputation of "checkers or wreckers" after
his gallant 2004 drive with a badly stricken car in the lead, while
attempting to nurse it to victory with less than 20 minutes
remaining, the rear suspension collapsed and Stewart crashed. Indy
500 champions
Buddy Rice and
Dan Wheldon have also made appearances in the
race, with Wheldon's 2006 victory in the Rolex the first time a
reigning Indy champion had won the classic. Previous Rolex 24 races
have featured
Dale Earnhardt,
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (the two were
paired in the 2001 race, a memorable moment in the history of
sportscar racing, and it is said they began this revival of the
all-star format),
Jimmie Johnson,
Greg Biffle,
Paul
Tracy,
Sébastien
Bourdais,
Kurt Busch,
Kyle Petty, and stars who have raced in every
major form of motorsport.
The drivers seem to enjoy the all-star showdown, although the
presence of these "ringers" has, along with the formula governing
the cars, drawn the ire of sportscar-racing purists, who tend to
view the series as a dumbed-down version of "real" sportscar
racing. Many observers, on the other hand, believe the presence of
these visiting stars is beneficial. They argue the racing only
intensifies when a handful of top-flight drivers from other forms
of motorsport decide to take on the road racing aces. For example,
the star power added to the field created some passionate driving
in the 2006 race.
The 2007 Rolex field featured
Jeff
Gordon in the Wayne Taylor Racing #10 SunTrust Pontiac,
Indianapolis 500 champions
Hélio
Castroneves and then-reigning IRL and Indianapolis 500 champion
Sam Hornish, Jr. in a Michael Shank
Racing Lexus, with
Bobby Labonte,
Jimmie Johnson, 1996
CART Champ Car champion
Jimmy
Vasser,
Juan Pablo Montoya,
and
Kyle Petty in the race.
Jimmie Johnson was a member the 2008 Rolex 24 field, in the
reigning Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing #99, which featured Lowe's
colors along with its traditional red for the race. Former winner
John Andretti was also in the field,
along with former Formula 1 driver
Juan Pablo Montoya, who took first place
in the 01 Chip Ganassi Target car. The Chip Ganassi team became the
first team in the history of the race to win three consecutive
years.
2007 Rolex 24 At Daytona
Statistics
Porsche has the most overall victories of
any manufacturer with 21, scored by various models, including the
road based 911, 935 and 996. Porsche also won a record 11
consecutive races from 1977-1987 and won 18 out of 23 races from
1968-1991. Other manufacturer's win totals:
- 5
wins: Ferrari '63, '64,
'67, '72, '98,
- 4 wins: Ford '65, '66, '97,
'99
- 3 wins: Lexus '06, '07, '08
- 2 wins: Chevrolet '69, '01, Jaguar '88, '90, Nissan '92, '94, Pontiac '04, '05,
- 1 win: Lotus '62, BMW '75, Toyota '93, Oldsmobile '96, Dodge '00,
Dallara-Judd
'02
Drivers with the most overall wins
- 5 wins: Hurley Haywood '73, '75,
'77, '79, '91
- 4 wins: Pedro
Rodriguez '63, '64, '70, '71; Bob
Wollek '83, '85, '89, '91; Peter Gregg '73, '75, '76, '78;
Rolf Stommelen '68, '78, '80,
'82
- 3 wins: Andy
Wallace '90, '97, '99; Butch
Leitzinger '94, '97, '99; Derek Bell '86, '87, '89; Scott Pruett '94, '07, '08
Overall winners
† - Races were red flagged during the event due to weather or fog.
The official timing of 24 hours did not stop during these
periods.
‡ - Race record for most distance covered
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