Cabin fever grips most of NASCAR Nation and motorsports fans in general. A few have been fortunate enough to catch some indoor racing up north or some outdoor action in the Southwest. But the majority has not heard an engine rev since autumn. That is about to change.
In my teens I would drudge through a New England winter in misery. I was raised in the cold and snow but I did not like it. Races I could attend in person usually began in April. I had a day-by-day countdown to Daytona. True I was a stock car guy but I never turned my nose up at the true start of Speedweeks, The 24 Hours of Daytona.
The twice round-the-clock endurance grind is a fascinating event. Multiple drivers from all parts of the globe hopping in and out of cockpits mixed with exotic sports cars at the ‘World Center of Speed.’ Who cares if the Icebreaker at Thompson Speedway is still two months away? This was racing and I couldn’t wait.
Racing stars from nearly every background imaginable show up to drive a stint. The event requires multiple drivers and the late winter scheduling allows the time because most major series were still in their off season.
The lead Prototype’s regular stars are all there ready to defend their turf. Indianapolis car champions are on the grid. NASCAR winners are getting the early jump on Speedweeks. European road racing titleists are eager to show the American fans why they are as good as they say they are. Young go-kart proteges just starting a career are sometimes teamed with veterans who need to keep putting additions on trophy cases. The story lines are just too many to thoroughly cover.
An afternoon green flag can mean a sunny start then racing past dusk and into darkness. Warm Florida sunshine can be replaced with frigid nighttime air. Rainstorms only slow the action, not stop it. Drivers and crewmembers tap out and catch some sleep while teammates tough it out through different stages overnight. Survival is the strategy and then winning battle plans are drawn up over breakfast and a rising sun. Long morning shadows become shorter as sunshine rises to the original green flag point. The checkered flag and relief are in sight.
We used to complain about Dover’s 500-mile races. While a victory lane would be taking place at the monster mile there could still be nineteen hours left in this endurance classic.
A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Hurley Haywood, Bob Wollek, Dan Gurney, Lloyd Ruby, Mark Donohue, Jacky Ickx, and Peter Gregg are just some of auto racing’s royalty that make up the 24’s history.
Rusty Wallace, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Terry Labonte, Kyle Petty, and Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Jr. are a few NASCAR stars who have tackled the marathon.
Danica Patrick, Helio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya, John Andretti, Scott Pruett, Casey Mears, Max Angelelli, and Didier Theys are just an iceberg’s tip of the racing talent that has also taken part. I will now take a respite from rattling off another driver list. But you get the idea of how diverse the racing resumes are.
My first exposure to the event was in the early eighties when motorsports was still fighting for television time. WTBS out of Atlanta was in the early years of broadcasting races but this event was one of the chosen few. The first and last hours were broadcast live while five-minute updates were given every hour. Being a racing junkie, I would stay up all night, not changing the channel from wrestling or a bad movie, to watch as much action as I could take in.
Coverage varied as the years have passed. Now much of the race will be on SPEED. In 2001 the network did green-to-checkered live coverage. This was the fateful year both Earnhardts competed in Corvettes just two weeks prior to Sr.’s fatal 500 crash.
The teams of Chip Ganassi, Michael Shank, Suntrust, Brumos, Krohn, and Bob Stallings should be favored. That makes up thirty-three entered drivers so talking about teams in this form of racing becomes extremely accurate. NASCAR guys in that mix include Max Papis, Jamie McMurray, Montoya, A.J. Allmendinger, Colin Braun, and Johnson.
The 24 Hours of Daytona is one of my favorite races of the year. It brings about drivers from such varied backgrounds and pairs them up to search for victory in the biggest sports car race in North America. The cars are sleek and sexy, and strategy is the name of the game. But I think most of all it begins weekends where we can all turn on the tube and see steady racing action through November.
Daytona is here. Let us put the off season behind us and christen 2010 underway.
(Patrick Reynolds is the co-host of the One and Done auto racing talk show Tuesdays at 11am ET. Listen at www.wsicweb.com )
