HUMPTY DUMPTY

DAYTONA BEACH (19April, 2012) –

Yes, it’s time to update some rather longstanding but old copy. It’s hard to imagine, but in the intervening time period one other race has transpired since the previous post. Wow.

Here’s why.

This is my hand after peanut oil fried part of it:

 

 

 

 

 

This is my hand after the skin started coming off sometime later (No, Dr. Lowe, I haven’t rushed a thing):

Need more be said?

Now, back to the world of Grand-Am, finally.

Having long ago learned one tends toward "manufacturing" luck -- good or bad -- it's time for yours truly to make like a ball and get rolling straight into some good ol' self-made trouble.

So, hang in there; a wild hair is a-growing.

Long before most 'lectric guitar listeners knew of Eric Clapton, he, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce as the rock group "Cream" once wowed yours truly with a song featuring "Slow Hand's" guitar, along with Bruce's vocal and a (natural) henna-haired Baker pounding his drums (one might fairly inquire: "Did Baker know any other method?").

The band's cover of a William Bell-written blues song, "Born Under A Bad Sign," spoke to DC The Younger, screaming (as best as could stereo speakers of that day), "This is you, boy!" -- the song's strains converging just slightly beyond the hour when Ol' DC's Leydig cells cranked-on-high and "la femme" was simultaneously discovered.

"Bad luck and trouble's been my only friend,

I've been down since I was ten,

Born under a bad sign

I've been down since I began to crawl

If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all."

Following on the footsteps of rejection by every woman chased, miraculously coming when diversion of mind was most needed, "sports car racing" arose.

Yet, in an age when a $6,700 Shelby GT350 (yes, I’ve seen an invoice) was clearly an expenditure to be absorbed by only the most frivolous of frivolous playboys, DC The Younger was left pining for yet another object beyond his immediate grasp. (Does the preceding, combined with that which preceded the preceding, indicate an "objectification" of women?)

Proving still far more elusive were the absurd fortunes spent on a newfangled type of sports car, a "prototype," for how could anyone afford a state-of-art $100,000 race car!? One could live an entire life on such money!

‘ROUND, ‘ROUND, I GET AROUND

Kevin Doran, in case you don't know him, is a respected, successful sports car racer -- especially as viewed from this quarter.

Raised by a "racing father," James Edward Doran (the first two initials of whom, "JE", prefix the four in-house race car designs of Doran Enterprises), Kevin Doran likewise has a talented “little” racing brother, David, who still competitively drives all manner of racing creations. (David is one of those whose talent exceeded sponsorship) (Now, what in heck is the difference between "those" and "whose" -- one letter? One lousy letter! The first letter! And yet the two words' pronunciation is entirely different. Little wonder the English language is the world's most difficult).

Um, sorry. It's just one of them Ol' DC deals.

Doran, hired by the likes of Al Holbert specifically to go Indy Car racing, was later convinced by Holbert (who said something along the lines of, "Well, if you want to keep your job . . .") to take a path Doran has mostly pursued since, but was a part of the team earlier enough to be in its pit for Holbert's first Rolex 24 At Daytona win -- the first of many Rolex 24 wins in which Doran would have a direct role.

Indeed, it's beyond luck's scope to think a guy like Doran was "just hanging around" sufficiently enough to have collected the plethora of Rolex 24 At Daytona wins in which he's been involved -- from chief wrench to car constructor and nearly each position between (including floor-sweeping, though Doran's probably done more of that as a team owner than "officially" so). Why, if Doran was a driver, he’d have almost as many Rolex 24 wins as Scott Pruett (at right).

Along with championship and race wins scored for other folks, Kevin Doran has won his fair share of both for hisownself.

Kevin Doran's racing genius even helped fashion at least a couple of racing's more iconic race cars, one being the Ferrari 333 SP. Yep, Doran (in picture at right, on far left in headset, looking downward) was on the ground floor of that car's creation and, with the late Gianpiero Moretti, campaigned the famous No. 30 MOMO Ferrari 333SP.

Years later and for the umpteenth time, Doran would head yet another victorious endurance team -- Didier Theys, Fredy Lienhard, Mauro Baldi and Massimiliano "Anti-Ax The Max" Papis -- winning the 2002 Rolex 24 At Daytona -- with a Chrysler. (at left, with Theys driving)

Well, kinda sorta.

Yes, yes, we all know the record books have the car listed as a Judd-powered Dallara, but it also had a lot of "Chrysler" in it.(The “real” Chrysler at lower right, pictured with Yannick Dalmas and Olivier Beretta, L-R)

The Chrysler sports racing prototype's original mission, undertaken in conjunction with eccellente Italian race-car designer Dallara and a quite successful Viper-racing Hugues de Chaunac (Oreca; to which David Donohue had considerable ties), was so far in front of the race-engineering world that "so far" actually is a hugely inadequate descriptor of what the triumvirate attempted.

"Hybrid," though, gives the reader an idea of the car's originally intended direction, albeit one plagued with embryonic hassles, before Chrysler dumped the project and sportscar racing altogether in 2001 but emerging in NASCAR the same year. (Mere coincidence or effectuated Mayan apocalyptic presaging? You be the judge).

To thus say Kevin Doran has fairly well "seen it all," at least insofar as racing is concerned, would be accurate if not entirely understated and, without doubt, qualifies Doran to ask a question posed of this writer just days ago:

"Would G/A drop DP for 2013-14 due to poor participation, or do they run it out until only 2-3 cars show up? Let me know your thoughts on this one."

Well, Mr. Doran, having already given the subject three or four years of thought and, given the amount of work pouring into the answer while hoping yours was not a rhetorical nor sarcastic question, the following is only my opinion and my opinion, only.

The simple answer: "Don't really know."

But such hasn't previously prevented Ol' DC from containing hisownself.

And it is in the details to follow where Ol' DC expects trouble to arise (if such hasn't already with Mr. Doran) . . . you know, being born under a bad sign and all.

But such will only continue with the next installment, inasmuch as the lawn needs mowing right now and it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

END OF PART I

Later,

DC

MORE POST-24 NOISE

TAKING IT TO THE LIMIT

"The only person I know who can just look at a car and tell if it'll go fast is Bob Riley." - John Maddox, Roush Yates Engines' sportycar program manager.

Eight times and three different models and the Riley clan still remains supreme as the top Daytona Prototype chassis maker.

A GOOD GUY WINS

No, it shouldn't be news to folks reading this that Jordan Taylor is heading for regular endurance race duty in a Corvette C6.R - especially given the news was released just before the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona.

"The Professor," a University of Central Florida engineering student, is only one of 23 drivers to ever have officially don a Corvette Racing driving suit.

For the 2012 season Paul Edwards has joined Taylor to drive Autohaus Motorsports Camaro GT.R in the Rolex Sports Car Series and in which, with 2011 co-driver Bill Lester, Taylor fell just two-points short of claiming the GT driving title won by Andrew Davis and Leh Keen.

Taylor joins elder 'Vette statesmen Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen in the pretty darn near iconic No. 3 Corvette C6.R.

Longtime followers of The Family Taylor are aware that Shelley Taylor is the family matriarch and provided Jordan and his older brother, Ricky, with their racing DNA, Jordan getting 250,000 more relative racing strands than did Ricky and thus is the reason the former is quicker than the latter.

SECOND IN PERPETIUITY?

Perhaps excited by the prospect of finishing second on a regular basis; perhaps "Knowing" a cryptic something in a constantly repeating "2," Starworks Motorsport -- 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona pole sitter and 2nd-place (see?) race finisher -- announced last week it will likely contend for something other than first place as long as it runs a WEC P2 (and there you have it, again) program.

Then again, and even though a WEC P1 program, Peugeot booked it, huh?

So, perhaps, there's one or (dare it be said?) two chances in Hades that the Starworks team might get some well-deserved glory over in the WEC, where P2 ain't exactly at the top of the exposure pyramid.

And that's too bad, because when four of five drivers in one car (not at the same time, Menego) lead a race it tends to speak well of a team -- from shop to checkered flag.

Starworks No. 8 Ford's Ryan Dalziel, Enzo Potolicchio (above, respectively, after 2011 Mid-O win), Allan McNish and Lucas Luhr each would lead one of more laps of the Rolex 24, leaving fifth driver Alex Popow as the only one to be sitting on the edge of that leader pool.

The WEC-only program ". . . all started when Enzo asked Dallara for an out-the-door price for three new cars," Baron said.

Italian design firm Dallara was said to have responded with full-prices and another €1 million-or-so for Gen3 design "services."

If accurate, and though one can understand Dallara's wish to be profitable, that they'd heap upon one buyer a developmental program for prospective future customers without offering a corresponding share of profits is a real head-scratcher.

The other side of the coin might also be that Dallara possibly doesn't feel it can adequately compete against Riley and in an adroit face-saving move (wouldn't be a first) would rather appear to price itself out of the market rather than fess up to an inadequate ability.

Unfortunately, there exists no "Viagra" for chassis designers. That is, that which would be used for the sole purpose of designing a competitive DP chassis.

THE FOLLOWING HAS BEEN STRIKEN FROM THE RECORD

According to Baron, Starworks business partner (and Ryan Dalziel's season long co-driver) Potolicchio believed the demanded price was of such magnitude that the team could instead order two Riley DPs and do a WEC car for an entire season.

And that's what they did, while also supposedly ordering another (a third) Gen 3 Riley DP for the 2013 Rolex 24.

"We're not leaving Grand-Am," Baron said, "We'd be crazy to do that in the middle of a points fight."

“THE ABOVE HAS BEEN STRIKEN FROM THE RECORD.”

EDITORIAL NOTE One often hears the preceding – “Strike it!” or variations upon it, like “Move to strike,” in TV and movie legal dramas. You know, where the judge has a cow because a witness or, perhaps, legal counsel went off the deep end and/or inferred, implied, stated hearsay, restated hearsay or, perhaps inappropriately picked a nostril. Then again, maybe such “procedural matters” don’t much happen anymore. After all, your scribe hasn’t seen a legal drama since TV’s Perry Mason (ask your grandfather) and Technicolor (ask the same guy) brought the world Al Pacino’s character, attorney “Arthur Kirkland” in “. . . And Justice For All,” who at one particularly frustrated moment started yelling, “You're out of order! You're out of order! The whole trial is out of order! They're out of order!” and etc., etc., etc.

That’s what Peter Baron did to your now thoroughly humbled scribe, as well as rebuffing the latter’s plea of needed “drama” in an otherwise presently dull motorsports game (really, just how long can we, should we provide exposure for Henri Zogaib?).

Thus, stated anew and, hopefully, in a manner that will make all this a tad more palatable to those directly concerned:

According to Baron, Potolicchio (who is Ryan Dalziel’s season-long co-driver) believed Dallara’s demanded price was of such magnitude that the team could instead order two Riley DPs as well as fund a WEC car for an entire season.

And that's what they did, while also supposedly ordering another (a third) Gen 3 Riley DP for the 2013 Rolex 24.

"We're not leaving Grand-Am," Baron said, "We'd be crazy to do that" inasmuch as the team is in the midst of a points fight – Dalziel, Potolicchio and Popow with 32 points are ahead of (an essentially) third-place David Donohue and Daren Law (26 pt.) by six points, but second to Ozz Negri and John Pew (35 pt.) by three points.

Um, let's see, one race down and already in the midst, huh? Squarely so.

That's one way to look at it. (But, really, any other perspective escapes at present.)

Baron said he believed there was only one end-of-year race conflict and that what the team does at that point will be determined largely by the team's points positions within the respective series.

"We'll just have to see where we stand in the points at that time and figure out what we need do," Baron said.

BACKING UP WITHOUT REVERSE

Yes, yes, everyone might well be getting a tad tired of hearing about A.J. Allmendinger's fabulous 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona. Yet, when one does something extraordinary, well, the accolades are deserved.

If any example exists of the kind of zone in which Allmendinger operated during the Rolex 24's waning hours, then it was surely exemplified over two back-to-back laps occurring 20 and 19 laps from race end.

If the reader will remember, a first-place Allmendinger and Michael Shank Racing's No. 60 LiveOn.com Ford was being stalked by Ryan Dalziel and his No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Ford.

Anyone who's watched Scotsman Dalziel since he crossed the pond west to east whilst still wet behind the ears knows the nearly 30-year-old (12 Apr., 1982) and 2012 Rolex 24 polesitter ain't a slacker when at a race car's wheel.

On Lap 730, race-leader Allmendinger was fast approaching the 2.5-hour mark in his three-hour, race-ending shift when while on a green track he was called into the pits to take on enough fuel to make race end, as did a second-place Dalziel.

(By the way: Had the MSR Foxhole Boys -- easily absent of more sleep than anyone else on the team -- missed one little beat, inappropriately dropped something, committed a rules infraction or, perhaps, even tripped over shoelaces during the stop, it's reasonable to assume the LiveOn.com car wouldn't have won.)

Following the stops an eight-second gap between Dalziel and race-leader Allmendinger had quickly narrowed but then stabilized to between five- and six-seconds.

Allmendinger, presumably aware of the narrowed gap, on Lap 741 turned a 1:41.853 (125.83 mph) lap.

He was traveling through Turn 3 (Pedro Rodriguez International Turn) when team leader Mike Shank was radioed for the lap time just cut.

Given a simple answer -- "a 41-853," Shank had shot back -- the 'Dinger was already traveling through Turn 4 (The Kink) when he said, "I'm gonna back it up."

A tired, confused and very old reporter at that moment scratched his head and (thankfully) asked only himself, "What good is it to slow down with Dalziel only 5-seconds behind?"

It took the completion of that consequent lap and a simultaneous though befuddled close study of Grand-Am Timing and Scoring's data feed to understand that Allmendinger's intent was to turn a second, back-to-back lap consistent with its predecessor: a 1:41.659 (126.07 mph).

In the course of two laps roughly 23.5 hours into the Rolex 24 and making like Babe Ruth calling a homerun, Allmendinger would cut back-to-back laps that were fewer than seven-tenths of one second off the race's pole-qualifying time.

Righteous, brother!

(Which is how the Righteous Brothers got their name, by the way . . . though such having nothing to do with lap times, or Allmendinger, for that matter).

Later,

DC

ROLEX 24 BACKGROUND NOISE

“The reason I’m here is because I can go toe-to-toe with guys like Chip Ganassi, Roger Penske, SunTrust and all those guys who have far bigger budgets than me and I can still win. If you want to race and win, this is the place.” – Mike Shank, a regular guy (even though a huge The Ohio State fan) who grew up in a fairly regular home and whose dad – one who lovingly gave his son a start in racing – didn’t get to see his son win a really big one.

Anyone notice SunTrust's "official" race time, which came in at 29:55.123?

Put in another, perhaps more impactful way: 4.877 seconds shy of 30 minutes, that magical round-number mark that, under Grand-Am's General Sporting Rules (GSR), Section 10, sub-section 5 and mini-section 2, defines a time period in which is stated, "A Driver must drive at least 1 lap under green flag conditions within 30 minutes." Never mind the sentence is, um, "lacking," grammatically speaking, because the boys over at One Daytona Blvd. have what's known as "Sole Authority" or, a.k.a., G-A GSR Section 10, sub-section 1, which allows them to do as they wish, when they wish and however they wish (was any angle omitted?).

All considerations of a simple, safe life being put aside your intrepid reporter made inquiry of La Carrera Queso Grande (The Race's Big Cheese), Mark Raffauf, who explained that the time in question was sampled from the start/finish line and that after the SunTrust car passed such line it then traveled very nearly another lap before abandoning the track and pulled into its garage, thereby more than adequately fulfilling the “30-minute rule,” so to speak.

The 2011 Kevin Buckler and Andy Lally split had more than one tongue wagging over the last couple of months at Daytona. Given their combined successes, a lot of people figured they'd have patched their differences come race weekend and again team for the classic endurance race -- one which they, respectively, as owner and driver together twice won in GT.

They didn't patch what became a grudge match (or so said others), the finish of which was close at race end -- a partial tick of just over 9 seconds -- with Lally and his new team, Magnus Racing, claiming GT's first place over a second-place TRG No. 67.

Mindful that misdirection can be a part of strategy and that sleeplessness can impair judgment, it nevertheless is astounding as to how some team members, having formerly taken all manner of closed-mouth precautions, will diagram a race strategy before the world merely because present is a TV lens and a microphone, wielded by someone in a tightly fitted fire suit. Or would that be the reason behind Mata Hari’s success?

"The new Gen3 DP is basically just your old DP" is part of a chorus line making the rounds. Overlooked, for some reason, are areas like the front suspension, where mounting points were moved and therefore require different parts. Or that the wheelbase has been slightly adjusted so that a Gen2 body, even without the cockpit, um, oh, that's right, the (politically correct?) "greenhouse" wouldn't neatly fit a Gen3 chassis. Now, having noted at least two of still further differences: Change ain't no big thing, it's called "evolution." Something the Earth has practiced, well, until 1940-or-so (at least, in the U.S.), for a few billion years. However, some people call a $19,000 Gen3 (not Gen2) splitter “highway robbery.”

ALMS' Scott Atherton put in a full day on the ground Thursday at Daytona, presumably because he liked the racing. No? Then what else might he be doing there? Could it be yet another round of phantom buyout talks? Or, perhaps, just some good, old-fashioned "Good luck!" chatter with former ALMS and present Grand-Am competitors? Oh my gosh! You don't think . . .? Cajoling for the sake of regaining or, perhaps, just stealing about?

David Hobbs finally pronounced the Daytona Prototype a proper-looking race car, "very sleek" and "looks like a modern race car."

Maybe that's why the 197-seat DIS Media Center went into overflow mode on Friday, additional nearby rooms being made available to photographers, media representatives and the ilk. Yet, a good dozen-or-so media types were still seen working from randomly occupied chairs here and there, media lunchroom tables and outside on Fan Zone tables and benches.

The conditions under which we journalists sometimes must labor for our loyal readers . . .

Later,

DC

JUST THE FACTS, JACK

The 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona (This is a proper noun, the owner of the name having chosen the name and to which doesn’t apply are grammar rules other than the “proper noun” rule; the reason the “At” is capitalized. K?)

Time of race: 24:00.36.793

Laps completed: 761

Miles covered: 2,709.160

Average Speed: 112.834 mph, 181.588 kph

Fastest Race Lap/Time/Average Speed/Driver: 497, 1:41.470, 126.003 mph (202.782 kph), Ryan Dalziel

Margin Of Victory: 0:05.198

Caution Periods: 13 for 64 laps

A total of 10 cars would lead at least one lap (car Nos. 76 and 6), four cars posted double-digits while two cars, No. 60 LiveOn.com Ford and No. 8 Starworks Ford, would account for the greater number of collective laps led, 249 and 295, respectively.

In their shared ride, Starworks Motorsports' No. 8 Ford, Scots Ryan Dalziel and Allan McNish topped the race's 22 overall lap leaders with 146 and 137 laps, respectively.

Four of the No. 8 Starworks Ford's five drivers claimed leader laps, adding Lucas Luhr (9 laps) and Enzo Potolicchio (3) to the aforementioned.

With 92 laps, Justin Wilson was at the top of the No. 60 LiveOn.com Ford drivers' lead-lap chart, followed by A.J. Allmendinger (90) and Oswaldo Negri Jr. (67).

A total of 22 drivers in 10 cars exchanged the lead 53 times during the 24-hour race -- or, slightly greater than two lead changes occurred on-average each hour of the race.

Justin Wilson (No. 60 LiveOn.com Ford) compiled the most consecutive lead laps with 84, followed by Ryan Dalziel (No. 8 Starworks Ford) with 75 laps, and Allan McNish (No. 8 Starworks Ford) 64 laps.

Each having eight times crossed the finish line ahead of all others, two drivers shared having most often led the race: A.J. Allmendinger (No. 60 LiveOn.com Ford) and Scott Pruett (No. 01 Telmex/Target BMW). Allan McNish (No. 8 Starworks Ford) led on five different occasions.

In Grand Touring, Andy Lally, in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche, topped the most-laps-led column with 132, followed by Andrew Davis' 124 and Leh Keen's 100, the latter two in the No. 59 Brumos Porsche which led the race on 22 separate occasions, followed in that category with 19 by the GT-class winner, No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche and, trailing well behind with seven different lead changes, the No. 67 TRG Porsche.

The No. 60 LiveOn.com Ford (DP) completed 761 laps, tying 1990 race-winners Davy Jones, Jan Lammers and Andy Wallace's No. 61 TWR Jaguar XJR-12 (GTP).

The winning MSR team fell one-lap short of equaling the Rolex 24's record 762 laps, set in 1992 by Nissan Motorsports' No. 23 Nissan R91CP (Grp. C), driven by Masahiro Hasemi, Kazuyoshi Hoshino, Toshio Suzuki and D.C. Williams (nah, not really, but got ya for a microsecond, huh?).

Ruminations of the Rolex 24 are coming . . . just not today.

Later,

DC

FALSIES II

ROLEX 24 FALSEHOODS

MOV(e it on over)

"It Was So Much More Competitive 'In The Day'" and "Racing Was So Much More Exciting!"

Um, exactly what "day" might that be and, further, do some define "exciting" in a manner other than, say, does Webster?

The 2009, 2010 and 2011 Rolex 24 At Daytona races produced a combined margin of victory of 0:54.746 -- well under the 3.56-mile track's fastest recorded lap time, regardless of year or vehicle. Averaged, each of the three races' MOV is 0:18.25-seconds.

Given the nature of averages -- with which two or three measurements a 10-ft.-deep pond can be conveyed as something that "on paper" appears far shallower -- it's only kosher to note that the 2010 Rolex 24 At Daytona recorded the highest MOV, 0:52.303, of the three races.

Of those three races, the 2009 Rolex 24 provided the narrowest first-over-second-place gap at 0:0.167 (167-thousandths of one second).

How does one compare or describe a gap of 0.167?

In that time, an otherwise unencumbered light beam traverses a little over 50,065,340 meters or, distilled, 50,065 kilometers -- about a 20-percent greater distance than the Earth's 40,075k equatorial circumference.

A little more down to earth: at 30 mph one travels 7.35 feet in 0.167-second.

In 0.167-second at 200 mph, a car will span 48.99 feet -- or about five feet more than the distance of three nose-to-tail DP's.

First-through-fourth-places in 2009 were separated by 10.589 seconds. The funky part: the 2009 race's final caution period ran through Lap 705. The winning No. 58 Brumos Racing Porsche-Riley, with drivers David Donohue, Darren Law, Antonio Garcia and Buddy Rice, covered 735 laps. The 2009 race finished with a four-car, pedal-to-metal, 30-lap scramble for first.

After a late-race, three-lap caution, the 2011 Rolex 24 At Daytona's five up-front competitors had only a single green-flag lap in which to sort their final finishing order.

Reaching the checkered flag in fewer than two minutes, only 3.572 seconds separated the top-four finishers, at the front of which sat the No. 01 Telmex/Target BMW Riley of Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Joey Hand and Graham Rahal.

"It was an awesome way to finish a race," race leader and eventual winner Pruett said.

"Even though we were in the lead, I was hoping we wouldn't finish the race under yellow. The fans won in the end because they got a race that was determined by what happened on the track."

Wasn’t there another relatively recent race, say, in 2009, give or take, that finished with four-hours to go after about five hours? Something like that; officials deciding the race, too.

Meanwhile, back in Daytona: Chip Ganassi Racing w/ Felix (con me amigo José) Sabates No. 01 Telmex/Target BMW Riley had the race in hand. With pit-road souls disposed of celebrating having already started their flow into the team's pits, Chip Ganassi wasn't at all in a similar mood. It's something he'd seen before -- celebrating before a victory had been locked up by a checkered flag -- and it usually didn't bode well.

On Lap 690 and a part of the Ganassi team for the first time, talented young British driver Justin Wilson called over his radio that while traversing the chicane something had gone wrong with the car's front suspension.

In the East Bank and rapidly closing on pit entrance, a decision was made to bring the driver and car in - straight the garage.

While the Telmex/Target car's front clip was replaced and car refueled, Pruett jumped in for the final run.

With fewer than 65 laps remaining in the race the No. 9 Action Express Racing Porsche Cayenne Riley suddenly was out front.

Two of the rookie team's four veteran drivers, Ryan Dalziel and Mike Rockenfeller, were late in joining team regulars João Barbosa and 2004 Rolex 24 champ Terry Borcheller.

For Dalziel it was a chance at getting a paid ride and such wasn't much different for Rockenfeller. Perhaps neither felt the race was theirs to win . . . until the race's last 90-minutes.

Of the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Rolex 24 At Daytona races, the 2010 race would provide the largest margin over a second-place car -- the No. 01 Telmex/Target -- but the winner's dark horse win was no less surprising than any other in recent memory.

WHAT ABOUT MAX?

"Close finishes happened all the time back in the GTP days. I can remember that Daytona race when Max Papis finished second," so goes the refrain.

Max Papis never competed at Daytona in a GTP.

In an inspired performance that has a far better, first-Daytona background story that preceded Papis' famous 1996 ride in a Gianpiero Moretti-owned Dallara 333SP (neither a misprint or miscue, ask Kevin Doran about it, sometime), a second-place Italian-driver actually named Massimiliano Papis finished 64.099 seconds short of first place after 2,481.32 miles of racing.

Other people remember it, too, and most particularly, the race winner, um, er, uh . . . now who was that guy?

Oh yes! Wayne Taylor!

(You know, the always impeccably dressed, like Warren Scheckter, head of SunTrust Racing. That is, Taylor is the head of SunTrust, not Jody Scheckter's nephew or, for that matter, Ian Scheckter's son nor, for the same matter, Tomas Scheckter's cousin. The race team; not the bank; Taylor owns the race team. David Pijot owns the bank. Right? Well, maybe not, but he's sure been there a long, long time.

("Oh, you mean the tallish, bald, sort of old guy who has reading glasses and wears golf shirts?" No, if anyone on the SunTrust team might fit that description it is Simon Hodgson, the real brains of the outfit and who wrenched Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya to open-wheel championships. Hah-hah, just kidding, Wayne. That is, about Simon being the brains and such, after all, he really did wing the championships’ thing.

(And it's not that Simon doesn't have brains, either. It's just that he doesn't look at the world through rose-colored glasses. Which I see you've finally given up . . . for blue glasses! Nevertheless whatever makes your car race, Wayne).

"It's probably the only race, ever, that more people remember who finished second than remember who finished first," Taylor said of 1996 Rolex 24 race (said other ways in various ways at various times, some being monosyllabic, unprintable and likely quite close to what he's thinking of me this very instant).

"With two and one-half hours to go we had a four-lap cushion," Taylor, who drove the race's final 70 minutes, told a Daytona Beach News-Journal reporter about three years after "Back In The Day" actually ended with Dan Gurney's GTP team taking the cake in 1993.

"Max Papis was lapping at six seconds a lap quicker than us. We calculated that by the final lap he would be on the lead lap with us -- which he was."

"He would've passed us had I crashed the car, or pulled over and parked it, or did something really stupid, which included fighting for a lead which we securely held," Taylor recounted years later during a golf club locker-room interview, "So, I let him go 'round."

"The point was to win Daytona, not to keep some backmarker from overtaking. At that point I knew all I needed to do was keep him in sight and win the race."

And he did, well, win the race, along with co-drivers Jim Pace, Scott Sharp; Doyle Racing; Oldsmobile (ask your grandfather); and, some outfit known today as Riley Technologies.

(The '96 race's overall third-place finisher? Only 48-laps behind were drivers Jim Downing, Butch Hamlet, Tim McAdam and Barry Waddell (who IS this Waddell guy?) in a Kudzu DLM Mazda.

TIME 'GOLDENS' ALL WOUNDS

Or MOV Revisited, Reexamined

During the oft-cited, so-called “Golden Era" of "Back in The Day" prototype racing -- roughly 1985 through 1993 -- in those nine races the single closest Margin Of Victory was a 0:1:49.150 recorded in 1986 when Al Holbert, Derek Bell and Al Unser Jr's No. 14 Porsche 962 beat the No. 8 T-Bird Swap Shop 962 quartet of A.J. Foyt, Arie Luyendyk, Danny Sullivan and Preston Henn.

Second-closest MOV in that time frame was the 1989 Daytona 24, with a 0:2:06.597 MOV, in which the No. 62 Porsche 962 of Bob Wollek, Derek Bell, John Andretti and Jim Busby came in first place, followed by the No. 61 TWR Jaguar XJR-9 of Price Cobb, John Nielsen, Andy Wallace and Jan Lammers.

Three-race, consecutive close-finish comparables to that of the Rolex 24 At Daytona's 2009-2011 stretch couldn't be found in the 1985-1993 time frame. Indeed, even consecutive year-over-year tight finishes weren't to be found, the 1985-1993 first-to-second place MOV's most frequently not being measured in seconds or minutes as much as quantities of laps:

1985 - 17 laps

1987 - 8 laps

1988 - 1 lap

1990 - 4 laps

1991 - 8 laps

1992 - 9 laps

1993 - 10 laps

Yours truly chose the 1985-1993 time period as being most representative of the "The Golden Age" based on the following considerations:

In 1985, due to a westward shift of the Pedro Rodriguez International Turn ("East Horseshoe" or "Turn 3"), the track's overall road-course length decreased from 3.870 to 3.56 miles;

Porsche's 956 prototype never competed at Daytona International Speedway. A one-off Porsche 962 was introduced in the 1984 SunBank 24 for testing purposes, only, and it broke, um, was "voluntarily retired" after 127 laps (well, at least Mario Andretti claimed the race pole for the 962 with a 1:50.989). In 1985, six of the world's eight 962s at the time, started that year's SunBank 24 At Daytona;

With the conclusion of the 1993 SunBank 24, also concluded was the GTP, or Grand Touring Prototype, designation to the favor of the "World Sports Car" concept -- in simplistic terms an open-top, flat-bottom race car -- which in a collaborative effort was mandated by IMSA primarily because the GTP handwriting had been on the wall for years, the 1993 race closing out the "era" with all of eight GTPs in the field.

Should anyone care to squawk, though, IMSA's "GTP" designation was first used in 1982, when at race-end the MOV was 9 laps. In 1983, 6 laps; 1984, 9 laps.

The dawn of the World Sports Car concept, which began at Daytona in 1994, took three years to take hold before the first win, achieved by the aforementioned Wayne Taylor, Jim Pace and Scott Sharp.

In the meantime, Scott Pruett, Butch Leitzinger, Paul Gentilozzi and Steve Millen in their Nissan 300ZX GTS car won the '94 race, ushering in the WSC form of racing -- by a piddling 24 laps.

In 1995, driving a special-exception "LMWSC" Kremer K8 Porsche Spyder, Christophe Bouchut, Giovanni Lavaggi, Marco Werner and Jürgen Lässig, won with a 5-lap margin.

If a special "era" exists -- that is, a consecutive number of years having competitive racing -- it is “now.”

Later,

DC

FALSIES

ROLEX 24 FALSEHOODS

Haywood Drove a 917 at Daytona

(Note: This is the first in a series of Rolex 24 falsies of however many Ol' DC cares to post. But, he figures at least one more will hit before The Seriously Big Race later this week. The links will whisk the clicker to exotic background material at least once or twice. They're mostly for Ed Bennett's sake, though, so he can gain a sense of the sport's background).

When one works closely enough to something, probably anything, it's surprising what others may see or for that matter not see and, even, see something where nothing such existed at all.

Thoughts of what is, isn't and couldn't have been recently arose during a question-and-answer (QnA) between The Fourth Estate Inquisitors Club and a couple of notable, accomplished sportscar drivers, both of whom having been around the sport a lot longer than many of the inquisitors.

One of the interrogators confused a couple of facts and spoke of them as having simultaneously occurred when they hadn't at all.

"Hurley, what was it like to drive a Porsche 917 back in the day?"

For all the considerable knowledge and great ability possessed and displayed by one Hurley H. Haywood, competitively driving a Porsche 917 wasn't among it, for he hadn't at all been at the wheel of a 917 (parade, show or "historic" laps notwithstanding) in either its or his "day."

Haywood might've, probably has driven a 917 since the car dominated its two Daytona 24 races (1970, 1971), but FIA rules would sunset Herr Doktor Norbert Singer's first contribution to his storied Porsche career about two years before Haywood became a household name of lofty enough stature to drive any factory backed Porsche.

(Bar Bet Material: No, Dr. Singer -- who has his own fan club, by the way -- didn't design the 917, but he did design the 917's ducting.)

(OL’ DC NOTE: As usual, when Ol’ DC blows it, he leaves the evidence trail intact. Thinking “Daytona” and “prototype” racing, Ol’ DC just up and totally forgot HHH’s 917-10 Can-Am days, even though Ol’ DC personally witnessed a few. So, in one way, Hurley did drive the 917 in his and a few other people’s “day.” But he still didn’t drive a 917K, or 917L, which were a different breed than the 917/10 and, eventually, the Porsche 917/30 that flat-out dealt a death blow to Can-Am. And I even possess personally shot pictures of Haywood in the Brumos 917. Bummer.)

Herr Doktor Singer's mind was at work hatching the 917's air-ducting system just about the same time, give or take, that Peter Gregg discovered Haywood in 1968 at a Jacksonville, Fla., SCCA autocross.

Haywood, driving a Corvette between college classes he'd soon, um, make like a tree and leave, had all but tripped over the autocross in a hunt to dispel boredom.

Gregg was at the same event for the purpose of breaking in a new Porsche being prepped for racing.

Haywood, not knowing any better, was unbothered by Gregg's already well-founded racing reputation and turned faster laps than did Gregg, who not only noticed someone did better than he but civilly talked with him.

In a much later, similar situation at Savannah, Georgia's Roebling Road Raceway in a new race car both drove (no, not at the same time, Menego), Haywood again was the faster of the two.

"He hired me on the spot," Haywood said of the aftermath.

Co-driving a 911S the two drivers afterward won their first race together at Watkins Glen International in 1969, after which Haywood involuntarily was on his way to a government job in a Southeast Asian paradise.

When Haywood returned to racing at the start of the 1971 season, the 24 Hours of Daytona was his first stop, the FIA long before that event having already mandated the 917's competitive demise, so angry were they with the Germans.

In 1971, two-driver teams were common to an international-level 24-hour race (23 of that year's 48 Daytona starters were such) so as a twosome, Gregg and Haywood were de rigueur in tackling the race without a third or fourth driver along for the ride in their No. 59 Brumos Porsche Audi Porsche 914/6 (#9140430705).

But they really wouldn't need one, either.

Qualifying 23rd, after 260 race laps something snapped mechanically (never does a Porsche engine fry; don't believe the race's official record keeping) and the pair finished 29th overall -- 428 laps in arrears to eventual winners Pedro Rodriguez (his fourth Daytona win) and Jackie Oliver, whose John Wyer No. 2 "ride" was one of four Porsche 917's on hand.

The good news? Gregg and Haywood finished nearly 150 laps ahead of Derek Bell and Jo Siffert's No. 1 John Wyer Porsche 917K and only 14 laps behind a 28th-place No. 4 917K driven by Vic Elford and Jonkheer Gijsbert van Lennep, Esq., who later in 1971 co-drove the same No. 3 Martini and Rossi 917 to a Le Mans win with Herr Doktor Helmut Marko (yes, that Helmut Marko) who co-drove with Rudi Lins at Daytona.

(BBM: In its 1970 Daytona debut, the Porsche 917K scored a victory with co-drivers Rodriguez, Leo Kinnunen and Brian Redman. Redman also finished second, driving a sister 917K. According to, well, the storytellers, Kinnunen had difficulty with understanding the Queen's English, as spoken by John Wyer and company. Having been repeatedly told to slow due to his massive lead but apparently not having a "clue," when Kinnunen next pitted for fuel Redman went in for two slower-driving stints so as to preserve the car for the finish. Of course, there are those who would say, even to this day, that Redman is slow, slow, slow anyway. Countering such fallacy was his later 1981 championship romp in the Flying Banana, aka the Cooke-Woods' Lola T600).

Insofar as Daytona and, especially, the FIA was concerned, when 1971 ended so, too, did the Porsche 917: two Daytona races; two Daytona wins; and, Daytona done.

The 917 was a helluva car having a legendary status rivaling that of axe-wielding Paul Bunyan's -- but even Herr Doktor Singer didn't rank it the equal, much less ahead of the Porsche prototypes that would follow. Then again, the following race cars would pretty much be "all" Herr Doktor Singer's whereas the 917 wasn't.

Before imaginative enhancement and following fantastic tales took hold, the Porsche 917 likely was more attributable to a boring racing climate fostered by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) than anything else.

In a series of moves during the years immediately preceding the 917's introduction at the March 13, 1969, Geneva International Motor Show, the FIA in June 1968 had come down hard on prototypes having large-displacement engines.

And who had kicked bootie with large-displacement engines? Exactly!

All sorts of behind-the-seen political reasons were cited for the FIA's almost complete sportscar racing rulebook rewrite (try to quickly say that three times, starting with "complete") but the FIA (with the ACO celebrating in the background) made it pretty clear American-based engineering was no longer welcome unless it first could "homologate" Yurrupean-sized engines. For goodness sakes, Ford's Pinto and Chevrolet's Vega both were a couple or three years still down the road.

Small-displacement engines!? At the time, frankly, yours truly was trying to just get his head around something called "cubic centimeters" and eventually would acquire a Vega to better understand it.

But liters?

Having unloaded on Zee Ameerikahns on the Atlantic Ocean's western shore, the French-dominated FIA hadn't given much consideration to chronic foe Germany (the reader does know France and Germany are historically acrimonious, no? Believe it: doubtful would be the recent collaborative resolve of France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel if not for a considerable fear of a collapse of the Yurrupean, oops, European Currency Unit, with such doing no good whatsoever for either country, especially Germany -- according to leading German economist Jörg Bergmeister, who happens to also drive a Porsche every now and again between economics lectures).

The result of the FIA's rules rewrite was a 800-kilogram (1764-pound), 5-liter homologated sports car class having a minimum build of 25-units.

It was a racing class that, in net effect, produced the world's first "supercar," the 917, because the class was intended for "street cars."

As known by anyone possessing at least some awareness of Porsche's glorious racing history, the company scrambled to produce their 25 examples of the 917 but only after the FIA learned of Porsche's intent to compete within its "S" or "Sports" (not "prototype") competition class and, most particularly, after learning that Porsche had only fully constructed six of the FIA's 25 required cars.

(A lot has been said, indeed, "urban myths" arose in a couple of cases, as to how Porsche met the minimum.

(Porsche's own story: Porsche "'had all the bits and pieces to build 19 more for the homologation,' according to Rico Steinemann, Porsche’s racing manager at the time, 'the FIA then decided, no!'

("'As all of the racing department’s resources were being utilized, the workers to build the cars would have to come from elsewhere.'

("'We put together apprentices, messenger boys, bookkeepers, office people and secretaries,' remembered Steinemann years later. 'Just enough people, taught just enough to put together 25 cars!'" - Source: "40 YEARS OF THE PORSCHE 917," Motorsport PR, official Porsche press release distributed Mar. 9, 2009.

(Author Randy Leffingwell's Porsche Legends not only possesses beautiful photography but has even more on the 917's origination, in "Porsche's" own words, as well as other interesting Porsche historical tidbits, as of the book's August 2002 publication.

Oh, yeah, the rest of the Haywood "early" story . . .

In 1973, driving a Brumos Porsche 911 Carrera RSR (given the 917 story: ironically entered as a prototype because it wasn't homologated), Haywood and Gregg won the Daytona 24 in an upset by besting supposedly "faster, better" 3.0-liter sports prototypes like the (N.A.R.T.) Ferrari 312P, a (factory) Matra-Simca, a (Reinhold Joest) Porsche 908 and a John Wyer Gulf-Mirage.

Haywood saw his and Gregg's Daytona 24 win in 1973 as that which "put my name on the international stage for the first time. It was when everyone really started paying attention to me," the overall Daytona 24 win leader said recently.

Haywood eventually added another four Daytona 24 victories to a longstanding record five that only now is being directly challenged by Scott Pruett, who has four wins overall (and five others in-class).

Although believing his name was thrust into worldwide circulation after his 1973 Daytona 24 win, people surely had started taking notice of "Haywood" by that time, he having won five "sprint" races during the preceding two seasons.

Among another three Daytona 24 podiums (1st, 1975; 3rd, 1976; 1st, 1977) Haywood would win an additional eight races among 24 total podium finishes in the series' following years before he'd go to Le Mans for the first time in 1977, winning at Circuit de la Sarthe with co-drivers Jürgen Barth and Jacky Ickx in the No. 4 Martini Porsche 936 (#77 001).

In a touch of irony, the fellow who "discovered" Haywood, "Peter Perfect," placed third in that year's 24 Heures du Mans (with co-drivers Jacques Borras and Claude Ballot-Lèna in a privateer Porsche 935).

Later,

DC

IT’S TIME

DAYTONA BEACH – Search the world for an opinion as to the one culture considered to have the most persistent romantically inclined males and, hands down, Italians rule.

Substitute "sports car" for "romance" in a similar search for "the most" or "the best" and, again hands down, Italians rule.

It seems only natural that an Italian appreciative of both worlds would wax metaphorically, as if the two actually were one, while he stood highest on the 1998 Rolex 24 At Daytona Victory Lane podium.

"For many years I think, 'Daytona doesn't love me,'" a suave, salt-and-pepper-haired, 50-something Italian male said in halting English about a race in the pursuit of which he had spent enough money to perhaps have bought not just one Rolex, but Rolex itself.

"I said, 'Well, Daytona is like a woman, I try again and again.'"

Having just won a race he'd been pursuing on and off for nearly 30 years, the Italian's win in a Ferrari 333SP likewise plied a 500-lb. winless-at-Daytona monkey from the back of Italian sportscar-maker Ferrari, who hadn't won at the famed track since another Italian, Lorenzo Bandini, and New Zealander Chris Amon won in it 1968 while driving a Ferrari 330P4.

A cheering throng, chanting "Moretti! Moretti!" had gathered around Daytona International Speedway's victory podium while Gianpiero Moretti wasted little time in fastening a new Daytona Cosmograph to his wrist (unlike today's winners who stiffly stand while photographers almost endlessly snap pictures of drivers displaying watches in boxes, "Right hand here; left hand there. That's right, just like everyone else," a brand manager endlessly coaches).

The watch secure to his wrist, the chant gave way to raucous victory cheers when Moretti thrust his fist into the air, co-drivers Mauro Baldi, Arie Luyendyk and Didier Theys heartily celebrating, backslapping their team owner -- who for the moment celebrated as much as might have Gaius Julius Caesar in claiming Rome after crossing the Rubicon.

Moretti wasn't interested in winning just any DIS race -- for in 1980, driving with Reinhold Jöst in a Porsche 935J, he'd won the season-ending sprint race at Daytona -- it was the Rolex 24 Moretti had fervently pursued and, in so doing, had grown a little older, a little slower and tired more easily.

Noting his weaknesses as much as his strengths, after wheeling two Saturday race stints Moretti handed the 1998 Rolex 24's Saturday night and early Sunday shifts to his three younger drivers.

On Sunday afternoon, with victory in sight, though, Moretti wanted to take the checkered flag and, most of all, drive the MOMO Ferrari into DIS' Victory Lane.

With just under an hour remaining in the race and the team having reversed an early race 18-lap deficit to a net eight-lap gain over second-place Rohr Motorsport's 911 GT1 Evo, team manager/part owner Kevin Doran called Baldi in for the car's final pit stop and driver change, whereupon Moretti climbed in with 50-minutes to go.

"This is a feeling I want to have. I want to see a picture of my car, me in the car in Victory Lane in Daytona," Moretti emphatically said after the 711-lap race. Clearly, he felt it was something he'd earned and wasn't about to blow the opportunity.

Fielding a reporter's following question, Moretti responded: "You ask me what I want to win, here or Le Mans? The answer is easy; if I win Le Mans, I will be happy." Then, raising his arm for all to see the Rolex on his wrist, he said, "No doubt, the Rolex is what I want. It has been my desire. Today, I did it!"

Moretti, having previously tried and failed 15 times to win the Rolex 24, was asked if he'd return for another go in 1999, so that he might have a Rolex for each wrist.

"I'm 58 in two months, it's time . . ." Moretti said, words failing him at that moment and his eyes welling with emotion.

Those who well knew Moretti were aware beforehand that the '98 race likely was his final Rolex 24 At Daytona. He was tired.

They knew that had Moretti not won he would at least know his best effort had been given, even if it meant defeat, as is sometimes the case in love for a woman. Indeed, some later opined, it may well have been his recognition of that being his last Daytona try; a soul-calming acceptance and resignation that made the win possible.

Finally, even though at times exasperated beyond despair in the past, he in 1998 would win the chase for his "love."

Moretti was a man of class, a man of his word and served well as the very definition of "gentleman racer" or, for that matter, "gentleman," alone.

On Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012 -- just two weeks shy of the 50th Anniversary of the race he loved and which 14 years ago finally loved him back -- gentleman Gianpiero Moretti passed.

"It's time . . ."

Later,

DC

AIN’T NO WAY!

Now that fait accompli is Lady Gaga in Times Square on New Year's Eve having had a ball with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is it too late to publish a 2011 "best" list?

Inasmuch as many astute motorsports journalists have already published top-10 lists focusing on various series and within which its "best" drivers, teams and etc., your humble scribe feels only somewhat compelled to do the same.

Thus, he digresses a bit with his simple yet distinctly complex, "AIN'T NO WAY!" Awards, the occurrence of that which follows being entirely haphazard.

After finally settling a reported monetary squabble originating in 2001 -- whether it hallucinatory, paid, forgiven or forgotten -- the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series' 2010 return to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin's Road America race track was delayed until 2011 (something had to give when vociferous cries arose for a "West Coast" race upon such being omitted with the 2010 schedule's original release).

After finally arriving in cheese-head land and those angered, roaring race car engines having since fallen silent, most everyone likely thought the race's highlight was Gunter Schaldach and Joe Foster taking wing at the 4-mile road course's Turn One perimeter.

Schaldach having flown his No. 07 TheCoolTV Camaro beyond it, while Foster, having been gently extracted from his No. 40 VisitFlorida.com Mazda, was soon thereafter flying, too -- albeit in a hospital-bound helicopter.

While it was the kind of crash that makes onlookers cringe and sponsors cheer (exposure, exposure, exposure) and women swoon, your scribe deigns to disagree that "flying" surprise trumped all else at Road America's 2011 Rolex Series race.

Nope, the race's biggest surprise started coming together when No. 31 Whelen Engineering Corvette regular driver Boris Said temporarily booked it to Fairytale Land, alternately known as California or "The Left Coast," so as to compete in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

(Should anyone think Greece and the Euro to be a big deal, just wait 'till the un-Golden State implodes.)

Thus short one of its "A-Team" drivers, Marsh Racing paired John Heinricy with its "other" A-driver, Eric Curran.

An engineer and a retired GM High Performance Vehicles director who over the years has squeezed in a couple-hundred-or-so car races, The HeinRocket didn't disappoint, placing the unfamiliar Corvette on the race's second row.

Upon Heinricy's race-shift conclusion, co-driver Curran was presented with a healthy car for a finishing push that ended at the absolute front of the Rolex Series' Road America Grand Touring field.

Considering the team had in nine 2010 races (missing the Rolex 24, HMS and DIS 2) averaged a 14.4 finish and, though albeit better, a 9.6 average finishing position in 2011's five races prior to Road America, thus emerged was one of 2011's biggest surprises, barely edging "Ain't No Way!" second-place finisher Team Sahlen.

AIN'T NO WAY!

Coincidentally occurring at the same track, Road America, and the same race, the Rolex Sports Car Series Driven by VisitFlorida.com, Nonnamaker Racing's three Sahlen-sponsored Mazda RX-8 cars, lacking relative straight-line speed, had to lean heavily on carving and cutting the famed 4-mile Road America course into bits and pieces, not unlike a butcher at work.

"We came in here (Road America) concerned about our being down on power, especially with this track's long straights, so we concentrated on getting the car to turn," team engineer Catherine Wallace said after Wayne Nonnamaker and his No. 42 Sahlen Mazda RX-8 scored his first top qualifying spot since a 2004 SGS (defunct) class pole at Daytona International Speedway.

Employing a deft pit strategy during the 13-lap, 50-minute caution that followed Gunter Schaldach's No. 07 TheCoolTV Chevrolet Camaro's tangle with Joe Foster's No. 40 VisitFlorida.com Mazda RX-8, the team's newly enlisted MazdaSpeed Ladder driver John Edwards -- who too often fails to appear on "best driver" lists not because he isn't -- drove the No. 42 Mazda to a second-place finish fewer than 6/10ths of one second behind winner Eric Curran's No. 31 Whelen Corvette.

AIN'T NO WAY!

Third in the most-competitive-to-date Ain't No Way Awards (even if this be the first ANWA) is a team that over the last two seasons scored back-to-back, fourth-place GT team championship finishes but still was mostly, if not completely shuttered at 2011's end.

For 2010, James Gué and Leh Keen teamed to drive the newly formed No. 41 Team Seattle/Global Diving & Salvage Mazda RX-8.

Harbored in Norcross, Ga., along with Dempsey Racing's No. 40 VisitFlorida.com Mazda RX-8 sister car, the team was comprised mostly of new-to-Dempsey personnel who, in only their second race, would score a podium finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Though all Mazda RX-8s labored in 2011 relative to 2010's rules, a well-prepared car, devoted pit work and a mighty fine pit-side folding table, atop which the No. 41's engineer, crew chief and team manager toiled, Gué and Keen, on their way to a fifth place in the GT driving championship, delivered 11 top-10, six top-5 and four podium finishes that first season, capped by an unforgettable Crown Royal 250 win at Watkins Glen International -- Dempsey Racing's first in the Rolex Series.

After 2010's trophies were distributed in Las Vegas, 2009 GT-champion Keen, for some odd reason, opted for Brumos Racing's hallowed ground for the 2011 season.

Staying put at Dempsey for 2011, Gué was joined by up-and-coming 23-year-old Dane Cameron, who's compiled multiple rookie-of-the-year awards and as well as championships, simultaneously collecting both in the 2007 Star Mazda season.

After the Mazda RX-8 platform claimed 4-of-5 and 6-of-10 of corresponding 2010 Rolex Series GT team championship's top spots, a manufacturer's title and top driver awards, Grand-Am here and there massaged a few rule book words and, viola (Italian for "wah-lah," Menego; ask Max), a "more competitive GT environment" emerged for 2011. Restated: A similar Mazda RX-8 traffic jam atop the GT championship ladder wasn't particularly desired for 2011.

Indeed, Mazda scored only 3-in-5 and 4-in-10 of the final top-10 team championship spots, yet the No. 41 of Cameron and Gué conjured precisely the same fourth-place end of year team championship as had it in 2010.

The third-highest ranked of eight Mazda GT teams in 2010, the Cameron and Gué-led team improved by one spot to finish second best of the eight Mazdas competing in 2011.

Insofar as the 2011 drivers' championship was concerned, Gué and Cameron actually finished one spot better than did Gué and Keen -- fourth vs. fifth, respectively.

Though more occurred behind the scenes than does meet the eye above, walking papers ultimately were handed to a group of otherwise very talented people.

A necessary thing, ego, but never so important that in its maintenance all else should fail.

AIN'T NO WAY!

Honorable Mentions:

For the 2010 Rolex Sports Car Series season Autohaus Motorsports poked its GT nose out of the shop door only five times -- a few as a Pontiac GTO.R; a couple as a Camaro.R -- and finished a best 11th place at the season-ending Tooele, Utah race.

Something good must've happened in the offseason -- perhaps the team acquiring the driving services of Jordan Taylor and Bill Lester -- because the team by the 2011 season's end was leading a tight championship battle having only a five-point spread among the top-3 contenders as the Rolex Series arrived at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

The championship was Autohaus' to lose which, in a gut wrenching single-car spin at Mid-O's wicked, three-turn complex just before pit straight, it did.

Autohaus, Lester and Taylor would lose the team and driving championships by two points, respectively, to Brumos Racing and its drivers, Andrew Davis and Leh Keen.

No matter who; no matter how, it had to hurt, and badly so.

Speaking of First-Year, Championship-Winning Teams . . . They aren't supposed to accomplish as much; "developing" for "next year" usually being the song sung.

Sure, any race team wants to win. A race car driver worth his or her salt truly believes such will happen, in fact.

The reality is that a first-year team has a lot of kinks to shake out and while one might do well here and there, the idea of winning a championship mostly is fodder for jokes and sarcasm because few debuting teams will climb so high as the pinnacle in Year No. 1.

Or, so such is supposed to be and which the Brumos Racing team evidently ignored, never mind altogether disproving in 2011.

Yet, early in 2011 it was a point this writer hardly had considered yielding, especially after the season's third race at Barber Motorsports Park, before which Brumos scored fifth and seventh-place finishes at Daytona International Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway, respectively.

After the Rolex Series had called it a day, Ol' DC remained afterward to watch Friday's final Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge practice from BMP's picturesque Turn 2-3 complex.

Upon its end and a return to the Rolex Series' paddock Ol' DC found himself surprised to be strolling along a string of mostly closed haulers, excepting one.

Parked perpendicular to the team transporter's rear, Brumos Racing's iconic No. 59 Porsche GT3 Cup car sat in the paddock roadway, flanked on the driver's side by a shoulder-to-shoulder Brumos crew that, other than being neatly aligned and handling all manner of pit side essentials, appeared fully prepared to party hardy.

Filling the surrounding air were no fewer than a half-dozen different conversations, from which laughter occasionally arose, nearly all of the assembled crew seemingly oblivious as to the reason for their being there.

A first stab at a pit stop practice lasted all of about 8 seconds before Joe LaJoie called for everyone to get serious and at least try to make good another following attempt.

And another.

All took next-to-forever, according to Ol' DC's stopwatch -- really, it's right there on the watch's face, between "Sometime Today" and "Eternal Damnation" -- and they hadn't even attempted a driver swap.

A couple-more similar record-setting attempts set off Ol' DC's stomach, which commenced growling, "feed me!" and in the pursuit of satiating he proceeded to saunter away.

After Brumos' Saturday race finish of 20th overall and 10th in class it wasn't really too hard to imagine that the team in 2011 would do exactly what so many other teams had done in the past: "prepare" for a following year by "getting experience" and learning where to "improve weak points."

So much for "imagination."

Later,

DC