GOBS AND GOBS

Though one suspects upper management likely prefers otherwise, at present two different worlds evidently exist in NASCAR.

For the sake of brevity and ease of reading, let's just call 'em -- and your scribe has thought long and hard about it -- "Good Old Boys" (GOB) and "Wine And Cheese Crowd" (WACC).

(Cool, huh? Note to self: secure trademarks.)

The GOBs, in which Richard Childress (at left) is firmly ensconced, started with hardly a nickel in their respective pockets or, perhaps, even spread among themselves.

Unlike the GOBS, the WACCs who raced, also known as SOTRMITW (Some Of The Richest Men In The World), started with millions before racing and had still more millions after racing, like Rolex Series Trueman winner Mark Patterson.

For the SOTRMITW WACCs, staying in the race game wasn't, still isn't the end game and didn't require something on the order of Bill France Jr. once buying Childress, as he hisownself once stated, an engine, at Jon Hall Chevrolet, so as to facilitate a full Daytona race field.

Imagine, if you will, someone sitting down at a King Louis XIV-era desk and, pen in hand, cut a seven-figure check (that's seven digits LEFT of the decimal point, JJ) for about 10 months of racing fun. Throw in a brand new Riley as part of the deal and pretty soon we're talking money most folks have never and will never see.

A goodly number of SOTRMITW WACCs will do the same year after year.

When the GOBs started racing -- any racing -- they employed few people, if anyone at all.

SOTRMITW WACCs write checks that immediately employ tens, if not hundreds of others to make that racing thing happen.

This isn't, hasn't been a recent thing in sports car racing; it is woven within the sport's DNA.

BUT KNOW YOUR PLACE, BOY

Surfing the Web while 10,000 ft.- high-or-more in the air (on an airplane, JJ) and returning home following Road America, seen were a few blurbs in motorsports news about Nelson Piquet Jr. having been the first Brazilian . . . well, here it is, straight from NASCAR Media itsownself:

"Nelson Piquet Jr., driver of the No. 30 Qualcomm Autotrac Chevrolet for Turner Motorsports" . . . "made racing history on Saturday, becoming the first Brazilian to win a NASCAR national series race" at Road America.

In short, according to the folks so empowered, the first NASCAR national series race winner isn't the Brazilian who was the first Brazilian to win in Grand-Am, Oswaldo Negri Jr (at right).

Then again, maybe the Rolex Series isn't a national series. Well, what exactly makes a "national series?" One that competes outside of local, state or regional boundaries?

One might think the splitting of hairs to be operable, herein, one such being Negri having won his first Grand-Am race in 2005 when the sanctioning body wasn't a "Company of NASCAR."

Then again, Negri did win the 50th Rolex 24 At Daytona, not that the Rolex 24 is of any consequence whatsoever to anyone.

Well, after hearing a certain NASCAR series bellyache to no end about wanting more attention than a certain other NASCAR series, the subject now passes into air's thin wisps, which is where it would've gone, anyway.

IS BREAKING UP EASY TO DO?

By this reporter's give-or-take count, over the last three races -- Belle Isle, Detroit, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Road America -- something on the order of four or more A-frames, have fractured or, put another way, failed in three or four Daytona Prototypes during that three-race period.

None of those failures were in Riley DPs.

For what it's worth, hitting walls -- more "glance" than "hit" in at least one case -- isn't exactly a healthy thing. Or, for that matter, neither is impacting another car but, truth be known, DPs -- whether Riley or otherwise -- have been doing such things for years and have, more often than not, continued the race in which such blows were struck or undertaken.

It just seems that one particular but still unnamed DP is presently a tad more "fragile" -- a condition not unknown to, ahem, prototypical race cars.

A seemingly logical extension of the above would include the possibility, if not probability, of that particular suspension piece to be more likely to fail as usage (cycles) increases, thus possibly and unexpectedly breaking when otherwise regular and expected stresses are induced, say, when scrubbing tires.

Just saying.

EARNING IT

Saturday at Road America, Emil Assentato, Jeff Segal (at left, respectively) and Toronto-based AIM Autosport won their third race of the 2012 Rolex Sports Car season in the No. 69 FXDD Ferrari 458 Italia.

As of the tents being stricken at Road America, Segal and Assentato lead the GT driver-points championship, thus far having compiled 220 points to Stevenson Motorsports' Robin Liddell's 199 points.

Segal is the team's "professional driver" while Assentato is the (pick one) "Gentleman," "Sportsman," "Bob Akin" or "amateur" driver.

It's familiar territory for the two drivers who, in 2010 and driving a SpeedSource Mazda RX8 bearing the same number and sponsorship as today's car, won that year's Grand Touring championship in an admitted year-end squeaker at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.

The competition was wickedly thick during the whole of the Rolex Series' 12-race 2010 GT schedule, as 18 drivers would help capture one or more race wins. There still were 16 winning drivers that season when dropped are the two additional drivers, Nick Hamm and David Haskell, from the Rolex 24-winning SpeedSource No. 70 Castrol Mazda RX-8 regular-season team of Sylvain Tremblay and Jonathan Bomarito. Heck, the now estranged Andy Lally and TRG team alone accounted for three wins.

A tight points race the whole of that 2010 season, Assentato and Segal hardly ran away with the title, even though the pair twice won while, on the flip side, twice failed to finish within the top five. Between those extremes, the pair scored eight top-four-or-better finishes.

The team didn't have to finish as the best for each race, "just good enough" worked perfectly fine to score two Rolex championship "timepieces."

Assentato, beginning with the 2009 season and through the Road America race, has scored 17 podium finishes in 43 races.

On track in 2012 to be one of Assentato's best seasons yet, Assentato this season already has surpassed 2011's four podiums and has equaled his 2010 career-best five podiums.

As Assentato readily notes, the 2010 championship win -- by five points over sole second-place finisher and SpeedSource owner Tremblay -- came as a result of other championship contenders' carelessness or, perhaps, uncontrolled testosterone.

Yet, serving as a metaphor for "how life works," one often wins, whether on a race track, business or, even, love because others err.

As is the case for yours truly, Assentato is an admitted "old guy" but, unlike yours truly, Assentato doesn't wince upon gazing into an early morning bathroom mirror, being unsurprised at the sight of a non-25-year old guy returning his gaze.

Like most of those who are in their, um, "advanced years," Assentato has an ache or two which, in his case, is manifested by a slight but noticeable left-leg limp in his walk.

"It was the least serious of my injuries," which came when Assentato did what a lot of race car drivers do at one time or another: wreck.

Only this decades-ago wreck wasn't at all pretty, especially when doctors decided Assentato's seriously busted left leg would not receive anything but cursory treatment and was the very least of Assentato's medical woes.

"I was in my early 20's," Assentato said. "I loved racing and was good at it, too. I was fast.

"But the recovery time gave me a chance to think, it gave me pause and made me think about what I was doing, what I wanted to do and how I should (note: not "could") get there.

"I wanted to return to racing, but I was going to do it on my own terms. The only way to do that was get an education and a job."

"Fate" is a curious thing, often suggestive of a secretive "Mr. Wizard" hiding behind a curtain somewhere, throwing levers, pressing pedals and spinning dials that are the determinants of individual lives.

So, was fate at the root of Assentato's wreck? Had that wreck not occurred, would have a young Assentato excelled sufficiently to become a star and later revered race car driver? Or, had Assentato not wrecked, would he today be at the helm of one of the world's largest, privately held securities dealers?

"Getting back to racing took a little longer than I would've liked, but it is what it is," Assentato said.

Later,

DC

Excepting that of Richard Childress, the above pictures are the work of photojournalist Brian Cleary, who retains all rights of usage. To see more or get copies of his work, go to http://www.bcpix.com

TAKING THE MEDICINE

Given that Action Express Racing's opening-day focus at Detroit's Belle Isle Rolex Series race was learning that breaking up isn't really "hard to do," it only seems fitting the race itself would boil down to a 1-2 finish between the Action Express Racing boys.

Like a blossoming "overnight" movie star suddenly in a spotlight after years of toil, Saturday's Chevy Grand Am 200 finish actually started on "lucky" 13 Aug., 2011, at the end of the Watkins Glen 200.

At The Glen, the AXR Porsche (Cayenne) Riley Daytona Prototypes finished sixth and seventh; the Double Ds' (David Law and David Donohue) No. 5 finishing ahead of the Double J's No. 9 of João Barbosa and J.C. France.

"We looked at the data from the race and noticed that Darren and João had a lot in common," former NASCAR Sprint Cup Muckety Muck-turned-consultant Gary Nelson, of Gary Nelson and Associates, Inc., said Saturday in Detroit while killing time before the late-afternoon Belle Isle Chevrolet Grand-Am 200 race start.

His curiosity piqued, Nelson began the task of analyzing year-over-year driver data and, perhaps more importantly, associated and integrated his drivers' thoughts within the context of that data.

Yet, it's likely Nelson couldn't have at all traveled that particular road if the AXR team hadn't "been professionals," as AXR's race team operations director Elton Sawyer put it Sunday morning.

"The Action Express guys have worked their fingers to the bone to put competitive cars on the grid. Throughout this deal they've been professionals through and through, man. I'm proud of 'em for digging deep; for never giving up."

"They (the wrenches), none of us really know where this driver-change thing would go but they never stopped putting out cars that could win. The race Saturday proved they prepared cars that could win and that meant a lot to me."

COMPARING THE APPLES AND ORANGES

Even if maintained by dedicated team members and even if the two (or three) Riley DPs in AXR's possession were made by the brilliant folks over at Riley Technologies, they weren't identical; not even close.

Whether curse or genius, every engineer working on every car nearly everywhere thinks his "the better solution" to making a car go faster. Sometimes change can be effected with the application of a wrench; other times with a new "widget." With enough widgets and wrench turns, before long one Riley really isn't like another Riley.

AXR lead engineer, Iain Watt, presently on his second Rolex Series' duty tour (the first with owner Eddie Cheever and, mostly, drivers Christian Fittipaldi and Antonio Garcia), spent the better part of the 2010-2011 offseason taking two Rileys and making them one or, actually, two.

Confused? Of course you are. Still, you should see this brain. So we'll try it again.

Thus, becoming Watt's principal mission was to take two (or three) cars and bring them closer together insofar as baseline configurations were concerned.

"Why didn't AXR just buy new Rileys?" you ask.

For a California boy, Nelson has turned into one of the best Southerners around. Southerners hate wasting stuff (the reason for their junk piles; cars on cement blocks in front yards, etc.).

Recently, Nelson's spare time has been devoted to building a Café Racer. Proud of that still-under-construction but nearly finished bike, stored in Nelson's cell phone are pictures taken from more angles than those found in a porn star's portfolio. His proudest pics? The junk he's turned into viable parts.

Heck, had Nelson lived in the Middle Ages, he would've been an alchemist -- you know, the folks who tried converting everyday metals like lead into gold. Nelson, though, probably would've succeeded.

Thus, spending money when old parts will do is sorta woven into Nelson's DNA and the AXR team was tasked with putting a couple of Humpty Dumpties together again.

Yet, unlike the King's Men and HD, Messrs. Watt, Sawyer and Nelson, with a big assist from the rest of the AXR guys, succeeded and, best of all from Nelson's viewpoint, he could effectively compare data generated by the AXR drivers.

"Generally" arising at the same time was a delicate political matter involving a "minimum purchase" and, before you can say "cookie cutter," AXR had two brand-spanking new identical DP chassis that offered a bonus: new comparative data from an entirely different baseline.

At first having Watt's "identical" Rileys through 2011, then for 2012 the Pratt and Whitney, er, "Miller," um, "Coyote" Corvettes (if one can't dazzle with brilliance, then baffle with B.S), the two distinct platforms from two different constructors afforded accurate comparisons.

At race tracks "we'd unload identical cars and the drivers started taking them in different directions; sometimes on the same car!" Nelson said.

All of that's fine and dandy, even wonderful had the multiple drivers and two teams produced wins -- something expected from two-car teams -- but AXR kept coming up short in the "wins" column.

In 2011, after what would prove their season's worst finish of 9th in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Donohue and Law would not finish worse than sixth place -- four of those, consecutively at that -- and combined for a remaining seven top-5 finishes, of which three were podiums but none were a first place. They finished third in the championship, three points ahead of a 4th-place Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty, who didn't record any championship points whatsoever in the second Watkins Glen race but who recorded two wins.

In the 2009, 2010 and 2011 seasons, Barbosa finished 9th, 13th and 5th, respectively -- the 5th-place season coming mostly with a three-person team including J.C. France and Terry Borcheller, excepting that season's final three races for which Borcheller sat out.

Clearly, the contributions of Watt and Sawyer were beginning to show, but they couldn't get over the hump that kept all of them from scoring a 1st-place.

According to Nelson, some of the drivers wanted to go in the same direction -- mechanically and/or aerodynamically -- but Nelson saw they weren't in the same car for the same race.

"One driver would take the car one way, another driver would take it another way. Then their respective partners would try to tune it a little more to their liking and, before long, each car was different for the race and just about every driver wasn't really happy with the setups."

"We started noticing that the preferences of one driver in one car were a lot like the preferences of another driver over in the other (sister) car."

For the most part in sports car racing one accepts the premise of "compromise" when it comes to driving teams. The problem with a compromise is that it is just that.

Though two drivers might be demonstrable championship winners while driving individually or for different teams, they may well fail to perform equally well with each other while in the same car.

With data in hand after the New Jersey Motorsports Park race, the AXR brain trust had a sit down and made the decision to switch the drivers around.

"It was a team decision," Nelson confirmed. "It wasn't just one guys decision."

It had all boiled down to a difference in a driver's preferences behind the wheel and tweaking a formula that no longer could be inviolate.

"That's what we needed for the cure," Nelson said.

That "cure" may well have been found.

Later,

DC

SCOTT TUCKER

DETROIT (02June2012) – For what it's worth -- in case most everyone hasn't already, learned, discerned or been told -- the male human tends toward the lineal.

So, yes, Part IV of this writer's diatribe concerning "prototype" racing is in production but, first, let us depart from the rote and ponder something that hasn't much to do at all with "prototype" racing or, for that matter, racing at Belle Isle (besides, there are more than a few hours to go before Rolex Series competitors will be disposed of avoiding risk within the concrete canyons hereupon the isle). But this post is topical and at least is tangentially associated with racing and "prototypes."

Straight up: This motorsports writer doesn't much care to associate with Scott Tucker. Attributable to personal disquiet, it's not a business nor legal thing.

Mr. Tucker is a quiet, perhaps "shy" man who at times proves difficult if not impossible with whom to converse. Put only he and me in the same room at the same time and we'd probably both become psychopathic from a lack of human interaction.

From this perspective, and given sufficient failures to do otherwise, why try to overcome that to which another doesn't seem any more inclined than oneself?

Life has served many examples of those who are disposed of quiet demeanor and thought to be egocentric. Yet, as once noted by late American entrepreneur Bernard Baruch, one is far more likely to learn when listening than when talking, anyway.

One shouldn't, most probably won't think a lack of desire to associate with Tucker is exactly earthshaking news; Tucker apparently is well short of a paddock's popularity meter’s high end, anyway, if conversations with other paddock types prove accurate and which insist Tucker as one who likely thinks a certain Carly Simon "song is about" him.

Unless a Ken Swan, Christophe Bouchut, João Barbosa, Charisa Cobb or tens-of-other racetrack support personnel directly connected to or peripherally involved in Tucker's Level 5 Motorsports racing program, the driver/owner hasn't been winning many popularity contests over the last few years -- whether Ferrari Challenge, where he's a champion; or, SCCA, where he's also a champion; and, ALMS, where he's, yep, a champion, too.

Indeed, one can fairly say Tucker and championships seem often to be in the same time zone if not zip code -- hell, even on the same neighborhood block -- and that particular personal attribute itself often is enough to invoke others' considerable contempt.

"Well, he's bought those wins!" comes a rejoinder.

Um, and exactly who hasn't? Unless this observer's grossly overlooked a major point on the subject over his six decades of racing involvement, even a local bullring race team spends big money relative to its pursuit of fireplace mantle accoutrements -- even at the local racing level more money flows to parts vendors than a family often likely would wish to spend.

"Well then, he's spent ungodly sums of money doing it!"

You mean like that which Henry Ford II spent in the middle 1960's? Or Roger Penske? How about Chip Ganassi? Heck, wanna bet Audi doesn't spend more on wind tunnel time, alone, than Tucker's cumulative racing expenditures since 2006?

For what it's worth and largely because its topical: a certain block of politicians in very recent times have spent vast, mind-boggling sums of money, too -- the principal difference being Tucker actually has achieved that which was pursued.

No, one shouldn't see this as Ol' DC apologizing for Mr. Tucker; if nothing else but for the fact that Mr. Tucker likely doesn't need anyone but himself to do such, if at all.

"But Tucker's done wrong!"

Exactly what "wrong" might that be? At this point don't get nebulous and all; be specific. Be exact with the claims. If one is insufficiently educated as to the specific legal areas in question, then personal motives need to be examined.

"Well, 'the government' said he's done wrong!"

The Federal Trade Commission in April asked a federal judge to stop certain practices undertaken by a company, AMG Services, which is controlled by Tucker.

The FTC is also undertaking various actions, investigations and opposes practices by the likes of Google, the North Carolina General Assembly (legislature), Facebook and, give or take, hundreds of others at any given moment.

To say that Tucker is "guilty" merely because "the government says so" is to say the government is guiltless in anything and everything it has ever undertaken. Surely, no one reading this is that damn dumb and, if so, there exists more than sufficient case law to demonstrate government has all too often done what it shouldn't.

"Well, Tucker's making usurious loans!"

In the opinion of this writer, so too was the pawnshop which provided DC The Younger a loan on a handgun used as collateral on a fully amortized $70 loan.

At a time when DC The Younger was still earning his UHK (University of Hard Knocks) degree and at the time having had little more than a couple of nickels in his pocket, that $35 in cash he received was a badly needed gap loan.

Yes, DC The Younger, perhaps the beneficiary of a pawn shop owner's pity, needed to repay only twice that which he borrowed inside of 30 days to retrieve his precious handgun -- one that Ol' DC retains to this day, he adds.

Yes, the overall loan cost stung a might. Yes, it was an eye-opening, lesson-filled experience for DC The Younger. And, no, neither DC The Younger nor Ol' DC ever again turned to a pawn shop -- at least for a loan.

Nor has he turned to a "payday lender," such as Mr. Tucker's business is purported to practice with a bunch of Indians (who, in Ol' DC's humble opinion, aren't "indigenous" to the Americas when the Bering "land bridge" crossing is taken into account).

Those "Indians," who likely are financially benefitting as a result of Mr. Tucker's supposed business relationship, also are finally "getting" what has too long been due to them and, absent from participation therein, one which the government itself might be envious and, through its actions, now is seeking a piece. Such pursuit wouldn't be the first it has undertaken when first "in the cold."

Bottom line: Presently, Tucker has not been adjudicated of running afoul of any action that is deemed contrary to federal statute or regulation.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of people who depend on paychecks generated by Mr. Tucker's undertakings -- whether profession or avocation.

Whether George Zimmerman or Scott Tucker, finding someone "guilty" without benefit of a thorough examination of the particulars in a legal proceeding is entirely at odds with what so many of us hold and speak about so highly: The Constitution.

Does the lack of adjudication suggest anyone who knows or freely associates with Tucker shouldn't be cautious or, perhaps, even altogether review an ongoing association with Tucker? Of course not. But such prudence and vigilance should at all times prevail regardless of who, what or where, anyway.

The scariest part?

Uncle Sam's purse is far deeper than yours, mine or, even, Scott Tucker's.

Anyone who can attach himself to the public purse and who seeks to grind a personal axe for whatever purpose can be a very scary thing.

Later,

DC

FORGET HISTORY - IT'S OLD AND MUSTY, ANYWAY

 

THE REALLY BIG SHOW

In 1963, World War II was yet to be a distant memory for nearly anyone alive. For those not having experienced it personally, Hollywood readily fulfilled the void with movie epics like "The Longest Day," released in late 1962. Indeed, in 1961, 1962 and 1963, a new "war" movie was released roughly every seventh week.

Europe as a whole had yet to rebound fully from WWII's nearly total devastation (which had a lot, if not nearly everything to do with the U.S. becoming an economic powerhouse in the 1950's and 1960's) and Germany in 1963 had yet to reach its halfway mark in that effort, not declaring the process completed until 1985.

What's WWII got to do with anything?

Well, besides "a whole bunch," sports car racing's birth in the U.S. is largely attributable to WWII's United Kingdom-based U.S. military personnel, most particularly of the Eighth Air Force, many of whom returned with and, even if lacking "wheels," at the least promoted the idea of racing two-seat sports cars.

Using the Sports Car Club of America (-25 pts. for anyone missing the "SCCA" thing) as the benchmark for U.S. sportscar racing's birth, the club had yet to turn 20-years old when Ferrari neared the end of its sports car racing dominance in the mid-60's.

It was WWII which would spur the United States' launch into super-power status and while it had demonstrated a clear, indisputable mastery of military might then and since, Europeans at best considered U.S. manufacturers, race cars, drivers and the like as boorish -- the Automobile Club L'Ouest today still believing the same (except of Patrick Dempsey and Jerry Lewis, of course).

For its part, the U.S. saw mainland European sportscar types as effete snobs and, particularly with respect to the ACO, still do -- excepting those connected with a certain U.S.-based sanctioning body who have carried too far their abject appreciation of Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.

JUST TELL "U.S." WE CAN'T . . .

Beforehand and nearly unnoticed in the world of racing (excepting in the early 20th Century when Henry The First used racing to market and help develop his production cars), Ford engines began significantly impacting motorsports in the early 1960's.

Using an English Ford Kent engine massaged by a couple of fellows named Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth, together as "Cosworth," teamed with Lotus and Jim Clark in 1960 and pretty much changed the world.

At first based and developed purely on the Kent 1000cc engine's displacement, following larger-bore versions of that engine found their way into sports car, F1 and, for the street, the Ford-turned-Lotus Cortina (a well-maintained, original 1965 Lotus Cortina today sells for, roughly: US $45k; UK £30k; Euro €34k; and, assuming Greece abandons the Euro, Drachma 3,329,583,865k, give or take a Drachma or two).

Even though the Cooper Climax shocked the senses in the 1961 Indianapolis 500 and before that could lay claim to having laid the groundwork for what Lotus founder Colin Chapman would achieve, if not perfect, the "Garage Owner" (as Enzo Ferrari once derisively termed chaps like Chapman and Cooper) phase of formula racing, in which racing chassis were built in a myriad of mostly British household garages (among them retired racing great Morris Nunn, who says "Hi," Tony) independent of in-house engine programs -- the latter aspect shifting completely to engine-building entities like Cosworth and, later, Ilmor.

That a racing-chassis constructor would build cars without also building the engines fitting within plainly was a watershed moment in F1, if not motorsports altogether.

Running counter to that trend, Ferrari was starting to take knocks from all sides of racing, as was another Italian carmaker, Maserati. The latter would provide headaches galore to future car historians ("matching numbers" being of higher stature than most church statues, um, saints), Maserati's mechanics at one point relegated to assembling engines and cars using new, used, borrowed and shifted parts to field its racing cars. (Maserati would be sold in 1968 to French car manufacturer, Citroën.)

Save someone tied to Ferrari through production, sales, ownership or a devotee, most folks tend to think Ferrari and "automobile factory" as synonymous.

In many respects the company is that, of course, but because Merriam-Webster doesn't include hard numbers when defining "factory," vast gulfs can exist in production capabilities and, ultimately, quantities between those entities which produce "cars" for public consumption and, yet, still be classified as a "factory."

Somewhere between Webster's Collegiate Dictionary definitions, Karl Marx On Economics (surely we don't have Commies in motorsports, do we?) and Real-World Capitalism (sorry, I'll try to restrain the use of "bad" words like "hard work," "innovative," "industriousness" and "capital"), Ferrari's economic situation was worrisome at best.

Perhaps more true of Ferrari than many -- even American manufacturers upon whom the phrase was most often hung -- "win on Sunday; sell on Monday" was crucial to Ferrari being able to put food on the employees' family plates.

More so to the late Enzo Ferrari, "winning on Sunday and selling on Monday" was crucial to his personal pursuit of "winning again the following Sunday," because while crafting cars for public consumption was among Ferrari's loves, racing cars was his life's passion, as represented in Enzo Ferrari's eventual use of famed "Prancing Horse" symbol on Scuderia Ferrari cars long before Ferrari, the car company itself, began production.

(BTW - According to one version of lore regarding the Prancing Horse design: A badge displaying a prancing horse on a shield, originally the insignia of a WWI Italian fighter squadron, was given in 1923 to a young, bold, race-car driving Enzo Ferrari by Count Enrico Baracca, father of dead Italian fighter ace Count Francesco Baracca, the elder Baracca having taken admiring notice of Ferrari's hang-it-all-out racing bravado and seeing much of his son. A second variation of the above has Francesco Baracca's mother as the badge's presenter. A third has Enzo Ferrari's mother, Adalgisa, buying the badge's airplane remnants from Francesco Baracca's crashed SPAD S.XIII biplane, then giving it to her son as a birthday present. Yet another: given that the Prancing Horse supposedly didn't appear on a Ferrari race car until about 1932, some claim all of the preceding is horse-hockey, that Enzo Ferrari based the Prancing Horse emblem on Stuttgart, Germany's city crest and, given the presence of Mercedes and Porsche in that "stadtkreis," Ferrari was reluctant to admit to Stuttgart being the inspiration for the Ferrari emblem.)

Back to the real world, well, the 1960's at any rate: In a Catch-22 existing between carmaker Ferrari and Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari's principal conundrum was the company's physical constraints in splitting artisans' time between fulfilling a consumer demand that exceeded allotted production and that of fielding a winning race enterprise.

When product sales lag, cash flow lags. A lagging cash-flow then constricted racing funds or, alternately, "advertising" which prodded consumer purchases that in turn funded the racing that in turn . . .

And while Scuderia Ferrari did very well in Formula One racing, winning six championship titles of the 16 contested from 1950 through 1964, many insist sports car racing was his favored racing pursuit -- Le Mans being at the top of that list.

John Surtees, OBE, and 1964 Formula One championship winner for Ferrari, was later credited as saying, "At Ferrari in those days you started with a handicap; until Le Mans was over you couldn't really do the work you wanted to do, and needed to do in Formula One."

The simple answer (particularly those possessing the "God Complex" referenced in Part I) was "hire more people," but which likely would've consequently required more factory space, both of which cost additional capital.

Unlike Carroll Shelby's Ford association, Jim Hall's thing with Chevy and, to a lesser extent at the time, Roger Penske with whomever, Enzo Ferrari didn't have an interested "Big Brother" to lean on when he needed a new widget or thingamabob. While it's probable Enzo Ferrari had a back door, he darn sure didn't need one to sneakily pass anything through it.

WHAT TO DO? WHAT TO DO?

Though Ferrari today employs many modern techniques in its vehicle construction, remember that Ferrari enjoys, if not downright promotes a reputation for having hands-on "artisans" craft its cars from bumper to bumper front to rear, such being even more the case in 1963 when Enzo Ferrari reportedly squelched, some say at the last possible moment, a deal to provide needed capital to Scuderia Ferrari and sell the Prancing Horse's commercial sales side lock, stock and carburetor to the Ford Motor Company.

The supposed Ferrari take on the soured deal was twofold: Enzo Ferrari wished to continue at the head of an essentially independent Scuderia Ferrari; and, "Scuderia Ferrari" wished to compete in the Indianapolis 500.

Though Ford reportedly wasn't uptight and out-of-sight to the first part; the second was seen as problematic inasmuch as Ford engines had just begun a soon-to-be domination of the Indy 500 grid.

(A manufacturer's universal desire, whether then, now or probably well into the future apparently is to dominate a racing series, often through means beneficial to one manufacturer but to the detriment of others, often leaving unsatisfied a race fan's desire for straightforward, on-track competition.)

Whoever, whatever, however, it is clear "Ferrari" was a deal that suddenly wasn't, leaving the head of Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford II, less than a happy camper.

The repercussions of the imploded Ferrari deal were about to change the face of sports car racing far and wide, the egos of manufacturers, racers and even sanctioning bodies about to be tested as never before . . . while fans would eventually take it on the chin.

END OF PART III

It’s likely the next part of this series won’t hit until after the conclusion of The Miami Grand Prix at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend. HMS is going to be a pretty busy place this weekend, what with the Rolex Series, Continental Series and the newest kid on the block, the Showroom Stock, er, Sportsman Showcase series. Also Known As the “Run What You Brung, Within Limitations, Of Course” Series, it actually has an outstanding future. For one, I’ll be watching with interest. Hope to see you there.

Later,

DC

THE DISCOVERY OF LIFE’S BLOOD

PART II

As the immediately above coyly suggests, this a continuation in a series which Ol' DC's God Complex emergences.

Formerly believed to be the exclusive domain of those in the medical establishment, should the reader not yet have heard of the condition, no worries, you've already got it. Indeed, just about everyone suffers from it; if not constantly, then intermittently.

The term’s origination is attributed by some to Ernest Jones, whose psychoanalytic first take on the idea was a person believing themselves God was therefore suffering a God Complex. One supposes, it was kind of like a superiority complex on high. Then again, maybe “acid,” too. No, probably not. Jones was dead by the time Timothy Leary declared himself God during a “business trip.”

The idea has since evolved a little and, simply explained (at least to those given of God Complexes): "I can do (fix, correct) it!"

A slightly more complex (uh-oh, the "c" word is starting to multiply) explanation but not quite as complex (see!?) as that which more substantially imbued others may offer: The God Complex is an unshakable belief that one can simplistically solve a complex problem if only given free rein to do so.

"Afghanistan's Taliban Man? Nuke him," e.g., "Transform the country, via a release of the nuclear genie, to glass."

No more Taliban Man; done; troops home; happy days are here again.

The problem? The resultant, not just nuclear fallout (get it? "fallout?"; "not just?" Oh, I just slay myself sometimes!).

The idea is that the undertaking of a simplistic solution actually tends to splinter into many more problems of equal and, perhaps, greater negative consequences.

Example: “Put Barrack Obama in the White House, he'll fix everything, oh, by the end of his first term and happy days will be here again.”

Well, for whatever reason, it didn't happen that way. In fact, it wouldn't have happened that way because an economy, any economy, is so complex that no one person can understand it, let alone "steer" it -- in any direction. (I ain’t gonna go any deeper.)

INTO THE FAST LANE

After decades of thought -- the bulk of it clearly to the contrary -- the conclusion now reached from this quarter is that "sports-racing prototypes," of any ilk, suck the big one.

"Nay, a travesty! Heresy!" the reader exclaims.

The preceding perspective arises from a fellow so enamored with sportscar racing that in his awkward latter teen years he built and then attempted to race a Cox Chaparral 2C slot car (left).

The L.M. Cox Manufacturing Company put out, perhaps still does, all manner of cool but more mature "toys" like the German Stuka dive bomber.

No, purchasers of the Cox Stuka didn't hop in and fly to some ghetto whereupon loosed was ordnance upon hapless souls.

But it did fly, in a fashion, its tiny single-cylinder, two-stroke, naphtha-fueled engine churning out a wonderful castor oil aroma that also reminded of hard-accelerating Ferraris and Alfas.

People peripherally aware of such flying machines tended to identify them only as "model airplanes" when, in reality, most any male child of that time period built models of many things, all of them using that wonderful new-fangled plastic stuff, all involving the careful application of some great-smelling glue, and darn near all of 'em involving military objects having decals carefully arranged.

DC The Younger, being of advancing post-pubescent age, had gone beyond the static, forging into self-powered models.

And, as explained in Part I, DC The Younger wasn't having much luck with the other gender (not that he was having much luck with the same gender, either. Then again, he wasn't trying to have much luck with that same gender. Oh, never mind).

So, given DC The Younger's advanced age and model-making skills developed during far more youthful times, he proudly took his electric motor-powered (way ahead of the curve on this deal; think about it) Cox Chaparral 2C to the slot car track which, mind you, was a scaled replica of Daytona International Speedway's 3.56-mile road course -- even complete with 31-degree banks -- and promptly, thoroughly got his butt kicked. Embarrassingly so. Then again, what butt-kicking ain't embarrassing?

MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO 'ROUND

How to reverse embarrassment? (Bob Stallings knows the answer to this one . . .)

More knowledge and more money.

Principally, though, one inherently knew that money trumped all things. For if one has enough of it, one can purchase knowledge -- even should it reside in someone else's head.

DC The Younger's father, DC The Elder (at right, on left with Gen. Curtis Le May, right), some years earlier refused to be the source of funding the "frivolous" activities of youth, suggesting DC The Younger venture into "the real world and get a job," which DC The Younger had by age 11.

(Of course, no one, but no one has ever likewise been so abused and, to this very day, deep psychological scars remain from the denial of my doing whatever desired at whatever time wanted.)

The wonderful side benefit, said DC The Elder, would be "more women, too."

(Yes, dear father, that point got me rolling because Cathy Sheppard was chiefly on my mind in 5th grade but, also, dear father, then learned were lessons that revolved around oddly coincident "dry spells" in which if no money were in the pockets, no "women" wished to be seen on my Schwinn bike's handlebars, it complete with plastic, fantastic multi-colored tassels).

("Car?" you inquire? Ha! In those ancient times guys, and only guys, mind you, were outright incredibly "lucky" to have a motor vehicle of any sort by age 18. Even Jim France had to borrow his big brother's Volkswagen in those times now since long passed. My older brother, likewise many years ahead of me, had already altogether booked it to South Florida for formal education's sake and took "LuLu" with him. Today, though, nearly everyone gets a car at 12 -- and a cell phone at six. Think exaggeration is at hand? Just look in any middle-school parking lot. Shoot, in prehistoric times it was little ol' ladies who couldn't see over a car's dashboard).

Such a relative POC was the Cox Chaparral 2C slot car -- it's hard plastic veritable unibody overburdening a woefully underpowered motor -- that soon learned was the art of tubeframe construction; the "winding" and "rewinding" of electric motor armatures; gearing; the shaving of tires; and, lightweight livery.

Still, at the base of acquiring the knowledge and the parts was money -- a pump-jockey's 90-cent-per-hour job providing such.

Mastering the racing skills in the garage and on the track, DC The Younger soon became the functional equivalent of Reinhold Joest, who still was a decade-or-so from outlasting, outrunning, besting and embarrassing the uppity Porsche factory team.

(Now, how can such success be a "bad-sign thing?" Trust me, anything at all can become such if placed long enough in the hands of Ol' DC).

Yet, emulating within the small-world ranks the cars Jim Hall built and raced in the real world simply wasn't enough.

OFF TO THE RACES

As a side benefit of living his life within Florida's "ground zero" racing boundaries, DC The Gettin' Older personally witnessed Hall's Chaparral (eventually including the 2F) along with witnessing the craftsmanship of drivers like Mike Spence, Phil Hill and, the best of the best "gentleman" drivers, Hap Sharp.

Peter Revson, heir to the Revlon fortune before passing along, was cool, but he was a jet-setter. Indeed, Revlon probably was the one who invented "jet-setting." But, once again owed to the "money" thing or, perhaps more appropriately, most others' lack of it, Hap Sharp contrasted Revson's suave, debonair style.

Sharp, like Jim Hall, in fact, was a Texas oil man, much like Tracy Krohn (at left), only friendlier (Tracy, such ain't to say you can't be fun. It's just that Sharp was "funner." Oh, never mind.)

Sharp didn't inherit anything other than the time of day. He (like Krohn) started with little and roughnecked his way into financial security -- and in his later years got to go racing, only the powers that be at the time didn't have a "Sportsman" trophy to give to guys, like John Pew (at near right w/ Grand-AM’s Gary “Bigbabu” Cummings, photo by Vickie Miller, courtesy of JohnPewRacing.com), who eschew such. Like Pew, Sharp's measure of himself was one taken against the likes of Dan Gurney, Spence, Hill and, earlier, Roger Penske.

Seen, heard and smelled also at the same time were Holman and Moody's Ford GT MkII; NART's Ferrari 330/P3; and, at Sebring, Pedro Rodriguez proving a Ferrari Dino 206s could go off-roading at the real hairpin.

Furthermore competing before this writer's eyes at Daytona and Sebring were drivers like A.J. Foyt, (left) who over the course of three decades drove four different generations of cars in sportscar competitions: a Pontiac Tempest (also at left); a couple of Ford GT40 MkII's; a Porsche 935; and, a Porsche 962 or three, as well.

Once seen on a prototype car at Daytona was a duct tape demonstration of such measure that its creative-use applications blew minds everywhere for months, if not years afterward, while the Ferrari 512's two drivers -- Mark Donohue and David Hobbs -- soldiered to a third-place finish. That car was the very antithesis of Penske's squeaky clean immaculate image, as found in a previous season's sparkling clean, neat-as-a-pin Sunoco Blue Penske Racing Lola T-70.

Indeed, in Central Florida alone, Hurley Haywood (at right, on 2012 Rolex 24 podium, again) competed in so many different cars over such a considerable time frame that it's entirely possible no webpage exists with enough space to list 'em. (Now Hurley, before your bowels uproar and you cancel my $16,000-under-invoice deal on that new 2012, gray 911S, I'm likewise admitting to having seen you drive all those cars over all those years. I'll cite you as "still the most handsome race car driver, ever" in a future work. K?)

Yet, a review of all those years, heck, of all those decades even unto the very present, yields three constants: 1) The "factory" cars depart racing more quickly than they emerge; 2) Privateers like Hall or, even, Enzo Ferrari, could at best only momentarily compete with the factories; and, 3) the GT class cars are what is constant.

END of PART II

Oh, and should you know the contents of Part III, give me a ring, please.

Later,

DC

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