One of my most prized possessions is a photograph of the yellow C4 Corvette race car that resembles a school bus that I drove during the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1987. It was me behind the wheel, about to turn left and climb the highways of the Daytona International Speedway. turn 1. In the background is a matte red race car, most likely a prototype Porsche 962 GTP sponsored by Coca-Cola, driven by super sports car and Formula 1 superstar Hans-Joachim Stuck. Every time I look at that picture, I get a thrill from knowing that I’ve participated in one of the more amazing high-level pro sports car endurance races than watching it at home on TV. I went back to Daytona for this year’s run—now without my racing suit and helmet—to see what changed and what didn’t. And also to remember what it feels like to be there in the middle of it all, on the track with my racing heroes.
Daytona’s 24 Hours, like those of us who are more than three decades old, are both the same and different than they were before. The 3.56-mile inland road, using nearly the entire 2.5-mile oval that surrounds it, remains unchanged except for modifications to the curb. Aside from some new buildings, the Daytona still feels as majestic as it did when I first rolled into the field garage many years ago. Stand there again today, the huge grandstand, which can hold more than 100,000 fans, towering over you; You are an ant at the bottom of an empty swimming pool. You can almost feel the racing history embedded in the runway and carved into the walls along the oval. The facility opened in 1959, but it’s still functional; it is in excellent condition. If only we could all age gracefully.
The Daytona 24 Hour Endurance Race, now known as the Rolex 24 at Daytona, is sure to kick off the pro racing season as Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer. And with the same anticipation of the good times to come. Down in the garage on race morning, 24 hours has a party feel. There was a lot of hard work going on around the cars, but also lots of smiles and laughter from the teams, drivers and team owners. I miss that, plus being prepared for the biggest race of my life.
Racing team owner Chip Ganassi, who had two Cadillac GTP cars reach the top at this year’s event, confirmed that the sense of fun remains. “The drivers love this race. They’re having fun. It’s just the beginning of the season. They get to meet friends from all over the world. They’re having fun. No one is as cranky and stressed out as at the end of the season when they’re not. They’re trying to win a championship.” Ganassi will know; IndyCar and his endurance racing teams have 19 series championships between them.
The 24 Hours is still an event that attracts riders from motorsports other than motorsport. When I was racing, I was curious to learn that legends like AJ Foyt, Al Unser and Danny Sullivan were competing in the GTP class. NASCAR stars Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte were on the scene, as was Jim Downing, the co-creator of the HANS device. A former Olympic athlete turned racer named Bruce Jenner is driving a Mustang in my class. I’m stalking them; I saw AJ in the pit lane before the race, climbing out of his Porsche 962.
Same goes for 2023. Among this year’s big names are IndyCar champion Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Sébastien Bourdais and Simon Pageneaud along with four-time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves. NASCAR driver Austin Cindric and former Formula 1 driver (and current IndyCar shoe) Romain Grosjean are both in the program. Well, I caught a glimpse of a few of them.
As the race progressed, I watched from a position directly behind the starter’s stand at the starting line. First-class GTP cars rushing at me at 200 mph while weaving through rival groups from slower classes were breathtaking. Am I really out there mixing it in the middle of it? Unbelievable. Doesn’t seem too busy when I’m driving, and probably isn’t. The cars run harder and closer today.
Sports car racing is both messy and exciting for fans because of the many race classes, which circulate at different speeds. Simplified in basic construction, there are two types of cars that race in endurance races like the 24 Hours of Daytona: the prototype, which looks like a four-wheeled fighter, or the adult Hot Wheels car; and the Grand Touring (GT) car, based on recognizable production models such as the Corvette Z06, Porsche 911, Ferrari 296, Lamborghini Huracán and several others.
The prototypes were divided into three classes in ascending order of horsepower and speed, with GTP at the top. Both GT classes, one for professionals and one for both pro and semi-pro, now include cars that meet the FIA’s global GT3 racing specifications. Like them, my C4 Vette racer started life as a production car — even though it was the only car in the GTO class at the time that wasn’t a purpose-built tubular racing machine. hidden under the fake production car body. GT rules currently forbid those types of purebred racing machines.
My Vette’s production roots made us one of the slower cars in that year’s race, I don’t care much. I was out there, eyes wide open and loving it. Driving in a race isn’t as hard as watching today’s shoes go from the sidelines. The Daytona track is simple and easy to learn, although slamming from 160 mph into Turn 1 and back into Le Mans in a straight line behind and turning and shifting—without the system. anti-lock brakes, paddle shifters or paddle shifters today. high downforce aerodynamics—requiring me to focus on every fiber of my body to do each lap without turning.
I think what made the race easier than I expected was the quality of the riders. I’ve been racing amateurs for 14 years, but it took about two laps of my first afternoon to determine my fellow competitors as the best I’ve ever entered on the track. So this is what it’s like racing against the pros. If they’re going to pass you, it’ll be as quick, clean, and decisive as a karate chop to the head of the table. Boom! They were by your side and gone. I was overtaken by the Coca-Cola 962 in Turn 1 so hard that Hans probably got stuck at the wheel. Of course, I had no way of knowing it was really him, but I’ve kept that belief ever since. And in my imagination, I’m honored.
With GTP cars traveling at 210 mph on a straight road and ours only capable of 160 mph, I kept scanning my mirrors and getting out of the way on high-speed ovals , always leave the lane closest to the wall when I want to be told to. Embarrassing revelation: after running a few laps for the first time and feeling mostly comfortable, I realized that the two places where I climbed the 31-degree slope of the track could give me a chance more opportunities to stalk celebrities. When any of the GTP competitors sped past, I would peek at their cars, hoping to see which famous driver was behind the wheel. Bad luck. Insert smiling emoji here.
While much of the atmosphere and action in the right direction in 2023 seems similar to what I experienced more than three decades ago, one thing that has completely changed—and unsurprisingly—is the technology in cars. GT cars benefit from advancements we couldn’t have imagined in 1987: gearshift transmission, ABS and traction control adjustable for the driver, extra-sticky tires, plus picnic table-sized rear wings and other aerodynamic attachments cause the vehicle to jam onto the pavement with a large amount of downforce. That’s why the GT cars are about 17 seconds faster per lap than our old Vette, a huge improvement in racing conditions as they don’t have 500 more horsepower than our race car. I. Their speed comes from impossibly late braking and incredibly difficult cornering. It’s amazing how far they can get into Turn 1 before their brake lights flash.
Launch for hybrids in GTP
This year is also the first time that hybrid technology is allowed to be used in the GTP class. Hybrid systems don’t work the same way as in passenger vehicles, and the way that the rules requiring electric power are implemented and monitored are so complex that only an engineer can understand. The GTP’s cockpit has lots of switches that make the inside look more like an Apollo space capsule than a race car. That’s why BMW, Porsche, Cadillac and Acura enter this year’s race with cars that are primarily made in-house: only the automakers have the enormous engineering resources needed to make them. These complex racing cars work. Despite the extreme tech, the rules are structured so that the GTP hybrid cars on a straight line aren’t any faster than the ones I’ve raced with, although the new cars are about seven and a half seconds faster than the ones I’ve raced with. Old car in the race track.
The other result of the technological change is a huge improvement in the reliability of racing cars. During the ’87 race, we drove at about four seconds slower than the car was capable of. The aim was to avoid unduly stressing the machines and to give the two Corvettes participating in the small Morrison-Cook team the best chance of surviving the event intact. Most of the competitors at the time did something similar.
It didn’t help. My car had a terminal engine problem at 4 p.m., 337 laps, about 1200 miles on. Our other car was even worse, failing to make it past the 77th lap, after only 274 miles.
That year, 36 of the 69 beginners – 52 percent – left with mechanical accidents. In 2023, only 11 of the 61 starters — just 18 percent — were unable to finish due to mechanical problems even though they drove as fast as they could in each lap. It’s been going on like this for several years now, as confirmed by Cadillac GTP racer Alex Sims. “Oh, yes,” he said nonchalantly before the race, “we run every lap.” That makes it all the more remarkable that the new GTP hybrid cars performed so well on their first outing.
Results in 2023
Eight of the nine participating GTPs finished the race, six of which had no mechanical problems. The four top runners on the same lap, within 11 seconds of each other, raced 2787 miles—equivalent to the distance from New York City to Los Angeles. Two Acura ARX-06 GTPs have completed one-half overall; Ganassi’s two Cadillac V-LMDh cars came in third and fourth. Whelen Engineering Racing’s Caddy V-LMDh finished fifth, followed by BMW’s M Hybrid V8 GTP in sixth overall. Three other hybrid GTPs have been ordered. Each of the other four classes also crowned the winners.
Exactly how deeply I was first invited to drive in the 1987 race is deeply etched in my memory, even as my brain somehow preserved the key moments of the last day. that week in a vivid mental snapshot file. Since then, I have competed in a lot of races, totaling about 20 24-hour events in amateur and semi-pro. Although I have never won any, I have felt the sweet, exhausting joy that comes from the group’s joint effort to reach the finish line.
So to win at Daytona must feel epic. I can tell from experience that just being there is something special, a warm feeling that I will always have with me.
