Has the Rolex become what Indy used to be?

[KC]

Looking over who and what is racing at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona next month I see more and less variation than ever before. I won't get into the loss of LMP protoypes in favor of Dayonta Prototypes, but there are more diverse drivers and more diverse makes than the near past.

Daytona Prototypes:
Toyota, BMW, Chevrolet, Porsche, and Ford engined cars are all entered.

SRP II:
Nissan Lola, and the BMW Picchio are grandfathered into this years grid but are replaced by the Daytona Protoypes completely next year.

GTS:
Porsche GT1, Saleen S7R, Mosler MT900R, Chevy Corvette, Ford Mustang, Porsche GT2, and the Porsche 996 all compete for overall honors. The last time an all new protoype class took to the track (World Sports Cars) the Nissan 300ZXT took the overall win from GTS by 56 laps over the prototypes. It could happen from this class again this year.

GT:
Porsche GT3 RS, Ferrari 360GT, BMW M3, and a Marcos Mantis all bring up the slower but steadier class as modified production based equipment.

Drivers:
Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, Craftsman Truck, CART, IRL, SCCA Trans Am and many European sports car racing series are all represented by drivers in this year's field.

Previous Champs:
Hurley Haywood (1973, 1975, 1977, 1979, and 1991); Mauro Baldi (1998 and 2002); Derek Bell (1986, 1987, and 1989); Max Papis (2002); Scott Sharp (1996); Didier Theys (1998 and 2002); and Andy Wallace (1990, 1997, and 1999) are all entered.

This is what the Indy 500 used to be back in the glory days. The Rolex does not have the cachet Indy used to enjoy, but nonetheless it is attracting a diverse group of competitors.

[Lee Janotta]

Except no one watches Daytona...

[enemy-ace]

I'm going to watch it, I have racing withdrawel. Besides i enjoy watching the GT and GTS cars. Those Daytona Prototypes just seem wrong to me however, but I will admit to some kind of morbid curiosity.

[Tim Northcutt]

Indy has begun to draw the diversity again in recent years...
THey will have 3-4 engine combos, 3 chassis, and drivers run the full spectrum from dirt cars, NASCAR, CART, F1 and endurance racing...

Even Johnny Herbert tried to get into the field of 33 last year, but a combination of when he got the car tweaked and up to speed, plus awful weather once he did, coupled with a conflict with his ALMS race at Sears Point kept him from getting a shot at making the field....

At one point, he was primed and ready to be the first car to qualfiy on the last of the three Q Days, hop on a helicopter to fly to a waiting jet, then going to the Coast to make the last half of the ALMS race...

BTW....I need a racing fix, too, but I'm not planning on sitting non-stop this weekend watching the Rolex 24 at Daytona...Grand Am is heading the wrong direction in my book....

[ZXKawboy]

Well, I, for one, will be watching it.

I haven't missed it in 10 years, though this is the first I'll not be at the track itself. (much sadness ensues here) It's a tradition, and I could use the travel-saving

laters, all

[Liz]

It's become what Indy is now -- a pale shadow of its former self, essentially a club race. I'll probably watch the end of it to see who wins.

[Fogelhund]

Liz, watch the start as well. An ex-Trans Am GTS car outqualified the DSP cars, but will be moved back to 7th per the rules. In fact two AGT/GTS cars outqualified the DSP's. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes before the DSP's start to slip back. Sad really.

[Sebring2000]

I have been there the last four years, and enjoyed it as a precursor to Sebring. I'll be skiing this year...

[Aysedasi]

Originally posted by Lee Janotta
Except no one watches Daytona...

I would certainly watch it if it had any terrestrial tv coverage. And if I had a realistic chance to actually go and see the race, I would definitely take it up. As far as the number '24' goes, there is only one race which is important to me, I confess immediately, but I'm not totally blinkered.....

[Brant]

If you ask me it all looks like a sorry lot of rag tag cars! Having said that, I'll still watch and take what enjoyment I can from it. At least Canadians are on the pole, even though they didn't earn it! That cars probably going faster than their disasterous LMP 07.

[IanGrohse]

It is really sad.......
Grand Am made the SRP2 cars so heavy they can hardly get out of their own way, as well as making the fuel capacity smaller........Knowing full well that the SRP2 cars(which arent that fast when compared to a 675 car) would beat the snot out of the DSP.....
And now a GTS car outqualifies the DSPs, and yet Grand Am makes sure their new cars start from the begggining no matter what.
Lot tech, ugly, slow....Too bad.

But I will DEFINATLY watch the race though.

I watch this race because its the first real race of the year 24 hours of enjoyment wth great coverage on Speed.But i still think they should have kept the prototype cars but change seems to be the norm now.time will tell

[Tim Northcutt]

In the 1990s when I lived in Tampa (before I moved back home to "The Racing Capital of the World")I made an annual trip to Daytona for the 24 and to Sebring....

This year, I'll watch Daytona here and there, just because I'm a race junkie, but it does not even come close to the excitement that we will experience by watching ALMS and the Big One in June...Le Mans...

[Russfeld]

I bet the France family would make more money if they just charged a fee from the ALMS to let Daytona be their opening race. They'd probably sell more tickets, bring more prestige, and enhance the aura of Speedweeks too.

But the Frances dont like France (oh the irony) so that wont happen until Panoz changes the name of the series or grovels heavily.

2004 looks like the first year of a potential rebirth of high profile sportscar racing, im hoping someone can save the Rolex 24 from itself.

[veeten]

There's only one way of that happening, Russ...

but for right now, Edmonson & Co. are just going to use the "hope and Pray" method for some kind of success.

The real problems will come by Mid-Ohio, when everybody will use last years T&S charts from ALMS to compare the times put in by the DSP's. Hopefully by that time, there will be some rules changes to make them more faster and competitive.

[Russfeld]

Are the rules for the Porsche class cars much different from ALMS and Grand-Am? Im wondering if we could extrapolate from someone like Lucas Luhr's Daytona time, compare it to his average gap (as a % from pole) to an R8, and come up with a Joest pole time for the Rolex.

[Tim Northcutt]

The way I have understood the reason why Grand Am has gone this direction with the DPs and their other changes is to supposedly find a way to broaden their audience...this was alluded to via references to the Ford Multi-Matic entry as a "Focus" entry,as an example.

I can't remember the exact terms they used for this, but they run the risk of turning off the hard-core fans of endurance racing who follow it for a wide variety of reasons (high-tech, speed, broad spectrum of chassis, power & participants at many class levels)....

This isn't NASCAR, but the "powers that be" calling the shots in Grand Am feel that they can apply their successes in that form of racing to endurance racing when it is a totally different product followed by a totally different breed of fan....

I don't think that Grand Am will be around in 4-5 years...

[Liz]

Maybe Paul Gentilozzi will buy it when he finishes putting Trans Am back together.

[muggle not]

Paul G. had better get on the stick. The 1st TA race is coming up in Feb. and he still doesnt have a rule book on the street.

Regardless what people think of this years 24 Hours it has a pretty strong lineup of drivers.

[Liz]

But they're driving terrible cars.

I've heard Paul G. has just finished signing the papers actually; and they are doing the wind tunnel stuff so perhaps they'll phase it in during the season. It'll be fun to see how it works out.

[Russfeld]

urgh

You know, im a race fan, I watch everything, even that obscure NASCAR regional racing on speedvision. But the Rolex is killing me. Im 15 minutes in and I honestly wish something else was on. The rolex the last few years hsant been the best race, but at least watching a Dallara-Judd pound the banking is bettre than nothing

[muggle not]

Anyone see the Boris Said interview during the race at Daytona. He stated that the DP's are the future of road racing in America! Boris, as we know, is never one to mince words and what he states is what he feels.

Lets give the DP's a year or two before we get too critical of them.

[Russfeld]

Boris is the next Mikey Waltrip. Ive never seen such transparent ass kissing.

The pole winning time (set by a Transam car) was a 1:49 An Audi R8 would have done like a 1:35

I want to see a world class sportscar event, not a televised version of the 24hours of Moroso

[cybersdorf]

Originally posted by muggle not
Anyone see the Boris Said interview during the race at Daytona. He stated that the DP's are the future of road racing in America!

Could someone put that question to him again now...

[RobweenerPI]

I've worked a Grand am event before. It was a regular season race at VIR. It was a total sham. It was seriously like a SCCA national with bigger transporters. They had no vendors, no attractions, very few tv and media and they ran a ****ty race for the course workers. The car count was pathetic to say the least. GT had alot of cars but most were older hand me down porsches from bigger teams. I bet less than 500 people came to watch the race there. The next week AMA came to town and the place was pretty packed. The quality of the series is very poor from the driving talent side too. Most of the drivers were just rich club racing hacks. A few were legitamate racers but overall most were rent a ride types. The Grand AM cup was pretty cool however. But the endurance format isn't as cool as the SCCA's World Challenge sprint format with standing starts which makes the racing more interesting. It was basically rich guy club racing and a series I'll forever skip from now on unless I have absolutely nothing else to do. And now we have these DP which are basically winged baked potatos. I bet for the next race they change the engine specs to make more power so that they may actually outrun GT cars.