The 50th Rolex 24 at Daytona is Shaping Up to be a Classic

Submitted by Anonymous on January 9, 2012 - 10:38am

By Larry Edsall


Later this month, they’ll stage the round-the-clock sports car race at Daytona International Speedway for the 50th* time. (I’ll explain the asterisk in a minute.)


Fifty years of anything is a significant milestone, and this event should be absolutely amazing, if not for the competition on the track but because the organizers are turning the race weekend into a reunion for former winning cars and their surviving drivers.


Last I heard (which was around the middle of December), only three former winning cars had yet to be found -- the Ferrari 312PB Mario Andretti ad Jacky Ickx drove in 1972, the Interscope Porsche that Hurley Haywood, Danny Ongais and Ted Field drove to victory in 1979, and the Ferrari 333SP in which Gianpiero Moretti, Arie Luyendyk, Mauro Baldi and Dider Theys won in 1998.


If you can’t wait or if you won’t be in Daytona for the race and reunion, you can see a photographic display of the winning cars on the speedway’s website: 


http://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/Vanity-Pages/50th-Rolex-24/50-Years-of-Champions-Display.aspx


If you look at that pictorial display, you might be surprised to see that Dan Gurney won the first race in 1962 driving solo in a Lotus-Climax 19B. How could that be? It could be because the first race lasted only three hours. Back then, it was the Daytona Continental, not the Rolex 24, and Gurney, driving for Frank Arciero, was one of several soloists in the race. Others included Jim Hall, who finished third in his Chaparral, and Stirling Moss, who came fourth in a NART Ferrari 250 GT.


 Top team making a driver change was another NART entry, a Dino 246SP driven by Phil Hill and Ricardo Rodriguez.


By the way, NASCAR star Fireball Roberts was 12th in yet another NART Ferrari. Indy star Rodger Ward was 27th in a Pontiac Tempest.


That’s right, a Pontiac Tempest, one of four entered in that inaugural event. Oh, and Ward’s performance was good for second place in the GT4 class, which was on by Walt Hansgen in Briggs Cunningham’s Jaguar XK-E.


In 1964, the Daytona race went from three hours to 2,000 kilometers -- a distance Hill and Rodriguez covered in 12 hours, 40 minutes, 24.8 seconds in a Ferrari 250 GTO.


It wasn’t until 1966 that the format expanded to 24 hours -- Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby leading a 1-2-3 sweep by Ford GT40 Mk IIs.


The format has remained 24 hours, well, except for 1972, when it was shortened to six hours because of the fuel crisis, and in 1974, when it was canceled for the same reason.


Sanctioning bodies and eligible vehicles -- production-based vs. made-for-racing prototypes -- have changed through the years. But the challenge of racing full bore for twenty four remains daunting, for the teams, the drivers,  the cars, and, yes, even for the spectators.


 


Larry is a noted author, car enthusiast and editor.  You can read more of him at www.izoom.com.


 


Check out footage of defending Grand Am Rolex Champion Scott Pruett doing a lap at Daytona:


www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xlAF-xkjyzA