One Week 'til Season Kick Off!

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Layla's Keeper

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Okay folks, regardless of your feelings regarding GARRA, NASCAR, or whatever else faction of motorsport you follow, it's an incontrovertable fact that (save for the Hangover Race at Sandusky Speedway on Jan. 1st) Daytona Speedweeks IS the start of the racing season and the Daytona 24 is the start of the road racing calendar.

We have a great Daytona 24 Hours on deck along with stellar Grand Am Cup action. Porsche looks ready to break the Pontiac DP streak (Lucas Luhr topped the testing timesheets with Alex Job Racing's new Porsche Crawford and the Haywood/France Brumos Racing Porsche Fabcar also showed an incredible increase in speed) while Lexus powerhouse Target Ganassi Racing hunts in the shadows as well.

The Doran has been updated, an all new (beneath the skin) Picchio is on deck, the Crawfords excel on the highbanks, the Rileys are still king, the Fabcar has been revised, the Multimatics have been tweaked, and even the Chase has shown signs of strength.

Infiniti has put more effort behind their engine program. Porsche has introduced a new engine. Ford has made even more power. Lexus has power and reliability. BMW's supporting their teams much better.

Pontiac is, of course, the mill to beat.

Will it be Suntrust? How about Howard Boss? Ganassi? TRG/Krohn came on strong at the end of last season. Michael Shank Racing has new partners and is a consistent upstart. McDowell is topnotch. Doran/Lista is not to be underestimated. Brumos is a perennial favorite. And don't forget interlopers Dyson and Alex Job, former Trans Am heavyweight Derhaag, and openwheel defectors Cheever and Fernandez.

Will the winning drivers be road racing regulars? NASCAR stars? IRL or CART maestros? Somebody we've overlooked?

In the words of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer; Come inside, the show's about to start. Guaranteed to blow your head apart. Rest assured you'll get your money's worth. The greatest show on heaven, hell or earth!
 
this is going to be the fourth year the DPs are in the Rolex 24 and the field is bigger then ever. you think the number of champions competing is going to get bigger?
 
Round One? Qualifying.

Victor? Alex Job Racing and their new Porsche Crawford. A lap time of 144.009 put Lucas Luhr, Mike Rockenfeller, and Patrick Long on the front row for the 24 Hours of Daytona.

This is also a new Daytona track record for Daytona Prototypes, defeating Wayne Taylor's 1:45.425 lap from the June 250 last year.

Outside the front row were going to be the evergreen Suntrust boys Max Angelelli and Wayne Taylor with their Pontiac Riley, but a tech infraction resulted in their time being disallowed, giving second spot to the second Lexus Riley of Target Ganassi Racing, campaigned in the 24 by Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon, and Casey Mears.

The final podium spot goes to the Gainsco team of Alex Gurney, Bob Stallings, Jimmy Vasser, and Rocky Moran Jr, who ably represented (in lieu of the disqualification of the Suntrust team) last year's dominant combination - the Pontiac Riley.

Other Notables from Qualifying.

- Sebastian Bourdais and the #78 Ford Doran of Doran Racing posted the highest time for a Doran chassis and for Ford power (4th on Grid)

- New teams all show speed, most impressively are Alex Job Racing (Pole) and Lowe's Fernandez Racing (8th)

- Series Staples Falter: All three of the Howard Boss Pontiac Crawfords (normally the cars to beat at Daytona) turned in lackluster qualifying performances at 19th (Jan Lammers, Rusty Wallace, Allan McNish, Danica Patrick), 22nd (Andy Wallace, Butch Leitzinger, Tony Stewart), and 28th (Chris Dyson, Rob Dyson, Oliver Gavin, Guy Smith) respectively.

- Multimatic, Picchio, and Chase chassis are all unrepresented in the 2006 Daytona field. Infiniti powerplant also unrepresented. Top Eleven list reads....

1: Porsche Crawford
2: Lexus Riley
3: Pontiac Riley
4: Ford Doran
5: Lexus Riley
6: Ford Crawford
7: Pontiac Riley
8: Ford Crawford
9: BMW Riley
10: Lexus Riley
11: Porsche Fabcar

So, comments everyone?
 
Like it or not, the first big race in America is indeed the Rolex 24. Since the inclusion of the Daytona Prototypes, I still think the race has lost its glamour. It still remains the first big race of the new year. That is, unless you think sprint cars and midgets are bigger than sportscar racing.

In terms of bigtime races, the chronological order of American races would be :

1 - GARRA Rolex24 at Daytona
2 - NASCAR Daytona 500
3 - ALMS Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring


I guess what I'd be interested to see is how Danica Patrick will fare with Daytona Prototypes. I loved following her last year in the IRL even with her fourth place finish and all the records she broke at the 2005 Indy 500 (except first woman to win the Indy 500). I'd actually be interested how she would do against GARRA veteran and DP pilot Milka Duno. Duno vs. Patrick. Should be an interesting race. Good luck to everyone at Daytona from John!
 
I didnt know Danica Patric was going to be racing this year... Says she will be racing along side Rusty Wallace and Allan McNish... Those are pretty big acts to follow for a rookie driver...

Did GM withdraw the C6R from competition this year? I see a few Vettes are listed, but it does not say what form they are...

Tony Stewart and Dale Jr. are missing from the driver lineups as well... I'm sure the information will be updated again... Info can be found here

...I also see that a guy from my hometown named Brian DeVries will be competing. His Mother owns a deli just a few miles from my father's house in Ada, and I had no idea he was into racing. I googled the name and it even came up with race results from the Nürburgring... Interesting!
 
The C6-R has not competed at Daytona for several years since the GTS category was withdrawn by GARRA. The C6 Corvettes you see competing are GT category cars built on a limited tube chassis that conforms to the new "Prep 2" rules.

The factory GM effort in GT is the Pontiac GTO's campaigned by The Racer's Group/Krohn Racing.

Junior isn't racing this year, but Tony Stewart is driving in one of the Boss Snowplow Racing Pontiac Crawfords as he usually does.
 
Sadly, the team Danica Patrick was with was out the race with Engine Trouble. I shouldn't be reporting this in this thread, but it was nice for Danica Patrick to get this experience.
 

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