FUMES

February 1, 2012

 

GM Racing's best laid plans go up in smoke at the Daytona 24 Hour.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

(Posted 1/30, 10:15 a.m.) Detroit. It wasn't supposed to play out this way at the Daytona 24 Hour (sponsored by Rolex), of course. After all, GM Racing cut a sweetheart of a deal with Grand-Am honcho Jim France to raise Chevrolet's visibility in the series by "assisting" the denizens of Daytona Beach in rewriting the rule book to accommodate trick "Corvette" bodywork in the premier Daytona Prototype class. So it was a fait accompli that the DP "Corvettes" would run away with the event, right? Wrong.

Instead, Michael Shank - in his ninth try at winning the Daytona 24 Hour - won the race with road race ace and now Penske NASCAR Sprint Cup driver A.J. Allmendinger leading the charge in the team's No. 60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Ford/Riley Daytona Prototype, along with co-drivers Ozz Negri, John Pew and a very on-form Justin Wilson.

And to give GM Racing operatives an even bigger headache, the second-place finisher was the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport Ford-powered Riley driven by Ryan Dalziel, Enzo Potolicchio, Alex Popow, and endurance standouts Alan McNish and Lucas Luhr. And the third-place finisher was the No. 6 Michael Shank Team car driven by Jorge Goncalvez, Michael McDowell, Felipe Nasr and Gustavo Yacaman, giving Ford-powered entries a clean sweep of the Daytona 24 Hour podium, the 50th Anniversary of the race.

Allmendinger drove brilliantly in his race-ending stint, but his day got a little hairy at times. In the "I'm not backing down for your resume" moment of the race, Allmendinger rubbed fenders with Alan McNish in a very entertaining gut/balls check.

"I'm so worn out," Allmendinger said afterward. "We wanted to win this for Shank. The motor was so fast. I am so drained. I knew those last three hours I was going to have to go flat out. It was fun. When Dalziel got in the car... I knew I was going to have to drive my ass off. I pushed really hard to build up a gap and take those last 10 laps to manage that gap."

Juan Pablo Montoya ended-up fourth overall, one lap down, in the No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing Target/TELMEX BMW/Riley, marking the first time since 2005 that a Ganassi car was not on the podium. Montoya shared the drive with IndyCar's Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti, and NASCAR's Jamie McMurray.

And the much-touted "Corvette" DPs? The No. 5 Action Express Racing DP driven by Darren Law, Christian Fittipaldi and David Donohue lost a cylinder on the opening lap but clawed their way back to 5th overall. But the No. 10 Sun Trust Racing entry with Max Angelelli, Ricky Taylor and Ryan Briscoe blew-up real good on lap 14. Chalk it all up to a giant Not Good for GM Racing, especially after the hype and all of the "wink-wink" machinations that went on behind the  scenes.

It's why they run the races (and play the games), kids. Everyone and everything looks good on paper, in the computer simulations and for the corporate boardroom types, but a funny thing happens when you actually run the race in question. Actually, shit happens in what has now become a 24 hour sprint race. Stuff breaks. Mistakes are made. Miscalculations in the pits and on the track cost teams dearly. Engines blow-up real good. And 24 hours later you look up at the scoreboard and get an instant performance evaluation.

And in GM Racing's case, their best laid plans went up in smoke, literally and figuratively.

On that note, congratulations are in order for everyone at Michael Shank Racing as the 2012 racing season begins in earnest.

(Photo by Paul Webb, LAT Photo USA)
Michael Shank Racing celebrates after their victory in the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 Hour Race in Daytona, Sunday afternoon.

(Photo by Paul Webb, LAT Photo USA)
The No. 8 Starworks Motorsports Ford-powered Riley finished second at Daytona.

(Photo by Paul Webb, LAT Photo USA)
The No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Ford-powered Riley finished third overall at Daytona.

(Photo by Paul Webb, LAT Photo USA)
The No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford-powered Riley heads to victory at the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 Hour.

Publisher's Note: As part of our continuing series celebrating the "Glory Days" of racing, we're proud to present another noteworthy image from the Ford Racing Archives. - PMD

(Courtesy of the Ford Racing Archives)

Daytona, Florida, February 24, 1963. Race winner Tiny Lund (No. 21 Wood Brothers English Motors Ford) duels with Freddie Lorenzen (No. 28 Holman-Moody Lafayette Ford) in Turn 3 during that year's running of the Daytona 500. Lund and Lorenzen finished 1-2 leading a five car sweep for Ford. Ned Jarrett was third in his No. 11 Charles Robinson Burton-Robinson Ford, Nelson Stacy (No. 29 Holman-Moody Ron's Ford Sales Ford) was fourth and Dan Gurney completed the sweep in his No. 0 Holman-Moody Lafayette Ford. Watch a couple of great videos here and here.

Publisher's Note: Like these Ford racing photos? Check out www.fordimages.com. Be forewarned, however, because you won't be able to go there and not order something. - PMD

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