To most race fans, team owner Chip Ganassi is known for his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series and open-wheel racing teams. However, the former sports car racer is returning to his roots withhis new Daytona Prototype team in the Grand American Rolex Sports CarSeries.
"This is like coming full circle really. I drove here in 1986 in (the Rolex24) in a Buick-powered March sponsored by RC Cola for a guy named PhilConte, who was very active in sports cars for many years. He had me come toDaytona and drive down here with John Paul Jr. and Whitney Ganz," saidGanassi. "Sports car racing has been in my heart for a long time. There wasan opportunity to get involved again, and I couldn't pass it up."
"I like the idea of the formula now. Back in those days, you had factoriesgetting involved and if you weren't a factory team, you had to reallystruggle to keep up with them as a privateer. It's more open now foreverybody to get involved. With the formula now, you really have to workhard to find speed and obviously you still need reliability for 24 hours.We've got a little bit of learning to do. We like the direction of theseries right now and that's why we're back," continued Ganassi, who willhave Max Papis and Scott Pruett piloting his team's No. 01 Comp USA LexusRiley this season.
This weekend's testing was the first opportunity for Ganassi's team to takeits new car on track.
"It's very much in the development stage. When we unloaded here it was thefirst time that sucker turned a wheel. We've got a lot to learn in a shortperiod of time. The first race is always the toughest," said Pruett. "You'vegot to take Daytona by itself. The Rolex 24 is the survival of the fittest.Those guys who have done their homework and have a bit of luck and can takeadvantage of the opportunity to come here, they may not be the fastest, butcertainly can run the longest."
Riggins Runs Toyota FABCAR
FABCAR's Dave Klym has used his Toyota-powered Daytona Prototype as a showcar for the last few months, but today the race car finally hit the trackwith Tommy Riggins behind the wheel. Late Saturday afternoon, an agreementwas reached between FABCAR and Brumos Racing to allow Riggins a chance totest the car this weekend and gain some valuable experience.
FABCAR has been working with Heritage Motorsports, which Riggins and DaveMachavern won the GTS championship with last season, on an agreement for theVermont-based team to run the Daytona Prototype in the Rolex 24. Howeversince an agreement has yet to be reached, Jacksonville-native Riggins wasnot going to get any experience in the car until Brumos Racing, also ofJacksonville, offered its assistance with crewmembers and fuel. Goodyearthen stepped up to assist with the tires, and Toyota lent a hand attendingto the engine.
Guy Cosmo, who has experience in the Toyota FABCAR of Cegwa Sport, firsttook the car out for a quick shakedown before handing it over to Riggins.
"To say this is exciting would be right. It was a different environment. Ispent a couple of years in the other car (Mustang); that environment andnature was comfortable to me. This is different. They are real race cars. Itfeeds back different. I'm getting used to that, and I'm getting used to theenvironment; how things are and the threshold and things," explainedRiggins. "It was just a great inauguration for me in one of these cars. Iknow the track here, and the Brumos guys have just been wonderful to decideto do this yesterday about 30 minutes before the garage closed and have usmake the first session today. That was a phenomenal thing; I can't thankthem enough for this opportunity.
"The whole focus today was to get me a lot of time in the car. I've neverhad car owners so enthused. It overwhelms me that people have gone out oftheir way to do something for me like this," added Riggins.
Arie Jr. Enjoys Being Back in Road Racing
After spending two years competing with the Indy Racing League, ArieLuyendyk Jr. returned to his road racing roots this weekend when he testedwith the SpeedSource No. 9 Ford Multimatic. Although the 22-year-old son ofIndy 500 winner Arie Luyendyk is quickly adjusting to being back on a roadcourse, he is still getting used to being in a heavier, closed-cockpit car.
"This was the first time I've ever driven a car with a roof over my head. Itwas a new experience," said Luyendyk Jr. "My first impression was it has alot more weight than what I'm used to driving. That took a lot of gettingused to. This is the first time I've driven a road course in two years. Justthe braking and getting back into the swing of things; it's a little bit ofa learning curve, but at the moment we are doing very well."
Luyendyk Jr.'s road racing experience includes racing in the U.S. F2000 fortwo years in addition to competing in Formula Ford 1800 in Europe. For thepast two years, he has run in the IRL Infinite Pro Series, where he racedstrictly on oval courses.
"It's nice to finally get back in the car and get on a nice track likeDaytona and really push the limits of the car on a road course," saidLuyendyk Jr. "It's great that SpeedSource gave me the opportunity to drivein the Rolex Series with a great car. I think we were sixth this morning,and there are a lot of improvements we need to do with the car, so I'mreally happy to be 22 (years old) and running in the prototype class atDaytona. It's a pretty prestigious thing, and I just hope to last the wholerace. The longest race I've ever done is 45 minutes or so. I'm going to havea lot of work on the table."
Auberlen Happy To Be Back In A BMW
After racing as a factory BMW driver for several seasons in other series,Bill Auberlen is happy to be behind the wheel of a BMW at Daytona.
"We've won here a lot. We have a great record of winning our class. Westarted it, and then Porsche started bringing in the heavy artillery. We canat least compete with them now, and we'll just see if we can keep up withPorsches and beat them," said Auberlen, who is sharing the PrototypeTechnology Group No. 21 BMW M3 with Boris Said and Justin Marks thisweekend.
"Being back here half fulfills my dream to come back here in a BMW. Theother half would be if we could have come back in a prototype car. It wouldhave been a perfect dream. Maybe it just gives me something to look forwardto next year. Let's hope we come back full force in a prototype next year,"he added.
Wagner Soaking Up Knowledge of Doran JE-4
Cort Wagner and Brent Martini will partner in a Doran JE-4 Daytona Prototypeduring the 2004 season, however since the pair's car will not be ready intime for the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the duo is teaming up with Michael ShankRacing in its Lexus Doran JE-4 for this weekend's testing and the Rolex 24.Even though the 2003 GT champions are not able to record laps in their ownrace car this weekend, Wagner and Martini are soaking up every bit ofknowledge they can from their time in the MSR Daytona Prototype.
"You try to create a stride early on and try to get things going fordevelopment and stuff like that. We are going to another Doran chassis, andwe'll take a lot of what we learn over to our car," said Wagner.
Wagner and Martini will race with G&W Motorsports during the 2004 season,which is a homecoming for both drivers, who have competed with the Alton,Va.-based team in the past.
"I love it. It's like family. I love (team owner) Cole (Scrogham) and (teammanager) Price (Cobb) and Charissa (Cobb) and everyone there. They're reallygreat people. They are honest, hard-working people. We've got Cary Gross,the new engineer, on our team. He's a really heads-up engineer. We're reallyexcited, and the program is really coming together. I'm really excited aboutbeing part of the BMW deal with Rx.com," said Wagner.
Race Fans Can Witness The Action
Race fans can watch Monday's testing at Daytona International Speedway fromthe Oldfield Tower grandstands. Admission is free of charge and accessiblethrough the lobby of DAYTONA USA.
The 42nd Anniversary of the Rolex 24 At Daytona will be run January 29 -February 1. Tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased online atdaytonainternationalspeedway.com or by calling 386-253-RACE. The Rolex24 will be broadcast LIVE on SPEED Channel.
