2009 Rolex Sports Car Series Thread.

[JohnBM01]

Upstate New York saw the Sahlen's Six Hours at the Glen wrap up. Lexus gets it done in DP under Ganassi power while Mazda gets it done in GT. The story of the race for me was Suntrust Racing netting themselves a podium. I'm a fan of Wayne Taylor Racing, and so I'm proud for Max "The Axe" getting that blue car onto the DP podium. You earned it, player! Enjoy!

On another message board, I hinted on the possibilty of NASCAR racing at a new road race track within the Charlotte area. A thing I said was that Watkins Glen wasn't really interesting to me anymore. I think it's a great track. But for some reason lately, I haven't been a serious fan of Watkins Glen. This track still boasts one of America's best major league endurance races- the Six Hours at the Glen. A thread I did on GTPlanet way back when asked if the Six Hours at the Glen is still a key race. Someone said "of course it is" in response. From this other message board, one person I chatted with said that Watkins Glen hasn't been very interesting since Formula One left the upstate New York track. So here is a debate for you all to respond to...



John's Debate! - Still the Glen of Old?
Do you think Watkins Glen International is still a fascinating and competitive circuit even with its F1 history? Or is this a race track that has lost its luster over the years and has fallen into mediocrity? Is the Six Hours at the Glen still one of the finest endurances in America, or has it too not been very good lately?



Have at it. Next round is in two weeks at Mid-Ohio over in Lexington, Ohio.

 

[RACECAR]

Oh man, normally the DPs aren't bad looking to me, but I took one look at the new Crawford body work and thought to myself "WTF???!!!"

 

[CAMikaze]

***BUMP***

I was wondering if anyone has the Brumos Porsche 250 from Daytona on right now. It's approaching Lap 50 under yellow as I write this post.

 

[JohnBM01]

This is all old news, but remember last Thursday's race at Daytona? Scott Pruett pulled a NASCAR-style pass on the Dallas-based Gainsco team. I think the margin of victory was about 800 feet, but it was a thrilling end to that race. I'm most glad that Jeff Sigal(?) was alright after his Mazda RX-8 got owned/pwned. The crash could have been much worse if you saw it from last week.

Up next is the beautiful European-style road course that's deep in Americana- Barber Motorsports Park.

 

[JohnBM01]

Did you know that this race at Barber Motorsports Park marks the 75th race with the Daytona Prototypes? A number of people missed the traditional sportscar racing machines like the cars that have raced between the first race in 2000 and last race in 2002. However, whether you like Daytona Prototypes or not, these are the cars that give this series its identity. Daytona Prototypes are actually looking a bit better now that a lot of us have gotten used to them.

This isn't a debate here. Let's just have a little discussion.


Let's Discuss: Daytona Prototype Moments
What are some of your memories of Daytona Prototypes (best and worst)? How can Daytona Prototypes remain fresh and competitive?



[UPDATE] By the way, Ganassi Racing is still doing impressive this season. Since the restrictions placed on those ugly ass Pontiac GXP.R's (defend them all you want- these are horrible-looking cars just like their street car variants), they've been stumbling this season. Mazda continues to have their roll with their amazing RX-8 GT cars. I'd still love to see a true successor (yes, since 1991) to the Mazda 787B to take on the highest class in (the other kind of sportscar racing). I know there was the beautiful RX-792P back in 1992, but all those turbo fires prevented it from really shining. Ever imagine a Mazda-powered Daytona Prototype?

In addition, those Dallara DP's look a lot like the Porsche RS Spyder up front. Is the RS Spyder designed by Dallara? That's probably where the front design of the Dallara DPs come into play. I still like the Crawfords best. I guess I've liked Crawford DPs the most for their design since the inception of the DP. I guess that's a Crawford that Houston-based Krohn Racing races with...

 

[RACECAR]

Did you know that this race at Barber Motorsports Park marks the 75th race with the Daytona Prototypes? A number of people missed the traditional sportscar racing machines like the cars that have raced between the first race in 2000 and last race in 2002. However, whether you like Daytona Prototypes or not, these are the cars that give this series its identity. Daytona Prototypes are actually looking a bit better now that a lot of us have gotten used to them.

This isn't a debate here. Let's just have a little discussion.


Let's Discuss: Daytona Prototype Moments
What are some of your memories of Daytona Prototypes (best and worst)? How can Daytona Prototypes remain fresh and competitive?



[UPDATE] By the way, Ganassi Racing is still doing impressive this season. Since the restrictions placed on those ugly ass Pontiac GXP.R's (defend them all you want- these are horrible-looking cars just like their street car variants), they've been stumbling this season. Mazda continues to have their roll with their amazing RX-8 GT cars. I'd still love to see a true successor (yes, since 1991) to the Mazda 787B to take on the highest class in (the other kind of sportscar racing). I know there was the beautiful RX-792P back in 1992, but all those turbo fires prevented it from really shining. Ever imagine a Mazda-powered Daytona Prototype?

In addition, those Dallara DP's look a lot like the Porsche RS Spyder up front. Is the RS Spyder designed by Dallara? That's probably where the front design of the Dallara DPs come into play. I still like the Crawfords best. I guess I've liked Crawford DPs the most for their design since the inception of the DP. I guess that's a Crawford that Houston-based Krohn Racing races with...

Although somewhat close, The spyders aren't built by Dallara. And the car raced By Krohn is actually a lola. Remember that Proto-Auto partnership announced last year along with that black car shown at Road Atlanta?

 

[JohnBM01]

I'm still trying to learn my Daytona Prototypes. That Krohn Racing entry is a Lola. It's a very nice Daytona Prototype chassis. But still, thanks for setting me straight, RACECAR.

I want to draw out my own concept of a Daytona Prototype, but can't really make out every detail effectively. I want to envision that I have an idea as to my own vision of a Daytona Prototype. Reason why I haven't truly connected with them is because I'm so used to GTP race cars (classic ones and ones like the Bentley EXP GT). I think they are looking better. One knock I have: how many major-league sportscar racing series (and Grand-Am is one I'd consider a major leaguer) has either decal headlights or even decal taillights (even for some of its races)?



Outside of Daytona Prototype talk (you're free to continue discussion), I'm looking forward to seeing what New Jersey Motorsports Park will be like. Its location is in the southern tip of New Jersey (according to Wikipedia). I thought initially that it was going to be a premier racing facilitiy in the shadow of New York City. It's nowhere near metropolitan New Jersey as it's in southwestern New Jersey. The full road course is about 2.25 miles in length. It seems like a competitive course. I'd be interested in seeing what racing is like at this New Jersey track.

 

[RACECAR]

I can't wait for that. I've only seen maybe alittle of it, but I would really love to see the entire course. If I'm not mistaken, the Nascar East Series is racing there as well.

 

[RACECAR]

Childress-Howard Racing will make their debut in the Rolex Sports Car Series at Watkins Glen.

 

[JohnBM01]

I'm still a bit saddened that Suntrust hasn't won this season (or have they?). The Dallas-based Gainsco team is trying to defend their DP crown. Meanwhile, it's Pontiac and Mazda for GT. Something I've been concerned with is that it doesn't seem like any other GT cars have really made a threat towards GT supremacy (unless you're Porsche). I really begin to wonder if any other GT makes will start winning in GT whereas GM and Mazda usually win.

Up next is Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve. Any ideas on who takes victory in the two classes?

 

[RACECAR]

Holy crap, have any of you seen the race? DPs aside, the finish was unbelieveable. The race airs again at 12:30 on Speed. For those wanting to know the channel, here's the number for speed on the various Cable/satallite Tv packages:

Dish: 150

Directv: 607

Time Warner Cable: 123

AT&T U-Verse: 652

 

[JohnBM01]

"I'm going to stop handing people victories..." -Leigh Diffey

The (black and gold) DP won at Montreal in a very close finish. I congratulate AIM Racing for getting their first GT win in those ugly ass Pontiac GXP.R's. Meaning a Pontiac commercial showing this car's ugliness is not far around the corner. Brumos were going to win until two more cars passed the Brumos Porsche heading to the finish line. The Crown Royal car and the (black and gold) car went at it for a close finish.



John-itorial - Something I'll Admit About Grand-Am

I'm not very much a Grand-Am fan. However, I will admit that there are some close finishes. The people that usually love this series and hate the ALMS will admit that this series produces intense racing. Never mind some of the people who'll say this is NASCAR's version of sportscar racing. At least you can still admit that NASCAR knows how to put on competitive races. I usually like the IndyCar Series as far as close races, but these DPs know how to put on a show.

It's like one time I was on another message board about the possibilities of Grand-Am or the ALMS racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway's road course. One person asked me: "which would you rather have- close finishes (Grand-Am) or fastest laps (ALMS)?" When you offer some kind of equality among race cars, you begin to have more closely-knit competition. It's the thing I admit even though I'm not truly crazy about Daytona Prototypes. You're not going to convince me to be fully excited about them. But I will say this- if Bristol is "racin' the way it ought to be," I'm sure Grand-Am would say that the Daytona Prototypes is sportscar racing the way it ought to be. A close finish at Daytona last month followed by this amazing finish shows just how intense this series is whether you like it or not.



I guess some of the Grand-Am officials were bad NBA refs because they called in the Gainsco car for avoidable contact when it was a completely bad call. How are you going to call that foul when the Gainsco car had some oversteer in the slow hairpin to clock the other car? That was a bad foul called by Grand-Am.

On a different note, congratulations to the AIM Racing Pontiac GXP.R in getting their first win. I think they are a Canadian team, just not sure where.



No debate this time. Just chat about this wild finish that I didn't get to see. And be sure to set me straight on what that black and gold car was that won the race.

 

[RACECAR]

"I'm going to stop handing people victories..." -Leigh Diffey

The (black and gold) DP won at Montreal in a very close finish. I congratulate AIM Racing for getting their first GT win in those ugly ass Pontiac GXP.R's. Meaning a Pontiac commercial showing this car's ugliness is not far around the corner. Brumos were going to win until two more cars passed the Brumos Porsche heading to the finish line. The Crown Royal car and the (black and gold) car went at it for a close finish.



John-itorial - Something I'll Admit About Grand-Am

I'm not very much a Grand-Am fan. However, I will admit that there are some close finishes. The people that usually love this series and hate the ALMS will admit that this series produces intense racing. Never mind some of the people who'll say this is NASCAR's version of sportscar racing. At least you can still admit that NASCAR knows how to put on competitive races. I usually like the IndyCar Series as far as close races, but these DPs know how to put on a show.

It's like one time I was on another message board about the possibilities of Grand-Am or the ALMS racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway's road course. One person asked me: "which would you rather have- close finishes (Grand-Am) or fastest laps (ALMS)?" When you offer some kind of equality among race cars, you begin to have more closely-knit competition. It's the thing I admit even though I'm not truly crazy about Daytona Prototypes. You're not going to convince me to be fully excited about them. But I will say this- if Bristol is "racin' the way it ought to be," I'm sure Grand-Am would say that the Daytona Prototypes is sportscar racing the way it ought to be. A close finish at Daytona last month followed by this amazing finish shows just how intense this series is whether you like it or not.



I guess some of the Grand-Am officials were bad NBA refs because they called in the Gainsco car for avoidable contact when it was a completely bad call. How are you going to call that foul when the Gainsco car had some oversteer in the slow hairpin to clock the other car? That was a bad foul called by Grand-Am.

On a different note, congratulations to the AIM Racing Pontiac GXP.R in getting their first win. I think they are a Canadian team, just not sure where.



No debate this time. Just chat about this wild finish that I didn't get to see. And be sure to set me straight on what that black and gold car was that won the race.

The #61 was a Ford Powered Riley and yes AIM Autosport is indeed Canadian as is Mark Wilkins. The Pontiac GXP.R in GT was the Stevenson Motorsport car.

 

[RACECAR]

Well guys, The Dallara has won its first race courtesy of Max Angelleli and Micheal Valiente. This makes the first win for Dallara in this series since the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the first win not by a Riley sinces last year at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. I was rooting the entire time for these guys and I'm glad they got this after the horrible luck they've had. Hopefully, Brumos Can get one as they are way over due. Also, Penske has confirmed he will be at Daytona but he hasn't announced a driver line-up or the chassis/engine package.

 

[JohnBM01]

I'm so glad Suntrust Racing got the monkey off of their backs at Sears Point. They finally won. Even though their season is basically over, I hope they can use this opportunity to continue to finish great and finish consistently. Otherwise, this is Ganassi vs. Gainsco for the 2008 DP crown. For the sake of Texas, I'd pull for the Gainsco crew, but it's going to be pretty tough against the Ganassi crew.

Up next is a DP-only visit to the new New Jersey Motorsports Park next weekend. I noted that this track would NOT represent the New York City area because it's in far southern New Jersey. I'd sure love to see how this track looks on TV.

 

[RACECAR]

Damn, I need to stop Neglecting these threads. Anyhow,

The early entry list for the 2009 Rolex 24 At Daytona swelled to 34 on Tuesday, with the reception of 22 entries for the Jan. 24-25 running of the sports car classic.
Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, seeking an unprecedented fourth consecutive victory in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16, and Penske Racing were among the teams filing a pair of Daytona Prototype entries.

TRG entered four Porsches in the GT class, Autometrics, Team Sahlen and Stevenson Motorsports entered two-car teams, while Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey will compete under the Dempsey Racing banner.

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates entered a pair of Lexus-powered Rileys, while Penske Racing entered two Porsche Rileys. Drivers on both teams are yet to be announced.

Among the other Daytona Prototype entries, Childress-Howard Motorsports will make its Rolex 24 debut with the No. 2 Pontiac Crawford, driven by Andy Wallace and Rob Finlay. AIM Autosport entered the No. 61 Ford Riley for Burt Frisselle, Mark Wilkins, John Farano, Alex Figge and David Empringham. RVO Motorsports entered the No. 12 Chevrolet Riley for Roger Schramm, Tonis Kasemets, Paul Dallenbach and Bill Lester. No drivers were listed on the entry for the No. 77 Doran Racing Ford Dallara.

Three motorcycle stars will co-drive the No. 09 Spirit of Daytona Porsche Coyote. "Mr. Daytona," five-time Daytona 200 By Honda winner Scott Russell, will co-drive with AMA Motocross and Supermoto legend Jeff Ward and Superbike star Jason Pridmore. Guy Cosmo completes the driver lineup.

Patrick Dempsey will make his second appearance in the Rolex 24. Hyper Sport will field the No. 40 Mazdaspeed Mazda RX-8 GT under the Dempsey Racing banner. Sharing the driving with the popular racer/actor will be Joe Foster, the 2008 KONI Challenge Series co-champion, and Charles Espenlaub.

Kevin Buckler's TRG filed entries for a quartet of Porsche 997s. David Quinlan, Bruce LeDoux, Dan Watkins and Steve Zadig will pilot the No. 63 entry. Co-driving the No. 65 are John Potter, Craig Stanton and Bryce Miller. Andy Lally and RJ Valentine partner in the No. 67, while Josemanuel Gutierrez, Chris Pallis and Steve Miller will be in the No. 68.

Stevenson Motorsports returns with the No. 57 Bryan Mark Financial/Stevenson Auto Pontiac GXP.R for Robin Liddell, Andrew Davis and Jeff Bucknum. The team will also field the No. 97 Stevenson Automotive Group Corvette for James Gue and John Stevenson.

Autometrics Motorsports entered the No. 14 and No. 24 Porsche GT3s for drivers including Claudio Burtin, Jack Baldwin and Mac McGehee. Team Sahlen entered the No. 42 and No. 43 Corvettes for Joe Sahlen, joined by Will, Wayne and Joe Nonnamaker.

Other GT entries were the No. 30 Racers Edge Motorsports 3-Dimensional.com/Idemitsu Mazda RX-8 for Dane Cameron, Dion von Moltke and Doug Peterson, plus the No. 33 Wright Motorsports Phillips Way Racing Porsche 997 of Phillip Martien and BJ Zacharias.

 

[RACECAR]

Brian Redman to be grand marshall

 

[NapoleonMikey]

well the Rolex 24 is this weekend. i plan on going ill take some pictures and post them up.

 

[CAMikaze]

Dunno if wireless net access is possible from the World Center of Speed so that you can post the pics while the race is in progress. It would be nice if there really is such a thing available.

And who here is planning on watching the race from their homes as the North American region of the world starts up the 2009 racing season in total?

 

[JohnBM01]

Can you believe it? The new season starts this Saturday! Any favorites to win Grand-Am's Super Bowl (24 Hours of Daytona) in the DP and GT classes?

 

[RACECAR]

Hmmm, I'm stuck on who will win it so I narrow it down to four teams:

Target Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates: Defending champions, have a well proven line-up.

Penske Racing: Another strong team and they also have a well proven line-up carried over from the ALMS

Gainsco Bob Stallings Racing: They have a very good drivers and have gotten close the last 2 times. Could my boys do it?

Brumos Racing: They have been getting stronger and stronger. I see them in a very good position to win this year.

 

[JohnBM01]

I posted this video on YouTube to share my views as to why you should check out the 24 Hours of Daytona. Check this out:


^ "Why Should You Care: 24 Hours of Daytona"

As I note in my description, this turned out longer than I wanted it to be. Be sure to rate and comment if on YouTube. And remember: "comment and rate, but don't hate!"

 

[Z]

Dunno if wireless net access is possible from the World Center of Speed so that you can post the pics while the race is in progress. It would be nice if there really is such a thing available.

And who here is planning on watching the race from their homes as the North American region of the world starts up the 2009 racing season in total?

Been cleaning and watching/posting during the commercials. Here comes the good stuff: the final hours).

*mutters* 60 more days.

 

[FuryX21]

This has been a great battle between Donohue and Montoya. Montoya is driving a perfect race pretty much but unfortunately the Porsche has so much more speed that any advantage Montoya gets coming off the turns immediately gets negated.

 

[Z]

This has been a great battle between Donohue and Montoya. Montoya is driving a perfect race pretty much but unfortunately the Porsche has so much more speed that any advantage Montoya gets coming off the turns immediately gets negated.

Indeed a great battle through and through. I wanted Montoya to take it, but it's a great day for the Donohue name.

Great race.

 

[DaddyVDUB]

Amazing,that those 4 can run that close a race for 24 hours. Truly a great race.

 

[RACECAR]

Hmmm, I'm stuck on who will win it so I narrow it down to four teams:

Target Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates: Defending champions, have a well proven line-up.

Penske Racing: Another strong team and they also have a well proven line-up carried over from the ALMS

Gainsco Bob Stallings Racing: They have a very good drivers and have gotten close the last 2 times. Could my boys do it?

Brumos Racing: They have been getting stronger and stronger. I see them in a very good position to win this year.

Turns out Brumos was indeed in good position to win and they did. I'm very happy for them. They have been robbed so many times and they deserve this win very much.

 

[NapoleonMikey]

just got home from the race and will post some pictures of owhat i took when i get them developed. sadly my dad took the good digital camera with him to texas so i was stuck with an old fasioned camera. those ones that use real film. didnt even know they still made film

but anyways because of that i couldnt get to many good action shots because i didnt know if i was getting them or not and i didnt want to waste all my film on blurry pictures in case i wasnt getting them. but o got some great garage shots of them rebuilding cars and what not through out the night and even got a few cool experiences like getting to push the 31 battery tender porsche during the middle of the night when it was heading to the garage. only one of there pit guys was at the garage at the time and hes a little girl and cant push a race car by himself so he got a couple of us that where around to help him out.

but the race was really good and it was intense all night long too. they didnt settle into the night at all they where constantly trading positions for the lead even at 4 am. im kinda sad because i was really hoping the pratt and miller boys could get 3rd in class and catch the #33 and they almost did too. they made up all the down laps with 2 hours to go and got all the way up to being only a few seconds behind then there car wants to act up on them with minutes to go. another new experience i had was seeing an open top DP car. didnt know they where making these now. i just know when the kid (yes it was a kid he was 16 years old) parked the car in the pits he looked really mad. i dont know what he was mad about i mean he just got done with his stint in a convertible

 

[RACECAR]

just got home from the race and will post some pictures of owhat i took when i get them developed. sadly my dad took the good digital camera with him to texas so i was stuck with an old fasioned camera. those ones that use real film. didnt even know they still made film

but anyways because of that i couldnt get to many good action shots because i didnt know if i was getting them or not and i didnt want to waste all my film on blurry pictures in case i wasnt getting them. but o got some great garage shots of them rebuilding cars and what not through out the night and even got a few cool experiences like getting to push the 31 battery tender porsche during the middle of the night when it was heading to the garage. only one of there pit guys was at the garage at the time and hes a little girl and cant push a race car by himself so he got a couple of us that where around to help him out.

but the race was really good and it was intense all night long too. they didnt settle into the night at all they where constantly trading positions for the lead even at 4 am. im kinda sad because i was really hoping the pratt and miller boys could get 3rd in class and catch the #33 and they almost did too. they made up all the down laps with 2 hours to go and got all the way up to being only a few seconds behind then there car wants to act up on them with minutes to go. another new experience i had was seeing an open top DP car. didnt know they where making these now. i just know when the kid (yes it was a kid he was 16 years old) parked the car in the pits he looked really mad. i dont know what he was mad about i mean he just got done with his stint in a convertible

An open top DP car? I sure didn't knowv those were being made

 

[JohnBM01]

I don't think Porsche would ever gloat about winning in Daytona Prototypes (Brumos) and Grand Touring (TRG) at Daytona, but this was a great deal from Porsche at Daytona. I couldn't stay up long enough to see the rest of the race live. So I had to watch The Speed Report and varied YouTube videos to see what the deal was. The big one is in the books. Now we can look ahead to the rest of this season.