This Week in Motorsport
By Endurance We Conquer
Rolex Sports Car Series
Round 1
"24 Hours of Daytona"
Saturday & Sunday, 26-27 January 2013

Though I'd previously denied Grand-Am races the prestigious, to my mind, title "By Endurance We Conquer," reserving that moniker for the American Le Mans Series (A.L.M.S.) & the World Endurance Championship (W.E.C.), that decision has been overtaken by events. First, the Grand-Am Road Racing Association now owns the A.L.M.S., & the two series will "merge" into one unified championship from 2014. Second, though the 24 Hours of Daytona (technically, the Rolex 24 at Daytona) cannot hold a candle to the 24 Heures du Mans, 'tis still a twice-'round-the-clock endurance race, one worthy of respect. So, in this final year of both the A.L.M.S. & the Rolex Series, the N.A.S.C.A.R.-owned Grand-Am gets "By Endurance We Conquer."

Saturday & Sunday, which saw my dad & I watch all fourteen hours of Speed's television coverage, was an excellent reminder that what I like most of all is endurance racing. Can your car run for twenty-four straight hours? Not "Can it run at peak efficiency," but can it run at all? Can it go the distance? As The Guy once wrote of Le Mans, "finishing is an achievement." Daytona isn't the equal of Le Mans, but it is no mean feat, nor is it meant to be damnation by faint praise. It's like praising a tenor but admitting that he isn't the equal of Caruso; that's no insult. Grand-Am's slower, intentionally simpler Daytona Prototypes pale in comparison to the W.E.C.'s & A.L.M.S.'s faster, technologically sophisticated Le Mans Prototypes, but there is no easy way to drive any race car as fast as you can for twenty-four straight hours, pausing only for fuel & swaps of tires & drivers. Grand-Am's G.T. cars are tuned to some very close to the F.I.A.'s G.T.3 specification, whereas the A.L.M.S.'s & W.E.C.'s Grand Tourers are tuned to the A.C.O.'s high G.T.E. (E for endurance) spec., which is basically the old F.I.A. G.T.2 regulations; marginally slower though the G.T.3 cars may be, again there is no easy way to race any car twice around the clock, through the bright Florida sunshine & the long winter's night & back into the sunshine. This was the first time I'd watched this much of Daytona, & I enjoyed it more than I'd thought I would. Twenty-four hours. By endurance we conquer. What's wrong with the typical two-hour-forty-five-minute Rolex Series race is that I don't like the cars all that much & less than three hours is hardly an endurance race. (The A.L.M.S. is guilty of the same sin in the majority of its races, but at least there the cars are super cool.)

I'm reluctant to use sponsorships as the names of races & teams, but I'll do so when afforded no other option. The Izod IndyCar Series? Nope, they've conveniently left me the option of "the IndyCar Series." Infiniti Red Bull Racing? Yes & no, because if I don't call them "Red Bull" I don't know what other name to use. What am I supposed to call Grand-Am's Rolex Sports Car Series? "The Grand-Am Sports Car Series, duh," you reply. Except that Grand-Am runs a support series called the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. Should I call them the Grand-Am Sports Car Series & the Grand-Am Sports Car Challenge? I could keep those names straight, but could you, treasured readers? Then again, maybe I could call them the Grand-Am Series & the Grand-Am Challenge. I think for this one last year we're stuck with "the Rolex Series," though I will let you know should a better idea flit into the empty, cavernous cantaloupe perched atop my neck.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, "Wild World" from …Blow in the Wind (T.L.A.M.)