Greetings from Daytona, The Rolex 24 @ Daytona, that is Options

[carr914]

Beautiful weather so far 75 degrees & Sunny

[naro914]

Just jumping in on this thread. I posted this up on Rennlist too....

This was our first trip to the 24, and we had a great time. A friend of ours Brynley King - Alabama Region PCA Vice President - is good friends with Kevin Buckler got us some volunteer time in the pits working on the #67 car, so he, I and another split duty handling the dead-man lever for the fuel. Happy to say, we never screwed that up!

I've posted picture here http://naroescapemotorsports.com/Pictures.html with a few below.

A few observations from this weekend:

- Being crew is very boring. Even though I was only volunteering help for two 4 hour sessions, it's still boring. Can't see the race at all, sitting around until a pit is called, then jump up, do a stop for 30-40 seconds assuming nothing is wrong, then sit around again. I'd much rather be driving....much easier.

- Flying Lizard and TRG are exceptionally well organized - and obviously well funded. They have people for everything, and everyone knows their job, does it well, and takes pride and responsibility for making sure everything is done right. TRG has people for everything, from two girls that handled all the issued shirts, hats, fire suits, etc for everyone; catering people; a guy who handles issuing and keeping charged all the radios; fuel guy to move fuel rigs around for each team to fill their fuel tower, etc, etc...

- Racing 24 hours is EXPENSIVE: Yeah, we all know racing is expensive, but the money being spent to run this race seems like comparing your kids piggy bank to Fort Knox....amazing....

- Kevin Buckler never sleeps

- I swear Thomas Blam – chief strategist for Flying Lizard, never uses the bathroom. I never saw him leave the pit box stand.

- Spencer Pumpelly is an amazing driver and very underated.

- Seth Neiman is a good driver, but he recognizes that he should leave the heavy lifting to his dream team: Patrick Long, Jorge Bergmeister, and Johannes Von Overbeek. (all of which are really nice guys).

- Kevin is amazing on the radio with his drivers. Always encouraging, always positive and really knows how to handle all the different personalities. Some need talking to and lots of information, some need just facts, and some don't want to talk unless they ask for something. Obviously different expectations for everyone - some guys it's just don't wreck, some guys (like Spencer) 'catch they guy in front and pass him'.

- For most teams, finishing 2nd and 3rd would be a major accomplishment. For TRG, it was dissapointing.

- The never quit attitude of all the teams up and down pit road is impressive.

Few pics:

Seth Neiman and Kevin Buckler


Flying Lizard/TRG - the team I worked on.


Beaten, bruised, but finished. Autometrics - Children's Tumor Foundation Porsche