Rolex 24 at Daytona: As the Roar winds down, 2022 race season soon cranks to life
DAYTONA BEACH — If not for the events of the coming week, it might just as well be called Daytona Speedway.
Some middle names are passed along in recognition of an old family surname, others in homage to grandma or grandpa.
But Daytona International Speedway’s middle name was, at first, predestined by Big Bill France, whose ultimate goal was prestige for his dream behemoth of a racetrack — prestige beyond the retaining walls of North America’s racing culture.
Technically, it began taking shape in 1962 when the 3-year-old Speedway hosted its first endurance race, attracting worldwide racers of renown.
It was called the Daytona Continental, a three-hour sports-car dash featuring several racing gods of the day — Sir Stirling Moss among them, along with that inaugural race’s winner, Dan Gurney — as well as an entire laundry list of current and future star power (Fireball Roberts, A.J. Foyt, Rodger Ward, Pedro Rodriguez, Roger Penske, etc.).
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The cars were a wide mix of worldwide machinery — including Lotus, Ferrari, Porsche and Chevrolet, which not only fielded several Corvettes, but saw road-racing legend Jim Hall finish third in the original Chaparral. The participation level — both quality and quantity — made Big Bill’s sports-car show an instant hit.
Grab a gear, fast-forward 60 years, and look around. The more things change, you know…
“The racing world turns its eyes to the Rolex 24 every year,” says John Doonan, president of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), NASCAR’s sports-car arm. Yes, he’s biased, but he’s also right, because the Rolex has long been considered the official kickoff of the worldwide racing season.
This 60th running of North America’s marquee sports-car race, after many left and right turns befitting a road-racing event, remains true to the Rolex 24’s Continental roots, with a Who’s Who of automotive manufacturers and automobile racers — yes, you can label both rosters as International.
The racer lineup includes the usual mix of star power from across the motorsports spectrum. NASCAR is again represented most notably by seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson. IndyCar’s contingency includes defending and four-time Indy 500 champ Helio Castroneves, as well as six-time series champ Scott Dixon and reigning champ Alex Palou.
The meat of the field is current road-racing hot-rodders, who are sprinkled throughout a starting field of 61 cars. Yes, 61, and if that sounds like a lot, it’s because 61 is the high-water mark of the past eight years.
All of those cars, teams and drivers spent this weekend in shakedown mode, looking for ways to navigate Daytona’s 3.56-mile road course both quickly and reliably. The race-team engineers will tell you, much of today’s automobile longevity is owed to such endeavors, while the passenger-car builders will scream, “vice versa!”
The teams will download all the info gathered from these three days of testing and begin putting it to use Thursday, when the Rolex 24 cars again motor onto the track in final preparations for the Saturday-Sunday twice-around-the-clock marathon.
As is custom for all big Daytona events, there will be preliminaries. IMSA’s Mazda-only series has a pair of 45-minute races, one Thursday and one Friday. The Michelin Pilot Challenge series, another IMSA property, opens its 2022 season in familiar fashion, with a four-hour endurance race Friday afternoon.
The 60th running of the Rolex 24, rain or shine, runs from 1:40 Saturday afternoon to 1:40 Sunday afternoon.
But if you’ve visited the Rolex before, you know it’s not all about the racing. Inside the paddock, it’s a convention of racers, teams and auto reps from all corners. Throughout the rest of the infield, it’s a party of RVers, tenters and gawkers who, after a pandemic-induced slowdown in 2021, will make the Speedway the place to be.
As if the blaring of engines doesn’t do enough to induce the car vibe, an array of manufacturers will return to the pre-2021 norm of erecting mini-showrooms, from which they’ll display their newest four-wheel offerings to a seemingly endless rush of visitors.
“We're back to business, we're back to usual,” says Speedway president Frank Kelleher, who took his current position last spring and will be in charge of the Rolex for the first time.
Rolex 24 Schedule
Wednesday: Rolex 24 kickoff events at One Daytona, including fan forum and autograph session, 6-8 p.m.
Thursday: Practice sessions throughout day, with Mazda Series race from 5:30-6:15 p.m.
Friday: Final Rolex 24 practice from 11:20 a.m. to 12:20 p.m.; season-opening Michelin Pilot Challenge Series race, 1:35-5:35 p.m.
Saturday: Start of 60th Rolex 24, 1:40 p.m.
Sunday: Conclusion of Rolex 24, 1:40 p.m.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: As Roar winds down, Rolex 24 kicks off 2022 race season at Daytona
