As another 24 Hours of Daytona has come 'N gone Many
Moons Ago. Y'all remember when the 2020 Motor Racing season commenced in
earnest at Day-Toner', Righto?
Surely
thou Month 'O May for All Diehard Open Wheel Racing Aficionados immediately conjures
up thoughts of Sports Cars, Chirp-Chirp, Bueller?
As it's Good News All Around, as Sports Cars joins
the Cast 'O Returning Motorsports Series beginning over a very crowded Fourth
'O July racing weekend at Daytona Int'l Speedway, while IndyCar & NASCAR
are at Ye Brickyard...
Nah, instead it's just Ye life of a Woebegone
Blogger, Eh? Since Obviously; Oh Never Mind! As No Jokes 'bout being Quarantined
in my Mum's basement; Hya!
As I'd had Zero inklings it would be so
G-Damn Painful to transition to a new Confuzer system, which I'm still doing
now 86 Freakin Days later! Uhm, wait a moment, that's been on Hold since March
23rd due to the COVID 19 Pandemic.
Although I certainly Ain't in No Hurry to try again, since winDOUGHS 10 SUCKS!
Even though I've just finished paying for an Uber' Expensive Paper Weight; But
I Digress!
Hence, it's now a really, really long time
ago since I watched, Otay mostly listened to copious amounts of this year's 58th
running of the 24 Hours of Daytona on January 25-26th.
Like Gory Hell! I cannot even remember the
exact, Gynormous amount 'O Hours I listened to anymore; CRIKEYS! Although I
know I began with the first Two-plus hours of riveting NBC/NBC Sports Network's
TV Coverage - listening to Lee Diffey, A.J. Allmendinger and Calvin Fish in the
Booth.
with the Funniest Bit during this segment
being when Meyer Shank Racing's Acura NSX GT3 Evo GT Daytona Class Driver Trent
Hindman Dropped-in to the Peacock Pit Booth, sayin' he's totally Jacked Up to
be with such famous people, i.e.; 'lil E', aka Ironhead Junior, nee Dale Earn
heart, Jr.
As Loved Krista DeVota's Quip 'bout how you
said famous people but you Didn't mention Me... No, I'm just Kidding with you,
but Good On Her!
As I know I struggled mightily to stay awake
'N make it thru the first 11 Hours of the race, and eventually listened to some
16-plus hours total duration, primarily via IMSA Radio; Aye Karumba!
In the early hours of the race, K-Squared',
aka Kamui Kobayashi put on a Master
Class Driving Clinique - followed by a totally Sweet Interview with IMSA
Radio's Jamie Howe, 'bout how he's being patient, making "Safe"
passes as they're a little down on top speed, to which IMSA Radio's Shea Adam
said incredulously 'bout that's being patient; Yikes!
Since Kamui had made not
one, but two Mega Brash Passes for the Lead, once using the High Line, and then
next Swooping Down onto The Apron!
As whenever I
think of Kobayashi nowadays, a wide Smirk permeates Thy Face, thinking of when
he retorted Deadpan twice to Andrew Marriott's Stupid Question about being so
Bloody Quick at Le Mans; Why Surprise?
The first major Fireworks erupted during the
fourth hour, when Harry Tincknell in the faster Mazda RT24P Prototype Punted
HULIO', aka Helio Castroneves Acura DPi racecar Off-track at the famed Bus Stop
chicane in a totally unwarranted move.
As I typically Don't side with 'Ol
Castroneves, as Y'all may have noticed over thou years here upon No Fenders,
Eh? But Helio was rightly extremely Hot under the Collar, and I was amazed with
his composure and agreeing to talk to Shea Adam as Team Penske was working
feverishly to put the Acura back together. Even noting how he'd even previously
said he'd give him the corner in the early going!
Hmm? May be this
is why Thee Cheepster' didn't put up much of a Fuss over letting Tincknell go
to Mazda? Since Cheeps' got a reputation for not liking his equipment getting
torn up repeatedly...
Then in Hour 5, my Homeboyz' Team Seattle's;
Hey, they'll forever be my Homeboyz', saw the #23 Heart of Racing unfortunately
Slam into Ye Arse-end of the No. 47 Lamborghini, effectively ending Thar race,
subsequently being given a penalty for causing the collision.
And then later on Pedro Lamy had trouble in the
Factory #98 Seester' Aston Martin car, followed by one of his Co-Drivers after a
Pit Stop crashing into the Pit wall exiting the Pits, so it was a Gory Ugly
race for AMR!
Pretty sure I made it to the race's third
caution thrown in Hour 11, when the All Femme Fatale GEAR Grasser Racing
Lamborghini ground to a Halt on-track due to mechanical maladies, which saw
most competitors dive for the Pitlane - where some of the Caddy' Prototypes made
brake changes. Ultimately seeing the No. 5 JDC Miller/Mustang Sally
Cadd-Oh-Lacc' leading ahead of the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac
with the No. 55 Mazda RT24P in third.
As I retired to the comfort of sleep, the
race Banged on with visions 'O grandeur in many Drivers Heads. For which I simply
defaulted to Racer's Hour-by-Hour recaps instead, to find out who was on
"Point" in each of the four classes, since I was pre-occupied...
But apparently I couldn't stands it, and found Thyself listening to 'Ol
boobie Ruble', nee Bobby Rahal in Thee Wee Morning Hours - as not gonna say
when it was, other than seven hours remaining and the sun was just beginning to
make its appearance on the East Coast round 6:30AM...
As Bobby noted how racing's his life, he's
67yrs old now and can remember attending his first race when he was six, when
his father raced for a Hobby. And how he liked the early morning hours when it
was still the Calm before the Storm.
As think it was Pitlane Reporter Jamie Howe
saying how it had become almost a yearly tradition for them to chat at this
point in the race.
With Bobby noting it was still early days
indeed, but his one BMW M8 GTE coupe was in good condition, so we'll see what
happens, as Thars still a really long
way to go...
As this appeared to be the Battle Royale of
the race, with two rival German Marques going Hammers 'N Tongs for the GT Le
Mans class victory. As first, with 4hrs to go BMW took the GT LM category's lead.
Then with just 2hrs remaining, Porsche re-takes
the lead. And finally, with just 46mins remaining the #24 BMW M8 GTE Coupe recaptures
the lead and holds on to the Chequered Flag!
As I was Rootin' for the BMW since Porsche
won everythingy' last year, and primarily since I wanted John Edwards to
finally taste glory upon thou Podium's Top Step!
Since I still recall Edwards early days as a
teenager, racing for the Red Bull backed Forsythe Racing Toyota Atlantic Squad
on the CART side of that nefarious Open
Wheel Racing Split.
Whilst the race set a new Distance record
mark, primarily due to the ever shrinking field 'O competitors, as a less than
normal average entry of 38 racecars took the green flag this year. While once
again, I'm fairly certain that not one of the four classes Pole-sitters won the
race.
As I was also pullin' for the No. 10 WTR
machine to be victorious again, mainly for Ryan Briscoe's sake, as he's a total
class act and I'll never forget his politeness and warmth to Mwah at Mother
Speedway Wayback in 2011!
Thus naturally I enjoyed another typically
zany, humourous interview with Briscoe on the Speed Freaks on the eve of
possibly his Biggest Victory to Date. Since Don't All major racing drivers talk
'bout Teddy Bears after winning the 24 Hours of Daytona?
And lastly, although cannot say I'm a fan of
this lower tier Prototypes category, especially since they've been neutered
from having the opportunity to Upset Ye Applecart with a Surprise Overall
Victory.
Nonetheless, I must give a Belated Shout-Out
to DragonSpeed Racing for winning the LMP2 Category with Drivers Ben Hanley,
Colin Brown,
Henric Hedman and Harrison Newey; son of some
Formula 1 Chassis Engineer Guru named Adrian.
As hopefully Elton Julian's Minnowesqe Squad
can remain solvent until proper Motor Racing begins later this year and continue
on with its Sophomore Campaign in Indy Cars and competing in IMSA...
