July 21st, 2008 — Tags:24-hours-of-daytona, corvette, daytona, greenwood corvette, john greenwood, vette
I just can’t get enough of Lou Galanos’ photos from the golden days of endurance racing in Florida. This shot is of the John Greenwood Team Corvette taken at the 1973 24 hours of Daytona. Driven by Don Yenko and Bob Johnson, the car did not finish the event.
Popularity: 3%
June 11th, 2008 — Tags:1971 24 hours of daytona, 24-hours-of-daytona, daytona, porsche, porsche-917
I really need to delve into the Flickr pool more often to liven things up here in The Garage, so I can offer a bit more variety. The problem is that there are so many great images, and yet I continually go back to the work of Flickr user Nigel Smuckatelli.
His real name is Louis Galanos and he spent some time toting a lens around Sebring and Daytona back in the golden years. It’s fortunate for us that Louis took the time, because his work is just incredible.
The car above is the Porsche 917k campaiged by the Martini & Rossi team for Helmut Marko and Rudi Lins in the 1971 24 hours of Daytona. The car did not finish.
Be sure to visit The Garage on Flickr, where there are just too many great photos to show here.
Popularity: 4%
May 8th, 2008 — Tags:1971 daytona 24 hours, 24-hours-of-daytona, 312p/71, alain-de-cadenet, daytona, ferrari, luigi chinetti, nart
For years I wondered about that suave English dude on Legends of Motorsport on Speed TV. Here was this guy I had never heard of, who seemed to know absolutely everything about racing and yet I had never heard of him. Apparently, I had missed this little bit of racing history, as Alain De Cadenet was a true gentleman racer with some pretty solid credentials.
Newfound friend of The Garage, Lou Galanos was at Daytona in 1971 when De Cadenet co-drove this NART Ferrari 312P/71 to a 5th place finish along with team boss Luigi Chinetti and Nestor Garcia-Veiga.
This is just one of Lou’s huge collection of images taken at Daytona back in the day. You can see more of them on Flickr where he posts as Nigel Smuckatelli.
Popularity: 4%
April 14th, 2008 — Tags:daytona, flickr, klaus bytzek, nigel smuckatelli, porsche, porsche-917
There have just been so many submissions to The Garage’s Flickr pool over the past week that I don’t know where to begin. There are photos from all sorts of genre, from motorsports to rust & from old to new.
I’ve chosen this shot of the Porsche 917 that Pedro Rodriguez and Jackie Oliver drove to victory at Daytona, taken by Nigel Smuckatelli. The cool thing about Nigel’s work is that he worked as a safety official at Daytona and Sebring in the late 60’s and early 70’s and took his camera along for the ride. Some of the pit and track images in Nigel’s photo stream are just incredible. Revson, Mcqueen, Andretti, Gregg are just a few of the drivers he has candid footage of.
Of special note to us here in The Garage are some shots of a Corvette that I believe a young Gary Faules may have crewed for.
There will be bonus points for the reader who can tell me which car in Nigel’s photos was piloted by a bunch of Ontarians, one of whom was the inventor of the serpentine belt!
Popularity: 4%
February 19th, 2008 — Tags:daytona, daytona-500, Nascar
Pouring on the gas, searching for drafting partners around the 2.5 mile track-there’s only one thing on every drivers mind: the checkered flag! No other race of the year generates as much excitement as the season-opening Daytona 500 and drivers egos are on the line.
All 43 drivers hold their breath entering each turn, knowing that it’s only a matter of time before the ‘big one’ happens. Somewhat of a Daytona tradition, the ‘big one’ managed to skirt around the Great American Race.
After one of the most electrifying Daytona 500s to date - one that saw 42 lead changes and 16 different leaders – not to mention a new car. At Daytona, however, appearances can be deceiving. Within the first ten laps on Sunday, the worst-case scenario looked like it would play out. After a rocky start, 43 talented drivers in NASCAR did what they do best; they worked through a difficult situation, driving to the best of their ability and more or less kept their cars in one piece. There were still a few isolated incidents; fighting ill-handling race cars and tire blistering posed the biggest problems of the day. After a weekend racing with the COT for the first time at Daytona, drivers left relatively unscathed; no major crashes, no drivers injured, and no caution due to a Robby Gordon incident-now that’s a real surprise!
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Popularity: 5%
February 10th, 2008 — Tags:daytona, Nascar
After the dreariness of the long winter months, it’s finally time to beat the winter blues with some good old NASCAR racing. For NASCAR drivers, it’s time to get back to work. Thirty-six races means thirty-six opportunities to take a trip to victory lane.
On the other end of the spectrum, fans all across the country anxiously await the end of the off season. It’s time to get the blood pumping and the mind fixated on race stats, point standings and winless streaks.
On that note, let’s can the small talk, and check out some things to look for as the 2008 season gets underway:
For those drivers outside of the top 35 in owner points, the first five races are going to be anything but stress-free. Securing enough points so that they are automatically locked into the field each week will be a challenging task. When the cars roll into Martinsville Speedway on March 30, teams that make it in the top 35 in owner points can breathe a little easier.
As the clock ticks down until the 2008 NASCAR season officially opens at Daytona, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is poised to shake up the NASCAR scene and showcase his talent with consistent top-5 and top-10 finishes. After all, Jr. won’t be shut out of victory lane this season, that’s for sure!
Popularity: 5%
January 31st, 2008 — Tags:daytona, pit-babes, rolex 24 at daytona
Following up his work with Team No Hot Wire earlier in the weekend, Will Faules scouted out the pits and paddock of Daytona to bring our readers some great behind the scenes images. He even got a few pit babes!
Slideshow after the break
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Popularity: 10%
January 27th, 2008 — Tags:daytona, daytona prototype, pit stop, rolex-24
I suspect that Will is currently on a plane somewhere between rainy Fla and flooded Ca as I write this. Will was kind enough to grab a bit of pit lane video in the early evening yesterday during the Rolex 24. This was a typical DP stop, with no repairs. During this stop, they dump in enough fuel for about an hour of racing. I’m sure Will will have more details later on.
Popularity: 3%
January 27th, 2008 — Tags:24-hour, daytona, DP, grand-am, prototype, race, race-car, rolex
There is always a different mindset whenever I wake up on a race morning. It feels like there is something different in the air. Especially at a high profile event.
I got up on Saturday morning and knew I was in for something exciting, but I had no idea….
Just driving to the track, what has seemed like normal suburban/industrial streets turned into what seemed like rush hour in New York City. I knew if I waited in line I would never get to the pits in time to see the cars grid before the race, so I devised a plan. I passed all the cars turning into the speedway and pulled to the left of the car in the very front of the line, a new, very modified black Corvette. I rolled my window down and told him if he let me in front of him I would give him my extra infield parking pass and he replied “ I park in the pits, I have better passes than that”. I laughed as I made the same offer to the next car and they let me in and I was off. As I drove into the garage area I saw the guy getting out of the black Vette in the standard grass parking lot, now with mud all over his recently polished wheels, tires and fenders. I rolled my window down and yelled to him with a devilish grin “Hey mister, the pits are this way, want a ride?” He and his wife declined as they proceed to walk along outside of the gate to the ticket stand as I drove into the garage area. Some people!!!
Once I was in the garage area I felt like I was inside my television that I watch every race on. Now while HDTV is awesome, there is absolutely nothing like being there and actually feeling the rumble of the cars warming up in the garages and the smell of the SUNOCO 260 race fuel burning, and almost getting run over by golf carts driven by names like, Chip Ganassi, Boris Said, Max Papis, Jimmie Johnson, Juan Montoya, Kurt Busch, and the list goes on. It is fun to be able to walk right into the pits at the Daytona 24 Hour, with camera in hand snapping away. I watched as the teams pushed their cars out with the drivers in full suit following their car like a NASA Shuttle launch prep. The machines meticulously prepped, everyone’s morale was high. Press was everywhere. About the time I was wishing my friend Ken Dobson good luck the police came through and got everybody out of the pits and off the grass, so I decided the infield would be a good place to watch the start.
As expected somebody was in a hurry to end their race on the first lap of a 24 hour race. The GT cars came through and a Porsche already had a flat apparently from contact with another car. As the race sorted out I made my way around the infield carnival area and got some cool souvenirs. After that I decided to go back to the garage area.
In the Fanzone there was a big stage set up with a DJ and while I was ordering food at the NASCAR Bistro thinking about Ricky Bobby and NASCAR going French I overheard the DJ mention that SUM 41, one of my favorite bands, would be playing a concert!
I walked through the garages where there was already 3 cars broken, 2 terminal and one being worked on. The spares each team has amazes me every time I see it. There only one rule for the DP cars for changing parts during a race; no engine swaps. That means that every team has every other spare part ready to go in their garage including an assembled cockpit.
Before I knew it I could hear the concert starting so I made my way back to the Fanzone to watch SUM 41 perform. As I walked up as close as I could to the stage I was nailed with an empty beer can flung from the mosh pit. I decided the typical viewing area wasn’t cutting it for me. So I proceeded to walk into the backstage area where I was confronted by a security guard asking me what I was doing. I flashed him my Grand-Am credential which say in big letters CREW as I said “I’m with the band” and walked backstage where I watched the rest of the show. The whole time I was thinking “I have always wanted to say that.”
After the concert ,as the skies turned black, there was a huge fireworks show. By now the race was pretty sorted out, but rain was on the radar. SO on the next pit cycle all the teams put in their rain hot shoe.
About this time I decided to drive over to the main grandstands because there was dry seating and I had been walking around all day. The view was awesome from the grandstands. It looks like 4 Candlestick Parks could fit inside the speedway. After watching for a couple hours with my cameras 1G memory card full it was time to call it a day.
It was definitely an week I will never forget.
Boy I can’t wait to come back as a driver!!!
I am at the Orlando Airport on a slow Internet connection so I will post all the pictures when I get home tonight.
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January 24th, 2008 — Tags:350z, daytona, endurance racing, rolex-24
Today we showed up at the track and I had some last minute stuff to do to the car before the tech Nazi would let us go out on track. Before we knew it, it was time to get the car to pre-grid for our first practice.
Rich, team owner and driver, took the car out first and after several hot laps turned the car over to hot shoe Ken Dobson while I made some tire pressure adjustments then we were off to some fast laps. While Ken was out lapping something caught my eye to the right and as I looked up I saw a black Pontiac going much faster than the pit lane speed limit, did I mention he was sliding sideways?!?! He slid into a GTI that had a mechanic adjusting tire pressures on the car and that mechanic looked as if he had just drank 3 Red Bulls as he soared through the air. Luckily he was fine and walked away, however the Pontiac was not ok. It had really bad damage. I’m not really sure how bad the GTI was but I think it went back out that session. Not long after that incident Ken radioed in that he thought we had an engine problem.
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