THAT’S RACING

Sometimes race team owners are better off leaving the driving to the pros. That’s what happened when Chip Ganassi’s Dinan-BMW team finished 1-2 picking up its fourth victory in the prestigious Rolex 24 hour race. Scott Pruett held off teammate Scott Dixon for the win today in a final-lap shootout at Daytona International Speedway.

A Porsche was on pole with uber-pilots Jorg Bergmeister, Patrick Long and Johannes van Overbeeck at the controls. After two consecutive Porsche Daytona 24 victories, the Flying Lizard Riley-Porsche DP was well on its way to winning the race when a team owner let the lead slip away by going off track avoiding a spin.

In the GT class, Andy Lally, Steve Bertheau, Brendan Gaughan, Spencer Pumpelly, and Wolf Henzler gave TRG and team owner Kevin Buckler the GT victory in the clutchless # 67 Porsche GT3 RSR 911. Andy qualified fastest in GT but post qualifying inspection deemed the car’s rear wing was out of spec, so they had to come from the back of the grid to win their class!

Patrick Dempsey’s Mazda team finished third in the GT class. Dempsey, a star in the hit television show Grey’s Anatomy, was full of confidence in Florida. “I’m retiring from Grey’s Anatomy as of today,” he proclaimed. “I’ll be racing full-time from here on in. There’s a headline for you.”