Daytona 99 will be hosted here - Live from the racer's group pits!
Day One - Final qualifying and Pit shots
Friday January 19, 1999. Daytona USA.
Schedule:
Quailifying Sessions
Ready to go....on the grid, Hey - Waaachu lookin at!
Look at that nice bodywork....(remember it later ;)
View up the hot-pits
Just a few of the tires that will be used...something like 15 sets per car
The race goes GREEN...
Trio of drivers Bruno Lambert, Mike Conte and Nick Holt driving car
#68, under team leader and starting
driver Kevin Buckler.
View from the Pits, car #68, Kevin Buckler Driving.....
1:45. Car number 68 has moved up 9 positions to 42nd...car 67
has moved up to 48th from 61st...
Five cars have already dropped out....
2:00 CAR 68 IN 32nd WHEN A FULL COURSE YELLOW IS THROWN.
Car 67 is now up to 40th...
Time for a pit stop...men ready with tires and gas....
Driver Mike Conte checks the standings
Over the wall.....
Head Gun on the fuel hose... dumping a tad under 20 gallons... less
than expected due to the neumerous
yellows in the first quarter hour...
Our man KEVIN....
Hands up and clear before the airjack is pulled.....
He's gone and time to cycle gas, parts, and tires in time for car 67...
Fill the gas dump with Racing 100...tires ready to go and the crew poised at the wall...
7
Wheels go on lug at a time...just like you and me...this is NOT NASCAR! No glue holding the nuts to the wheel, and centerlocks aren't on this year's budget!
First set of tires....BBS Mag wheels...Those are hot and sticky enough that you can leave dents in them with your fingers, and they cannot be touched for very long
Two cars, eight tires, no drivers change and 40 gallons of fuel....one hour!
2:15 full course Yellow....Kevin has yanked the car up to 28th..SIXTH
in GT3
and 67 is up to 38th...NINTH in class....
2:25 68 is up to 26th as a few BMWs bow out for the moment....the top
placed GT3 car is in 23rd, and Kevin remains SIXTH in class....67
is in 38th...eleventh in class...
Time for a chat.
A bit hot in the pits.
Ron Herrerias is scheduled to be third driver in car 67.
Poised and ready for action. Literally standing on their toes. You can
feel the energy in the pits, and here I am sitting on by BUTT typing!
As is the practice in Enduro racing, the driver out helps the driver
in..buckles him down (Buckler, he's called!) and secures the window net...Kevin,
being team owner as well even gives the car a shove as it heaves the pits.
His enteusiasm is unmatched!
3:00 PM Pit stop number two under yellow. Kevin is out and Conte is in...24th position after the pit....still in SIXTH
Car 67 gets tires, gas, and a driver's change. So far the brakes are holding up well on both cars..
3:15PM , 68 is in 24th, 67n is in 39th....In the GT3 class, G&W is first followed by Alex Job in 20th, followed by cars 6, 17, then Kevin in fourth. Car 63 in Can-Am class is wedged in at 23rd spot.
3:25PM The car wedged in pops out and it's a STRING OF GT3 CARS in nineteenth through twenty-second (23 Alex Jobm 6, Prototypr, 17, then our 68 car, FOURTH IN CLASS in spot 22!
Car 67 is in 37th spot, hanging in there....
3:40 - full course yellow....Looks like Alex Job Racing's GT3 car is in the pits while they are closed, and may be penalized.....the announcers are hashing it out...oooops..bad call..but the 17 car is passed by out man COnte, and we are in THIRD in GT3 by 3:45! Twenty-first overall and running strong. Still over 21 HOURS to go though...
4:45: GT3 Standings:
Overall, Team, Car number, laps:
1) 17 ALex Job car 23, 99 laps
2) 19 TC Kline 17, 99
3) 20 Prototype 6, 99
4) 21 Racer's Group 68, 99
.....
14th in GT3:, 37th overall, 95 laps, car 67.....
Two Racer's Group cars together in turn 1
5:00 TRG 68 is now in 20th position.....THIRD in class!
Car 67 has moved to 68th position.
6:00 Update - with darkness falling, the lights come on and TRZG car
moves into 18th position overall
as cars begin to bite the dust.....FOURTH in GT3, still just out of
the show. They are a lap down from the
two GT3 leaders Prototype Racing and Alex Job Racing in 14th and 15th,
respectively