By James Fish/Epoch Times Staff

lot can happen in 24 hours of endurance racing. Engines can fail, transmissions can break, drivers can lose concentration for a fraction of a second in a three-hour stint and wreck. Big, wealthy teams can see their advantages evaporate; underdog teams can end up fighting for the win in the final hours.

All of these things happened in Grand Am’s 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona, North America’s longest top-tier endurance race.

After 24 hours of hard racing, an underdog—Michael Shank Racing’s No. 60 Riley-Ford piloted by AJ Allmendinger, Ozz Negri, John Pew, and Justin Wilson took the win by six seconds. The No. 6 Riley-Ford, a second-generation DP, finished third, 45 seconds behind its sister car.

“It’s just indescribable,” said team owner Mike Shank. “I don’t know what to say, I’m just so happy to be here—just thankful for the guys that do all the work for us, that hung in with us for those years and it all paid off today.

The No. 6 Michael Shank RacingRiley-Ford driven by Michael McDowell, Felipe Nasr, Jorge Goncalvez, and Gustavo Yacaman, finished third. (Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

“50th anniversary—it doesn’t happen but once. I always feel like I have to prove myself every step because I came from nothing, more or less, and it’s because I’ve had great relationships with people like Ozz and John Pew that have really taken our business to another level.”

AJ Allmendinger, who was at the wheel as the car took the checkered flag, said, “The last seven years this whole team, Mike Shank Racing, went through a lot to get to this point, and it’s really cool not only to win the race but to have two cars on the podium—to have really all the guys that have worked really hard. It’s the same group of guys that I’ve seen for the last seven years—it’s a small group of guys that Mike puts together, and they work their butts off.

“It’s such a prestigious race. It’s one of those races you want on your résumé and you want to say that you were part of a victory.”

Serious Competition

The 01 Telmex Ganassi Riley-BMW of Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Joey Hand, and Graham Rahal, broke its transmission late in the race, spoiling its chance for a repeat win. (Grand-Am.com)

The field was packed with national and international driving stars, coming to win the most-promoted Rolex Role24 of the Grand Am era.

The #10 SunTrust Corvette-Dallara was fast in testing but only lasted 14 laps in the race. (Grand-Am.com)

Audi driver and two-time Le Mans winner was behind the wheel of the No. 8 Starworks Riley Ford, trying to win the one major international endurance title that has eluded him. Audi teammate Lucas Luhr joined him. NASCAR, American Le Mans Series, and IndyCar drivers filled the two Telmex cars, which finished one-two in 2011. Michael Shank Racing brought back NASCAR’s AJ Allmendinger and IndyCar’s Justin Wilson, a driving team, which had almost won the Rolex in 2006 for MSR. SunTrust added IndyCar’s Ryan Briscoe to their driving roster.

Regardless of all the imported firepower on the other rosters, the 2011 winners at Telmex-Ganassi were the clear favorites. With multiple Rolex champs Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas anchoring the same driving team, which won in 2011, the smart money was on the No. 01 Telmex-Ganassi Riley BMW.

The race started at 3:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon under perfect conditions—warm weather, clear skies, no rain forecast. The field set off, led by Ryan Dalziel in the No. 8 Starworks car—a car, which surprised everyone by winning the pole. The 01 Telmex car blew an engine in practice and couldn’t qualify; it had to start from pit lane.

One of the fast cars, the No. 5 Action Express Corvette-Coyote, was basically out of the running from the start. After an engine fire before the race, the car had electrical issues and couldn’t rev past 6,000 rpm. Another serious contender, the No. 10 SunTrust Corvette-Dallara, pulled in after 14 laps with terminal engine damage.

Another favorite, the No. 99 Gainsco Corvette-Riley led and contended for the lead up until a holed radiator on lap 188 cost the car four laps. At 1:50 a.m. the car lost even more time with a water-pump failure.

Eleven different cars took a turn in the lead through the first 10 hours; Starworks led more laps but didn’t have a real advantage. The 01 Telmex car stayed back, leading only 34 laps through the first 11 hours. Through much of the night the top several cars were within several seconds of the leader.

Next: Last 12 Hours: Three-Way Fight