Welcome to the Golden Age

With a unified rules package, teams from each series can compete in more races throughout the season. At Daytona, the impact can be seen in the grid size – 59 cars are starting, up from 38 in 2020. The cars also are higher tech, and driver starpower is at a level not seen in decades. This has caught the attention of both fans and manufacturers, who have both been taking an increasing interest in sports car racing.

And it all starts at the same track where NASCAR's crown jewel, the Daytona 500, will run a couple of weeks later.

Staring up at the press box on the frontstretch of the Daytona International Speedway, the tagline “World Center of Racing” reads across it. On a morning like Jan. 27, it’s hard to argue.

“Everybody loves this event,” says Alexander Rossi, 2016 Indy 500 champion driving the No. 9 Pfaff McLaren at the Rolex 24. “It’s pretty amazing to see the momentum building.”

With the new rules convergence, the fastest category of cars, the GTP class, are incredibly advanced machines set to carry the torch for sports car racing’s future. While the class debuted in 2023, this season has given teams an entire year to develop and improve their equipment.

Chris Mitchum is the director of race operations for the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac. His team won the GTP title last year in a fierce championship fight that came down to the final race. He knows how hard it is to defend a title, but the team is still incredibly excited about the class.

“I can guarantee you that there are people in this program that, in 10 years from now, are going to be so much higher in racing because of what they learned here,” Mitchum remarked. “Formula 1 cars are incredibly advanced (but) show me where they have headlights.”

The rules merger also gives a bigger stage for these machines and drivers, and winning does even more for their reputations. As Mitchum observed without irony, “I guarantee you that the other manufacturers know who Cadillac is now.”

Daylong racing

Endurance racing came to be about a century ago as the car industry boomed. The events were true tests for manufacturers. It was a way to prove the age-old mantra of “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” in the early days of the automobile. If a car could survive and win a non-stop, 24-hour race, it was the ultimate bragging right.

Even to this day, the spirit of endurance racing lives on. It’s about both surviving and thriving.

Down through the decades, endurance racing also has made a mark on pop culture. Whether it’s the thrilling opening minutes of Steve McQueen’s “Le Mans,” released in 1971, or the heated war between rival car brands in “Ford v. Ferrari,” the essence of what makes endurance racing so special still captures the imagination of race fans and casuals alike.

“Endurance racing is like a book, a real page-turner. However, even if you wanted to, you can't skip forward to the end as it's been written in real-time,” said John Hindhaugh, the play-by-play voice of IMSA Radio. “You don't even know where or when the main plot turning points are. They might not be obvious when they happen or take hours to show their importance.”

For any manufacturer, the story is mostly about their car. Races are still used to send a message about a brand’s reliability. The difference between now and days gone by is that, today, sports cars can now withstand the full duration of the race better.

“We ran a 24-hour performance test (before the season),” Mitchum said. “No failures would have stopped us from racing in that 30-plus hours of on-track time.”

This brings another challenge into the equation. The driver is now as important as the machine. Since the goal isn’t simply to finish, drivers and crews have to push their cars to the limit for all 24 hours.

That doesn’t take away from endurance racing’s luster, though. It’s simply more exciting for longer.

Green flag

The public address speaker called for all fans to exit the track, and everyone on pit road stared down at Daytona’s high banks one last time before heading off for final preparations.

The pit box of Action Express Racing was the first one at the pit entrance. As the cars began to roll onto the track for the formation laps, crew members tested their wheel guns – essential in a tire change – one final time and got the pit equipment in order. The engineers sat on their perches in the box and stared intently at the stack of monitors with data on the car. A visitor could be forgiven for mistaking it for the command center at a satellite launch.

The Action Express Cadillac sat on pole, having obliterated the track record in qualifying. Brazilian sports car ace Pipo Derani, who was behind the wheel to start, had the field in his rear-view mirror as he saw the green flag. A record crowd of over 50,000 spectators cheered with anticipation in the 82-degree sunshine. At 1:40 p.m., the race for history and glory was on.

Everyone on pit road was immediately riveted by the TVs and data screens inside each pit stall, even in the opening hour. Action Express controlled the race early, but there was plenty of action up and down the grid. A little under an hour in, however, the No. 14 Lexus – one of the favorites in the slower GT class – rear-ended a car ahead while negotiating traffic. While it would be able to continue, the crash knocked the Lexus out of contention for a win. Twenty-four hours gives teams more time to come back from adversity, but it is still gut-wrenching to have a problem so early on.

By the second hour of the race, the field was still tightly packed together due to caution flags, waved because of accidents or cars having mechanical problems, bunching everyone up. Action Express was still near the front of the field, but not without immense pressure from the other GTP cars. Every move on track was met with an orchestra of oohs, aahs and gasps from the crew members on pit road. The phrase “24 hour sprint race” has become a cliche in endurance races, but it has also become the truth with these events.

Laps and minutes ticked by as the sun began to fall behind the grandstands. Drivers started to switch places in the cockpit. When Indycar star Kyle Kirkwood got out of his Lexus GT car, he walked down the pit road and exclaimed, “Only 20 and a half hours to go!”

He meant it as a joke but the realization hit hard. It felt like the race was already a full day’s work, but the event had only really begun. In this style of racing, the psychological toll is just as demanding as the physical one. Whether driver or crew, you truly do not know how long 24 hours are until you are pushing yourself for every second of that time.

The long January night settled in. The fights for position on the track were complemented by the fight to stay awake by the crews. Drivers practiced reflex activities with their trainers. Action Express Racing enjoyed a catered meal between pit stops. Paul Miller Racing watched their nacho heater go to work. The Ferrari teams sipped on espressos.

Crew members were either passed out in their chairs or their eyes were glued to their telemetry as the darkness dragged on. Mitchum has been around racing for over three decades in a variety of positions both behind the wheel and on the box. Now, he watched on as Action Express made themselves comfortable at the front with a title defense on their mind. All Mitchum could say was, “the race never stops.”

The annual 10 p.m. firework show offered a thank you to the fans in attendance. The action was just as lively off the track as it was on with elaborate RV setups, bonfires and fans partying in the infield. The Rolex is as much an ode to good times as it is to racing prestige and tradition.

Some fans elected to go home or head back to the trailers. Others kept the party going deep into the night. Either way, the roar of the engines, whether the high-pitched scream of a Porsche or Lamborghini or the inhuman growl of a Cadillac or Ford Mustang, made for a gearhead’s perfect lullaby.

The run to the finish

A staple of any sports car racing television broadcast is former racer Sam Posey’s powerful narrations about what makes the sport special, a bit like John Facenda did for NFL Films. In one instance, Posey described endurance racing’s dawn-to-finish stage as “excruciatingly long with tiredness clawing at you.” Nearly seven hours still remained once the dazzling shades of orange and purple illuminated the speedway.

The sun found Action Express still at the front of the field, with Mitchum still standing guard on the pit box. The Virginia native came over to the team prior to the 2015 season after finding prior championship success as a team owner.

Action Express has won four overall titles since Mitchum became the director of race operations, and he had put his team in position to push for another victory at the biggest race on opening weekend.

“I’m the guy that has to find a way to give the people the tools that they need to do their job,” he said.

Asked about the race in the garage, Mitchum simply said, “it’s going smoothly.” In a GTP era that has brought about unparalleled levels of competitiveness, sometimes that is all you can ask for.

That’s because, in endurance racing, minimizing errors is just as crucial as having a fast race car. One of Mitchum’s drivers, Jack Aitken, echoed this sentiment. “If you look at the raw pace, I don’t think it’s anything special,” the 28-year old Brit pointed out. “We just haven’t had any big mistakes.”

Those lack of mistakes paid off. Action Express led with an hour to go. However, a late caution and a fast pit stop by the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport car would put them in front. Despite a valiant effort in the dying minutes by two-time Rolex winner Tom Blomqvist behind the wheel of Action Express’s Cadillac, they would come up just short.

The red and white Porsche with its menacing black dorsal fin blasted across the finish line for the final time out front. The reaction from the pit box was one of surprise before utter jubilation set in. There was no better way to kick off the season for the drivers and crew than winning one of endurance racing’s crown jewels.

It was the first win in the Rolex for Penske in 55 years. In 1969, the team won by 30 laps. This year, they won by only 2 seconds.

Coming up short is tough in any event, but in the convergence era, Mitchum took away the ability to be competitive as a positive for future races.

“From my side, I don’t really look at the outside answers of ‘you’re doing a great job,’” Mitchum said. “I look at the fact that if we’re able to compete week in and week out, then our future is really bright.”

It is safe to say, then, that another title chase for Action Express Racing is here.

The rules convergence, meanwhile, has accomplished everything organizers sought to do, and in just its second year of existence. Daytona only proved that the magic is here to stay.

“The last hours were spellbinding and the side-by-side action for major positions was reminiscent of a 24-lap sprint not a day-long endurance race,” play-by-play voice Hindhaugh said about this year’s Rolex. “Daytona was a 24-carat example of why the rest of the IMSA season should be on the ‘must watch’ list of every motorsport fan.”