The Rolex 24 @ Daytona, January, 1999

This year marked the return of a Corvette Factory-Sponsored Racing Team to endurance GT-2 racing;and the Rolex is the debut running of the Corvette C5-R. All C5 enthusiasts are excited about seeing "their" car return to factory-sponsored racing. For more information about the C5-R and the Corvette Racing team, click here.

More than 75 C5 Registry members plus spouses and friends attended the race!

In addition to being founders and Directors of the C5 Registry, Dan and Jake are race nuts -- so it was inevitable that they'd turn this event into a C5 Registry event as well.

Yes, yes, we know; the plaque maker made the logo blue instead of red. But, like the famous upside-down biplane stamp, this one should be worth mucho bux in the future. (...far, far in the future...)

Chevrolet is fielding a two-car team (C5-R #2 and C5-R #4). Concentrating on maximum efficiency when changing drivers (there are four drivers assigned to each car), one of the cars is set up for "tall" drivers and one for "short". When making a driver change, the seating doesn't have to be changed; pretty darned clever, I think!

My co-pilot Joe and I planned to link up with Mase Sanford (C5R#W0374) just south of Atlanta at about 12:30 Thursday afternoon. Well, we weren't prepared for Mase's heavy foot so we never caught up with him until we reached our overnight motel in Savannah!

Our little two-car "caravan-that-never was" planned to link up with a larger group coming from NJ/PA/VA/NC early Thursday evening. Since we were a bit early arriving in Savannah, we imposed on the hospitality of Tony Petrea (C5R# W1413) and his lovely wife Nancy. Though they weren't able to come to the race (something about "priorities" or some such), they invited us to their home for beers and to wait out the arrival of the other gang.

Here's the adorable Tony Petrea (C5R# W1413)
Of course, this is my Black Beauty blocking a proper view of Tony's and Mase's Torch Red cars. Obviously, black C5s rule!
I'm thinkin' that Mase is not buying the "black C5s rule" concept...

We waited and waited and waited; we became concerned that something bad had happened. About 7:30P we heard from the group. Kent Cartner (C5R# W1092) somehow broke his left rear wheel near Florence, SC. A word of advice: If you break a C5 wheel, try to pick somewhere other than Florence, SC.

Everyone else waited until the problem could be disposed of. Since there was no wheel available, Jim Potts (C5R# W0970) who was driving to the race with his wife in their motor home, graciously picked up Kent and his co-pilot John, and brought them to Savannah.

Tony had made dinner arrangements at the Shell House Restaurant and we all got there about 8PM. There were:

Bruce Phipps and Marilyn Jacobson (C5R# W0669)
Chaz (C5R# W0526) and his copilot Joe Blumberg
Lynn & Kurt Kennedy (C5R# W0520)
Mase Sanford (C5R# W0374)
Nadine Carmody (C5R# W1397) and a gang of her Savannah friends
Ronny Self (C5R# SOON) and his wife Carol Ann
Tom Decker (C5R# W1425) and his wife Janet
Tony Petrea (C5R# W1413) and his wife Nancy

Here are Lynn and Kurt Kennedy (C5R# W0520) arriving at the restaurant and no, Kurt is not a serial killer...
Nadine Carmody (C5R# W1397) cropped neatly out of the approximately 400 friends she brought along.
Here's a picture Tony took of some of us at dinner. I worried that sitting at the head of the table might imply I was picking up the check -- but they knew me better than that! Left to right it's Nancy Petrea, Carol Ann Self, Donnie Self, me, Joe Blumberg, the left arm of Marilyn Jacobson and Bruce Phipps.
Some of us went back to Tony's (I was invited only because he had a computer problem; the other guys are his friends). Left-to-right, is Tom Decker (C5R# W1425), Donnie Self (C5R# X1665), Tony (C5R# W1413) and me. Photo courtesy Nancy Petrea

And Kent Cartner (C5R# W1092) finally made it (C5-less) to Savannah! He's lookin' about like he's feelin'... but he'll be much better tomorrow.
Here's Lynn Kennedy (C5R# W0520) (again) but this was such a great picture I HAD to include it!
Marilyn Jacobson and Bruce Phipps (C5R# W0669) (OK, it may not be Bruce's best side. There's a better picture of Bruce later; by that I mean you can see more of Bruce --as if that would be an improvement)
Here's part of the caravan as we left for Daytona from our Savannah overnight. That's Bruce Phipps and Marilyn Jacobson in the lead, the Kennedys in the red C5 and Nadine and friend in the white C5. Mase was part of the group for about 40 seconds; then Poof! he was gone...
Soooooo....four hours later we're in Daytona, at the track, through the tunnel into the infield -- and into the Corvette Corral.
The first person we saw was Buzz Fyhrie (C5R# W0564)
After Buzz looked at the above picture he chided me that I hadn't included his super-cool mag wheels. So...
Here's Pete Roseman (C5R# W0111) and his Mongoose.
This is Art Wachna (C5R# W0417) and his 99 Mag Red Roadster.
And this is Art's bride, Barb.

Among the guests were:

John Cafaro (our much beloved Chief Designer of the C5)
Jim Campbell, Corvette Brand Manager for GM and his team
John Heinricy, one of the team drivers for the C5-R
One of his co-drivers R.K.Smith who owns RK Sports
Corporate sponsors from Ecklers, Mid-America, Pro-Auto Tech, Corsa and many more.

John Heinricy explained all about the C5-R, its structure, testing, performance and the race plans.

Here's GM's Jim Campbell in close conversation with Buzz Nielsen (C5R# W0492). Jim asked us all what we'd like to see in future C5s -- and we told him!
Here's Jake Delaney (C5R# W0360), his wife Theresa and their son, Brian. Besides being C5 Registry members, they own and operate "CorvetteConcepts".

At the end of the dinner there was this terrific "photo opp". Left to right it's our own Jake Drennon (C5R# V0002), Jim Campbell (GM's Corvette Brand Manager), R.K. Smith C5-R driver and owner of RK Sports, John Heinricy, C5-R Driver and GM Engineer, John Cafaro, Chief Designer of our C5 Corvette, and -- last but not least -- Dan Adovasio (C5R# V0001).

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Saturday, January 30th

In addition to providing a Continental breakfast, Chevy arranged for us to use these boxes to view the start of the race at 1PM -- and to stay until 5PM if we wanted! But WAIT! There's more...

If people ask you "What's the real value of joining the C5 Registry?" Tell 'em about this: Dan was able to persuade Jim Campbell (and Dan says it didn't take ANY persuasion) to arrange with Daytona for the C5 Registry (and other Corvettes in attendance) to participate in a Parade lap around the track just before the start of the race.

That's right! We got to drive our C5s on the track! This hasn't been permitted, for ANY group, in fifteen years. We were SOOOOO pumped to be allowed to drive our C5s around the track at the famous Daytona Speedway! Our heartfelt thanks to Speedway management, Chevrolet, Dan and Jake for making this possible.

Chevy had provided three giant SkyBoxes for Corvette folks with donuts, coffee and juice. From the skybox you could see just about the whole racecourse.
This is really a great looking racecourse -- especially from the high-priced seats! Thanks again, Chevy!
Here's one of Brian Atkins' (C5R# W1483) shots of the SkyBox so you can get an idea of how it all looked.
What a treat! Dan brought Dave Hill up to talk to us. As Chandler Bing might say, "Could his grin GET any wider?"
Then Dan was able to get some of the GM engineers up to receive our applause. I didn't catch the names but the chap on Dan's left is in the Quality Assurance department. The next fellow works on ABS brakes for the Corvette and Camaro. The next guy is also a Quality Assurance Engineer and the last man is the head of Corvette Quality.
Here's one of the two Pace Cars from SkyBox level (the other one is Nassau Blue) that led the Corvette Parade lap. Sorry the picture of the car isn't centered; even at pace-lap speed, this sucker is quick!
We lined up the cars (C5s, C4s, all types of 'Vettes) in three ranks behind the grandstand. Here's some of the more than 100 cars in the parade lap.
...and here's the rest...
This is an autograph table set up by Chevy Racing. The race-car drivers sat out here and signed hundreds of Chevy-provided photos. Cool!
Remember Kent Cartner's problem with his broken wheel? Well, the Florence Chevy dealer came through on Friday with a new wheel! Kent rented a car and drove all the way back to Florence, picked up his car and made it back for the parade lap on Saturday morning! Now, that's dedication! Here's how Kent looked Saturday morning...
And this is the broken wheel! As soon as Kent showed it around, EVERYONE insisted on signing it! It has autographs of most C5ers, the C5-R race drivers -- and Dave Hill (Corvette Chief Engineer)! I thought that was pretty ironic. Like, "Dave,didn't you specify this @@$##%# wheel?" Just goes to show the spirit and friendship between the Registry and Corvette.
And here's the wheel on display in the SkyBox. The break is the V-shaped notch at the bottom. And NO ONE knows what happened...
And, while speaking of wheels, here's the C5-R racing wheel and tire (courtesy of Bill Anstine (C5R# W0303).
Waiting for the parade lap to get started. People always ask "So how come there are no pictures of you on your pages"? Ok. Take this (and notice the really fabulous Official C5 Registry natural long-sleeve casual shirt!). Want one? Click here.
And see how nice Nadine Carmody (C5R# W1397) looks in her Official C5 Registry natural long-sleeve casual shirt; but then, Nadine always looks nice. But, I digress.
But, while we're speaking of looking nice and being nice, here's Peta Adovasio (Dan's wife). She is always smiling and always moving at 120 MPH. If Dan is the King of the Registry, Peta is surely the Queen.
OK! The staging is over and we're about to get onto the track! Though all Corvettes were welcome to the parade lap (and we were lined up in kinda random order) the organizers took the C5s first and followed up with all other years. They weren't Fairway Green with envy or nuthin'.... :-)>
BULLETIN! For future reference: When on/in a parade lap it is considered poor form to pass the pace car. They don't like that one bit. And, except for Richard Childs (C5R# W0446), everyone pretty much behaved themselves. (I'm KIDDING, I'm KIDDING!) As we came out from under the grandstand we did have to hurry a bit to catch up with car in front of us...
Joe and I were about 40 cars from the pace car. And this is how it looked; I call your attention to the height of the banked track... Though it looks stormy in the picture it was really a lovely partly-cloudy day.
This is looking back at the rest of the mob.
Bear took this one. I think it's the best of them all.
Actually the picture credit on the previous picture shouldn't have been Bear at all but Mrs. Bear (Dottie). Here she is taking 'em! This picture is from Larry Austin.
This is the sticker that let us onto the track for the parade lap. It's difficult to see the small print on the sticker but it says, "Daytona International Motor Speedway disavows any negative happenstance that may occur while this vehicle is driving on the track. Don't sue us; it's your own damn fault!" (or something like that...)
After the parade lap, Joe noticed the red pace car with a small grey-haired guy with a moustache standing next to it waving at everyone as they came off the track. It's Dave Hill, Corvette Chief Engineer! And there's no decision yet on making replicas of this pace car available to us poor members of the public.
And, as advertised, here's Dave Hill signing Kent Cartner's erstwhile left-rear wheel!
Here's a special treat for those who've always wondered what Barry Landry aka "The Bear" (C5R# W0547) looks like. Here's Bear with his lovely bride Dottie (the picture he sent me was SO much better than the one I took).
This is one that Bear took of my co-pilot for Daytona, Joe Blumberg and me with the best looking (IMHO) black C5 at Daytona.
This one is of what I came to call "The Dangerous Four". Left to right it's Jim Hill (C5R# W1200), Jeff Corbel (C5R# W0315), Richard Childs (C5R# W0447) and Walker Bower (C5R# W0542).
And, for those of you wondering what Bruce Phipps (C5R# W0669) looks like, here, courtesy of The Bear, is Bruce after the parade lap.
Brian Atkins (C5R# W1483) took these race pictures. Actually, they're frames captured from his video camera. This one is C5-R #2 (which eventually finished 3rd in class) at speed through Turn 2. Y'gotta pan the camera fast to stop the action!
From the edge of the track, right below the SkyBox, here's C5-R #4 dueling with one of the Porsches.
And, just to remind you this is a 24 hour event, here's C5-R #2 at night
Bear took this one in the corral. It's Leslie and Steve Melvin (C5R# W0363), Tom Crawford (C5R# W0149), Chaz (C5R# W0526), Brian Atkins (C5R# W1483) and Mike McDermott (C5R# W1481).
This is what I call a committed C5 Registry member. It's Larry Puebla's (C5R# W1124) 97 Targa with the C5Registry logo right on the car!
Don't know if you can read the tag but it says "ByBy Cop". I'm thinkin' Dan's thinkin' the owner has guts! If this is your car send me email by clicking here and I'll give you credit.
A few hours into the race (after three yellow flags) Joe made his way over to the first turn and got this nice photo of both pace cars.

And here, thanks to Paul Eggermann (C5R# W1471), is the shot of the day: Both C5-Rs crossing the finish line together in the rain (though on different laps). What a thrill!

After spending a few hours in the SkyBox (ESPN2 on tv, cars racing by at 200+ mph, free Pepsi and snacks) we found it hard to leave -- but we did. That's all the pix for now. If you were part of this GREAT experience and have pictures you'd like me to add, just email them to me by clicking click here or mail them to me and I'll scan 'em and return them to you.

When I left Atlanta for the race I wrote down my expectations/hopes for the C5-R Corvette Race Team and the Daytona Rolex 24 experience (in lowest to highest order):

	The trip would be a safe one and we'd have fun.	Joe and I are home, safe and sound -- and it was a Blast!
	At least one of the two C5-Rs would finish the race.	BOTH C5-Rs finished! Way to go guys!
	At least one of the two C5-Rs would finish in the top 10.	C5R #2 car finished THIRD! A truly spectacular showing for the first time out!
	At least one of the two C5-Rs would finish in the top three.	See #3! Way to go Ron (Fellows), Chris (Kneifel) and John (Paul)!
	Corvette would win the Rolex 24 @ Daytona.	Just wait 'till next year! (or March @ Sebring!)