Speedsport Tuning

Speedsport Tuning owner Spencer Cox would like to thank everyone for their well wishes for his run in the Rolex 24 at Daytona… he is overwhemed by all of the emails and Facebook comments.  Spencer says it was “the best time of my life”!

Here’s a summary of the race, from TRG Car # 65 co-driver Jack McCarthy:

- Overall, the 24 Hours of Daytona was an unbelievable lifetime experience with a great group of drivers and crew.

- Unfortunately, our weekend started with a sub-optimal qualification (38th of ~50 cars in class) due to a blown engine during the last day of practice which significantly limited the amount of tuning we could do on the car prior to qualifying.  Porsche stepped in and immediately supplied a new engine as the failure was clearly a build issue.  It was amazing to see our TRG crew replace the entire engine and get us back out on track in a matter of just over two hours.  The #65 drivers and crew were all praying that this was our piece of bad luck, and the race would go well.

- After the substantial fanfare of the opening festivities for the 50th Anniversary of the 24 Hours of Daytona, the race started at 3:30pm on Saturday.  We had a solid start and our driving on the 3.56 mile course was very consistent during the early stints in the afternoon / evening.  We quickly moved our way up the pack about 10 positions.

- I drove a little over six stints in total during the race (about six hours in total).  The two double stints (~ 1 hour 50 minutes each) during the night / early morning were exhausting.  I managed to get about two hours sleep in a cold RV between the nighttime stints and awoke at 3am to one of my co-drivers (Dr. Joe) preparing a Molotov cocktail of vitamins / minerals / unknown additives for me (aka: “don’t worry it’s just Red Bull on steroids”).   – Dealing with the Daytona Prototypes was one of the biggest challenges on the track and our spotters up in the tower were critical, especially at night.  It was like air traffic control in your ears most of the time, but ultimately you needed to rely on what you saw in your own mirrors.

- At about 2am Sunday morning we had some front suspension problems and had to go back to the paddock garage for about 20 minutes.  The “Bus Stop” (a very fast, curbed chicane on the back straight of Daytona) was taking a toll on everyone’s suspension.  We lost about 15 laps and several positions due to the repairs.

- We came back out and drove hard for the rest of the night.  I was in the car at daybreak, which was a great feeling to see the sun come up over the stands as you round NASCAR turn two on the steep 31 degree Daytona banking.   – Like every car, we had our fair share of “on track experiences” (e.g. car on car contact, occasionally going wide in corners, a few spins), but other than some scrapes on the bumpers, our car was virtually undamaged.  One distinct point in the race for me was when Michael Waltrip, driving the #56 Ferrari, taught me the meaning of “rubbing is racing” when he squeezed inside of me NASCAR style on turn 6 in the infield portion of the track.  Let’s just say that he made some room for himself by using the inside of my rear bumper.

- With strong performances from all of us in the car and our crew / spotters, we had moved all the way up to 21st position in the GT class by noon on Sunday.

- After 22 hours of racing (1:30pm on Sunday) our front left suspension gave way (a broken ball joint) and we had to again return to the garage.  So close to the end of the race, we were gutted not knowing if the car could even be able to return to the race.  Again, the TRG crew did a incredible job to replace the entire front left suspension and both front brake rotors in about 30 minutes.  We lost a bunch of laps and a couple of positions, but we were very happy to be back in the race.

- We returned to the track with a with some significant alignment and braking challenges due to the repairs, but still drove the car hard to keep our position.  My co-drivers allowed me the last stint of the race and the honor of taking the checkered flag at 3:30pm in 23rd place in the GT class after 643 laps and 2,289 miles.

- It was incredible just to finish the race, much less be in the top half of such a strong class of GT cars. So many things with the car could go wrong or just one small driver error over the 24 hours could have ended our race. There was a huge feeling of accomplishment among the drivers and crew.  All five TRG cars finished the race, with the #67 car competing for the lead up to the last laps and eventually finishing second in the GT class.

-Cousin Michael, racing with his new found German BMW friends (D Werner, J Muller, & D Muller), finished a few places in front of us (16th position in the GT class) in the #93 Turner Motorsports car.  Although it was not the win they were looking for, it was good to see them over the finish line.

- I slept well last night! Thanks again to everyone for their support and to the friends / family who came down for the race.

Best, Jack

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