The 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway

The 2024 Rolex 24  Daytona International Speedway was held January 27 and 28, 2024. The No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 would win and the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R would come in second in the top GTP class. Click the pics for a larger version. 

 

This was a massive banner.

Teams relaxing an hour before the race

Panoramic view of the grandstands

Corvette Z06 GT3.R

Jordan Taylor mugs for the camera

25 hours later this Porsche 963 would win the race

Team owner Chip Gannassi

Cadillac V-Series.R

The winner's trophy and Rolex watch

Team co-owner Michael Andretti

JDC Miller Motorsports Porsche

All photos copyright by Christopher A, Howell. For additional information about the race visit Autoweek.

Porsche Corral 2024 Rolex 24

A photo gallery of Porsches I photographed in the Porsche Corral at the 2024 Rolex 24, Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida, January 27, 2024. Click the photo for a larger version.

Maybe You'll Think Of Me And Smile

 “Sometimes when you're doin' simple things around the house
Maybe you'll think of me and smile
You know I'm tied to you like the buttons on your blouse
Keep me in your heart for a while”

--Warren Zevon from his 2003 album The Wind.

When Charlotte and I met in 1989 I was struggling to find a path in the world. Charlotte was kind and smart and beautiful and she seemed to have a personality that could help steady me a bit.

When you're first dating someone you learn a lot about them right away. It’s fun to learn about their family, their job and the kind of music they like. Charlotte was younger then me and liked a lot of early 1980s bands. My musical tastes skewed older but there was a lot of overlap in what we enjoyed.

There was a singer-songwriter we both liked. I was really happy to find out she liked him too. It was Warren Zevon whose biggest hit was 1978’s “Werewolves of London”.  Some people dislike his songs because of his sometimes dark and strange lyrics but Charlotte and I instantly bonded over our love for his music. Throughout the 1990s Zevon appeared numerous times on David Letterman’s show, even sitting in as bandleader once when Paul Shaffer was away on a movie shoot. Every time Zevon was on, we were sure to tune in.

In August 2002 Zevon was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, an inoperable form of lung cancer. Charlotte and I were watching Letterman on October 30, 2002 when Zevon talked about his cancer diagnosis in an emotional and poignant last appearance. He said, “I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years. It was one of those phobias that really didn’t pay off.”  Zevon said after getting a terminal diagnosis he put more value on every minute. In what is now a legendary statement he said, “You’re reminded to enjoy every sandwich.”

Charlotte didn't have a phobia of doctors. She just didn’t like seeing doctors. She would go to the doctor when she absolutely needed to but would avoid it if she could. It was a painful and repulsive coincidence that both Warren Zevon and Charlotte would learn too late they were dying of cancer.

Upon learning of his cancer diagnosis, Zevon became determined to record a final album. He recorded The Wind, with guest stars Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Don Henley, Ry Cooder, Dwight Yoakam, Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris, Joe Walsh and many others. The album was released on August 26, 2003, just two weeks before his death, twenty years ago on September 7, 2003.

The Wind won a 2004 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album and a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance for the song  "Disorder In The House".

"Keep Me In Your Heart" from the album was nominated for song of the year. It was the only song Charlotte specifically requested to be played at her funeral. I'm keeping both Charlotte and Warren Zevon in my heart today and everyday. 

Learn More –

Warren Zevon on Wikipedia

The Wind on Wikipedia

Warren Zevon's last appearance on The Late Show

Warren Zevon performs "Keep Me In Your Heart"

Tales from Daytona

I attended the 61st running of the Rolex 24 Race at Daytona International Speedway in Florida from January 25 through the 29th. It's a sports car race and one of the few 24 hour auto races in the world. 

On the Wednesday before the race things are just getting set up and there's not a lot of spectators at the track this early. I ran into a couple of older folks "working the gates" and they had a lot to talk about because they were bored and lonely.

I talked to a lady, she looked to be in her late 60s or early 70s. She was at the head of the stairs going to the pedestrian tunnel to the infield on the west end of the track.

She told me her son died of heart failure in the previous week. He lived in Brooklyn, New York and got COVID in that first deadly wave in March 2020 that hit New York City so hard.  She said he was hospitalized for months.  As a result, he had kidney failure and then kidney disease that was so bad he needed weekly dialysis. As she was telling me this she started to tear up a little and I tried to comfort her. 

He was just an unfortunate guy who got COVID in that very first wave before vaccines and even before hospitals knew how to really treat the disease. It sounded like maybe he suffered a lot and died young, although she didn't say how old he was. She said she was scheduled to work the Rolex 24 months ago and wasn't sure if she could do it after her son died. She had to talk it over with her other kids and they decided it might be good for her to work. "You know, get your mind off of it", she said.

She was sitting there alone and to kill time she was putting together a jigsaw puzzle. There were some pieces missing. She was using the picture of the puzzle on the box to somehow recreate the missing pieces. I've never seen that before and it was actually quite cleaver.

Charlotte's Brush With Greatness

In any relationship it's pretty wonderful when both partners have common interests.  One of the many things Charlotte and I loved together was auto racing. Of course, we didn't get to go to nearly enough races. However, we got to see a number of major events together: Two IndyCar events (when they were known as CART), five IMSA sports car endurance events, and two Formula One races.

I always said, "Look there's so-and-so, go over and let me take your picture." Let's take a trip though the years and see all the drivers Charlotte met.  

 

We traveled south for the Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami at the Homestead Motorsports Complex March 15, 1998.  It was the first round of the 1998 CART season. This is Charlotte and Danny Sullivan. Sullivan would compete in 15 Formula One races in 1983 for Tyrrell and place fifth at Monaco. He would win the CART championship in 1988. He's probably best remembered for the legendary "spin and win" where he won the 1985 Indianapolis 500 for the mighty Penske Racing.  After I snapped this Charlotte came back and whispered to me, "I grabbed Danny Sullivan's butt". After that day she would never pass up an opportunity to brag about grabbing the butt of an Indy 500 winner. 

 

 

At that same event Charlotte met Mark Blundell. A brit who competed in Formula One for four seasons and won the 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans. He would finish 12th in this race driving for PacWest Racing. I think she had a bit of a crush on Mark. 

 

Here is Charlotte yukking it up with IndyCar Champion Jimmy Vasser. This was at the 2003 Grand Prix Americas held on September 28, 2003, on the streets of downtown Miami. Vasser won the championship in 1996 driving for Chip Ganassi Racing. Vasser would finish this race 11th.  He is now a super successful co-owner of  Vasser Sullivan Racing. Taking a dig at his former boss's ego Vasser said, "There's no 'I' in team but there is in Chip".

 

Some of you NASCAR fans out there may recognize Boris Said. When NASCAR has to race at road courses like Watkins Glen they hire guys like Said to drive. It's because their regular drivers don't know how to make right turns. Said has won the 24 Hours of Daytona twice, the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 hours of the Nurbergring in Germany. This is Charlotte and Said at Sebring, March 15, 2003. Said's BMW, running in the GT class, did not finish.

 

Charlotte loved all things Italian. The land, the food, the art, and Max Papis was no exception. This picture is also from the 2003 Sebring 12 Hour Race. Papis would finish 5th in the JML Team Panoz. "Mad" Max Papis drove almost everything with wheels. One year in Formula One, eleven seasons in IndyCar. He drove for many years in NASCAR Cup, Xfinity and the Truck series. He even had a fifth overall at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A super nice guy. Charlotte was so shy when we saw him, I had to make her go over to get this picture. Afterwards she was so nervous she was shaking. I have to admit, she talked about Papis all the time and I was a little jealous.

 

 

Two of the most famous women in motorsports are Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney and  Lyn St James.  In the past few years women racers are no longer a novelty. Woman compete as equals. Here is Charlotte at the 2018 12 Hours of Sebring with British driver Katherine Legge. Legge has raced in a number of European series including British Formula Three, German Touring Car, and the European Le Mans Series. She has contested 39 races in IndyCar including the 2012 and 2013 Indy 500. At this race Legge placed seventh in class in an Acura NSX for Michael Shank Racing. In 2022 she drove a Porsche 911 GT3-R in IMSA for Team HardPoint.

On March 15, 2019 Sebring presented a race weekend that included a 10-hour race of the FIA World Endurance Championship on Friday with competitors from Europe along with the regular 12-hour IMSA race for American teams the next day. During the grid walk on Friday we got to see the cars from the European series up close and Charlotte got to meet AF Corse Ferrari pilot Davide Rigon.  Rigon is a skilled driver in high demand. He races all over the world in almost all endurance contests. He has driven the 24 Hours of Le Mans 8 times with his best finish in second. In addition, he also finds time to test drive for the Ferrari Formula One team.  

As I said, Charlotte loved Italians. Here she is attempting to be adopted by the AF Corse crew so she could return to Italy with them. I'm sorry I didn't get their names. None of them spoke English. They were the nicest fellows! In her Ferrari gear she could have been a team member. This would be a difficult weekend for the team placing 6th in class and 22nd overall. 

 

Unfortunately, I also had a difficult weekend. I had three sleepless nights because of the horrible mattress in our pop-up camper. My arthritis flared up and the pain coupled with the lack of sleep forced us to go home early. Apologies for bailing on my friend Rick who was there with us. This was the last race Charlotte and I would attend together. Five months later we would learn about her cancer diagnosis. 

 

This month marks two years since Charlotte crossed over.  Every race I go to I'm missing my race partner. I wanted to honor her memory in a happier way this year. Going through these pictures and putting this together was so much fun. I'm beginning to realize that the pain I feel is actually a gift. The pain of missing Charlotte is slowly being replaced by these memories that are like sweet, sweet honey.