DEREK BELL
The Legend
The Daytona 24 Hours. I always look forward to this season-opener, the one everyone wants to secure as it’s one of few races left on the calendar that has any real history. It means a lot to win something that has proper lineage, knowing you’re following in the wheeltracks of the greats. That’s how I felt when I won there back in the 1980s. Of course, these days there are one or two additional incentives to do well, chief among them a very expensive watch for each of the victors thanks to title sponsor Rolex. In my day, the event was backed by Sunlife, which was a bank. When I won, they didn’t offer me so much as a free pen.
America’s round-the-clock classic has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years, thanks to improvements to the track and the spectator areas, along with excellent promotion for the race and manufacturers’ involvement with it. It’s little wonder that current Formula 1 men Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll wanted to be a part of it, not to mention the likes of IndyCar superstar Scott Dixon, the world’s sports car elite and one or two NASCAR chargers.
Alonso’s race turned out to be a miserable one, but he continues to make friends in the USA following his competitive showing in the Indy 500 last year. Finishing 38th wasn’t in the script, but that’s the nature of endurance racing. Anything can happen and, sadly for the Spaniard and the United Autosports team, their Ligier was blighted with problems after appearing set for a podium finish.
I was even more impressed with Alonso’s team-mate, McLaren test driver Lando Norris. I didn’t know much about him before the race, but I was an instant fan after I’d seen him grab the Ligier by the scruff of the neck and show it who’s boss. The British teenager was the talk of the paddock. His pace was electrifying, and we should be hearing a lot more about him in the future.
Other standouts included the mercurial Juan Pablo Montoya in his Penske-Acura who, when he wasn’t meting out a kicking to backmarkers, was magical to watch whenever he had the chance to put on a charge. Ultimately, Christian Fittipaldi, Filipe Albuquerque and Jose Barbosa were victorious amid a depleted field, Fittipaldi joining me as a three-time Daytona winner.
What really struck me in the build-up to the race was the size of the crowd. The paddock at a Grand Prix is a no-gone zone for anyone without the highest clearance. Not so at Daytona, where fans can get close to the cars and the drivers – it was practically jammed before the start. Race-goers have a great appreciation for the event’s history, too. Several Daytona old boys, myself included, were inundated with requests for autographs and happy snaps, although I admit to wincing whenever people mistook me for Jacky Ickx or Emerson Fittipaldi. I mean, honestly…
It was all great fun, and I have always thought that European motor racing could learn from North America. Enthusiasts aren’t taken for granted in the US, and there are no ivory towers.
As much as I enjoyed being at Daytona, I was sad that one of American racing’s staunchest supporters was absent, a man who had ‘form’ at the Florida circuit. Dan Gurney won the inaugural Daytona Continental sports car race in 1962, the event that preceded the 24 Hours. He also shone on the full oval circuit there in NASCAR .
I was a great admirer of ‘Handsome Dan’ long before I met him. As a young pup, I remember watching him race or test from my favourite vantage point at Goodwood. I was in awe of his achievements as a driver, not least because he was a threat in anything he sat in, whether it was a Grand Prix car or a sports prototype, a CanAm weapon or a stock car.
Then you factor in his many achievements as a team owner and innovator, and, well, where do you start? Dan’s cars won in Formula 1, IndyCar and all manner of different sports car categories. He even had a ‘flap’ named after him. In particular, I remember Dan’s IMSA Toyotas as astonishingly quick, which was a constant source of irritation when I was competing against them in Porsche 962s and Nissans way back when.
More than anything, though, Dan was a gentleman who was at ease with himself and humble to the last. He was never less than approachable, and always quick to smile. Hearing that he had passed wasn’t a shock, but it was upsetting. He inspired a legion of drivers, engineers and other motor sport insiders. I count myself among their number.
‘EUROPEAN MOTOR RACING COULD LEARN FROM THE USA. ENTHUSIASTS AREN’T TAKEN FOR GRANTED THERE’