By: Steven Cole Smith on 1/26/2012
The tradition seems to have begun at the very first big-time sports-car race at Daytona International Speedway, the 1962 Daytona Continental. Finishing 22nd and ahead of luminaries such as A. J. Foyt, Jim Clark, Innes Ireland and Roger Penske was Italian driver Guido Lollobrigida in a Maserati 200SI.
Who? Lollobrigida is an Italian actor; he costarred in dozens of movies, many of them Italian-made “spaghetti westerns,” such as Two Sons of Ringo and Red Sun, with Charles Bronson and Ursula Andress. Celebrity drivers have since become almost a staple at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and the 50th-anniversary race this year will be no exception.
“This place has so much history,” said Patrick Dempsey, star of TV’s Grey’s Anatomy and co-owner of Dempsey Racing. He first drove at the 24 Hours in 2008, when he left the pits on cold tires and promptly ran into a tire wall. He has improved considerably since, leading his division in the 2011 race, ultimately finishing third in class. He and his crew will return with two Mazda RX-8s.
Joining Dempsey on the grid will be another celebrity, in his first 24 Hours start. AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson has been active for years in historic racing, but this will be the first big-time start for the 64-year-old, who will team with Elliot Forbes-Robinson and three other drivers in a Dinan-prepared Riley-BMW.
“This is a dream come true,” Johnson told Autoweek. “I’ve wanted to do this race since I was a lad. And to be part of the 50th anniversary is that much more special.”
Big names have long been a part of the 24 Hours, however irregularly. Clint Eastwood co-owned a Ferrari entered in 1977, and fellow actors David and Robert Carradine were investors in the effort, too. A celebrity opportunity was missed in 1978, when Eastwood, the Carradine brothers, comedian Dick Smothers and actor Paul Newman were supposed to co-drive for a three-car team, “but two of the cars were demolished, along with the team’s van, in a highway accident on the way to the track,” said Grand-Am PR man J. J. O’Malley, author of Daytona 24 Hours: The Definitive History of America’s Greatest Endurance Race.
Here’s a sampling of other celeb racers at the 24 Hours.
Tim Allen: Red-hot from his role on TV’s Home Improvement, car enthusiast Allen was tied closely to tuner-racer Steve Saleen. In 1997, Saleen entered a pair of Ford Mustangs, and Allen was listed as a driver for both. The cars finished 58th and 68th out of 80.
Frank Beard: ZZ Top drummer Beard–the only band member without a beard–entered a Porsche 911 in 1993 for himself and five other drivers, including Anthony Lazzaro and Sam Shalala. They finished 15th overall, second in the GTU class.
Robert Carradine: The actor’s lifelong interest in racing was enhanced when he starred alongside brother David in Cannonball! That led him to enter a Ferrari 365GTB/4 Daytona in the 1978 race, with co-drivers John Morton, Tony Adamowicz and Hal Sahlman. They finished eighth in the 68-car field. Carradine was back in 1986, two years after he starred in Revenge of the Nerds, finishing 30th in a Chevrolet Corvette. In 1993, he finished 40th in a Porsche 966; in 2000, he was 61st in a Porsche 911.
Gordon Cooper: He was almost the first and only astronaut to race in the 24 Hours, in a Bud Moore-prepared Mercury Cougar that qualified 25th in 1969. NASA pulled the plug at the last minute because he was scheduled as a backup for the next Apollo moon mission. The team couldn’t find a replacement driver and withdrew the car.
James Garner: Garner wrote in his autobiography that if he hadn’t become an actor, he “would have liked to have been a race-car driver.” The movie studio had other plans for the Grand Prix star, considering racing too dangerous. (For some reason, he was allowed to drive in Baja off-road races.) He was an enthusiastic owner, though, entering three Corvettes at the Daytona 24 Hours in 1968 and two Lola-Chevrolet T70s that finished second and seventh in 1969.
Gene Hackman: Racer-turned-instructor Bob Bondurant, veteran of four Daytona 24s, said that actor Hackman, an accomplished stunt pilot, might have been the most talented celebrity racer he taught. Hackman made only one start in the 24 Hours, though. He drove one of Dan Gurney’s two Toyota Celicas in 1983, with Japanese co-drivers, to a 57th-place finish after the transmission failed.
Bruce Jenner: Younger readers might not know it, but Jenner had a life before he became Mr. Kardashian. The Olympic gold medalist co-drove Jim Busby’s BMW M1 to a 56th-place DNF in 1980, and he returned in 1986 and 1987 in a Roush Ford Mustang, finishing fifth overall with co-drivers Scott Pruett and Klaus Ludwig in 1986 and 20th in 1987. In 1988, Jenner co-drove a Tom Milner-owned Ford Probe GTP to a 36th-place DNF.
Perry King: The Riptide TV star co-drove a Fabcar-Porsche to a 66th-place DNF in 1988 after owner Lorenzo Lamas crashed.
Lorenzo Lamas: Speaking of Lamas, the son of Fernando Lamas and Arlene Dahl was starring in TV’s Falcon Crest when he entered and co-drove that Fabcar-Porsche in 1988. He came back the next year, co-driving a Fabcar-Porsche to 31st with future Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Lazier.
Phil Mahre: Champion alpine skier Mahre and his twin brother, Steve, were serious sports-car racers. They co-drove a BMW in 1988, but, O’Malley said, “Steve never drove in the Rolex 24; he was entered with his brother Phil in 1988 and 1992, but the car retired both times before he got to drive.” Phil finished 46th in the 51-car field in 1992.
Craig T. Nelson: The star of TV’s Coach and Parenthood was another actor who discovered a love for racing at the Toyota Celebrity Grand Prix. In 1994, he founded Screaming Eagles Racing, named for his football team on Coach. He raced in the 24 Hours in 1995, 1996 and 1997, entering a Spice-Lexus in 1995 and a Riley & Scott Ford in 1996 and 1997. Nelson’s car never made it to the end; his best finish was a 55th in 1996, co-driving with Johnny O’Connell.
Paul Newman: The template for the dedicated, talented celebrity driver, Newman first entered the 24 Hours in 1977, and he raced in 1979, 1995, 2000, 2004 and 2005. In 1977, Newman co-drove a Ferrari with Forbes-Robinson and Milt Minter to a fifth-place finish, but his Daytona highlight might have been in 1995, when he and co-drivers Mark Martin, Tommy Kendall and Michael Brockman finished third overall and first in GTS-1 in a Roush Ford Mustang.
Dan Pastorini: After he retired as an NFL quarterback, Pastorini bought an NHRA Top Fuel dragster that he named the “Quarterback Sneak,” and he did quite well in the 1980s before trying the 24 Hours in 1992, finishing 30th in Shalala’s Porsche 911.
Jason Priestley: Few actors dove into racing with as much fervor as Beverly Hills 90210 TV star Priestley. Best known for his open-wheel driving–including the devastating Indy Pro Series crash he suffered at Kentucky Speedway in 2002–he tried sports cars at Daytona in 1998, taking a Multimatic Ford Mustang Cobra to 38th with Scott Maxwell and David Empringham.
1982: Porsche’s seemingly unbeatable 935 has competition, including a couple of Cosworth-powered Rondeaus, a Chevrolet-powered Lola T600 and a Mazda-powered Chevron. There are also two March 82Gs, one of them qualified on the pole by Bobby Rahal. But at the end of 24 hours, a Porsche 935 JLP-3 wins ahead of two more 935s. The winning car is driven by Rolf Stommelen, John Paul Sr. and John Paul Jr. in his first Daytona 24 start. Rahal’s March–co-driven by Bruce Canepa and Jim Trueman–finishes 24th and in the garage thanks to a failed transmission.
1983: Yes, a 935 qualifies on the pole, driven by veterans Bob Wollek and Claude Ballot-Lena and owned and co-driven by the mercurial Preston Henn. But the Andial-built 935 wears new aerodynamic bodywork to help it run with the influx of newer prototypes, including Bob Tullius’s new Group 44 Jaguar XJR-5. Henn’s Porsche wins, but the team is joined by another driver who creates a minor controversy. A. J. Foyt had been driving an Aston Martin Nimrod with NASCAR’s Darrell Waltrip and Guillermo Maldonado, and when that car fell out with engine failure, Foyt stepped into the leading car, replacing businessman Henn, who did not want to jeopardize the victory. Foyt’s sudden appearance rubs Wollek the wrong way, but he learns quickly and does his part, taking the 935 to victory–the last time a 935 will win.
1984: Daytona’s deal with race sponsor Pepsi ends, so from 1984 to 1991, the race is called the SunBank 24 at Daytona. Another change: A chicane is added to the end of the back straight to slow cars as they enter the oval section’s turn three, lowering the fastest qualifying lap by about 10 mph compared with 1983. Mario Andretti qualifies on the pole in the Porsche 962 that he shares with son Michael, but the car finishes 66th of 82 after transmission failure. The dark-horse winner is a March-Porsche 83G entered and co-driven by Sarel van der Merwe, along with Graham Duxbury and Tony Martin. Foyt, Wollek and Derek Bell finish second in Henn’s 935, nine laps behind.
1985: Henn finally ditches his reliable 935 for a 962; it is one of six in the race, and only eight exist at the time. There are still seven 935s in the 80-car field, but 962s take the first four places, dominated by Henn’s car, driven by Foyt, Wollek, Al Unser Sr. and Thierry Boutsen, which wins by 17 laps.
1986: It hasn’t been unusual for victory to be decided by a margin of double-digit laps, but that isn’t the case this year, when a trio of Porsches race to the wire in the race’s closest-yet finish. Even so, a brand-new car qualifies on the pole: a Corvette prototype owned by NASCAR’s Rick Hendrick and driven by 1984 winner van der Merwe, along with Doc Bundy and Wally Dallenbach Jr. However, the engine block cracks during warm-up laps. So it comes down to three 962s all suffering a variety of mechanical problems, but in the end, the team of owner-driver Al Holbert, Bell and Al Unser Jr. finishes almost two minutes ahead of Foyt, Arie Luyendyk, Danny Sullivan and team owner Henn. Just a lap down are owner-driver Jim Busby, Derek Warwick, Darin Brassfield and Jochen Mass.
1987: If Porsche fans were pumped that the 962 swept the podium in 1986, this year, Porsche’s domination is near complete. The car takes the first six spots, and the next-highest-finishing prototype finishes 36th, a Tiga Ford-Cosworth. The winner is the Holbert 962 co-driven by Chip Robinson, Bell and Unser Jr. In seventh, winning the GTO class, is a Roush Ford Mustang driven by Tom Gloy, Bill Elliott, Scott Pruett and Lyn St. James. St. James’s class win isn’t the first for a female driver; Kathy Rude co-drove a Mazda RX-7 to a GTU class win and a sixth overall in 1982.
1988: Finally, a non-Porsche-powered car wins, with a Jaguar finally breaking through after knocking on the door for years. The XJR-9 fielded by Tom Walkinshaw starts sixth but finishes one lap ahead of the pole-sitting 962 of Busby. The winning Jaguar is driven by Martin Brundle, Raul Boesel, John Nielsen and Jan Lammers. Another Walkinshaw Jaguar, headed by Eddie Cheever, takes third.
1989: Nissan and Toyota couldn’t stand it any longer, and in 1989, the two Japanese powerhouses field cars in the top Camel GTP class to battle factory efforts from Porsche and Jaguar. The Nissan GTP-ZXTs are especially quick, qualifying first and third, split by one of Walkinshaw’s Jaguars, but all three of those cars finish outside the top 25. In the end, Busby’s proven 962, driven by Wollek, Bell and John Andretti, edges out another of Walkinshaw’s Jaguars, this one driven by Price Cobb, Nielsen, Andy Wallace and Lammers. The race runs for only 20 hours, though, because of a three-hour, 58-minute red flag for fog. It is also missing two important regulars: Hurley Haywood is testing an Audi in France, and two-time winner Holbert died in a plane crash three months earlier.
1990: With a year of development, no one expects the Nissan and Toyota GPT entries to be unreliable push-overs, but the cars still aren’t ready for Daytona’s grueling pace. Don Devendorf’s two Nissan GTP-ZXTs qualify second and third, but neither finishes. Not surprisingly, then, Walkinshaw’s two Jaguar XJR-12s come out on top, with the Davy Jones/ Lammers/Wallace car finishing four laps ahead of Cobb, Nielsen and Brundle. Bruce Leven’s pole-qualifying 962 is third.
1991: Entries have been declining, and in 1991, they drop to 47, partly because of the war in the Persian Gulf. Le Mans-type cars are invited to enter the new LM class, but only three do: Nissan R90Cs, all entered by Nissan stalwart Devendorf. All three qualify in the top five, but only one, driven by Bob Earl, Derek Daly, Chip Robinson and Geoff Brabham, finishes on the podium, second by 18 laps to the winning GTP-class 962C entered by Reinhold Joest, with drivers Frank Jelinski, Henri Pescarolo, Wollek, John Winter and Haywood. After four wins at Le Mans, it is Pescarolo’s first at Daytona. This is also the final win for the 962, which pretty much started out in 1984 where the 935 left off: with a pole position for Mario Andretti.
To be continued . . .
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