Daytona Beach, FL - January 20, 2010
How do drivers and teams prepare to compete in the Rolex 24 At Daytona? A television
special highlighting that process and more will be aired leading up to the 48th edition
of North America's premier endurance race.
GRAND-AM: 24 Hours at Daytona, an hour-long special featuring everything from preparation
for the Rolex 24, interviews with the drivers and teams competing, to shop tours
and seat fittings, will premier at midnight ET Friday, Jan. 22, on SPEED. It will
also air on FX at midnight ET Saturday, Jan. 23.
The show will air on SPEED four additional times, including 10 p.m. ET Monday, Jan.
25, and also at 2 a.m. and 10 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26. It will also air at 2 p.m. ET
Saturday, Jan. 30, leading up to the network's live coverage of the Rolex 24.
Rolex Series stars Alex Gurney, Scott Pruett, David Donohue, Andy Lally, Patrick
Dempsey and Spencer Pumpelly are among the drivers interviewed for the special. Five-time
Rolex 24 winner Hurley Haywood, NASCAR drivers Jimmie Johnson, Bobby Labonte, AJ
Allmendinger and Colin Braun, Indy 500 winners Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti,
and car owners Tracy Krohn, Kevin Buckler and Chip Ganassi are also featured in the
special.
Footage includes highlights from the recent Roar Before the Rolex 24 test and 2009
highlights, in addition to historic footage from the event that dates back to the
1962 running of the Daytona Continental - including Dan Gurney's dramatic victory
at Daytona's first international sports car event.
The show goes behind the scenes with visits to the Brumos Racing, TRG, Krohn Racing
and Stevenson Motorsports shops. Viewers get a rare inside look at a drivers' meeting,
seat fittings, pit stop practice and crewmen preparing for practice.
Race features include Allmendinger's physical preparation, driving multiple shifts
and managing a crew's schedule - including time for sleep. Haywood talks about his
eight-hour shift in his 1977 victory, when he went into a tent during pit stops and
emerged each time with a different helmet so that officials would think it was a
different driver.
Additionally, GRAND-AM announced the 2010 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge television
schedule, with eight of the 10 races to be aired. All eight Continental Tire Sports
Car Challenge races will be shown on a tape-delay basis and during a two-hour window.
Among those is the season-opening Fresh From Florida 200 at Daytona International
Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway - which produced finishes of 0.129 (Street Tuner)
and 0.133 seconds (Grand Sport) in 2009 - and the season finale at Miller Motorsports
Park. Last season, 10 of 11 GS races and all 11 ST races were decided by less than
five seconds.
The 2010 GRAND-AM Rolex Series opens its 12-race 2010 campaign with the Jan. 30-31
Rolex 24 At Daytona, while the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge begins its 10th
year of competition under the GRAND-AM banner Jan. 29 with the Fresh From Florida
200 at Daytona International Speedway (SPEED, at 7 p.m. ET, Saturday, Feb. 13). Live
timing and scoring - along with race notes, quotes and updates - will be available
on www.GRAND-AM.com. Live updates will also be provided on www.twitter.com/RolexSeries
and www.twitter.com/CT_Challenge.
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