DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The toughest decision for the winning sports car in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona was deciding whether to wash and wax the Pontiac-powered Riley during the final hour of the race.
An 11-lap lead allowed the team of Max Angelelli, Wayne Taylor and Emmanuel Collard such luxury.
The team, however, decided to stay on the track to maintain their 40-mile advantage - about the distance between Daytona Beach and Orlando - although it meant rolling their sleek prototype into Victory Lane with all the dirt and battle scars of a twice-around-the-clock marathon.
This year's race was marked by the surprising number of prototypes (29) and an even more impressive number of racing superstars. At the end, it was three accomplished road racers wearing the spoils of their victory - new Rolex watches.
The winning margin was one of the largest in the endurance race's history. Although it fell well short of the 49-lap cushion for Ted Field, Hurley Haywood and Danny Ongias in 1979, it came close to the 1994 blowout of 14 laps by Scott Pruett, Butch Leitzinger, Paul Gentilozzi and Steve Millen.
Once the sunlight replaced headlights on the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road course early Sunday, what started as the most-competitive field in sports car history was reduced to a two-car battle between the winning SunTrust Racing sports car and the Pontiac-Crawford of Tony Stewart, Jan Lammers and Andy Wallace.
The two cars were separated by less than 30 seconds until they both entered pit road two hours short of the finish for routine service and the final driver change.
As Angelelli and Wallace left pit road, Wallace's car suddenly stuttered to a stop with a broken transmission.
"I lost second gear, and then there was a big hole in the transmission," Wallace said. "Suddenly, it just popped out of second gear and that was it, unfortunately."
And with it came any hope of a dramatic finish.
The race started with so much anticipation, especially with five Nextel Cup, two Busch, two CART Champ Car and two IRL Indy Car series champions in the field. But it ended with three drivers who have dedicated themselves to racing sports cars.
"We couldn't have won it in a better fashion," said Taylor, who won this race in 1996.
As part of the winning tradition, the car will be rolled into Daytona USA - a racing attraction at the speedway - this morning covered in dirt, oil, tape, crumpled fenders and confetti.
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