Brumos & Haywood Mark 35th Anniversary of First Daytona 24 Win
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

In 1973, the young driving duo of Hurley Haywood and Peter Gregg entered a new factory prototype Porsche Carrera RS in the 24 Hours of Daytona.  Brumos had decided to retire their previous tangerine orange color in favor of the now familiar white, red and blue look for the new car. After a grueling 24 hours of event-filled racing, the #59 Bumos Porsche took the checkered flag in first place, marking the first of the Haywood/Gregg victories in the renowned Daytona race.  (Their victory that year was an interesting story - seems that the ever-meticulous Gregg had uncovered a mechanical flaw in the new design while performing a pre-race inspection.  After correcting the problem, he shared the information with the Penske group, which had also entered the race in a one of the new factory-based Carrera RS cars, driven by Mark Donohue and George Follmer. The Penske team disregarded Gregg’s advice, and as a result, lost their lead in the early morning hours to the Brumos car after retiring with engine problems. The Brumos team ended the race with a 22 lap lead. As it turned out, the Penske car’s problem was traced to the very flaw pointed out by Gregg, but ignored.)

That win was historic as the first of many overall victories for the 911-based Porsches in international competition.  It was also considered to be the race that truly launched Haywood’s career, and of all his Daytona victories, the one he still considers most satisfying.  He followed up his success at Daytona that year with a win at the 12 Hours of Sebring, thus laying the foundation of a Brumos Racing dynasty that would span the years.

Now, marking the 35th anniversary of that historic win, Haywood finds himself in a familiar and most appropriate place - once again behind the wheel of the Brumos #59 entry, racing in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.  “I always get excited when I think about of 24 Hours of Daytona”, reflected Haywood.  “I’ve had tremendous success in this race over the years, and as I wind down my career, I’m enthusiastic about what I feel to be our very good chances to finish on the podium this year.  We have brought in Terry Borcheller to assist J. C. France, Joao Barbosa and myself in the# 59 car, and Buddy Rice will drive with Darren Law and David Donohue in #58 car.  It’s a strong driver lineup, the cars have been well prepared, and we have fantastic Porsche engines in them… so we have all the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed… now if lady luck will just sit on our shoulders, we will be fine!  I really want to earn my 6th win at Daytona before I hang up my helmet.”

And there is certainly good reason to be enthusiastic about the addition of Borcheller and Rice to the Brumos line-up.  While many teams have drivers joining them who are new to their team and co-drivers, both Borcheller and Rice have previously logged time behind the wheel of a Brumos car.  Borcheller was asked to join the #59 team in the Miller season finale race, helping them finish in 6th place in that 1000k event.  No stranger to Daytona, Terry took the overall victory in the Rolex 24 in 2004, and can claim six professional championships, including the 2003 Grand-Am DP Drivers’ Championship. Buddy Rice can also be considered a Brumos veteran, as he drove with the #58 team in the season finale Miller race in 2006 and 2007, as well as rounding out their rotation for last year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.  While his notable accomplishments are many, he is perhaps best known as winner of 2004’s Indy 500. 

There are many reasons to note the historic and memorable aspects of this 2008 Rolex 24 at Daytona, but the Brumos team will be painfully aware of one other significant aspect. Hurley Haywood noted, “This will be the first 24 Hours of Daytona I have been involved in since 1973 that I won’t be working alongside of Bob Snodgrass.  I would really love to see Brumos in Victory Lane and to be able to dedicate a win in Bob’s memory.” That sentiment is one that will be shared by many this weekend, as Bob’s team returns to the site of their many victories.  The entire team will be carrying on the long-standing Brumos racing tradition as Bob would have wished, and hoping to achieve many new milestones for Brumos to celebrate in the years to come. 

Posted on 01/22 at 03:36 PM