Leave it to Chip Ganassi to capture the one that got away.
In 2010, Ganassi became the first owner to win the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same season.
That left one major American Motorsports trophy missing from his mantelpiece.
On Sunday, with his fourth Rolex 24 at Daytona victory, Ganassi became the first owner to win the four majors in a 12-month period, a feat now affectionately known as the “Chip Slam.”
“I don’t drive the cars, I don’t change the tires, I don’t work on the engines,” Ganassi said humbly. “There are lots of people, lots of great competitors that it takes to make up a team.
“I’m just the guy that gets to stand up here and talk about it.”
But the Ganassi collective has learned to win and lose as a team.
Last year, both Ganassi Rolex 24 entries were equally stout.
The No. 02 Target BMW Riley piloted by Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Jamie McMurray was at the point after leading 139 circuits when the engine expired just after midnight. Ganassi’s No. 01 team led by five-time Rolex 24 victor Scott Pruett was the favorite, having won three of the past five Daytona events. At the finish line, the No. 9 Action Express Racing Porsche Riley driven by Joao Barbosa held off Pruett at the finish line by 52.303 seconds.
Certainly, the Rolex 24 was a tremendous disappointment. But then the winning began.
First came McMurray’s cathartic win in the Daytona 500. After a four-year absence from Ganassi Racing, McMurray returned with a vengeance. Not only did he deliver Ganassi’s first win in the Great American Race, McMurray backed up his tally with the Brickyard 400 in July and a Charlotte win in October.
Together with Montoya, the pair combined to win four races and seven poles but lacked consistency to qualify for NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Pruett and teammate Memo Rojas dominated the Grand-Am Sports Car Series by winning nine of 12 races. The teammates locked down the championship in September, the second for the pair and the third in the Daytona Prototype Series for Pruett.
Ganassi’s repeat IndyCar supremacy was not apparent early on in 2010. Scott Dixon ended the losing streak at Kansas Speedway, the fifth race of the year. Ganassi capped off the month of May with Dario Franchitti winning his second Indianapolis 500. Franchitti took the points lead for the first time the following week at Texas Motor Speedway. Although the championship wasn’t decided until the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Franchitti held on for his third IndyCar championship and a record third consecutive IndyCar title for Ganassi.
Speaking to media last week, Ganassi said he would be “satisfied” this year if he could only repeat the accomplishments he posted in 2010.
“Obviously we want to do better, and then that's what brings us back every year,” Ganassi said.
He’s already ahead of the game.
As the 2011 motorsports season kicked off with the Rolex 24 this week, it was not surprising to find the Ganassi cars towards the top of the speed charts — or that both cars qualified in the top five.
By Lap 30 on Saturday, Pruett piloted the No. 01 to the point. Montoya battled the No. 02 to the front for the first time on Lap 164. Throughout the course of the day, Ganassi’s Joey Hand led the most laps — 116 of 721 circuits, followed by Montoya with 101.
“Everyone knows they have a shot to win the thing,” Ganassi said of his two Rolex teams. “And they know there are no team orders. Well, there is one team order — just don’t hit each other. But even that happens every once in a while.”
While leading the race with less than three hours remaining in the event, Hand was penalized 30 seconds for hitting a tire on pit road and fell to fourth. By the time Hand turned the wheel over to Pruett, he had regained second place.
The decision for the No. 01 team to short-pit on Lap 891 with 54 minutes remaining in the race gave Pruett an advantage on new tires. By the time Scott Dixon was called in for his final stop on Lap 694 with 49 minutes to go, Pruett assumed the point and led the final 28 circuits.
As disheartened — upset — as the No. 02 teammates were to finish second, Franchitti was complimentary of the overall effort of Ganassi Racing.
“The guys in the No. 01 did a great job and I think (teams) did a great job because they had to rebuild these cars, the No. 01 and certainly the No. 02 at times throughout the race,” Franchitti laughed, offering a jab at Montoya. “It was bloody impressive to come back with a one-two. And we are sitting here disappointed with second, but ultimately as a team effort it was huge.”
There’s a simple reason why drivers desire to race under the Ganassi banner, and Montoya said it best: “Everything he does is to win.” And Montoya has experienced Ganassi’s efforts in CART, Grand-Am and now NASCAR first hand.
“When we talked about doing NASCAR, I thought we would be really good, because I know when he wants to get things done, he'll do whatever it takes to win, and we have proven so, so it's pretty cool.“ Montoya said. “They have a really established IndyCar team, Grand-Am team and the NASCAR is coming along to that same direction. So, yeah, it's pretty amazing.”
Ganassi watched from the side of the stage as his drivers shared their praise. He appeared a tad uncomfortable with the compliments. Ganassi understands that racing success can be fleeting. Still, there’s personal satisfaction in sharing that success with the people that matter.
“I’ll tell you, you're just really fortunate to be in any sport or any business or any endeavor with a group of people that (co-owner) Felix (Sabates) and I are as lucky to have working for us, driving for us, and being a part of the team,” Ganassi said. “It's a great thing to be a part of a group of people that want to be a team, and they want to excel and they want to do well. That's a great thing to be a part of in life.”
McDreamy trades his scrubs for a racing suit
Patrick Dempsey is a racer at heart.
While he second-guessed his plan to travel cross-country for the screening of his film "Flypaper" at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday and back to Daytona on the red-eye for the start of the race, it was clear on Sunday that Dempsey had made the right decision.
Dempsey led 40 laps in the No. 40 Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8. As a team, the No. 40 finished third in the GT class. For Dempsey, who turned 45 on Jan. 13, it was his best class finish to date.
The driver, known as “McDreamy” for his day job, was not acting as he choked up while describing his journey to Daytona.
“You just think of the waves of emotions,” Dempsey said. “I started racing at the Panoz school a long time ago, and (teammate) Joe (Foster) was the head instructor and (teammate) Charles (Espenlaub) was the instructor. And from that, getting off the couch from watching SPEED on Sundays and my wife says go and follow your dreams, and to be here; . . . it's pretty special.”
When Dempsey was asked about his schedule beyond the Rolex 24 at Daytona, he replied, “Yeah, I'm retiring from Grey's Anatomy as of today. I'll be racing full-time from here on in. There's a headline for you.”
And then Dempsey just laughed.
“No, it's really tricky because you have to balance the two,” Dempsey added. “This weekend, it was so obvious with having to get to the premiere that was successful, and the career, I had to balance them out. I hope I can successfully balance both out in the competitive — be competitive in both of those arenas and make time for both. Next time hopefully, my family is here to see it.”
Montoya does it his way
Montoya barreled through three noses on the front of the No. 02 Target/TELMEX BMW Riley throughout his 234 laps in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
But when a racer comes back from two laps down to put the car in the lead — twice — it’s worth it.
“We’re pushing really hard out there,” the Sprint Cup Series driver said. “What makes it really hard is when the leader comes, they give a lot harder time than the other guys. I spent 10 laps or 15 laps trying to pass (the Krohn Racing No. 76), and when I finally passed him, he lets the other car go. So it was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ I was so hoping he was going to hold him and I’m going to open a bit of a gap. But, you know, it’s pretty exciting.”
During Montoya’s stints, he led 101 circuits, acknowledging “We’re driving the wheels out of the cars.” One look at the rims from earlier in the race backed up Montoya’s claim.
In his final stretch, he said it was “tempting” to move the No. 76 Ford Lola out of his way when it blocked him and his Ganassi teammate Joey Hand.
“But (team manager Mike Hull) came on the radio and said, ‘Whatever you do, do not touch him.’ When they say that, you (say), ‘Yes, sir.’ ”
After Montoya climbed from the No. 02 on Sunday, the question arose whether he was too aggressive during his time on the course.
“Me? I’m never aggressive. I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Montoya replied sheepishly. “No, over the night you have to be aggressive. There are some guys, when you get beside them . . ."
The tall and short of it
With the hours winding down in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, AJ Allmendinger waited in the Michael Shank Racing pits for his final stint in the No. 6 Ford Riley.
“My hands hurt, my feet hurt, my back hurts,” Allmendinger said. “It’s just one of those things. When you get to this point of the race, everything hurts. If you had video, you could show the crew guys' faces. Everyone is worn out.”
The 5-foot-6 Allmendinger has the challenge of trading places with Justin Wilson and Michael McDowell — who are both taller than 6 feet. As a bit of a joke, the Shank crew made a “Little Tykes” sticker for Allmendinger’s seat extender. But after 22 hours, humor does little to lessen the pain.
“For me, having my teammates be enormously large — in height — I’ve been stretched out. Pretty much the last two runs when I go to the brake pedal, I cringe because my back hurts so much. You just deal with it. That’s why I get paid the big bucks for this.”
