Daytona

Growing up in/around Daytona, I watched the development of these great engines/cars up close. Every February I froze/sweated my butt off watching the 24 hour races at Daytona..back when you could simply jump the fence and get into the pits. All those great drivers, Dan the man, Mike the bike, even Fireball Roberts in a Ferroni. Remember him? Black and gold Pontiacs/Chevy NASCAR, built by..SMOKEY YUNICK. Another great name in the engine development saga. I'm sure the smoke had a few secret Ford motors on his dyno at one time..don't forget the overhead cam 427 was a real engine!

The Ford effort was indeed a great package, but to me, the king was the 917 Porsche. Blindingly fast and totally reliable. They were as fast on the last lap as they were on the first lap. We lived in Ormond at the time, maybe 10 miles north of the track. One night I went home at 2 am to sleep, and as I got outa my car ('66 Mustang GT) I heard something. It was those 917's leaving the infield and hammering down the backstraight (No stoopid chicane back then). Awesome machines. Went on to dominate Group 7 racing, but that's another story.