Monday, January 16, 2006

Danica Patrick To Race In 24 Hours Of Daytona

Danica Patrick will join the likes of Rusty Wallace, Boris Said, and Allen McNish to drive the Howard-Boss Motorsports Pontiac Crawford in the 24 Hours of Daytona. Patrick is an IRL regular but got her start in karting and should be able to hold her own on Daytona's road course. Wallace is a retired NASCAR ace who specialized in short tracks but had an impressive road-race record. Said and McNish are road-racing regulars, making this a fairly well-rounded team. It is also a marketing gimmie-shot as Patrick and Wallace should draw eyes that may not normally watch the arguably ugly Daytona prototype cars drone around for 24 straight hours.

---UPDATE---

While Boris Said was originally listed as the fourth driver, Howard Boss Motorsports has announced that Jan Lammers will take his place, citing "size limitations." This may sound trivial, however the height difference between Said at 6'4" and Patrick at 5'2" is not slight. Most multi-driver race cars have slightly adjustable seats, but 14" of travel is simply not possible. Lammers has won the Daytona 24 twice, finished third last year, and is certainly an appropriate replacement for Said.

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