RacingNation.com

Never Give Up

Dempsey/Wright Motorsports making their late pit stop in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. [Eddie LePine photo]

Endurance racing can be a cruel mistress. You can work like hell, do everything possible and then have victory torn from your grasp at the very end (or the beginning). The car finally will go no further, the driver makes a mistake, a pit stop is sloppy – it doesn’t really matter what happens. In the end, you reap what you sew. It is rare in this age of what really amounts to endurance “sprint” races, that a team can come back from adversity and finish well.

Dempsey/Wright Motorsports practiceg pit stops prior to the Rolex 24. [Eddie LePine photo]

Dempsey/Wright Motorsports practiceg pit stops prior to the Rolex 24. [Eddie LePine photo]

This year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, however, had just such a comeback story. Dempsey/Wright Motorsports literally came from last place to finish on the podium with an outstanding 3rd place finish in the GTD class with their Porsche 911 GT America.

It certainly was a team effort, with outstanding driving put in by all 4 team drivers at Daytona: Phillip Eng, Madison Snow, Jan Heylen and Patrick Dempsey. In addition to the drivers doing their part, the outstanding Dempsey/Wright Motorsports crew, led by John Wright, made all the right moves and made all the right decisions during the race.

Finding themselves 6 laps down from the leaders by the second hour of the race due to a problem with the transponder which records laps, the team fought their way back from as low as 50th overall to eventually finish in 3rd place in class and a very credible 15th overall in the Rolex 24.

In looking at the lap charts, it is easy to surmise that they would have likely been looking at a class victory had the transponder issue not arisen.

The team went into the race at Daytona carrying quite a burden on their backs – they would be flying the famous Brumos Racing red, white and blue colors. Brumos has a habit of doing quite well at Daytona, and the team certainly lived up to the Brumos heritage with their never say die attitude as they continued on after the early problem, hour after hour and lap after lap.

When the Brumos alliance was announced, Patrick Dempsey commented on how nice it was to see the Brumos colors back on the track. “Brumos Porsches have been on numerous podiums over the decades, which is really inspiring to me. I’m proud to be part of this iconic team. It is steeped in history, and I think to be part of that raises the game of everyone on the team.”

He certainly got that right. It would have been easy to give up and just drive around the track after falling so far behind early on, but they didn’t and continued to drive flat out and the results are a testament to their efforts. Hour 2: 16th in class, hour 8: 11th in class, hour 15: 8th in class, hour 22: 4th in class, hour 24: 3rd in class and on the podium.

The Brumos colors will be flying on the Dempsey/Wright Motorsports Porsche again at Sebring and as always will be a fan favorite.

Hurley Haywood, legendary Brumos Porsche driver and advisor to the Dempsey/ Wright Motorsports team said it best when the partnership with Brumos was announced. “John Wright is a class act. The Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring make a smart pairing with Dempsey/Wright Motorsports, and I’m excited to be part of it.”

Perhaps the quote from the homepage on the Wright Motorsports website sums up this team’s efforts the best. John Wright says – “It’s not luck, but rather a series of planned events well executed.” At Daytona, even the unplanned events didn’t keep the team from their mission.

We are looking forward to seeing the Dempsey/Wright Motorsports entry flying the Brumos racing colors once again at the upcoming 12 Hours of Sebring. Look for them to try and improve on that Daytona performance by a couple of places.

Share Button