X
@nascarcasm: Andy Lally’s guide to the Rolex 24
By @nascarcasm | Friday, January 28, 2022
1 of 21
View Fullscreen
No one knows the Rolex 24 At Daytona quite like multi-time winner Andy Lally. We asked the pressing questions, and he gave the (sometimes too) detailed answers.
2 of 21
View Fullscreen
3 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “I think this will be my 20th or 21st time racing the Rolex 24 and I’ve been fortunate to have five wins, three second-place finishes and a third-place finish.”
4 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “No. I’m not a flashy guy.”
5 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “Each team has the option of three to four drivers and it’s a bit of a strategy play. The less drivers the less disagreements and the more practice time for each but if there was ever a problem leading up to or during the race with one of the drivers, having four drivers in the lineup means you can still comfortably do the race. If you lose a driver out of the rotation of only three that makes it very tough to rest in between stints as you almost always want a driver in the pits in case of an emergency in the car so you lose the least amount of time if a change is needed.”
6 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “The maximum you can drive at one time is four hours but for the most part we double stint which equates to about two hours. This seems to make the most sense for keeping the drivers clear-headed and not wear them out in one shot so they can't recover fast enough before the next time they drive. One fuel load is called a sting and at Daytona the GT cars can go just under an hour with a load of fuel. The amount of fuel each car can carry is dictated by IMSA. The prototype cars can usually only go for about 35-40 minutes on a tank of fuel. This means they usually do triple stints.”
7 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “It tends to change year to year but it has been building. A long time ago you just needed to do one lap. About 15 years ago they changed that to 45 minutes but now the minimum to be counted as an official driver is about four hours.”
8 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “I hope I’m not jinxing this but I’ve been pretty fortunate not to have too many gross stories inside the cockpit. Having the flu one year meant I sneezed a lot and coated my helmet mic pretty well but it was nothing my teammates had to touch or sit in.”
9 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “About 10-12 years ago I had a driver that couldn’t hold it. He never told me… but I could guess when I jumped in the car and buckled in and he confessed later… Thanks Sean!” (EDITOR’S NOTE: LALLY DID NOT PROVIDE THE LAST NAME OF THE ALLEGED SEAT HOSER)
10 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “A GT car is very representative of the super cars you see on the road, Aston Martin, Audi, Ferrari, Porsche, Corvette, BMW, McLaren, Mercedes and Lamborghini are all represented this coming weekend at the 24. Prototypes are the opposite of what the name implies but to simplify it, they look like little spaceships flying low to the ground. They are lighter than the GT cars with similar horsepower and increased downforce.”
11 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “It’s a forced cohabitation. If you are an experienced driver you can learn to position yourself on track to make the most out of your lap times. An inexperienced driver will understandably struggle with this as it is difficult and takes time to learn all the variables of how and why you would position yourself a certain way. Even then it is still a guesstimate. You can also be a Corvette driver, where you just position yourself firmly atop your sandbags and complain a lot that the seas are not parting upon their approach.” (EDITOR’S NOTE: DAAAAAAAAMN)
12 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “This is tricky and takes a focus and understanding to be able to rest and recover properly. Many of the drivers have a motorhome they can escape to in between stints. It’s very important to be regimented on an efficient procedure once you are out of the car. Immediately rehydrate, then eat, then change and rest. In the last handful of years I’ve managed to get about two hours of sleep each year. This is usually enough to get you through the night. When the sun comes back up it helps to reenergize you and get you to the finish.”
13 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “In my first Daytona I was sleeping on the upper deck of the hauler. My crew chief, Tucker Merten, started pulling at my foot and saying the car was pitting in two laps and they needed me. I was so fortunate we were under yellow because I was still not fully awake as the adrenaline was spiking and I was pulling out of the pits and tightening my belts. This is not the norm and there are usually procedures that get followed to ensure this doesn’t happen.”
14 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “Lots of water and an occasional Gatorade in the three days leading up to it. During the event I do a lot of whole wheat pasta, vegetables, white and brown rice and other plant proteins for my energy.”
15 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “The podium celebration at Daytona is like no other. But we all usually talk a big game about how big a party it will be that night and often we are in bed by 8 because the minute you drive out of the track the adrenaline dump kicks in and your body begs for sleep.”
16 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “Short answer, yes. Longer answer, sometimes you can avoid being around them but depending on what class they are in there are different ways to try to efficiently keep your distance or minimize jeopardy when near them.”
17 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “Every. Single. Year. But I haven’t done it.”
18 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “The bus stop takes out the biggest amount of cars every year. It’s a very high-speed entry that gets dirty quickly and has very little room for error if you come off the line. In the dry it’s tricky, in the wet it is treacherous.”
19 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “In 2014 while drafting a Dodge Viper through NASCAR 4, he wiggled suddenly. I was close enough to him that his rear bumper was in my view but I had no view of the asphalt in front of me. The moment he wiggled I heard a huge pop to my nose. I radioed to my crew to tell them something fell off the Viper and hit us. It turns out that the Viper hit a possum and as it exited underneath their car, it had so much force it broke through the nose of my car, narrowly missed taking out the radiator and still had enough force to puncture the tub of the car. The crew saw the hole but didn’t think anything of it. 5 hours later we blew a clutch line. We pitted and the crew raised the hood to find a completely intact but mangled possum that had been bouncing around the front of the car for hours. The pics and tweets are easy to find on Google and I’m sure it’s still buried in my feed at @AndyLally.”
20 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “He wears Drakar and he is as dreamy as McDreamy could ever dream to dream.”
21 of 21
View Fullscreen
LALLY: “I have been fortunate to win eight Rolexes (five from 24 hour wins and three from IMSA Championships). I am still wearing my first one from 2001 but have given all the others away to people that have helped me through the years. If I could win another one I already know who it is going to, but that will be a surprise to them if that happens.”
Presented By: