Star Drivers Appearances
Since the Rolex 24 has a winter date during the off-season for other racing series, many top class drivers are available to take part in the event if sponsorship commitments allow. The track's marketing has sold the roll call of champions, considering the race a sort of "all-star" event of motorsports figures. Since each entry requires 3–5 drivers to trade shifts throughout the 24 hours, dozens of one-off drivers are necessary, and top-level participants from other forms of racing are highly sought after.
NASCAR stars such as Rusty Wallace, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Kyle Petty, Mark Martin, Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick, and Robby Gordon have all participated, with Martin and Robbie Gordon notably winning several class victories for Roush Racing in the GTO class in the 1980s–90s. In 2001, Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. teamed together in a Corvette, just weeks before Earnhardt's fatal crash at the same track in the 2001 Daytona 500.
Indianapolis 500 winners Buddy Rice, Dan Wheldon, Hélio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya, Sam Hornish, Jr., and Dario Franchitti are all recent participants. Other recent IndyCar drivers to take part in the event are Paul Tracy, Sébastien Bourdais, Danica Patrick, Jimmy Vasser, Scott Dixon, and Graham Rahal.
In addition, drivers in the race included celebrities such as Tim Allen, Frank Beard, Robert Carradine, Patrick Dempsey, James Garner, Gene Hackman, Bruce Jenner, Brian Johnson, Perry King, Lorenzo Lamas, Phil Mahre, Craig T. Nelson, Paul Newman, Dan Pastorini, and Jason Priestly.
Read more about this topic: 24 Hours Of Daytona
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