of The Rolex 24 at Daytona & Two AJs

It was sad to see that AJ Foyt could not make it to this year's Rolex 24 at Daytona. Speed reported that he was too sick to give the call to start the engines. I hope for the best. He is one of the toughest Texans and a racer that should be admired by race fans of every type.

The race was fun. I saw several hours of it. The field was huge! Something like 114 cars in the field. Just nuts. Who didn't have a ride in this race?

The Grand Am Series finally got the DPs right - looks wise at least. It would have been great to see the new Corvette DP win but that Ford looked sweet, too. I'd prefer more than one GT class but who can argue with those numbers? I was really impressed with the restraint of the officials as they kept the race under green for the last 15 minutes. Cars seemed to be sliding off track or stopping everywhere in the final minutes except for the banking at the S/F line. Then Waltrip took his Ferrari into the tires. I was screaming at the TV 'knowing' that the NASCAR fix was in. It wasn't. AJ - The Dinger - Allmendinger won the race under green.

I seem to remember that kid, not too long ago, trying to find some shade under his team's Formula Atlantic tent at The Mile. Am I that old?