24 Hours of Daytona

The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layout, a 3.56-mile (5.73 km) combined road course that uses most of the tri-oval plus an infield road course. The race has about 60 different cars competing for victory across multiple classes. With multiple drivers “Each team trades shifts between three and five drivers”. The race is held on the last weekend of January or first weekend of February as part of Speedweeks, it is the first major automobile race of the year in North America. The race is sanctioned by IMSA and is the first race of the season for the IMSA SportsCar Championship. The race has borne the names of several sponsors over the years. Since 1992, the Rolex Watch Company has been the title sponsor of the race, replacing Sunbank, which replaced Pepsi in 1984. Winning drivers of all classes receive a Rolex Daytona watch, a tradition that started back in 1964 for the Daytona Continental. The reason behind racers winning a watch is because back then “chronographs were really “tool watches” for those in the racing industry” used for time purposes. The race is known as a leg of the informal Triple Crown of endurance racing along with the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring. Since Rolex’s sponsorship, winners also receive a Rolex watch as part of their prize at the end of the race.