Corvette Magazine

be competitive in 24-hour race. The driver lineup was impressive. Jeff hired veteran Corvette driver John Heinricy, R. K. Smith, and California racer Bill Lester to join him with the driving chores. Danny Kellermeyer took on the crew chief duties and assembled a very experienced and competent pit crew. Danny runs two C-5 VETTES in the SpeedVision World Challenge service and is a retired GM engineer. During practice Danny and his crew rehearsed pit stops until everybody was expert at their assigned duties.
The #14 racecar is a 1999 Corvette hardtop kit car that is very well prepared with impressive attention to detail. The prototype 427 cubic inch LS-1 engine produced almost 600 hp and about 550 lb of torque. The Corvette is equipped with a standard C-5 driveline and a six-speed transmission. In addition competition brakes, carbon fiber bodywork, air jacks and coil over springs/shocks complete the package. For Daytona, SpecterWerks installed an automatic transmission final drive to reduce stress on the stock driveline. John Heinricy qualified the car in 46^th position with a time of 1:55.945 at 110.53 mph.
During the first three hours of the race, the red #14 jumped up the charts and was in 18^th place overall at 4:15 PM. Not long after, the car was brought into the pits with an apparent transmission problem. The car was taken to the garage and the crew discovered a broken oil cooler line. In thirty minutes the line was replaced and the car returned to the track, only to be back in the pits twenty minutes later with a thrown serpentine belt and an overheated engine.