went through gearboxes as fast as it went through tires, having apparently wound up with a batch of defective transmission parts. Intersport Racing’s Lola/Judd was running up front when their clutch failed. The usually strong Robinson Racing Judd/Riley & Scott looked poised to take advantage of everyone else’s problems when their engine lost a cylinder.
And so it went down the line until there was but one prototype ahead of the #2 Corvette. Ironically, it was the same Dyson Racing Riley & Scott prototype that led the Viper and Corvette in last year’s race. Adding to the irony, it dropped out for the same reason as last year – engine failure. As Dyson’s car sped past its pit on the front straight at more than 200 mph, the crankshaft in its 6-liter Ford engine snapped like a twig.
When Dyson’s car broke, it was 25 laps ahead of the second place #2 Corvette. At Daytona, the car that has gone the most laps wins regardless of whether it is running at the end, but there was more than enough time left for both Corvettes and several other cars to pass the Dyson lap count. Barring unforeseen catastrophes, the #2 Corvette