Wednesday, February 01, 2006 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - There were a total of 36 officially scored drivers in the cars that finished top-10 in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Sixteen of those 36 were Skip Barber trained – including those piloting the first-, second-, third- and fourth-place Daytona Prototypes. And the first- and second-place GTs. In fact, every car in the top 10 – except the fifth-place DP – had at least one SBRS-trained driver on its roster. Dan Wheldon teamed with Scott Dixon and Casey Mears in a Lexus Riley for the prestigious victory, while Mark Patterson, A.J. Allmendinger, Oswaldo Negri and Justin Wilson were just a single lap behind in another Lexus Riley DP. Patrick Long, Lucas Luhr and Mike Rockenfeller nabbed third in a Porsche Crawford, and fourth place belonged to David Donohue, Darren Law and Sascha Maassen in a Porsche Fabcar. Winning the GT honors (and ninth overall) was the Porsche GT3 Cup car driven by Spencer Pumpelly (SBRS instructor), Randy Pobst, Ian Baas and Michael Levitas. Second in GT (10th overall) were Andy Lally, R.J. Valentine, Johnny O’Connell and Marc Bunting, driving a Pontiac GTO.R. And for the record, 11th overall (ninth in DP) were Bryan Herta, Michael Valiente, Rob Finlay and Buddy Rice in a Ford Crawford. Skip Barber instructors other than Spencer – guys you likely had for your Three Day or Race Weekend – also made the big race. Former overall winner Jim Pace was in an ‘’all-Skippy’’ team driving a Porsche GT3 Cup; his co-drivers were Race Series regulars Revere Greist and Jim Lowe. Lonnie Pechnik and Nick Longhi teamed up in a Porsche GT3 Cup; Kelly Collins was also in a Porsche with Paul Edwards, Jan Magnussen and Andy Pilgrim; Jon Fogarty was part of a five-driver team in a Pontiac Riley DP; and Ian James was in a Ford Crawford DP. John Pew is not an instructor, but he is a long time, very fast Series guy who co-drove yet another Porsche GT3 Cup car. All told, amongst the top 50 finishing cars in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, there were 56 Skip Barber-trained drivers. Among the 28 different drivers that led the race, 10 are SBRS alumni. We want to give a ‘‘shout out’’ to all the Skip Barber drivers at Daytona. And thanks for carrying the flag… (if we missed your name, e-mail Rick Roso at [email protected] and we’ll make the fix instantly!). A.J. Allmendinger Tommy Archer Tony Ave Ian Baas Forest Barber Justin Bell Terry Borchellor Mike Borkowski Harrison Brix Kelly Collins Paul Dallenbach Wally Dallenbach, Jr. Frank Del Vecchio David Donohue Milka Duno Chris Dyson Clint Field Jon Fogarty J.C. France Brian Frisselle Burt Frisselle Memo Gidley Victor Gonzalez, Jr. Revere Greist James Gue Alex Gurney Nick Ham Bryan Herta Ian James Billy Johnson Bobby Labonte Randy Lajoie Andy Lally Butch Leitzinger Shane Lewis Patrick Long Nick Longhi Jim Lowe Peter MacLeod Brent Martini Jim Matthews Jim Michaelian Rocky Moran, Jr. David Murry Tom Nastasi Oswaldo Negri Joe Nonnamaker Jim Pace Danica Patrick Mark Patterson Lonnie Pechnik Kyle Petty John Pew Andy Pilgrim Randy Pobst Scott Pruett Spencer Pumpelly Boris Said Bryan Sellers Scott Sharp Rick Sutherland Jep Thorton R.J. Valentine Michael Valiente Dan Wheldon Rick Roso