Rice 12th driver to win Indy 500 and 24 Hours at Daytona
Rice teamed with David Donohue, Darren Law and Antonio Garcia to win the 47th Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 25 with Brumos Racing. It was the first series victory since 2003 for Brumos Racing and denied TELMEX/Target Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates its fourth consecutive triumph in the event.
"To think my face is on the BorgWarner trophy. That was an elite group. But now to also have all the people who have won the 24 hours at Daytona, and also for me to be able to do both, it's unbelievable," said Rice, the 2004 Indianapolis 500 winner. Rice joined double winners Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Arie Luyendyk, Al Unser Jr., Al Unser, A.J. Foyt, Bobby Rahal, Dan Wheldon, Mario Andretti and Mark Donohue.
The Donohues became the third father-son combination to win overall in the history of the 24-hour race (Al Unser and Al Unser Jr. and John Paul and John Paul Jr.). Mark Donohue won the 1969 race in a Lola-Chevrolet T70, joined by Chuck Parsons, for Penske Racing.
The victory was gratifying to Rice, who has competed at Daytona with Brumos Racing the past four years.
"We had a self-inflicted wound two years ago; we had a car that was capable of winning," Rice said. "Last year we had a bit of a mechanical issue. It's not like a big shock that we're running up front. But this year we made sure we had all of the I’s dotted and the T’s crossed and we came here and executed. That's what Penske does. That's what Ganassi and Wayne Taylor does. They're guys that win races. They execute."
David Donohue, who passed Juan Pablo Montoya with 39 minutes remaining and held off multiple late charges, echoed Rice's thoughts.
"These guys have put a lot of effort into this," Donohue said. "I'm glad to be able to carry the flag. The Brumos team is just a tenacious bunch of guys. We came here ready to run and we ran hard the whole time."
Dixon co-drove the No. 01 entry with Montoya, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas to second place. He also teamed with Franchitti, 2007 Firestone Indy Lights champion Alex Lloyd and Pruett to finish fifth overall in the No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates entry. Ryan Briscoe teamed with Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas to finished sixth.
KV Racing Technology Racing co-owner Jimmy Vasser teamed with Jimmie Johnson, Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty to finish seventh. The Childress-Howard Motorsports entry of Danica Patrick, Casey Mears, Rob Finlay and Andy Wallace moved from the rear of the Daytona Prototype grid to finish eighth.