Gurney’s Poem a Highlight of Grand-Am Banquet
On stage to accept second-place Daytona Prototype Team and Driver Awards with GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing team owner Bob Stallings and teammate Jon Fogarty, Gurney surprised the house when he read a poem that he wrote for the occasion. Gurney's "'Twas the Night Before the Rolex" followed the same the meter of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," but the subject matter was decidedly different from the holiday classic.
All in good fun, Gurney took friendly jabs at Rolex Series Competitors and Grand-Am Officials, and even some of his own GAINSCO team's personnel. The poem proved to be one of the highlights of the evening as well as great end-of-the-year stress relief after a full season of racing. Gurney, with some help from Fogarty, also cut the last word of the poem and instead opted to congratulate TELMEX/Chip Ganassi Racing and drivers Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas on a great season one final time.
You can view Gurney's on-stage reading of "'Twas The Night Before The Rolex" at www.GAINSCOracing.com and the text follows.
'Twas the Night Before the Rolex
'Twas the night before the Rolex
And all through the pits
The mechanics were plodding along
Far away from the glamour and glitz
The GAINSCO season started with such promise
But our bad luck became so chronic
There was no stopping our engineer Kyle Brannan
From grabbing yet another gin and tonic
We complained about engine rules
But got no love from the tower
Don't you know all the engines are the same?
And by the same, I mean plus or minus 40 horsepower
Leading in Virginia, in Daytona,
The Glen, Barber, Montreal and the rest
First we would need to finish
To prove we were truly the best
'Give it everything you have, Gurney'
I will, that you will not dispute,
So long as you remember
To plug in my cool suit
That New Jersey track is fantastic
But that new chicane is taking its toll
That's not really a chicane
That's just Eric Van de Poele
Uh-oh, on track the 01 hits the 23
There's another race incident to solve
Mark Raffauf jumps from his feet and says,
'Are you sure the 99 wasn't involved?'
It's the 58 out in front
But on the broadcast it's Leigh Diffey
I liked their chances before
But now they seem kind of 'iffy'
The interviews were classic this year
We had Scott's 'Hi to my family at home' ballad
And Joey Hand talking about mini-burgers
And a fresh garden salad
Out there somewhere in his Newell,
Mr. France smiles with pride
He's created a monster of a series
And for the fans, one hell of a ride
And so we say congratulations to Pruett and Rojas
From these two drivers with 'just no class'
Don't rest on your laurels,
Next year we're gonna kick your ass.
Good night everybody and congratulations again to the Ganassi guys!