Cars that did not start

Jaguar did it

New technical rules were welcomed by the 1988 competitors, which were supposed to give the Porsche opponents a better chance at winning a race. Power was reduced to 650 hp, a trick also aimed at improving reliability and costs. The beginning of the season saw the arrival of the TWR Jaguar XJR9s, cars fitted with V12 engines which should give the Porsche 962s a run for their money. Jan Lammers, Davy Jones and Danny Sullivan would drive one car, Eddie Cheever, Johnny Dumfries and John Watson the second one and Martin Brundle, John Nielsen and Raul Boesel the last one. The Group 44 car was still entered, with Bob Tullius, Hurley Haywood and Whitney Ganz at the wheel. Porsche had six cars, with Derek Bell, Chip Robinson and Al Holbert car sporting a new livery. The Dyson Racing car was driven by Price Cobb, Rob Dyson, James Weaver and Vern Schuppan. Bayside Motorsport had a 962 for Klaus Ludwig, Hans Stuck and Bruce Leven, Brun Motorsport entered a car driven by Oscar Larrauri, Massimo Sigala and Gianfranco Brancatelli. BF Goodrich relied on Bob Wollek, Mauro Baldi and Brian Redman. AJ Foyt, Al Unser Jr and EFR drove the Foyt Racing car. Two less competitive entries were recorded with John Hotschkis-Jim Adams and Jim Rothbarth-Bernard Jourdain. Two Ford Probes were entered by Tom Milner, with Arie Luyendijk, Bruce Jenner, Tom Gloy and Tommy Schweiz running on both cars. An ADA Cosworth for Ian Harrower, Ian Flux and Stanley Dickens and a Tiga GT286 Cosworth, entered by Roy Baker for Chris Ashmore, Mike Allison and Stephen Hynes, those two cars were classified as GTPs as their engine had four valves per cylinder. Another new car was the Fabcar Chevrolet GTP. Chip Mead and Tim McAdam would share the driving. Phil and Steve Mahre have purchased an URD BMW and try their hand at this new category. Gianpiero Moretti fielded two March 86G Buick, he drove one of them with Michael Roe and Paolo Barilla. An older March 84G Pontiac was entered by Bill McDill, while an Alba Buick was driven by David Rocha and John Wood. A new Spice SE88P Pontiac, with a 4,5L engine, was entered for Steve Durst, Mike Brockman and Bob Earl. Twenty one Lights cars would fight it out, with many cars capable of winning. Spice cars seemed to have an edge over the opposition, but a nice share of Argos and Tigas had a chance at taking the class win. The GTO class was probably the most exciting one, with Ford and Chevrolet fighting against high tech Toyota Celicas. The Roush Ford Mustangs had been replaced by Mercury Merkurs and Protofab now entered state of the art Chevrolet Corvettes. a trirotor Mazda RX7, entered by Roger Mandeville could only play second fiddle. Bobby Allison was here with a Buick Somerset, co-driven by Dick Danielson. The GTU class was to be another Mazda versus Porsche battle, but a trio of Dodge Daytonas was to be seen. Full Time Racing entered one car for Kal Showket-Dorsey Schroeder and Phil Currin, Shelby Racing another one for Garth Ullom-Jack Broomall and Tim Evans. The practice sessions saw Mauro Baldi do a 1m38s917, quite close to the 1985 record. The weather was especially cold, but it would improve for the race. The Fabcar Chevrolet would not show up, as well as one Ford Probe and a Lola T616 Mazda. However, the second Momo March 86G Buick, which did not even practice, would start from the pits. Seventy five cars lined up in front of the pits, they would have one single pace lap before starting when the green flag is on. Jan Lammers jumped into the lead, followed by Bob Wollek but Price Cobb, apparently eager to take the lead, would overtake the both of them! He was in the lead after one lap, followed by Oscar Larrauri, Jan Lammers, Bob Wollek and Eddie Cheever. The leaders would catch up the slower cars during the third lap, and Price Cobb would maintain a very strong pace. Hans Stuck was also running strong and would find himself in second place, just before the first refueling session. Then it was Oscar Larrauri, Price Cobb and Bob Wollek during the next lap. Al Holbert would stop and keep running while everybody else was to switch drivers. He was in second place behind James Weaver, but the latter would have to stop for gearbox problems. Al Holbert was now in the lead and the car would dominate the race for a while. Hans Stuck and Klaus Ludwig, partnered by Sarel van der Merwe, were now in second place, but Hans Stuck would tangue with a slower car and lose twenty laps, his suspension having suffered a bit. Eddie Cheever and Johnny Dumfries would find themselves in second place after four hours, followed by Bob Wollek and Mauro Baldi. The BF Goodrich Porsche 962 was running faster than the Jaguar XJR9 and would soon be in the second spot. After five hours, Eddie Cheever and Johnny Dumfries were behind teammates Jan Lammers and Davy Jones, now in third place. The Brun Motorsport Porsche 962 was now in fifth place. The Group 44 Jaguar XJR7 had already retired with a broken cv joint. It was its very last race. Bob Wollek and Mauro Baldi took the lead after six hours, followed by Al Holbert and Chip Robinson, who were on the same lap. They would relinquish the lead to the Holbert Racing car two hours later, but the Jaguar XJR9s were closing on. Jan Lammers, Davy Jones and Dany Sullivan were accelerating and took the lead after ten hours. The four leasing cars were on the same lap and the race was getting exciting! A shower would add some more and drivers would switch for rain tires. The two Porsches were back in the lead, followed by the Jaguar driven by Eddie Cheever. Oscar Larrauri had retired his Porsche and the Foyt Racing car had an off course. Al Holbert was leading the race after sixteen hours, followed by two Jaguars. Bob Wollek lost two laps while leaving the pits with cold tires. But he was soon to get back into the lead, with Eddie Cheever and Johnny Dumfries just behind him. Martin Brundle, John Nielsen and Raul Boesel, whose Jaguar was now running smoothly, were now in third place. Jan Lammers, Davy Jones and Danny Sullivan were to retire when the engine expired. The Jaguar driven by Eddie Cheever suddenly experienced glitches and would have to slow down. It was now the third Jaguar XJR9 which was going to take the lead. The BF Goodrich Porsche 962 and the Jaguar would swap positions for hours, and the British car would stretch its lead when Brian Redman would lose one tire in front of the pits. After another caution period, an incident would occur, with the pace car seemingly willing to help the Porsche 962 gain one lap over the Jaguar. Mauro Baldi would take advantage of this and go for a refueling, but he would spin while exiting pit lane. His hood was dangling, and the pace car was still on the track. The Time lost was due to the fact that the Team had no spare hood, the team had to get its supplies from Porsche Motorsport! One lap was lost, which meant that the race was virtually over. The Holbert Racing Porsche retired with a broken engine, so the second Jaguar XJR9, driven by Eddie Cheever, Johnny Dumfries and John Watson took third place overall. The GTO race saw every leading car collapse, and the Skoal Bandit Chevrolet Camaro inherited the lead in the end, but the Roush Racing Mercury , driven by Scott Pruett, Paul Miller, Bobby Akin and Pete Halsmer finally took the win after losing time during the early spots. The Lights class saw a Tiga GT286 Chevrolet win with Tom Hessert, Daving Loring and David Simpson beating the Argo JM19 Mazda entered by Jim Downing. The GTU class was claimed by the Team Highball Mazda RX7 driven by Amos Johnson, Dennis Shaw and Bob Lazier. It was the fourth win in a row for Amos Johnson, who entered the legend by doing so. Gary Auberlen, Adrian Gang and Cary Eisenlohr ended up in second place, twelve laps down. It was the very first win for Jaguar at Daytona, which ended a fifteen year domination.