So this olelongrooffan is trying to get a regular commentor and tips contributor admitted to the who can we get? exclusive list of Hooniverse contributors (Man, the guidelines have sure tightened up since this olelongrooffan got a key to the vault). Earlier this week, in an effort to acclimate him to Hooniverse posting guidelines, I downloaded a Hooniverse schedule, yes, there really is one–too much structure–too much structure. Anyway, when I checked out that schedule it was noted that a couple of my fellow regular contributors would handle the Weekend Edition until UDMan quits playing hooky. I emailed The Chief Blooger and asked if it was okay if this olelongrooffan submitted a post or two for WE. He responded with, “Of course. Also, would you lead your Rolex24 posts off with an image of a car instead of a different Rolex24 logo everytime?” Well, as my Momma taught me, when the BigBoss tells you to do something, “Just Do It.” Long before Nike came up with that slogan. And this olelongrooffan has done just that for this last couple posts.

So here is an image of the Northwestern #94 M3, which was, incidentally and unfortunately, the only running Turner Motorsports racecar at the end of this weekend, for my fellow Hoons viewing pleasure. 

It might be worth it to make the jump to see some other images gathered up that weekend while this olelongrooffan was down on the starting grid prior to the start of the 2013 Rolex24 at Daytona.

This former lead image was actually captured after I had left the grid. These clocks are placed all over the infield this weekend and are live timing devices. The 24 started at 3:30 pm that Saturday afternoon and the ritual around the campsite is to pop the top on a few bottles of the bubbly stuff to celebrate the start and I knew that was a tradition I didn’t want to miss. Plus the grid was freakin’ packed as will be seen just a ways down the page.

The above image is notable for two reasons.

No, not those two reasons.

The first one is the number of touristas on the track making their way back to the grandstands. Yeah, at every race, Joie Chitwood and his team place those aluminum steps at various points along the SAFER barrier wall to allow the grandstands folks the opportunity to come down to the grassy area and check out what is going on down here on the Grid.

The second would be that NASCAR loving dude to the right in the camo hat and the Carl Edwards T-shirt with, presumably as they are unseen, pit road credentials. Did he get those from this olelongrooffan? But I do have this to say about that. As recently as three years ago, he would not be seen within a stone’s throw of this event. Sometimes the loss of exclusivity is not such a great thing. But that, in a nutshell, sums up the NASCARization of Grand Am Racing. Unfortunately, I am afraid next year may even be worse.

As you can see, the grid was packed with onlookers that afternoon. The folks standing in the grass to the left were kept in place by a bunch of khaki wearing dudes holding a yellow ski rope. It was a good thing as if they were allowed on pit road, it would have been even crazier.

The WeatherTech sponsored Porsche GT3 finished sixth in class. This is a pretty cool result for Alex Job Racing, a home grown team based out of nearby Tavares, Florida. 

Yeah that GT3 is sure a good looking car and this olelongrooffan was pretty excited about seeing it up close. Oh yeah, the WeatherTech girls were cute in a almost slutty kind of way.

But the Turner girls, as does their entire organization, just ooze Class, yeah with a capital C.

Just a ways down the grid next to Mikey Waltrip’s entry, this old timer was spotted by this olelongrooffan. For my fellow Hoons who do not follow NASCAR, the dude in the black shirt without a hat is longtime driver Mark Martin. It was funny, as I watched him walk up, there was a woman, obviously a NASCAR fan, who spotted Mark and her jaw just about smacked the pavement at it dropped when she realized who he was.

So as he was leaning up against the Ferrari race car I watched him knock his wedding ring finger against the side of it in almost nervous like gesture. And my fellow Hoons gave this olelongrooffan shit for rubbing a finger lightly over a display car last year.

After I observed this, I asked him when he was going to drive in this series. He commented, “I don’t know, now I’m going to leave it to the Professionals,” drawing a laugh from every one of us standing around.

This year, as was the case with Brumos last year, is the first year Krohn Racing ran a GT class Porsche, stepping away from the Prototype class altogether. 

About this time, I took a look down the grid and realized how packed it was and this olelongrooffan knew there was some cold bubbly waiting for me back at the campsite so I decided to head on back and share the start with my buddies.

But first, I had to grab another image of that Audi R8 that was sporting such a crappy paint job vinyl wrap at the Roar Before the 24 a few weeks previous.