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One more mission

Hans Stuck has done it all in sports cars except win at Daytona. He can fix that this weekend.

By MIKE READLING

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 3, 2001

DAYTONA BEACH -- Virtually all Victory Lanes look alike.

No matter what track or what city, you can count on certain things at the end of a race: An exhausted but elated driver standing on checker board pavement, thousands of screaming fans crammed into an extremely small space lined by chain link fences, and champagne and numerous driver-sponsoring liquids spewing on the many hugging bodies.

Hans Stuck has experienced this scene in winners circles all over the world. From Le Mans (twice) to Nurburgring, Germany, to Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, to Sebring (three times), Stuck has crawled out of a car, sprayed the crowd with whatever was handy and hugged crew members.

Everywhere, that is, except for Daytona.

Stuck gets his chance to change that today when the 39th annual 24 Hours of Daytona kicks off at 1 p.m.

Despite 19 tries at Daytona International Speedway, Stuck has yet to win, overall or in one of the classifications. His best finishes are a pair of second-place class showings in a Porsche 962 in 1986 and '87.

Otherwise, it has been bad luck.

"Daytona was never good to me," Stuck said. "It seems like I'm always breaking down, crashing, something. Last year I had just got out of the car during practice on Friday and was walking back through the pits when my teammate crashed the car. We never started the race.

"Since I'm getting older now, I'd be happy with a class win. A class win would be very nice to put on my shoulders."

Stuck called Daytona one of the toughest -- if not the toughest -- races in the world.

"To win Le Mans is easier than Daytona for sure," Stuck said. "Because if it's a nice day over there you get maybe 41/2 hours of darkness. Here it's 11 hours of darkness. Then, when the race is underway, you have to keep concentrating. Every corner, every brake is a new thing you have to master. Daytona, you have nowhere to have any rest. Daytona is three times tougher on drivers and cars than Le Mans."

Still, Stuck likes his chances entering this year's opening twice-round-the-clock event.

Stuck will be driving the world's only V-8 BMW M3 and will do it with one of the world's best road racers, close friend Boris Said. The team qualified second in the GT class and 32nd overall.

The car was developed by Professional Technology Group owner Tom Milner and is expected to be able to compete with the Porsches which tend to dominate the GT class in endurance races worldwide. This version of the M3, dubbed the E46, is expected to get more horsepower out of the corner and that should translate into more speed down the straightaway.

"This BMW shows that Tom Milner is always a step ahead of the factory. He's always been a man who knows what is going on," Stuck said. "I think that it's pretty cool when you see BMWs racing side-by-side with Porsches. It's not unfair, but I always thought that the Porsches have had a little more speed. This year we get a little gift with the V-8 and that's what we needed."

Stuck said the addition of Said to the team will provide a huge boost on the track and off.

Since meeting several years ago, Stuck and Said have become close friends. When Stuck celebrated his 50th birthday last month on top of a mountain in Austria, reachable only by cable-car gondola, Said provided one of the highlights by flying in from California to surprise his teammate.

"When we get together it's like we're two brothers separated at birth," Stuck said. "More importantly, we have the same driving style, we're the same height, which is very important because we don't have to worry about seat adjustments when we change drivers, and we know how to have fun. But when it comes down to business I don't have to worry one second about what's going on on the track when he's driving."

What Stuck and Said and teammates Tony Jennings and Terry Borcheller do have to worry about when they're on the track is the odds they're up against when it comes to the Porsches. The manufacturer has 32 entries in the 39-car GT class.

"This is a pretty good chance (to win his first Daytona race)," Stuck said, "but on the other hand, you can see how many Porsches there are."

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