Rolex 24 Retro: Wayne Taylor Up to the Challenge in 2005

Unhappy with being out of action with the end of the Cadillac factory prototype program following the 2002 24 Hours of Le Mans, Wayne Taylor looked for a new challenge.

He found it in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series, fielding a Pontiac Riley in the triple role of driver, owner and business manager in partnership with Bill Riley. He finished third in the Daytona Prototype driver championship in his 2004 debut season, winning three races and placing 10 points behind Scott Pruett in the championship.

For 2005, Taylor set his sights on winning the Rolex 24 and the Rolex Series championship – and was successful on both counts. Co-driving with long-time associate Max Angelelli and Frenchman Emmanuel Collard, Taylor fielded the black SunTrust Pontiac Riley for the Daytona opener.

Competition included a three-car entry from Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates with a lineup studded with NASCAR and IndyCar stars; and a three-car Crawford lineup, including Tony Stewart – one of five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions in the field with Terry and Bobby Labonte, Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth.  Other racing champions included Champ Car’s Paul Tracy, Cristiana da Matta and Sebastien Bourdais (who co-drove with Paul Newman); IndyCar’s Scott Sharp and Scott Dixon; and reigning Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice.

In 2004, Stewart came within 17 minutes, 45 seconds of taking the overall victory when a suspension part failed on his car. For 2005, Stewart seemed ready to exact revenge. Co-driver Andy Wallace was leading the race after prevailing in an exciting back-and-forth duel with Collard when he suddenly went to the pits and behind the wall with two hours, four minutes remaining. The team lost 11 laps to change the transmission, returning the lead to Collard.

Angelelli took over for the final hour, and went on to win by 11 laps over the Crawfords of Butch Leitzinger, Elliott Forbes-Robinson and future NASCAR superstar Jimmie Johnson, and the car of Stewart, Wallace and Jan Lammers. It was Taylor’s second overall victory in the Rolex 24, having won in 1996 with Sharp and Jim Pace in a Riley & Scott Oldsmobile.

For Collard, it was a first major international victory. The triumph enabled Angelelli to complete his personal Rolex collection with the watch that he had to earn at Daytona. For Taylor, it launched a five-victory season and a romp to the DP championship by 34 points over Pruett and Luis Diaz.

Ten years later, Taylor is looking for another Rolex 24 victory in a single role as car owner. Doing the driving – with the help of Angelelli – are his two sons, Ricky and Jordan. While Taylor hasn’t won since 2005, he’s placed second three times (including the past two years), in addition to a third, fourth and fifth.

Now, his sons are looking to share in a third Rolex 24 victory.

“I remember hanging around the pits with my mom and Jordan, going back and forth from the track to the hotel – we didn’t stay in a motor coach back then,” said Ricky, now 25. “I remember the car was fast – especially during the night – and how it came down to a battle between us and the Crawford of Andy Wallace and Tony Stewart. Back then, I’d hoped I’d race in the Rolex 24 someday. But I never thought I’d be with a real good team, and driving with my dad.”