ROLEX 24 RETRO: BMW’s Bicentennial surprise

America experienced a fuel crisis more than once in the 1970s, and for participants in the 1976 24 Hours of Daytona, memories of a unique racing fuel crisis that struck early in the race will never be forgotten.

While most people encountered painfully long lines at the pump during the fuel shortage, the 72-car field at Daytona encountered a different, yet equally painful problem: an abundance of racing fuel...mixed and diluted by an abundance of water.

Tainted fuel wreaked havoc on the 1976 race – the same year the United States celebrated its 200-year anniversary – and led IMSA to take drastic measures to restore order as its cars stumbled, popped, and stopped throughout the circuit.

You can compress a mixture of fuel and air and cause it to combust with a spark, but with significant amounts of water added to the equation, engines quickly fall silent.

The source of that silence, which was soon traced to the track's contaminated raceday fuel supply, would see IMSA trim a full 3h54m from the race as the event was stopped and solutions were sought. After nearly four hours, an in the interest of returning the running order to its pre-water/fuel calamity, IMSA reset the race to where the field was running at the 1h10m mark.

In 1976, the 24 Hours of Daytona ended up being the 20 Hours and 6 Minutes of Daytona, and for the winning BMW factory team, the unexpected intermission, along with the eventual timing and scoring reset, gave the pole-sitting No. 59 CSL a chance to show its full potential.

BMW's Peter Gregg, Brian Redman, and John Fitzpatrick started from pole and drove the No. 59 3.0 CSL to victory by 14 laps over Al Holbert and Claude Ballot-Lena in the No. 14 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR. 40 years on, it stands as BMW's first and last overall win at Daytona, and came from at the end of an era where GT cars served as the top category in the event.

"I suppose in many ways I got a lesson in public relations from Peter Gregg, my co-driver," Redman said with a laugh while recounting the bizarre circumstances of '76 for RACER. "Because the first thing in the Saturday morning paper headlines were: 'Gregg wins pole.' Well, it was the car he was driving with me, but it was me that got it on pole..."

Redman was among the first drivers to encounter fuel-related problems, and was soon forced to trade his racing helmet for hand tools. Soaked in fuel, covered in oil and grime, the Englishman's relentless efforts proved to be invaluable.

"Yes, you can imagine the trouble there was over that; I was actually one of the initial drivers to experience the fuel problem," he said. "I came in the pits, refueled, and I didn't even get out of pit lane when the engine stopped. They pushed me back and they worked on it and it starts. Then I set off. I only got as far as the horseshoe, just after the pits, really, and it stopped again. So I ran back to the pits. I got tools and cleared the fuel injection system and it started. Off I went.

"On that same lap, as I came out onto the banking out of the infield, and it stopped again... By now, of course, the battery went flat. I go to the fence, ask if anybody can lend me a battery and jumper leads. A battery and jump leads appear. I go back and do the same clearing of the fuel system that I had done 10 minutes before. Now I can't even get it to turn over. It won't turn over.

"We found out that the jumper leads were faulty. We get some more jumper leads and it started. I came back from the pits just after that they stopped the race. Fortunately, [IMSA] then counted it back to whatever it was, 30 minutes before the problem started, and so we were back in the lead again. It was an interesting race."

BMW's sonorous 3.5-liter coupe was not the only member of the No. 59 team put to the test during the race. With an ailing co-driver, Redman turned in an ironman performance as he was left to complete most of the 20 hours and six minutes behind the wheel. What should have been a steady two-driver rotation turned into the Brian Redman & Associates Show.

"Early in the race, in the evening, Peter said he was sick and he couldn't drive," Redman continued. "So I continue doing session after session, and eventually, John Fitzpatrick was asked to help from one of our other cars and we eventually we won the race."

The assist from Fitzpatrick would prove invaluable. Despite Gregg's absence for most of the race, the impromptu pairing of Redman and Fitzpatrick carried the day for BMW. Redman, known for his ebullient personality, was stone faced in Victory Lane, and as he explains, Fitzpatrick was not impressed by Gregg's choice to share in their spoils.

"Of course, on the victory podium, there is Peter absolutely immaculate in his unsoiled white uniform and me, knackered, standing on one side looking like his grandfather," Redman said. "And John Fitzpatrick was so mad at Peter for going on the podium at all that he refused to go on the podium!"

His muscles fatigued and mind spent, Redman retired to his hotel after posing for photos. The enormity of BMW's first Daytona win was cause for celebration, yet in his exhausted state after helming the No. 59 for most of the race, Redman's dinner plans went awry.

"I got back to the hotel and I got into the bath, a nice hot bath...then I fell asleep until 3 o'clock in the morning!" he said with another laugh. "The next morning, Jochen Neerpasch, the team manager, said to me, 'Brian, you missed the victory dinner' in a displeased manner. I said, 'I know, I'm sorry, I fell asleep in the bath.' He said, 'It does not matter: Peter Gregg gave a fantastic speech in which he thanked all the German mechanics personally by name in German.' So I got another PR lesson from Peter..."

Among the other fond memories for Redman, the eclectic group of drivers BMW brought to the 1976 race stands out 40 years later.

"It was quite a fun group," he added. "NASCAR man Benny Parsons was driving with David Hobbs in one car. Tom Walkinshaw and John Fitzpatrick were in another. Quite the interesting lineup, if I do say so."

Another point of pride for Redman from '76 is winning America's biggest endurance race on only the second attempt by BMW, and the impact the victory had on the German brand's car sales.

"BMW motorsport was newly formed in 1975 and the first race was the Daytona 24 Hours, and both cars broke down," he said. "I was driving with Ronnie Peterson, Hans Stuck and Sam Posey were in the other, and we did not last especially long.

"Returning the following year to win was fantastic for the new BMW Motorsport team. And sales of BMWs – of course the whole reason for doing this is to sell more BMWs to customers – in that two- or three-year period after the BMW success, BMW retail sales quadrupled. It went up four times!"

Even with the enormous amount of drama associated with the win, Redman says the CSL's raw speed made racing through the fuel issues – and a separate engine problem – immensely rewarding.

"The car ran extremely well after racing continued," he added. "Around 5 o'clock in the morning, it lost a valve and so our car was now running on five cylinders, but if you drove it to its maximum safe RPM on the engine, which was 9000 RPM, it was faster on five cylinders than the fastest Porsche 911 Carrera on six. We were not to be beaten that year."