ROLEX 24 RETRO: Sharp, Taylor, Pace take 1996 thriller

Rain, illness, and a hyper-aggressive Italian couldn't stop the team of Scott Sharp, Wayne Taylor, and Jim Pace from winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 1996.

In what continues to rank among the great Rolex 24 thrillers, the fight between Doyle Racing's Riley & Scott Mk III-Oldsmobile piloted by the winning trio (ABOVE) and the pole-sitting MOMO Ferrari 333 (BELOW) headed by Max Papis, team owner Gianpiero Moretti, sports car legend Bob Wollek and Belgium's Didier Theys, continues to stand the test of time.

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Prior to the 1996 race, victories at Daytona had been settled long before the checkered flag waved. In the five Rolex 24s run from 1991-'95, the winners put a combined 66 laps on the second-place finishers. 1996 broke the trend as "Mad Max" Papis and the gorgeous V12-powered MOMO Ferrari rocketed around the 3.56-mile circuit in the final hour, finishing just 65 seconds behind Taylor's Riley-Oldsmobile. At the time, it was the closest finish in Rolex 24 history.

Two decades later, the event ranks among the proudest achievements for some of those involved.

"For so long it always seemed like the 24s were pretty well over with four or five hours to go if nothing catastrophic happened," said Sharp, who took part in the first Indy Racing League event the week before winning the Rolex 24. "You usually had a pretty good feeling for what was the end result would be after breakfast in the morning, but that was a race that really was a nail biter to the end.

"In modern times, that is the way it has become. It has become a sprint race. Look at these days, there are always two or three cars in contention, on the same lap. Our '96 race was the first I can remember where it turned into a sprint race in the end, and that created a lot of drama."

Increases in overall engine, transmission, and chassis reliability have made today's Rolex 24 at Daytona an event where most cars finish, and finish within sight of the class leaders. The 1996 race, which featured IMSA's World Sports Car prototypes as the top class, was turned into a close finish because of reliability issues, as Taylor (BELOW) recalls.

"The race started off wet but not wet enough for wet tires, and in those days, we ran Pirelli tires, so we were able to use dries or intermediates or rains as needed, and it was a very, very, very difficult race for drivers because of the changing track conditions," he said. "There was a freezing mist that was terrible to deal with. You were always fighting the track and it was waiting to bite you."

An estimated crowd of 40,000 fans braved the weather to watch the Olds- and Ferrari-powered prototypes trade the lead for most of the event. Multiple problems struck both teams, and whether it was a minor crash, gearbox issues, a broken exhaust, a leaking radiator, or bodywork damage caused by flying debris, an informal "Balance of Misfortune" table kept the Doyle and MOMO entries in the hunt throughout the race.

"Scott went off in the rain and ripped the nose off, and that lost us a lap, and there was a shifting problem at one point, and there were other things that slowed us, but otherwise, the guys did a good job to recover and we got it back and the lead with it," Taylor continued. "We led most of the race; it was always really between us and the Ferrari. We know they had a lot more horsepower than we had, but we were better in the rain and on intermediates. We always felt we could win the race, but the last hour was scary because it looked like we were going to hand the win to Papis when I started having more problems."

Laps had been gained and lost on both sides of the battle, yet appeared to settle, in favor of the Doyle team, in the final run to the checkered flag. Had things gone the way Taylor preferred, Papis would have finished one lap behind, but at the 22-hour mark, the Riley-Oldsmobile acquired a fuel flow problem that starved the V8 at inopportune times. The big red Ferrari, with Papis on the charge of a lifetime, carved up to six seconds off Taylor per lap.

"I was in the car the last two hours when we started having a fuel pump problem," Taylor said. "Thankfully, we had two pumps, a primary and a backup, so for the last hour I was leading by almost a lap, but I'd have to turn one pump on and one pump off each lap. Here we are, supposedly in command of the race, and we're handing back time every lap to Papis as the engine cuts out and I'm throwing switches on and off to keep going.

"The last hour was really worrisome, and Papis made up almost a lap. I couldn't believe we might lose the race in the last hour, but it doesn't matter whether you win by one second or one lap. Winning by 65 seconds was less than what it should have been because we were nursing the car, although it made a memorable race. I heard from a lot of people who were fascinated watching to see who would win."

Of the three drivers, Sharp (LEFT) and Taylor garnered most of the attention, but Pace, according to his teammates, deserves his fair share of credit and appreciation.

"Jim has had a long career and has always been an excellent driver; winning with him at Daytona brings back excellent memories," Sharp said. "Going into that race, I didn't really know Jim well. But he did a great job for us. I remember we felt like all three of us had a good pace. And when Wayne was feeling sick for a little while [early Sunday morning], Jim jumped right in to take that extra time in the car."

"I really liked the three drivers we had for the car," Taylor added. "Scott was already well known from IndyCar, and Trans-Am, and was a big name, and Jim wasn't coming in with the same profile like that, but he did a really good job and was an important part of the team's success."

42 days after standing in Victory Lane at Daytona (RIGHT, courtesy of Getty Images), Taylor, Pace, and Belgium's Eric van de Poele would earn a second consecutive win, taking the prestigious 12 Hours of Sebring ahead of...another Ferrari 333 SP. In hindsight, Taylor reckons the 1996 Rolex 24 win, coupled with the next result at Sebring, made for an unforgettable period in a career that spanned four decades.

"Daytona was a great, great, great win," Taylor said. "1996 was a turning point for me, really. Bill and Bob Riley were in charge and were such a big part of my life in those early years when I came over here. They respected me highly as a driver, and I respected them as engineers, designers and as a team. We had good partners. We were promoting the Oldsmobile Aurora brand and so we had engines from GM, and we were racing against Ferraris. Doesn't sound fair, does it?

"Winning Daytona the first time was remarkable, and then we went to Sebring for the next race and won again. Those were two of the greatest highlights of my career."

Another legacy was born from the 1996 Rolex 24. For Papis, who was making his American racing debut, the starring performance in Moretti's Ferrari caught the attention of sports car and IndyCar team owners. On the strength of his showing at Daytona, he'd get the call later in the year to make his first IndyCar start, replacing the late Jeff Krosnoff. "Mad Max" has made his home in America ever since.