ROLEX 24 RETRO: Wheldon’s 2006 win

Dan Wheldon's legend may have been built with two Indy 500 wins at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but nestled between those achievements, "Lionheart" also added to his lore on the high banks of Daytona.

In a life dedicated to open-wheel racing, Wheldon also added four Grand-Am Rolex Series races to his resume, competing at the Rolex 24 At Daytona from 2005-2008, and with his victory in the 2006 event alongside Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Casey Mears, the Englishman joined an exclusive club of drivers to win both of the great American races.

Wheldon's shocking death in October 2011 continues to leave a void with those who knew the fun-loving champion, and with the 2016 Rolex 24 almost ready to get under way, four of the men who played central roles in the 2006 victory spent time to share personal reflections of winning at Daytona with the beloved Briton.

"You know, that was his first race with us," Chip Ganassi said. "And he came out of the blocks with a win. If people want to know about Dan's sports car racing, start with that."

Coming off of IndyCar Series championship and Indy 500 victories in 2005 for Andretti Autosport, Wheldon moved to the rival Ganassi program the following year. Rather than wait until March for his first IndyCar race with the Target-sponsored team, Ganassi and CGR managing director Mike Hull kicked off their working relationship with Dan in January at Daytona.

"One of the biggest reasons that we continued to do that race with our IndyCar drivers and our NASCAR drivers now added to the group – and certainly in 2006 is when it started wholeheartedly – was that it gives them an opportunity before the season begins to work together with the team," Hull said of adding Wheldon to Ganassi's No. 02 Lexus V8-powered Riley DP. "We had a full season of racing ahead of us, so why not start early? Everybody was getting used to each other. Dan was getting used to us, we were getting used to him."

Wheldon's introduction to the team at the Rolex 24 was noteworthy as he was IndyCar's hottest driver and the bon vivant of the paddock, but despite his personable ways, the chemistry wasn't instantaneous for everyone at Daytona.

"Yeah, our relationship went through stages," said four-time IndyCar champion and Dixon, who also won the 2015 Rolex 24 with Ganassi. The two would soon form a strong 1-2 punch in IndyCar, but with Dixon's laid-back ways in mind, Wheldon's big personality was far from an instant fit for the Kiwi at Daytona.

"We first got to know each other when he was with PacWest in Indy Lights when I was there in Champ Car," Dixon continued. "But the first time actually we really worked together was the 24 Hours, which...we didn't really see eye-to-eye too much to start with until later in 2006, when we started to become good friends. He always had a very good work ethic and obviously attention to detail. And that's when I started to pick up a lot on the attention to detail in those very, very long debriefs and the way he picked things apart. It was things like that where I guess you'd say I got a feel for how he did things."

Where Dixon learned to adjust to Wheldon's approach to racing, Hull and the Ganassi sports car team went in the opposite direction with Dan, who was new to the concept of endurance racing. Let's just say the team wasn't sure Wheldon understood the goal was to complete all 24 hours without interruption.

"Dan was used to racing two-hour [IndyCar] races," Hull said. "IndyCar racing was virtually by then a sprint race, so he treated the endurance car like it was a two-hour sprint racecar. A lot of [IndyCar] guys do that, but what we had to do was get out a chair and a whip and beat him back into the circle, to get him to understand how important that it was to turn over his car to his teammates in the same condition that they turned it over to him."

Vehicle preservation isn't a concern in your average IndyCar race, which made adjusting Danny Boy's approach a critical mission for Hull at Daytona.

"He was like a rock crusher in the gearbox through the first couple of stints that he did," Hull continued. "I don't know whether people recall what happened to us in the race, but we had some issues going on in the first third of the race. One of which was attributed directly to Dan. He was so hard on the gearbox he basically broke the dog rings and we were only 25 percent into the race. The [drivers] had to hold the gear lever in position during their stints.

"So what we did was we went to the garage on a full-course yellow and changed the entire gear carrier, put a fresh stack in. We actually came in under a yellow, and I think it was 5 1/2 minutes, we changed the front radiator, the cooling because it was running too hot, we put on a new alternator belt, we changed the battery, we changed the brakes, we changed the gear cluster, changed the tires, and changed the driver."

Wheldon wasn't lacking in the speed department, but his aggressive approach to extracting speed from the Riley-Lexus jeopardized the team's chances to win. When it came time to receive verbal lashings from Ganassi and Hull, the defending IndyCar and Indy 500 champion was humble and left with a determination to fix his mistakes before the next stint.

"Daytona isn't about necessarily how you race on the racetrack; it's how your drivers treat the car on the racetrack," Hull added. "He figured it all out. He didn't go running off to his motor coach as soon as he was out of the car. He came up and took the beating from the timing stand for a while and understood as time went on what he was going to have to do. After, I know he went back to his motor coach, and I guarantee he sat in the chair and rehearsed what he had to do to improve the next time he was up. And he came back and did it. When it came time to race, to go racing, the guy was absolutely dedicated to improving himself."

Like Dixon, Mears got to know Wheldon through Indy Lights where the Californian trained before eventually moving into NASCAR with Ganassi. Even with the team bosses delivering a smackdown, Mears recalls Wheldon's warmth never dimmed.

"He was a great teammate and we had a blast," Mears remarked. "All three of us had a really good time throughout that whole event. What we did was very, very serious, but he was making it light, making it fun. I just remember him having quick one-liners to help everyone relax a little. Things always get so serious; it was cool to have a guy like Dan around. He was serious about what he did and was very focused, but at the same time, he could help make it fun. I just remember laughing a lot."

Mears, Dixon, and Wheldon would go on to complete 734 laps, finishing one lap ahead of the No. 60 Riley-Lexus entered by Michael Shank Racing. At the time, it was the biggest victory of Dixon and Mears' careers, and it opened the account for Ganassi at Daytona, where the team has gone on to win six Rolex 24s since 2006, and the 2010 Daytona 500, for good measure.

Dixon would soon join Wheldon as an Indy 500 winner, claiming the 2008 race with Dan as his teammate, and Mears would also add a major win to his CV after capturing NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 race in Charlotte in 2007.

And there was another dimension to the 2006 Rolex 24 win that had a major impact for Chip Ganassi Racing. Coming off a brutal 2005 IndyCar season where Dixon and four different teammates were trounced using uncompetitive Toyota engines, the proud team was lacking confidence as 2006 approached. The arrival of Wheldon, and his overall influence that began in Daytona, is credited for the big turnaround that took place.

"The thing about Dan is he brought a spirit to our team," Ganassi said. "Having the reigning IndyCar champion and the reigning Indy 500 champion – he brought some real momentum with him, and you can't put a price on that. We'd had an off year for whatever reason, and Dan just bought an attitude to us. He came down to Daytona and won for us.

"And then he went to Miami (for the IndyCar season opener) and won for us there! He was two out of two, his first two races with us. The guy just brought something with him that you can't put your finger on. You can't touch it, but believe me, you can sure feel it. Our team felt it. Unquestionably, he brought us back to the winner's circle as fast as anybody."

Dixon and Wheldon would take their burgeoning relationship from Daytona into three seasons as Ganassi teammates where they became best friends. Even after Wheldon left the team for other opportunities, the two continued to build upon their friendship, and with Dan's untimely death in 2011, Dixon stepped up and went to great lengths to look after Wheldon's wife and sons.

Considering how far apart they started in 2006, the end result was absolutely heartwarming. The concept that brought them together at Daytona, which led to barriers being torn down and new bonds being forged, is credited to an unlikely source: One of Hull's grade school teachers.

"What he did was he figured out after about a week who liked whom, who sat next to whom, who played with each other next in the playground, was talking to each other, and conversely, who didn't," Hull said. "And we came in on a Monday morning after being in school for the first week, everybody's really happy, we sit down at our desks, and the first thing the teacher does is he pulls out this chart and put it up on the blackboard. It's a seating chart that puts people next to each other who can't stand each other.

"And within about a week's time, guess what happened? Because they had to do it, had to interact, they learned to like each other, found something in common. Our job running race teams is to get our people, get these race drivers together, so that we can accomplish more.

"Drivers are not the same. They're very different. Some are very engaging, some wear their emotions on the outside, and some are very reserved. Scott and Dan had a difference of opinion in the beginning, but they were thrown together at Daytona, like it or not, and soon learned to like each other. And they came to respect each other's ability on the racetrack, each other's ability to communicate. When one won, the other one won."

Dixon would love nothing more than to go after another Rolex 24 win with his dear friend.

"Obviously, we miss him greatly and some of us more than others," he said. "It's an event that he worked at and did very well at, but didn't get to try many times. For all the drivers that have won at some point throughout their career here, it's a big deal, and I know it was a big deal to Dan."

Memories of the 2006 win are never far for the team or its owner.

"We did a full restoration on that car," Hull added. "It was used for a while afterwards, and in other configurations, but we put it back to exactly how it was with the correct engine, electronics, and the correct Target livery. It sits in Chip's office in Pittsburgh and everyone who was associated with that win can continue taking pride in what we achieved together."

Dixon – the only Rolex 24 driver left from Ganassi's original winning squad with Wheldon and Mears – will pursue his third Daytona win starting Saturday at 2:40 p.m.