The lead fabricator at Riley Technologies, Bill Daniels enjoys fueling because it gets him close to the action. "Otherwise, I'm stuck in the shop. I started doing this as a fly-in deal just to help out. Now, they like having me along, because I can do fab work if a car needs to be repaired." The fueler is one of the busiest people on the crew. Tires are changed most stops, drivers every three hours or so, but Daniels fills the tank every time the car pits. "The hose is heavy and stiff, and you've got to manhandle it. I'm 49 years old, and my legs are giving out."

Richard Pardon

Bill Daniels | Fueler, No. 33 AMG-Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3

Above: The 2017 Rolex 24 at Daytona featured 219 drivers, but they were the tip of the iceberg. Largely overlooked by most fans were the thousands of crew members, officials, volunteers, and support personnel who worked to make the race happen and broadcast it to the world. We caught some of them in action during this year's long, wet test of endurance.

Richard Pardon

John Hindhaugh | Lead Announcer, IMSA RADIO

John Hindhaugh's voice, with its distinct Sunderland English accent, has been synonymous with Radio Le Mans for nearly three decades. He broadcasts between 40 and 50 races a year, including those famous 24-hour events in France and Florida. "Everybody always talks about [Daytona's] high bank, but the infield races very well. Also, racing at night is always cool. At Le Mans, the night doesn't last nearly as long. Of course, here you've got the stadium lighting, which is fantastic, but there's something almost illicit about racing in the dark—like you're getting away with something."

Richard Pardon

Tim Rose | Safety-car Driver

Open-wheel race driver-turned-Bondurant instructor Tim Rose drove two four-hour shifts in the Audi R8 V10 safety car. During caution periods—21 in this year's race—he or fellow drivers Andy Lee and Rob Knipe roared out from their post to pace the field until the green flag was thrown again. "The safety-car speed is 60 mph, but there are times we have to chase after the leader, which is fun. At Daytona, we would hit the throttle right after the Bus Stop [to create a gap to the leader] before going green. On one of the last restarts, Filipe Albuquerque was following me so closely that I was doing something like 135 mph when I ducked into the pits."

Richard Pardon

Jeff Jacobucci | IMSA Pit-lane Marshal

The refs are no more popular in racing than in any sport. Yet Jeff Jacobucci—a former technical official for SCCA Pro Racing and Grand-Am, now working for IMSA—keeps drivers and crews safe. He was one of 14 officials prowling the pits during the race. "I had to call in a penalty on the No. 10 car [which went on to win the race], because it came in unannounced, and the fire-bottle guy wasn't ready to go over the wall. The team got a drive-through [penalty], but it was so obvious that they totally understood."

Richard Pardon

Andrew Carbonell | Spotter, No. 70 Mazda Motorsports DPI

After finishing ninth in class in a Mazda MX-5 in the IMSA support race the day before, Andrew Carbonell braved rain, cold, and tedium during four-hours-on/four-hours-off shifts spotting for the Mazda RT24-P. We caught him at work high above the start/finish line. "The great thing about this job is that you feel like you're taking part in the race. We try to help the drivers manage traffic, and we also monitor race control to keep them updated on track conditions," he says. "Oh, hang on a second. We just went yellow. I'm waiting to see if the leader pits. If he does, I'll tell our guy to stay out to get a lap back."

Richard Pardon

Race Control

From the split-level race-control center overlooking the tri-oval, more than a dozen officials monitor a bevy of screens showing live video feeds, telemetry data, weather reports, and a host of other information. "This is my 42nd Daytona 24-hour race," says Mark Raffauf, IMSA's senior director of racing operations. "When I started, we didn't even have a TV feed. I had to rely on corner workers, and I had to play Twenty Questions with them. But even with all the information we have now, it's not as easy as calling balls and strikes. Guys are trying to get to the same piece of pavement at the same time, and there are very few race-car drivers who have never screwed up. We want to be fair. But we also don't want the drivers to be so afraid of penalties that they're driving around nose to tail."

Richard Pardon

Flagger

While weekend club races are often staffed by a handful of flaggers, the Rolex 24 requires a hundred. Not only do they work for 24 hours—four hours on, followed by an eight-hour break—but the sheer number of cars and classes mean they are constantly brandishing yellow caution flags and blue passing flags, as well as calling in incident reports and keeping an eye out for debris on the track. Since 1983, Michael "Mo" Overstreet has flagged at events ranging from F1 to SCCA racing, which is his first love. At Daytona, his shift began Saturday night. "It was raining, and the wind was blowing, and it was cold. So, yeah, it was miserable, but it beat the hell out of working! Plus, you get free beer."

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