So we had some bad luck?  How about the leading GT car with Romain Dumas (French pronunciation, please), Timo Bernhard and some other hot shoes like Bobby LaBonte in the Porsche 71 relied on the engineers for the fuel count and with a 3 lap lead, ran out of gas on the back straight.  By the time they could get the car a splash to make it back to pit lane and refuel, down 3 laps.  A 6 lap arithmetic error involving but a pint or two (of fuel, I assume).

So 3 hours to go and AJ, always light in the confidence department, adds helmet, gloves and radio earpiece to wait out one more lap before Valiante's fuel runs dry.  AJ's objective is to run out the last 3 hours alone, back to back.  Take a risk, take a podium?  All on plan: Justin Wilson in the 01 pitted a lap or two before us, in P1, still 4 seconds ahead of Mike Rockenfeller piloting the V8 Porsche # 9, an engine that I don't believe has won a Grand Am race before.  We still need a bolt of lightening of the 3 lap variety to improve our wristbands this year.  From a once famous movie titled after the less than stellar IQs of its stars: "So there is a chance!"

The 4 leading DP drivers after punishing these cars for more than 21 hours, are pounding out full sprint race times of high 41s and 42 flats at this famous track.  Man and machine knows not when to quit.  No one's looking after the gear, stretching it to make that safe landing.  They all want it all, everything.  No quarter given.

Jumping jelly beans, no sooner had I penned the lightening line above than my pal who helped us win the P2 Rolex 24 Hour podium in 2006, Justin Wilson, steered Ganassi's last remaining steed into the stables.  Mercifully for them it was only a 2 lap bolt of lightening, but this ugly twist of fate hands the 24 Rolex victory two and a half hours before the green flag, to the V8 Porsche #9, unless some other quirk appears out of nowhere.

To get some sense of the carnage and the back and forth in this race, there have been 53 lead changes already and 20 of the original 44 permitted entrants are still trying to get to the finish line - one car was suspended due to speed/safety issues before the race, but 20 have staggered off the field unable to complete this marathon event.  Yellow flags abounded, but interspersed were long demanding sessions where pitting under green, repetitively, was the only option.  Even the leading 9 car is having clutch and accelerator problems, dropping about a second a lap, but given their lead, they shouldn't be losing this one.

The worst four letter word in racing, fate, reared its ugly head with less than an hour 20 to the podium, on Lap 706 for us, as thick trickles of smoke peeled from the left rear of the car, lasting no more than half a lap before exploding into flames, forcing AJ to pull over and park our podium achievement for the day.  And the night.  Game over.  No podium, no Trueman Trophy.  And life goes on.  Wonderful team, lots of sacrifices, tons of effort and we're likely to slip from P3 to about P8 or 9.  How gut wrenching. Never failed to finish a 24 before last year.  Now 2 in a row.

Good news for Ozz still powering around the track in P6 with 684 laps under the 60 car's belt ( a car that replaced one clutch and is losing this one), the remaining time to the checkered flag should allow him (and Krohn's 75) to take a position each.  It's likely Tracy Krohn wins the Trueman Award.

That's all she wrote, folks.  Thanks for traveling along this fast, exciting and dream shattering road with all the men and women of Michael Shank Racing.