Race the entire day

I did it day one on our first race we ever ran. Our Fuel stops were really slow, and something broke that needed fixing, so I think I only drove like 5ish hours ( I changed this - as it could not have been more that 5 hours because we only got fuel once ) .  I didn’t know any better - but man I was cooked. It was NH in Oct, and it was pretty cool. If it was Aug in Thompson, it would have been  my last race.

I try not to keep drivers in the car more than two hours now.  If a driver is uncomfortable and they come in after 45 minutes that’s cool and encouraged. If it’s not fun and you not feeling it... then come in - get the beer iced down and fire up the grill.

Yes, Spank did it an Sonoma in the moke.  He had a credit card on him and gassed up at the gas pumps.  I had flown in that day to relieve him  in the afternoon but IIRC, he wanted to see if minimal stops was the ticket to winning the big bucks.  When he got out of the car he walked around like the tin man and his hands were permanently curved.  The two of us traded off the next day and did more laps than he did by himself proving that the strategy didn't work.  He also said it wasn't a healthy thing to do.

The longest I've been in the car personally was just about 4 hours. This was back in the daytona age. I am NOT in peak physical shape. I had water in the car, I was hydrated when I got in, I was fed when I got in. I opened the race, and ran roughly 3.5 hours of race time, and 20-30 minutes before that of sitting on grid/circling under yellow. I only mention that extra time because this was when our cool shirt system was just bad, so it added to the time baking in a suit.

That stint was exhausting. The problem was I didn't realize it until I was out of the car. I came in for a pit stop and thought I felt ok, but as soon as I got over the hot pit wall it all hit me at once and I almost fell over. I was running on pure adrenaline at the end and my lap times confirmed that. I felt like I had a hangover the next day. It's fun to sit and tell war stories about the days when we used to try to do 1 stop a day, but man I just can't and don't want to do it anymore. Hats off to those that are in shape enough to do super long stints and enjoy it.

That is one of the reasons the driver coming out is not expected to do anything on our pit stops AND someone is always designated to help them out of the car.

Me and a team mate each drove 3hr 45 min stints at NHMS a couple years ago.  It really wasn't too bad we decided to "drive like it was practice".  We both held up well under the circumstances.  Only one self reported BF all weekend and that was due to a missed 5th to 1st downshift (spin) as we had lost 4th gear, 30 minutes from the end.  I don't think a full stint is out of the question if you have the proper mindset, and are in somewhat decent shape.

In your suit, in the seat... Nature, um... finds a way.

I thought you were asking about color

This is great info, thank you. I don't understand how the human body works at all and usually pound down half a gallon of water in the 30 minutes leading up to my stint and wonder why I have to pee 45 minutes into my stint. My idea was my body will store it in my stomach and "stock up on water"... haha.

I did 3 consecutive 2.5h stints at NOLA. It's not a big deal if you're from Houston, Texas where it's hot AF. Might even get into the zone if you're comfortable. The second fuel stop was pretty painful and pathetic though.

Dear god. Good on you for being able to do that, I simply cannot. Saturday I got to the 1 hour mark, called in that I'd do another 30 min. Did 10 more minutes and then it hit me like a brick wall and I just NEEDED out of the car. I was hydrated before I got in the car, I was very not hydrated when I got out, just sweat too much. Did a little over an hour and a half Sunday, felt a little better, but was still wasted.