Doctor enjoys hectic, high-speed day

Longport's racing doctor finishes third at Daytona

It wasn't a bad weekend for a Longport doctor who was featured during a three-minute news story during a national race broadcast while he rubbed elbows and fenders with NASCAR champions, a former Formula 1 Grand Prix driver and three Indianapolis 500 winners.

And by the way, Dr. James Lowe, a spinal surgeon, was part of team that finished third in the GT class in the annual Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona sports car race held Saturday and Sunday in Daytona, Fla.

Lowe drove a Porsche GT3 Cup car along with partners Jim Pace, Johannes Van Overbeek and Ralf Kelleners to complete 625 laps or 2,281 miles on Daytona International Speedway's 3.65-mile course.

Lowe and his teammates finished one lap behind the class winner and 13^{th overall out of a field of 70 cars.}

The distance they covered is the equivalent of driving from Atlantic City to west of Salt Lake City, Utah and only stopping for fuel, tires, brakes and driver changes.

And Lowe and his partners raced at speeds of up to 175 mph through conditions that included brilliant sunshine at times and heavy rains at others in the around-the-clock race that began at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

Later that evening, while Lowe completed a three-hour stint in the car, Speedvision featured him during a three-minute feature about his medical and newfound racing careers. The network showed repeated footage of Lowe in the car and also showed performing a proceedure at the AtlantiCare Medical Center.

During the segment, Lowe said racing at Daytona was a dream come true for him. He completed in his first 24-hour event in 2006 at Daytona.

The field of more than 200 drivers that Lowe raced against included 2006 NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, two-time champion Tony Stewart, four-time champion Jeff Gordon, Indianapolis 500 winners Helio Castroneves and Eddie Cheever Jr. plus a Who’s Who list of the world’s best.

Many international drivers consider the Rolex 24 Hours as part of racing’s triple crown of must-do events along with the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of LeMans.

Former Formula I race winner and Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya, combined with Grand American series champion Scott Pruett and rookie Salvador Duran to win the overall race, completing 668 laps or 2,438 miles.

The Daytona 24 Hours allows two classes of race cars to compete at the same time. The 600-horsepower Daytona Prototypes lead the way followed by the production-based GT Class.

The top finishers are almost always the prototypes which are purpose-built race cars. They are lighter in weight, faster and more powerful that Lowe’s GT3 Cup car.

Drivers of the prototypes cars captured the this year’s top-10 positions.

However, Lowe's mount was no slouch either.

The 357-horsepower, factory built Porsche GT3 Cup Car rockets from standing start to 62 mph in 4.2 seconds and from 0-100 in 9.2 seconds. The car reaches a top speed of 175 miles per hour.

For a complete listing of results and series schedule go to: go to http://www.grand-am.com/Events/SessionResults.asp?SessionID=803