The big draw this week is Patrick Dempsey, Dr. McDreamy in TV's "Grey's Anatomy" and a serious, if part-time, sports car racer.
Dempsey, competing in the slower GT class, is co-driving a Mazda RX-8 in the 24-hour endurance event with four other drivers, none of them anywhere near as well known.
Newman, who was part of the winning team at Daytona at age 70, liked to stay away from the crowds and kept a low profile when out of the car. Dempsey, on the other hand, spent long periods Thursday and Friday signing autographs and chatting with fans, smiling the entire time.
"This is a lot of fun for me," he said Saturday, shortly before the start of the twice-around-the-clock race. "I love the atmosphere at this race."
But it isn't all about fun for the actor, who drives for his own Dempsey Racing.
"We've been doing this a number of years now," he said. "The goal is to really be taken seriously and to go out there and really prove myself. Every time I come to the track, I want to be respected and be taken seriously by the other drivers.
"I want to win a race, I want to win a championship, and we'll get there."
Dempsey is combining his racing with another of his favorite activities, raising money for fighting breast cancer.
He and his team have created the Dempsey Racing Challenge, a contest to raise money for the Avon Foundation's Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. The actor's mother is a breast cancer survivor.
The challenge offers the top fundraiser in each of nine walking events this year the opportunity to meet Dempsey and be his team's guest at the 2010 Rolex 24.
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TOUGH NIGHTS: NASCAR star Juan Pablo Montoya, part of the Chip Ganassi Racing team that has won the Rolex 24 three straight years, is teaming with sports car champions Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in this year's event.
The Colombian driver, who won an open-wheel championship, an Indianapolis 500 and raced in Formula One before arriving in NASCAR, enjoys racing just about any type of car.
But driving in a 24-hour race does have it's drawbacks for Montoya, who was part of the winning team each of the last two years.
"Driving the (Daytona Prototype) cars is fun, but I really enjoy stock cars, to tell you the truth," Montoya said. "This is fun, but driving the car at 3 o'clock in the morning is not that exciting."
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NUMBERS GAME: The 24-hour race, which was to begin at 3:30 p.m. -- 21/2 hours later than a year ago -- had 49 cars on the starting grid, with 213 drivers assigned to take part.
Thanks mostly to the worldwide economic crisis, the field has 15 fewer cars than in 2008.
The starting lineup included 19 of the sleek Daytona Prototypes and 30 of the second-tier GT cars.
Just over 13 hours of the grueling race will be run in darkness, but at least the weather appears to be cooperating this year. The forecast called for partly cloudy skies with highs both Saturday and Sunday in the mid-70s and overnight lows in the mid-50s.
Preparation, talent and luck all needed at Daytona
Ganassi team takes aim at another Rolex win
