On January 12th, 2024, an accident claimed the life of my 5 year old son, Anthony.
There is nothing I could write here that would even begin to explain the emotions I’ve gone through since then. I’ve been talking with my wife, my friends, my family, my therapist, and many more continuously, and they are my preferred outlets for grief. So I won’t delve too deep into it here.
But some amazing things have happened in the aftermath. I find myself continually overwhelmed and humbled by the help and kindness shown to me by just about everyone. And Anthony has shown himself to be present in so many different places and ways. It is his spirit that took me on a sudden adventure to check off a bucket list race, and find some healing in the process.
The short version of the story is this: Anthony loved dinosaurs, and so at Lime Rock last year I picked him up a Rexy shirt, because it’s an actual dinosaur race car and he’d love it. He helped put a Rexy sticker on my car window by where he’d sit, and the shirt was one of his favorites, and what he chose to wear on his first day at kindergarten.
Two days after we buried him, Rexy won the pole for the Rolex 24. That evening, I made the connection that Anthony must have been riding with it. So, I tweeted out the photo of Anthony in his shirt with the sticker saying as much. Well, AO Racing saw it and reached out, and decided to honor him by putting his name on the car with the drivers.
That Thursday afternoon, they sent over the first photos of the car. My wife, after seeing them, asked me, “Well, are you going to go to the race?” It wasn’t something I was prepared for, to drop everything and fly all the way down to Florida on a moment’s notice. But she was right, as usual, and channeling Anthony’s adventurous spirit, I found myself with plane tickets, a hotel room, rental car, and race tickets within an hour. 7AM the next morning, I was in the air and got to the track in time for the Pilot Challenge Series race.
What happened over the next three days will stay with me forever.
I had been to Daytona twice before, but never for a race. When it’s largely empty, it feels vast. The main grandstand stretches on forever. The infield seems like an infinite plane with the banking in the distance, like a skybox in a late 1990s computer game. At the Rolex, it’s like someone grew a city in the middle of it. Haulers and RVs create a street grid denser and more urban than Worcester. You walk for blocks to get to the garages, where you find nirvana: race cars, of literally every shape, size, and configuration. The paddock and fan zone teeming, even on Friday, with race fans - my people, my tribe.
Head southeast, past the International Horseshoe, towards the backstretch and Lake Lloyd, and you come to the greatest manufacturer midway of them all. A quarter mile of every car brand and countless vendors. Beyond that is a small carnival, with the Ferris wheel an icon of the race. I never did ride it, which I kind of regret, but given what I had just lived through I was not about to take my chances. Take a right and head towards NASCAR turn 2, and you pass by fields of car clubs and end up in the most unbelievable campground on planet Earth. So many RVs, so many people, and so much life. Eventually, you can reach the small set of bleachers to watch the cars scream at full throttle off the banking.
Friday is mostly spent getting autographs and scoping things out for Saturday. I meet up with AO’s PR rep Kelly, and we make plans to meet the team the next morning. The WeatherTech cars are going through inspection, so I spend a good little while taking detail shots of whichever ones I can get close to, Rexy included. Then the autograph session, which for the Rolex is broken up into groups. While the Challenge race is ongoing I hit up the midway, where I stumble upon more autograph sessions. By the time that race ends, I’m spent. I’ve been up since 3 in the morning, I haven’t eaten anything since about 4AM, and my Crohn’s decided to be as difficult as possible. I’ve rarely been so happy to get into a hotel room.
It has honestly been a long time since I’ve been to a race as big as the Rolex. NASCAR at Loudon used to feel like a huge deal, but it doesn’t really anymore. Mid-Ohio can be a zoo but there’s a certain normalcy to the proceedings. The Rolex doesn’t feel normal at all. The atmosphere, even at 8AM before most of the crowd rolls in, is of a major happening. In the fan zone, bathed in the dawn’s early light, a phalanx of Porsche 962s, among about twenty vintage endurance racers, are bereft of bodywork and warming up. Danny Sullivan is milling about before climbing into the Dauer 962 that he won Le Mans in 1994 in for some demo laps. An actual hero driving an actual hero car.
Meeting up with the AO group, and owner Gunnar Jeannette, is so incredibly humbling. The Rexy program is just so cool on the face of it. The car pops like no other on the track, and it’s become the fan favorite among kids. As Kelly gives out stickers, multiple people ask if a diecast is coming (it is, in August). I cannot believe that Anthony’s story has moved them so much. They seem as appreciative to help as I am to see my son’s name on one of racing’s biggest stages. Even now I can’t fully comprehend it. Anthony’s photo goes with them for the race - he’ll watch over the food table while Rexy pounds around the track.
The scope of the race really comes into focus in the late morning as the cars are rolled out and they open the frontstretch and grass for driver intros and later the grid walk. The Daytona tri-oval is huge, the grass running for almost a quarter mile and over 150 feet wide at start/finish. It’s a mob scene regardless. On the race track, people leave Sharpies to do the Nürburgring graffiti thing - I mark a memorial for Anthony on the checkered stripe. Drivers for GTD, GTD Pro, and LMP2 are introduced on stage, then a parade is held for the GTP cars and teams down pit lane. I know the Rolex is only the second biggest endurance race, but in that moment you couldn’t have convinced me it wasn’t number one. And when they dropped the ropes for the grid walk and pit lane became one massive ocean of humanity, the feeling got only bigger.
I decided to go to the grandstands for the start, which was a great decision, not only because you can see the entire track from up high, but also because the Daytona grandstand is as big and comfortable as any NFL stadium. Plenty of food, clean bathrooms, and even escalators. I’m not sure that the Daytona 500 is still something I need to see live before I die, but I would certainly be OK with attending if that’s the level of facilities they have now. From that vantage point, I got to watch a car with my late son’s name on it take the green flag at the front of the GTD field. Still surreal to think about even now.
A brief aside about IMSA and how it’s so damn cool now. I tend to classify myself as an IndyCar fan since I watch just about every race and I believe they are, at current, America’s most badass race cars. GTP makes a hell of an argument for itself, though. They’re just freakin’ cool cars, long and low with spaceship shapes and a wide variety of sounds. From a certain low angle as the car heads at you, the Porsche 963 tricks your brain into thinking it’s a 962. It’s the headlights, which I now see has a tribute to those 1980s monsters. The sound from the Cadillacs is unholy. If anything, though, there’s a certain lack of drama from them. IndyCars visibly squirm under heavy throttle, the GTP cars look much more composed and tidy. Not that it matters when they’re screaming along the banking, blasting past the GTD cars like a cop in the left lane.
2023 was really “The Year of GTP” though. 2024 belongs to the GT3 cars that make up GTD and GTD Pro. Eleven manufacturers between the two categories. Acura. Mercedes AMG. Porsche. McLaren. BMW. Lexus. Aston Martin. Lamborghini. Ferrari. Corvette. Ford. That’s just about all the major sports car brands in one category. It broke my heart to see GTLM die, I loved those cars. But it died so GT3 could thrive. The reality is, GT3 is closer to GTLM now more than ever, and the cars now give off similar vibes. There’s just so many more of them that it feels much more significant now.
Where GT3 really shines is in the “hero car” category. Unlike NASCAR or IndyCar, IMSA draws attention for the cars more so than the drivers, who are largely anonymous. So the series needs cars that will sell tickets. This year has them in spades. Ferrari’s new 296 debuted last year but is now seeing wider use. A brand new Aston that raced at Daytona before being officially unveiled. A new pure GT3 spec Corvette that now has customer cars as well. And the true star of the show, finally a return to endurance racing for the Ford Mustang. Beyond Rexy, that’s the car I was chomping at the bit to see, and judging by the amount of Ford gear worn by fans, I’m not alone. The new Mustang is big, sounds incredible, and looks the business with its extended wing mounts off the rear window and copious vents. Both the Fords and Vettes had a rough go of it in the race, but teething issues were expected and the enthusiasm was not dampened.
Having explored every inch of the track I could, taken a peaceful walk by Lake Lloyd, and gotten a tour of the pits from AO, I let the sun go down before heading back to the hotel, but I cut out earlier than you’d expect because I got a tip (from Sean Heckman, no less!) that early morning was the time to be at the track. A good thing, as back in the room I found out Anthony had made the Peacock stream. What he would have thought about being on TV…
After packing up for my flight that afternoon, I rolled out to the track well before the sunrise. By 6AM I had made my way to the bleachers by the hairpin, now only a quarter full and with some fans literally sleeping on them. It was at this time, in amongst trying to figure out how to take night racing photos, that peace came over me. This was the most calm I could imagine myself being. It’s early morning, still dark, cars are racing, I am simply in a zone. I realized why the Rolex is so cool. It’s not just the cars, or the drivers (I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned them yet!), or the track. This race is the “lofi hip hop radio - beats to relax/study to” of motorsport. Sit there and let it wash over you. There is no better experience as a race fan or car guy. You will find Zen in the bleachers.
There is so much more about the race I have yet to mention, simply because it is such an overwhelming experience. There are times it felt like an IndyCar race, just because so many regulars were in the field. I walked past Guenther Steiner, who was just there enjoying things. They were filming a movie with Brad Pitt during the race, which added an extra layer of intrigue and probably about a thousand extra people. I met and talked to a bunch of other race fans, because if Anthony could have been there he would have started talking to them first. The parking was actually pretty easy! Most importantly, it was exactly what I needed at that moment. A week earlier, I was struggling with what would come next, would I ever feel OK again, hell, would I ever feel OK feeling OK again. On that weekend, at the World Center of Racing, I found my center again.
It kind of killed me to leave the track before the race was over, but I had an afternoon flight back to New England and I had committed to going back to work the following day. I left feeling far better than when I arrived, though. Racing is what has always gotten me through the tough times. It has always been there for me. Once again, my favorite sport comes through. Racing is awesome. I’m not sure I’ll ever have words to express that properly. The cars. The atmosphere. The people. Especially the people.
Endless thanks to Kelly, Gunnar, and the entire AO Racing crew. I am honored that Anthony is a part of Rexy’s story and that Rexy is a part of Anthony’s story. You guys are amazing. And to the many fans I met and chatted with, thank you as well - your friendliness makes me proud to be a racing fan and helped me believe that there is still joy to come. Anthony would have loved talking with you.
Racing. It’s the best.
We have set up a GoFundMe in Anthony’s honor to help carry on his spirit of curiosity, community, and adventure. You can find it at https://www.gofundme.com/f/anthony-putnam