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Leno sets speed mark in Porsche at Talladega
Friday, September 02, 2005
MIKE BOLTON

TALLADEGA - You knew Jay Leno was quick with a quip.

Thursday, the "Tonight Show" host set three world speed records for
production cars at Talladega Superspeedway, but not before giving
Porsche officials and himself quite a scare.

Leno, an avid car enthusiast, drove a stock Porsche Carrera GT to a
speed of 156.603 to establish the world record for the fastest lap
ever run from a standing start on a closed course by a production
vehicle. He also set records for the fastest mile (128.14) and
fastest kilometer (110.478) for a production car from a standing
start.

The records runs were sanctioned by the Grand American Racing Series.

Two hours prior to the record runs, Leno was testing at speed when he
lost control in the speedway's tri-oval. Leno had just passed the
timing light at more than 182 mph when he drifted high in the tri-
oval and got caught up in debris near the wall.

The 605-horsepower, $450,000 vehicle spun five times on Talladega's
front stretch but never hit the wall. The car suffered only minor
damage after hitting a cone located in the grass in the tri-oval.
Leno was wearing a helmet and seat belts, but the car had no roll
cage.

A shaken Leno managed to laugh off the incident.

"NBC thinks I'm at the go-kart track in Malibu," he quipped.

Asked if 182 mph was the fastest that he had ever been in a car, Leno
managed a laugh. "No, he said, "but that's definitely the fastest
I've ever been backwards."

Leno, who has a collection of 85 antique automobiles and race cars,
loves to go fast. He has driven a jet car 278 mph on the dry lake bed
at El Mirage, Calif., and once drove a pre-production race car more
than 200 mph in Spain. He has also driven the pace car at the Indy
500 and Daytona 500.

Danny Donahue, the son of the late Mark Donahue, also set three world
records Thursday. He did so on the track where his father set the
world speed record of 221.160 for a closed course in 1975. Donahue
died 10 days later after that record run in a crash in Australia.

Driving the same car as Leno, Donahue set records for the fastest lap
ever in a production vehicle in a flying start (195.145) and records
for the mile (198.971) and kilometer (195.755) in the same category.

Leno said the car, provided by Porsche but identical to the one he
owns, was a little nerve-racking at such speeds.

"It was a little scary, actually very scary," Leno said. "Only an
idiot wouldn't be a little afraid out there.

"I'm used to driving on the streets so it's amazing to me how at
these speeds a quarter-pound or half-pound of tire pressure can make
such a difference. You can run over a dime on this track and tell if
it's heads or tails."

Leno received instructions and driving tips from Porsche officials
and Donahue much of the morning before making the record runs in the
afternoons.

"Danny tells me this morning to stay off the painted stripes in turns
one and two because its turns are in the shade and there's still some
dew on them," he said. "How would I know something like that? All I
know how to do when I'm driving is to look out for black ice."

Leno arrived in Alabama late Wednesday and took a few quick laps
around Barber Motorsports Park in a Porsche before visiting the
Barber Vintage Museum.

"I believe it's the greatest museum in the United States," Leno
said. "The focus is on the machinery and not anything else. I think
every motor sports fan in the U.S. needs to come see it. Most museums
I've been to are an ego thing to the owner but this one is all about
the vehicles. It was nice, relaxing, fun place to go."


Of course, we all know that Mark Donohue did not die in Australia...

<b>There are two kinds of soldiers.
Snipers...and targets.</b>
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