The Number 24

The number "24" means a lot this time of the year. One of my all-time favorite television series 24 has started with a bang, literally, and even in its sixth season, it still has the edge that made it popular in its first season. The plot always contains tribute to Murphy's law, and we who watch it are always wondering "what else can go wrong."
Indeed, we should, because the show is notorious for killing off those we have come to think of as main characters, characters we have come to know and like, and we are justly shocked when they get killed. Every hour of the show represents an hour of "real time," which makes it unique among action programs. Each episode ends in a cliffhanger, ensuring that you will go back for more.
This coming weekend is another event in which the number 24 is significant:
Saturday and Sunday is the 24 Hours at Daytona race, which has marked, for me at least, the official start of the racing season. Actually, the Chili Bowl would be that marker, but for the fact that there is no television coverage for that event.
The 24 hours, though, will be covered by Fox Broadcasting Network as well as Speed TV. The Fox coverage is the first by a major television network for this event.
If you think, because it is an endurance race, that the drivers will avoid racing in order to save their cars for the long run, you haven't seen this race lately. With drivers like Tony Stewart, Max Angelelli, Jimmy Johnson, and Casey Mears, the race is really a race--for twenty-four hours. The teams are made up of three or four drivers who take turns in two to three hour stints. The trick is to travel the longest distance in twenty four hours. In order to do that, you have to race, and that means passing other cars, which, to the NASCAR fans, is a big part of racing. Fox coverage will begin at 1:00pm Eastern Time, and will last until Speed TV's coverage starts at 2:30 PM ET, Saturday.
There are a total of seventy one entries for the race, so I will not post the entry list here, but it is available at Racing One.com.
There is also another 24, that of Jeff Gordon, who, in a little more than 24 days will begin his fifth "Drive for Five" (Championships). I just mention this because it fits in with the theme of this post.
I'm ready to watch some racing.