The WeatherTech 240, also previously known as the Paul Revere 250, was a sports car race held on the road course at Daytona International Speedway on or around Independence Day, the same weekend of the NASCAR Cup Series' Firecracker 400. It has been held off-and-on over the history of that event, either the same night, or a couple days before. Traditionally, the race was held late at night, and finished in the early morning hours of the next day. The theme of the race was based on the famous "Midnight Ride" of Revolutionary War patriot Paul Revere.
From 1967 to 1968, the race was sanctioned by the SCCA. From 1969 to 1972, it was held as part of the NASCAR Grand American tour. Starting in 1973, it became part of the IMSA circuit, and continued through 1983. In some years, NASCAR drivers that raced in the Firecracker 400 in the morning, also took part in Paul Revere 250 that same night. In 1984, it switched to an SCCA Trans-Am event for one season. For 1985–1986, it was a motorcycle race, then it was discontinued.
In 2000, the event was revived by the Grand Am series. The tradition of starting late at night, however, was muted somewhat. The event was scheduled as a Thursday or Friday night event, held immediately following NASCAR pole qualifying and/or final practice. The start time would be roughly 10 p.m. eastern. Attendance for the weeknight races was very sparse. NASCAR's typical weeknight qualifying crowd is normally small, and most of those that were in attendance left as soon as qualifying was over. In 2009, the race was moved to Saturday afternoon as part of a Grand Am/NASCAR day-night doubleheader.
The race was removed from the schedule after 2010, and went on hiatus for a decade. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, IMSA reorganized their schedule. They announced they would be resuming their season at Daytona with an evening race on July 4, marking the return of summer sportscar racing at Daytona. The race was named the WeatherTech 240, with a duration of 2 hours and 40 minutes, and was to be held in front of a limited number of spectators.
Past winners Date Overall winner(s) Entrant Car Distance/Duration ReportSCCA Trans-Am July 4, 1967 Parnelli Jones Bud Moore Mercury Cougar reportNASCAR Grand Touring/Grand American July 4, 1968 Lloyd Ruby Bud Moore Mercury Cougar report July 4, 1969 Pete Hamilton Chevrolet Camaro report July 4, 1970 Jim Paschal AMC Javelin report July 4, 1971 Buck Baker Pontiac Firebird report July 4, 1972 Vince Gimondo Chevrolet Camaro reportIMSA GT Championship July 4, 1973 Gene Felton Gene Felton Chevrolet Camaro report July 4, 1974 Hurley Haywood Applejack Racing Porsche Carrera RSR report July 4, 1975 Hans-Joachim Stuck BMW Motorsport BMW 3.0 CSL report July 4, 1976 Al Holbert Holbert Racing Chevrolet Monza report July 4, 1977 George Dyer George Dyer Porsche 934 report July 4, 1978 Peter Gregg Brumos Porsche Porsche 935 report July 4, 1979 Charles Mendez Hurley Haywood Porsche 935 report July 4, 1980 John Fitzpatrick Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 935 K3 report July 5, 1981 Mauricio de Narvaez Hurley Haywood Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 935J report July 3, 1982 Ted Field Danny Ongais Interscope Racing Lola T600-Chevrolet report July 4, 1983 A. J. Foyt Hurley Haywood Preston Henn Porsche 935 reportSCCA Trans-Am July 3, 1984 Willy T. Ribbs Jack Roush Mercury Capri reportAMA Championship Cup Series July 3, 1985 Larry Shorts Gregg Smrz Dr. John's Team Moto Guzzi Moto Guzzi Le Mans report October 19, 1986 Merrill Moen Otis Lance Team Lockhart Suzuki GSX-R1100 reportGrand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series June 29, 2000 James Weaver Andy Wallace Dyson Racing Riley & Scott Mk III-Ford report July 4, 2002 James Weaver Chris Dyson Dyson Racing Riley & Scott Mk III-Ford report July 3, 2003 Forest Barber Terry Borcheller Bell Motorsports Doran JE4-Chevrolet report July 1, 2004 Wayne Taylor Max Angelelli SunTrust Racing Riley Mk XI-Pontiac report June 30, 2005 Butch Leitzinger Elliott Forbes-Robinson Howard Boss Motorsports Crawford DP03-Pontiac report June 29, 2006 Colin Braun Jörg Bergmeister Krohn Racing Riley Mk XI-Ford report July 5, 2007 Alex Gurney Jon Fogarty GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Riley Mk XI-Pontiac report July 3, 2008 Memo Rojas Scott Pruett Chip Ganassi Racing Riley Mk XX-Lexus report July 4, 2009 Max Angelelli Brian Frisselle SunTrust Racing Dallara DP01-Ford report July 3, 2010 Memo Rojas Scott Pruett Chip Ganassi Racing Riley Mk XX-BMW reportIMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship July 4, 2020 Jonathan Bomarito Harry Tincknell Mazda Motorsports Mazda MZ-2.0T 2.0 L Turbo I4 2 hours, 40 minutes report
Run in twin 22-lap heats. 1986 motorcycle event was scheduled for July 3, but was rained out and rescheduled for October.
Double Duty In the earlier years of the event, a number of NASCAR drivers who participated in the Firecracker 400 also drove in the Paul Revere 250 in the same day or same weekend. In recent years, some drivers have also dabbled in the "double duty." In 2009, Scott Speed and Kyle Busch raced in both events in the same day, teaming up at Chip Ganassi Racing for the '250.'
References
External links Grand-Am race page Ultimate Racing History: Daytona archive Racing Sports Cars: Daytona archive