During the closing laps of the 2000 Petit Le Mans, Corvette Racing driver Andy Pilgrim made a daring move. As he approached turn one, Pilgrim quickly cut to the inside of Tommy Archer’s Dodge Viper and ran side by side with him going into the corner. The two cars never touched, and Archer wound up sliding off course, allowing Pilgrim to take the lead. This move, which became known as the “Pilgrim Pass,” sealed the victory for Corvette Racing.
Pilgrim’s impressive drive caught the attention of NASCAR superstar Dale Earnhardt. A few days after the race, Pilgrim was shocked to receive a letter from Earnhardt congratulating him on the victory. Earnhardt also expressed interest in being Pilgrim’s Corvette Racing teammate for the 2001 24 Hours of Daytona. Two weeks later, at a press conference at Earnhardt’s Mooresville, North Carolina race shop, Chevrolet announced that Earnhardt and his son, Dale Jr., would indeed compete with Pilgrim and Kelly Collins at Daytona in a Corvette C5-R.
Pilgrim and Earnhardt Sr. became good friends as they prepared for the race. Earnhardt had never driven a racing Corvette before and leaned on Pilgrim’s expertise for how to maximize the performance of the C5-R. The Corvette that the Earnhardts, Pilgrim, and Collins drove at Daytona was the same chassis (C5-R #004) that Pilgrim raced in the Petit Le Mans, but the race number was changed from four to three to match the elder Earnhardt’s number in NASCAR.
The 2001 Daytona race resulted in a major victory for Corvette Racing. Johnny O’Connell, Ron Fellows, Chris Kneifel, and Franck Fréon won both the GTS class and the overall victory in the number two C5-R. Pilgrim, Collins, and the Earnhardts finished 14 laps behind their teammates to earn second in the GTS class and fourth overall. A few days after the race, Pilgrim received a second letter from Earnhardt Sr. thanking him for his guidance and friendship. Earnhardt reiterated his interest in being Pilgrim’s teammate again, but he never got the chance. A last lap crash in the Daytona 500 took Earnhardt’s life just 13 days after he wrote his second letter to Pilgrim. The 2001 24 Hours of Daytona would unfortunately be Earnhardt’s only start with Corvette Racing.
