By louis Galanos
If you were working Daytona in 1970 you where there when the new Porsche 917K made its debut. There were just two of the J.W. Automotive 917s at Daytona, though a third 917 (photo), in white and orange instead of the blue and orange of the J.W.-Gulf cars, was entered by Porsche of Austria-the Piech wing of Porsche. The Porsche of Austria entry was a surprise to John Wyer since he believed that his Gulf team would be the only ones to represent the Porsche factory. In the background you can see David Yorke (white shirt), Ermanno Cuoghi (with hat) and Pedro Rodriguez (sitting on the wall). Both Gulf 917s would finish 1-2 but the car in the photo was a DNF due to a ruptured fuel tank. It was driven by Vic Elford and Kurt Ahrens, Jr. One more thing, a fourth 917 was entered but did not start. It was the 917K of Tony Dean and Peter Gregg. Gregg blew the engine in practice and they had no spare so they didn't race. Story is that this car had been stolen off the docks at Miami and entered by Dean. It was owned by David Piper.