By Louis Galanos
There are a lot of stories that have come out of the Daytona 24 Hours over the past 50 years but, in my mind, the most endearing one has nothing to do with Porsche 917s, Ferraris, Matras, GT40s or Corvettes. This wonderful story has to do with the Morgan +4 of George Waltman who is the only person of his time to drive and complete the 24 Hours of Daytona without benefit of a co-driver.

The year was 1968 and not only did George drive solo in the Daytona 24 but he also did it without benefit of a pit crew. And, as they say on TV, “But, that’s not all!” George drove, did not trailer, his Aztec Racing Morgan Plus 4 to Daytona from his home in Great Neck, New York, a distance of over 1,000 miles.

During the 24 hour race George complied with FIA driver rules requiring a rest break of one hour after every four hours on the track by servicing the car, taking a nap or getting a bite to eat. When leaving the pit area to “take care of business” he would place an “Out to Lunch” sign on the car. With no pit crew he had to fuel the car himself, change tires and do other maintenance or repairs. No doubt he took advantage of all the freebies being offered to racers from the automotive vendors at the track in exchange for placing their decal on his car. It was also reported that some of the other racing teams may have assisted the intrepid driver where they could. George’s Morgan Plus 4 was one of the last race cars running when the checkered flag fell and he is listed as finishing 30th overall, 335 laps behind the winning Porsche Works Team 907.

Even more amazing was that he was only five laps behind actor James Garner’s AIR team Corvette that had four drivers including the likes of Ed Leslie and Scooter Patrick. This was not George’s first attempt at a solo drive in an endurance race. In 1963 he completed the 12 Hours of Sebring without a co-driver finishing 37th overall out of 42 finishers driving a Triumph TR4. No doubt this gave him the confidence to tackle the Daytona 24 alone.