A Dynasty is Born
Written by Scott Calhoon · June 20, 2005
When using the word dynasty in sports often times we think of round ball sports. The Yankees, the 70’s Steelers, 80’s 49′ers, da Michael Jordan era Bulls, and even the current New England Patriots are being called a dynasty. What is a dynasty? Encarta defines a dynasty as a prominent and powerful family or group of people whose members retain their power and influence through several generations. Well so it hasn’t exactly been generations but I think that Audi and Tom Kristensen qualify.
The two together have managed to win 4 Le Mans races and they won 4 in a row from 2000-2003 before Kristensen went over to Bentley but returned to Audi this year to win yet again. I should mention that Kristensen also won with Bentley. Audi debuted the R8 back in 2000 and they have won the 24 hour classic 5 out of the 6 times loosing to Kristensen and Bentley last year.
While Audi’s and Kristensen’s win may be the headliner, there are plenty of other note worthy stories. The race saw a record 230,000 spectators attend the classic event and it also saw the first American team victory since 1967. Also Kristensen won his 7th Le Mans race beating the record previously held by former world champion Jacky Ickx. Maybe even more amazing than Kristensen’s 7 wins is the fact that he has only contested the event 9 times. That’s almost a 78% win ratio. Pretty impressive.
For Le Mans stories go to:
RPN.ESPN: Kristensen takes lead in fourth hour of 24-hour race
AudiWorld.com: Le Mans 2005
SpeedTV.com: American Teams Triumph at Le Mans
LeMans.org: Final Timing & Scoring
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