WeatherTech to Sponsor Daytona July 4 Race

The first race in IMSA’s resumption will be known as the WeatherTech 240 at Daytona, rekindling a summertime staple at the world-famous speedway.

The July 3-4 event will return after a ten-year hiatus with the new name featuring the entitlement sponsor of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship along with a patriotic logo design. 

Created in honor of Independence Day, the logo features red, white and blue colors and a bald eagle.

The race is set to take the green on Sat. July 4 at 6:05 p.m. ET.

“We were thrilled a couple of weeks ago to announce IMSA’s homecoming to Daytona International Speedway in July, to bring back a tradition,” said track president Chip Wile.

“And, now to be able to welcome WeatherTech as the entitlement partner for this anticipated IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event to restart the series’ season, it’s icing on the cake. The new logo screams America’s Independence Day, and the race is going to be a huge celebration of it.”

“As a proud American manufacturer and sponsor of the IMSA WeatherTech Championship, it was natural for us to extend our motorsport footprint with naming rights for the July 4 race,” said David MacNeil, founder and CEO of WeatherTech.

“We are all ready to see sports cars back on the track and racing. I think that the IMSA staff and the Speedway have done a great job to pivot on the schedule so we can get back to on-track competition.”

The 2 hour 40-minute race will consist of three of the four WeatherTech Championship classes, with LMP2 cars not in attendance. 

IMSA, under Grand-Am sanction, previously held summer events at Daytona from 2002-2010.

The winning team for the 2010 event consisted of co-drivers Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, in a BMW Riley DP. Known at one point in time as the Paul Revere 250, midsummer sports car races also were held at Daytona from 1967-1985. There also was a summer IMSA race at Daytona in 2000.

Parnelli Jones won the inaugural race in 1967 before other notable drivers like Al Holbert, Peter Gregg, Hurley Haywood, Willy T. Ribbs, Elliott Forbes-Robinson, Wayne Taylor and many others went to Gatorade Victory Lane at Daytona.

Taylor, incidentally, as an owner, won his fourth Rolex 24 championship at Daytona this past January.