DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — It’s the middle of the night. The sun is still several hours away from rising. It’s freezing. Bonfires burn in the infield as fans soak up a symphony of different sounds cascading against the 30-plus-degree banking at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
And for each of the last six years as part of NBC Sports’ broadcast team, Parker Kligerman has been somewhere on pit lane, patrolling the field with a microphone and a firesuit.
“It’s my favorite time of the race,” he said.
“It’s so ridiculous because race cars are running around near 200 mph, it’s 3-4 a.m. and it doesn’t stop. There are people sleeping in pit lane as cars are pounding around.
“It’s such a surreal experience to be on pit lane and I definitely want to be a part of that time.”
He’ll have a chance to do so in 2025 because Kligerman will wear a firesuit of a different kind: a driving one.
On Tuesday, Big Machine Racing announced a partnership with Forte Racing to field the No. 78 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 for Kligerman, past Rolex 24 class winner Misha Goikhberg (2016, Prototype Challenge) and two drivers to be named later for the 2025 Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Forte ended the 2024 season with two runner-up finishes in the final three races, and scored its maiden IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win at the 2023 Motul Petit Le Mans.
Kligerman is testing with the Shane Senaviratne-led team this week at Daytona in preparation. Thanks to Big Machine’s Scott Borchetta and a pair of longtime friends within the Forte Racing organization, the opportunity for Kligerman to drive in a bucket list-type event arose.
“It’s obviously been a case of talking since I made the decision about stopping Xfinity full-time and asked, ‘What is some cool stuff we can do?’” Kligerman explained. “(Scott) loves this race. I love this race. We’ll be friends forever.
“With his help and Big Machine Spiked Coolers, we were able to put the deal together with some friends at Forte Racing, with Misha and Bob Perona, my longtime driver coach. It all came together. Scott was gracious enough to want to help me. We put something cool together to get a Rolex.
“Most years I tried, I’d always be too busy, or had a full-time season ahead. I’d be working a deal for NASCAR and couldn’t really take focus off to put a deal together for this. Everything aligned, and here we are. I could not be more excited. I feel like I’m 9 years old again.”
Kligerman hailed Perona, who spots for Forte Racing and has driven as well as coached throughout his career.
“We’re best of friends. Bob has helped me immeasurably in my career; he was very helpful in putting this all together,” he said. “It’s our first day going over video and it’s like we’re back in the day again.”
Though Kligerman has had some marathon-type broadcast experiences – the three-day delayed NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas in 2020 comes to mind – he hasn’t driven a race of this length in the real world.
He has, however, been a regular 24-hour race participant on iRacing, and along with his podcast co-host Landon Cassill of “The Money Lap” noted the sheer joy that comes with finishing a 24-hour race.
“We did the endurance sim races, Landon Cassill and I did the Nürburgring 24 and we finished fifth. We all cried,” he said. “Why was this such an accomplishment? Just finishing is. It takes physical and mental abilities to grind this out over 24 hours.”
That’ll be Kligerman’s goal here, once he gets through the inevitable learning curve of a new race car after 15 years of running primarily in NASCAR.
“Yeah, for sure I’m just trying to learn,” he said. “These first two days (are) not about lap time. It’s braking, ABS and the systems within the car. There’s a 19-page manual to memorize. It’s the proverbial drinking from the firehose.
“The nice part is, we have these two days, then the Roar (Before the Rolex 24 test). By the time we get to race weekend, I expect I’ll feel comfortable. I want to be a valuable part of the team, and make an impact on runs and stints. I’ll have to change my terminology!”
The driver in him is delighted to have this opportunity to race in IMSA for the first time. Kligerman learned a lot from his introduction to the sports car world and quickly embraced the variety that makes it popular.
“The Rolex, I feel like is one of the coolest events in all of motorsports,” he said.
“It feels like a ginormous party. … It feels like everyone came together down here and said, ‘We should have a race.’ That’s the atmosphere of this race.
“Sports car racing is so awesome. You have the cars, the manufacturers, the sounds, the vibes. It’s so dynamic. You have world-class drivers throughout the field from all over the world.
“It’s so different than what I’ve been in for 15 years. It’s different. It’s cool because that’s motorsports. All different shapes, smells, sounds … you get that here in IMSA.
“It’s so good to be able to have cars people can relate to, especially in the GT class. My time spent here in this paddock was really cool. I came in a little bit fresh and was not sure what to expect. But hey, I like it here.”
Kligerman has a time he really wants to be in the car, too.
“My dream is to be in at sunrise,” he said “I’ve always wanted to be in a race car then. It has to be the coolest feeling in the world.
“We’ll see if that happens. If it does, that would be surreal.”