Max Papis - "Mad Max"

"Mad Max"

Papis earned the nickname "Mad Max" at the 1996 24 Hours of Daytona during his last stint at the end of the race. Although his second-place Ferrari 333SP had been battered due to collisions, some of its bodywork held together by tape, Papis unlapped himself by passing the race leader (the Doyle Racing Riley & Scott-Oldsmobile driven by Wayne Taylor) and proceeded to set some of the fastest laps of the entire race. Taylor was nursing his car around the track due to an overheating problem and otherwise would have been able to cruise to a win, but Papis' pace and the slowing Oldsmobile suggested that Papis could theoretically take the win from him. Papis' speed was achieved at the cost of maximum fuel consumption and although he drove down the pit lane at full speed to re-fuel (pit lane speed limits were imposed the next year), Taylor was still ahead by 64 seconds at the end of the race.