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Rolex 24 at Daytona car hits possum, crew discovers animal hours later in the trunk

Via Twitter

Via Twitter

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A possum did not kill a Porsche. Instead, a Porsche killed a possum.

Magnus Racing crew members found a dead opossum in the trunk of the team’s No. 44 Porsche 911 GT America hours after the car was parked because of an oil leak early Sunday during the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.

However, after initial reports that the car wouldn’t be able to return to the race, it did.

Once the team named the uninvited guest — he’s known as Ballast, and he has his own Twitter handle — and got the car back in working order, Andy Lally returned to the race and helped the team finish 29th in the 53-car field.

“They’ve posthumously named the opossum ‘Ballast,’” Lally tweeted before returning to the track. “Sad but I think we should put him back in to take the checker.”

Lally said he felt a thump while driving at 5 a.m., but didn’t realize he’d hit anything until crew members opened the front-mounted trunk of the Porsche and discovered the body around 9 a.m.

“It came through the front end of my car, through the tub, ripped through the rivets and ended up in the trunk,” said Lally, an animal rights activist. “I guess it’s ironic that it happened to me. Sad day for the possum, sad day for Magnus Racing.”

By the time Lally returned to the track, Ballast the possum was tweeting, apparently from possum heaven. “I’m all over that #44, literally,” @BallastPossum tweeted. He also had a hashtag: #avengeballast.

Despite the fateful incident, Lally and teammates John Potter, Marco Seefried and Martin Ragginger finished the race in 11th in the GT Daytona class.

Apparently Ballast approved.

“Remember Safety Town school, where they teach youngsters to look both ways before x-ing the street?” @BallastPossum tweeted. “Yeah, I skipped that day.#avengeballast”

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