Daytona

Distance: 2.5 miles	Banking Turns: 31 degrees
Shape: Tri-Oval	Built: 1959
Qualifying Record: Bill Elliott 210.364 1987	Race Record: Buddy Baker 177.602 02\|17\|80

The Daytona 500 is held every February in Daytona Beach, Florida at the Daytona Speedway.

In the early days of racing, most of the roads were not paved and so it was difficult for drivers to really get any speed. However, in Florida there happened to be a 20-mile stretch of hard, flat sand between Ormond and Daytona Beach,

which the rich and famous would vacation. Two of the famous families that liked to go there was Ransom Olds and Alexander Winton, who were two of the most successful automobile manufacturers of that time. It was Olds who got the idea to run one of his REO Speedwagons against one of Winton's right on the beach. The first race was held April of 1902. The two drivers were clocked at 57 miles per hour and crossed the finish line in a virtual tie.

The next year, there were now 3 competitors and 3,000 spectators, and the event became known as the Speed Carnival. This became a regular event from 1910 through 1936 and drivers raced what was considered the world's most powerful cars trying to break the land speed record. Some examples are:

Sir Malcom Campbell, a British racecar driver who wanted to be the first to drive a car 300 miles per hour. He entered in 1935 in a vehicle that was 27 feet long and the engine was originally designed for an aircraft. Campbell discovered that bumps in the sand at 50 mph were a big problem at a much higher speed and so his top speed was only 276 mph and he missed his goal.

In 1936 the first Daytona Speedway opened under that title. It was an old black-top highway one and a half miles in length and made a turn in the sand and then came back up the beach to another tight turn -- totally a 3.2 mile course. Because this was during the Depression, most Americans did not have much money, so it was decided that racers could race the same cars they used for everyday use (rather than a special racing car). This is how Fords and Chevrolets, known as "stock cars" came to be. Stock car racing attracted bootleggers, who were already skilled at adapting regular cars into fast speed cars to haul illegal liquor.

There was not much interest in stock car racing from 1939 to 1945. But in 1959, a new interest began again and a larger, improved Daytona Speedway open. The first 500 mile race for late model stock cars was held in February of that year. The winner was Lee Petty, who son, Richard, later went on to win seven Daytona 500 races – the current record. The most popular women to race the Daytona was Janet Guthrie, who finished 12th in 1977.

The Daytona 500 today marks the final race of the 16-day event known as Speed weeks and the richest of the four biggest NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) races, which include the Winston 500, the Coca-Cola 600, and the Southern 500. Over 150,000 live spectators gather at the speedway, while modern technology has now provided millions of us also with a driver's seat view due to tiny television cameras built into the racer's helmets.

The speedway is 2.5 miles, and oval in shape requiring drivers to complete 200 laps or 500 miles. Thus the name "500" in a lot of these competitions. It was the creation of William (Bill) France, a mechanic and racing enthusiast who moved to Daytona Beach in 1934 when racing was in its heyday. Mr. France founded NASCAR in 1948 and talked city officials into building a 3.2 mile oval track - half on sand and half on the beach road next to it. However, cars were bogged down in the sand part of the track creating deep ruts, especially in the turns. Although he managed to smooth out most of the lumps and bumps, he did manage to get the city to build the huge "tri-oval" track, which holds more than 100,000 people and which opened in 1959 and in the track in operation today. Mr. France died in 1992 and is know

n as The Father of Stock Car Racing. The Daytona Speedway hosts 8 weeks of racing events, starting with the Sunbank 24. This is a 24-hour endurance race similar to the French race known as Le Mans.

In 2001, Dale Earnhardt Sr. was in 3rd place sprinting for the finish when he made contact with Sterling Marlin in another car, spun, hit the wall, and died. Irony is that he was the owner of the winning car driven by Michael Waltrip – who in over a decade of NASCAR racing had never won a race. Dale’s other car, driven by his son, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. came in second.

The year following Dale Sr.'s death, Dale Jr. won the race and Michael Waltrip came in second.

I was at the 2003 Spring Daytona Speed week. My wife and I, in our motorhome, along with our friend's in their motorhome, left Houston on Monday and arrived at the staging area for motorhomes to enter the luxury Motorhome area (I think there are about 150 spots in this area) Tuesday night. The entrance under turn 3-4 was to have been opened at 8PM for the motorhomes in that area to be escorted to their spots -- but the gate didn't open until 10PM. Since this was the first race of the year after the September 11 plane crashes and the Anthrax deaths, security was very high as a terrorist act was expected. Each motorhome was searched thoroughly, inside and out -- over and under.. We finally got to our spot to set up the motorhome at a little after Midnight.

Speed Week consisted of qualifying, time trials, the IROC race, the truck race, the Busch race, and the Daytona 500. The infield appeared to be split into three areas for camping. The Luxury motor coach area, the family motor coach area, and the sleep in what you brung area. The cost and size of your spot and the wildness & rowdiness of the people went with the territory as you would expect.

What surprised me about this track was how small the souvenir area was. I've seen much bigger and better at other lesser known tracks.

The infield is huge, and when you camp in it, you need to pack a meal for your hike to the other side. Although we had tickets for the grandstand in the package -- we elected to see the race from the top of the motorhomes. I've been told that it is difficult to see the back-halve of the race from the grandstands -- and since we were in turn 1 & 2 -- It was impossible to see more than about 1/3 of the track from the motorhome without the TV on the roof. However, it is not about any of the races -- but experiencing the week with tens of thousands of race fans.