Greetings from Daytona Beach, Florida
From the travels and adventures of the
“World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Lifetime Track #37
Check out my sports “Bucket List”………….more in “The Details”. Ever heard of the Stetson Hatters?………….more in “The Details”. It was time to meet up with “Mr. Sabo”………….more in “The Details”. What’s a Bethune-Cookman?………….more in “The Details”. Why mention this?…………more in “The Details”. So why haven’t you see the Daytona 500 before now? …………more in “The Details”. “But, Randy. Do you mean to tell me you travelled all the way from California for a major bucket list item without a ticket to the Daytona 500?”……..details in “Race Review”. “Oh, honey look at that poor man. He doesn’t have a ticket”……..details in “Race Review”. Lucky ducks with bad seats? ……..details in “Race Review”. What would make BOTH of our cellphones sound off at the same time? ……..details in “Race Review”. Tonight’s rain delay only added to my enjoyment. ……..details in “Race Review”. Bucket list! The 56th would be my first. Today was the 56th running of the most famous race in the world, the Daytona 500. As hard as it might be to believe in my 65 years I had never seen any of the previous 55 starts for the 500. I’ve been putting it off for years but no longer. As you may have read, one of my 2014 trackchasing goals is to see the Daytona 500. That’s right. I was going to the race this year. Amazing but true. The Daytona 500 was first run in 1959. In that race it was a photo finish between Johnny Beauchamp and Lee Petty. It took THREE DAYS for them to finally declare Petty the winner. From the Daytona 500 Johnny Beauchamp would later upgrade his racing career by becoming the two-time champ at the Peoria Speedway in the mid-60s driving a ’55 Chevy. Amazing but true! One of my favorites, Ed Bolen, ran Beauchamp’s Daytona car, a ’59 Thunderbird, at the Peoria Speedway many years later. Again, amazing but true! My sports bucket list. The Daytona 500 was a bucket list item for me. Many of you know me as a major auto racing fan. Fewer folks know that I have an interest in seeing all major sporting events. Many of those have made up my bucket list items from the past. If you’re a sports fan you will recognize these events as the biggest in sports. I’ve been fortunate to see just about every major American championship event. National Football League Super Bowl 1977 – Minnesota Vikings vs. Oakland Raiders, Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California Major League Baseball World Series 1977 OR 1978 – Yankees vs. Dodgers at Yankee Stadium, New York, New York 1982 – Cardinals vs. Brewers at Busch Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri 1988 – A’s vs. Dodgers at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA All- Star game 1989 – Angels Stadium, Anaheim, California College Baseball World Series 2004 Little League Baseball World Series 2006 circa Seeing a game at every current MLB stadium…. To be completed by 2014! National Basketball Association NBA Finals 1996 – Chicago Bulls vs. Seattle Supersonics, Key Arena, Seattle, Washington NCAA College Basketball Final Four Championship game 2006 – UCLA vs. Florida, RCA Dome, Indianapolis, Indiana Final Four Semi-Final game 2007 – UCLA vs. Florida, Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia National Hockey League Stanley Cup Finals 2007 – Anaheim Ducks vs. Ottawa Senators, Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim, California Golf U.S. Open 2008 – Torrey Pines Golf Course, La Jolla, California 2012 – Olympic Club, San Francisco, California Tennis U.S. Open 2013 – Arthur Ashe Stadium, Flushing Meadows, New York Auto Racing Daytona 500 2014 – Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida Indianapolis 500 1991 – Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, Indiana Some of these events were bigger to me than some of those listed above. Of course all of the above were huge events. However, many smaller sporting contests have been just as big and just as important to me. Some were much more compelling than many of those listed above. When I was in the fifth and sixth grade my friend Larry Hallam and his parents took me to several of our local high school basketball games. At that point in my life those basketball games were the equivalent of the NBA finals. Following Bradley University basketball in my hometown of Peoria, Illinois with games against #1 ranked and arch rival the University of Cincinnati were bigger than big. Watching the University of California at Irvine (UCI) Anteaters beat the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels five times in the 80s couldn’t be topped. Visiting Wrigley Field, for our once a year vacation, as a child was the best as a young boy. I stopped in one afternoon for a day of Professional Bowling Association tournament action just to say I did it. Going to the Golden Gloves boxing tournament with my grandfather and watching three-rounder after three rounder and betting my granddad based upon the color of the boxer’s shorts will always be remembered. I’ve had a lot sports “bucket list” items. I’ve seen most of them. What’s next? Maybe the Kentucky Derby. Maybe Lemans although I don’t know the first thing about it and sure wouldn’t appreciate it like someone who knew it’s history. We’ll have to see where I go from here. FRIDAY. Getting to the 500 took some commitment. When I was a youngster I always watched the Kentucky Derby. I used to think “These people come all the way to see one two-minute horse race and then go home”. I didn’t realize there were several other races on the card. In order to make a trip to Florida most worthwhile my Daytona 500 adventure would have supplemental activities as well. So how did this idea of the Daytona 500 trip come off? I couldn’t just wait until the Daytona 500 came to Los Angeles and drive up the San Diego freeway to see it. That was never going to happen. Like most things that one values this achievement would be difficult to come by. If it wasn’t difficult then I all of my bucket list items would have been checked off long ago. Take the money and have fun. Carol gave me the better part of a thousand dollar bill and told me to have a good time. This would be a three-day trip. There would be several venues on the “undercard”. I would be flying nearly 5,000 miles round-trip (and earning nearly 10,000 frequent flyer miles) just to make this happen. I left our most little seaside cottage overlooking the Pacific Ocean at just past 4 a.m. I like basketball. I arrived into Orlando, Florida (our honeymoon site from 1972) during mid-afternoon on a Friday. My first activity would be to attend a basketball game at an arena I had never visited. I turned down the NBA’s Orland Magic vs. New York Knicks game in the brand new Amway Center as being too much of a hassle; too expensive and just too “cookie cutter” compared to most of the other NBA games/arenas I have seen. I had zero idea I would be here until after I landed in Florida. A quick Google search for “Florida division 1 schools” turned up exactly what I was looking for. As good luck would have it two nearly local schools were playing home games today and tomorrow. They became the first two (of three) preliminary events before it was Daytona 500 time. Ever heard of the Stetson Hatters? Off I went to the Edmunds Center in Deland, Florida. At 7:30 p.m. this arena would be hosting the Stetson University Hatters vs. the Kennesaw State University Owls. These schools compete in the Atlantic Sun conference. Kennesaw State is a school located twenty miles north of Atlanta. The Atlantic Sun conference winner has an automatic invite to the NCAA basketball tournament in a few weeks. However, these teams were near the bottom of the conference. Stetson’s record (they lost to Notre Dame and Clemson earlier this year) going into the game was 7-19. Kennesaw State was even worse at 5-22. I didn’t care about the records of these teams. This was like a trackchasing effort to me. I was going to the Edmunds Center, which seats 5,000 and was built in 1974 just to say I did it. I paid eight bucks to get into the arena. At games like this they don’t have anyone outside “re-selling tickets”. The building was sort of a glorified big high school gym. There was no spectator seating on the ends of the court. I would estimate that 300 fans were here to see this game. Despite the small crowd the Stetson band were loud and lively making the atmosphere feel much more active that it really was. The game was good because it was close throughout. The level of competition was definitely a step down from the Pac-12 caliber of play but that’s to be expected. The Owls won the game 67-63. I enjoyed the outing very much. It’s what I do. Then it was back to my Sheraton hotel in Orlando. Priceline came through with a 67% discount. I used my “gold” status to get free stuff. It’s what I do. SATURDAY. Who in their right mind… The day began with a stop at the Waffle House. Who in their right mind wouldn’t eat at the WF as often as they could? Even if you don’t like waffles you should go there just to watch and listen to the people. It was time to meet up with “Mr. Sabo”. Yes, in mid-afternoon I would meet “Mr. Sabo”. I call him “Jim”. I’ve known Jim for about 40 years. That’s a long time. Do you hang with friends you’ve known that long? Jim and I worked with each other “back in the day”. We share several common interests. One of which is auto racing. When I asked Jim if he would like to tag along for my first ever Daytona 500 visit he said that he would. Our second visit to this fun food place. He and I would meet at the Bay Street Seafood Market and Grill restaurant in Daytona Beach. I discovered this restaurant last year using Yelp! It’s got “Ma and Pa” written all over it. Given my druthers I would druther just eat in only “Ma and Pa” type places. We dined on fried shrimp, onion rings and corn muffins doused in powdered sugar. I call this “fun food” because it’s fun to eat. I feel sorry for all the folks whose “fun food” is a salad. What’s a Bethune-Cookman? From there Jim and I would drive only a mile or two for my second division 1 college basketball game in two days. We would be seeing the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats play the Florida A&M Rattlers at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach. Game time was 4 p.m. Just down International Boulevard about three miles the NASCAR Nationwide Series was having there big Daytona Speedweeks race at the same time. There would be something unique about seeing this game. Both Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M are “Historically black” schools. That’s not my description. If you were to Google the names of either of these schools you will commonly see the words “historically black” appear in the Wikipedia and even the Cookman.com search results. I certainly wouldn’t expect to see the phrase “Historically white” while doing a search for Harvard University or “Historically Asian” when doing a search for UCLA. However, I don’t have a problem with any of that. The words are simply descriptors. It is true that Bethune-Cookman University IS predominantly all-black. Their student body is made up of 94.3% black students. Some folks, who aren’t very informed, think just mentioning a fact like this in racist. They’ve been in too many overly politically correct situations or they just aren’t well educated. Those words “historically anything” are simply a description of the circumstances and aren’t hurtful or disrespectful in anyway to anyone. Off we went to the Ocean Center. So off Jim and I went to see the basketball game. The Ocean Center, which opened in 1985, is the fifth largest convention center in Florida. It looks newer. For basketball the seating capacity in more than 8,000. The Ocean Center sits across the street from what else…the Atlantic. By the way when you’re in Daytona Beach don’t miss driving your car on the beach. It’s a kick. The B-C band was most entertaining. They played their music loud and they pretty much danced through many of the numbers as well. We sat on the opposite side of the court from the band and nearly needed earplugs from that distance. The game, just like last night, was nip and tuck all the way. The play was very physical. Whenever the players went for a rebound it was a real melee. Why mention this? There was one other unique thing about today’s game for me. There might have been 3,000 people in the arena. During the entire afternoon I didn’t see as many as ten white folks. Why mention that? Because I wanted to ask you a question. Regardless of your race, how many times have you been in a large crowd of people where 99.5% of the others were not of your race? Has that ever happened to you? I’m going to guess that very few people have ever had such an experience. That makes it pretty unusual and worthy of mention. I’ve had that situation one other time when J.J. and I were touring Johannesburg, South Africa. When we left the game I asked Jim, “How many people do you know that would come to this game?” His answer was simple, “Just you”. We both laughed! That was true. Again, I had a wonderful time seeing this new arena and adding to my experiential database. That database is beginning to take up a lot of room. The third and final undercard activity. Following the basketball game we hot footed it out to the Volusia Speedway Park. We needed to take two cars because we would both be heading in different directions after the racing. I’ll cover our experience at VSP here because the overall purpose of the trip was not the racing at this track and it was a “re-visit”. Getting out of an ice box to get a “fix”. We arrived at the Volusia Speedway Park in the dark. The place was beyond packed with racing fans escaping the brutal winters of the Midwest and east. For two weeks racing people come down to central Florida to escape their climates and get their “racing fix” during Speedweeks. I’ve done this many times myself. I always enjoyed the short track racing the most. Cars and drivers would come from 25 states or so to test their equipment and skills against all comers. My all-time favorite driver, Darrell Dake won the short track championship back in the 70s during a Speedweeks I didn’t attend. So why haven’t you see the Daytona 500 before now? You might ask, “Randy, if you’ve been down toward Daytona for several Speedweeks how is it you’ve never seen the Daytona 500”? Good question. I have seen NASCAR racing on the “big track” at Daytona but not the 500. The 500 is always run on Sunday. When I was working for the man I always had to be back to work by Monday. Additionally, I wasn’t that fond of seeing racing in person on a track as large as Daytona. It’s a high-banked asphalt oval some 2.5 miles in length. I’ve always found it entertaining to watch this race on TV. It was short track racing tonight. The large grandstand seating area at Volusia was packed when we arrived. They had just run the first heat so we hadn’t missed anything. When the stands are full and the admission price of a short track event is $39 U.S. I know the economy is back. My comment from previous visits to VSP was that it was a “goggle track”. What does that mean? It’s dusty! We would be seeing the World of Outlaws late models and Northeast “big block” modifieds. These are two of my favorite classes. We try to always get an advantage. During intermission Jim and I walked the better part of a mile to where our cars were parked. We were in the back of a large sandy parking area with almost no lighting. I had to use the flashlight on my iPhone (what can’t that thing do?) to light the way so we didn’t step on any stray alligators. Once at our cars we moved then toward the exit of the parking lot. This way whenever we needed to leave we wouldn’t be stuck in an hour-long traffic jam trying to get out of this track. I’m pretty good at “managing systems” for my own benefit. Jim is just as good. Together we are great. We bounce ideas off each other so that we are always “maxing out” the system. It’s a joy to watch. Better than I expected. The racing at Volusia Speedway Park was better than I was expecting. Despite arriving somewhat late into a nearly sold out grandstand we found two good seats down toward turn one. I was glad we had our goggles. Carol would not have liked this situation. She hates dusty tracks. When the racing was finished we skedaddled for the evening. We had a plan to meet tomorrow morning for what else, the Daytona 500. I couldn’t wait. I’ll tell you more about that in the “Race Results” section. TRACKCHASING TOURIST ATTRACTION I very much enjoy the racing when I go on trackchasing trips. However, I am not the type of person who would feel the trip was complete if I simply left home, went to the race and came back home. I do a good deal of traveling. I want to do my best to see the local area when I come for a visit. There are often some unusual attractions that one area is noted for more than any other locale. I want to see those places. I want to touch them and feel them. When I leave an area, I want to have memories of these special places that I call Trackchasing Tourist Attractions. I will remember those experiences long after the checkered flag has fallen on whatever race I have seen that day. Edmunds Center, Deland, Florida – College basketball – Stetson University Hatters vs. Kennesaw State University Owls Ocean Center, Daytona Beach, Florida – College basketball – Bethune-Cookman University Wildcats vs. Florida A&M University Rattlers Volusia Speedway Park, De Leon Springs, Florida – Short track auto racing You’ve already read about it. It’s always fun to see entertaining local stuff! I did just that and told you about it in the “Details” section. Again, don’t miss the pictures! Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, Florida I’ve been coming to Daytona for a long time. The Daytona International Speedway is listed as my 37th lifetime track. My first visit there was more than 1,900 tracks ago! I’m a big fan of NASCAR Sprint Cup (I’ll use “NASCAR” to describe NSC) racing. I love short track racing just as much. However, short track racing falls well short on “organizational” skills. If short track racing had all of the best things NASCAR offers their attendance would soar. What does NASCAR do so well? Why is NASCAR so successful? There are lots of reasons. Here are just a few. NASCAR starts their races on time. They start a full field of 43 cars in every race. Their drivers are all “branded”. Even people who don’t follow racing are likely to recognize the names of Petty, Earnhardt, Gordon and now Johnson. Every NASCAR race is on TV. If you can’t get to the track in person you can always watch it on TV. Actually I prefer watching NASCAR racing on TV most of the time. NASCAR’s tracks are all professionally run, have lots of amenities (scoreboards, videotrons, etc.). NASCAR ticket pricing is reasonable if you know what you’re doing. They simply present a professional entertaining product. That’s why their series can command a billion (that’s million with a big “B”) dollar a year TV contract. NASCAR racing holds the sports attendance records in 15 different states. A typical NASCAR race will draw from 50,000-100,000 people. How many fans does a typical short track get? Maybe 500-1,000 and sometimes less. NASCAR has helped nearly put Indy car racing out of business and has been a good reason Formula 1 racing doesn’t have much popularity in the U.S. And the biggest shall be first. The Daytona 500 is the biggest race of the NASCAR season. It’s commonly called the Super Bowl of the sport. I prefer to think of the game recently played in New Jersey and won by the Seattle Seahawks as the “Daytona 500” of the NFL! Most sports have their biggest game at the end of the season. In NASCAR the biggest race is at the FIRST of the season. Daytona hasn’t always been the first race but for the past several years the Daytona 500 kicks off the NASCAR racing season in February. The Daytona International Speedway is undergoing a huge renovation. It is expected to be completed in 2015. When that work is done the place will have 101,000 permanent seats. Major league baseball’s largest arena by seating capacity is only about half of that. With the re-model it looks as if they are going to tear down their backstretch grandstand. At the same time they are going to increase the seating on the front stretch. The steel work is already in place. The top row of the new grandstand seems to be some 15 stories or maybe even more tall. That’s pretty far up in the sky! What would the traffic be like? The traffic getting into and out of Daytona for the 500 is legendary. Jim and I were coming from different directions. We agreed to meet “off-site” and then drive just one car into the speedway. Luckily we are heavy users of texting, GPS and cellphones. This allowed me to take a different route toward Daytona bypassing lots of raceway traffic. With the new route we came up with a new meeting place. None of this could have been done without our robust use of technology. That’s really what tech is for….to make you’re life easier and more enjoyable. Jim had been to a couple of Daytona 500s before. That helped with our parking strategy. We ended up parking about a half-mile away for 40 bucks. An entrepreneurial office building owner sold us his last parking spot. You didn’t have tickets to the biggest race of the season? It was time to walk over to the stadium and get our tickets. “But, Randy. Do you mean to tell me you travelled all the way from California for a major bucket list item without a ticket to the Daytona 500?” the incredulous reader might have asked. The short and simple answer is “Yes”. Why would I buy a ticket in advance when I can take a single paper plate from Carol’s pantry and make a sign that reads “Need 1” or “Need 2” or whatever the case may be? That sign “buys” my ticket and it buys it at a huge discount. “Oh, honey look at that poor man. He doesn’t have a ticket” Whenever I attend a sporting event and hold up my sign I invariably seen a older couple walk past. The woman will say to her husband, I’ve heard this hundreds of times, “Oh, honey look at that poor man. He doesn’t have a ticket”. It’s the same sort of tone she has likely used when observing a homeless person asking for a handout. It’s all I can do to not kick her in the shins and drag her by her neatly quaffed hair into the nearest porta-potty and stuff her head down deep. O.K. You get the word picture now don’t you? Listen lady. In reality I think to myself. “Listen lady. When this event starts I will have a better seat than you have and will have paid one-third or less than your less than bright husband paid for your fat ass have a seat. I will not have had to commit to this event a year in advance either. At the same time I will have had personal interactions with types of people (scalpers) you have never spoken to in your life. Any questions?” Sorry for getting a little riled up there. I just don’t like it when people judge people on subject’s they know nothing about. That happens quite often. Nevertheless, we did need tickets. However, Jim and I did need tickets. I would say that in the last five years I have not paid more than $20 U.S. from a scalper for any NASCAR race I’ve seen. Face value on those tickets have ranged from $50-100. In every case I’ve had a seat up high right near the finish line where I could see all of the pit road action. However, this was the Daytona 500. This was the first race of the season. The economy was coming back. NASCAR had announced new rules that were bound to make the racing more interesting and exciting. Maybe I couldn’t get into this big race for $20. Of course, it pays to know people. I commonly say it “pays to know people”. I know a lot of people. Jim knows a lot of people. Did Jim’s “people” made it happen for us? Yes. We simply needed to show up at the Daytona customer service center and pick up our two free complimentary no charge tickets to the race. Lucky ducks with bad seats? I know that maybe you’re thinking one of two things or both. First, you guys are “lucky ducks”. Secondly, you might be thinking if the tickets are free they can’t be very good seats. I certainly hope you wouldn’t think that. Knowing the right people is not a function of being lucky. It’s a function of being in the right place at the right time. Some call it networking. Some call it simply the idea of making friends that on some days you help out and on some days they help you. And I’m sure you know I wouldn’t attend the Daytona 500 if I didn’t have a first class seat to see everything there is to offer. When we picked up our tickets some of our questions were answered. The seats were in the “Petty Tower”. That’s a great location overlooking pit road. They were in the top row. The top row at a racetrack is nearly always a good idea. We could stand up to our heart’s content without worrying about blocking anyone’s view. So if we had to pay for these tickets….. How much would tickets in a great location like this go for at the Daytona 500? I had seen signs earlier at the track ticket booth advertising prices of $85-125 per seat in places I wouldn’t want to sit. We looked at the tickets. They were nice embossed souvenir tickets that I will never ever part with. In the small print the ticket’s face value was printed. $350.00. That’s right. Three hundred and fifty dollars to see a stock car race. Had we wanted we could have had use of a corporate suite as well. Jim arranged for this deal. All of the glory goes to him. It pays to know people. I know Jim. Jim knows the source of these tickets. I can’t really tell you “exactly” the source of these tickets. I’ll just tell you that you likely have their products in your house. If you don’t I hope you go out and buy some real quick. It costs a lot of money for them to buy these Daytona 500 tickets!! Please Jim, let me go in the souvenir store. From there I prodded Jim into visiting the NASCAR souvenir store. It was huge. I would need an event t-shirt. I stopped buying racing t-shirts years ago. Remember all Carol and I have is a modest seaside cottage. There isn’t much room for 100 racing t-shirts. However, we’ll have to make room for one more now. While I was checking out with my $25 “Daytona 500” shirt I noticed a leather looking beautiful red, white and blue NASCAR jacket. I asked Jim how much he thought it might sell for. Jim’s answer: $300. That sounded about right to me too. I asked the cashier what the leather jacket would cost. First of all, she told me it wasn’t leather but lambskin. It also wasn’t selling for $300 but $1,200 U.S. Wow. At that price they probably would never sell one. She told me that 50 had been made and that she sold seven yesterday! Did I mention the economy is coming back? It was nearly race time now. It was time to check out our seats. We could have taken an elevator but walking up eight flight of steps seemed like a good idea. It would not be the only time we would walk up those steps. So are all the NASCAR haters just underachievers or is it a case of ‘class envy’. Since we were seated in the top row of the Petty Tower getting some refreshments before we sat down seemed like a good idea. I’ve heard all of those comments from NASCAR haters about overpriced refreshments. It’s just like the lady who comments about my non-traditional ticket buying. They simply don’t know what they are talking about. Today a good-sized bag of peanuts sold for five dollars. Hot dogs were four and a 20 oz. bottle Diet Coke was also four dollars. Those prices are certainly higher than what you would pay at the Cub Scouts booth at your local high school basketball game. However, the Daytona 500 and all NASCAR events are major national sporting events. I would submit that today’s prices are LOWER than virtually every major league venue in any of the four national sports in the United States. Plus NASCAR tracks let you bring in your own food and drink. Have you ever in your life heard of any MLB, NBA, NFL or NHL stadia allowing for that? The next time some one tells you NASCAR concession prices are high show them the porta-potty. Editor’s note: A small hot dog at Yankee Stadium is $5. An 11 oz. cup of beer runs $9-13. Today a 16 oz. Bud Lite was six dollars. They started on time but they should have started earlier. Today’s race was scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. or so. Rain was in the forecast for later in the day. By 4 p.m. the rain forecast was increasing to 40%. The weather radar looked bad from west to east but all of it looked like it might be to the north of the track. Nevertheless, if the race was able to get in half of the scheduled laps it would be “official” even if it rained. You gotta have a scanner at these types of races. Both Jim and I had our race scanners. With these we could listen to the radio broadcast or the TV broadcast or to the drivers/crew chief communications. Our headsets also provided some excellent noise-cancelling ear protection. We were prepared. The race started on time and all was going well. I was reminded that Daytona is a very large track. During the day it wasn’t that easy to see the cars when they were on the other side of the track. I didn’t car for that much. However, this was the Daytona 500 and this WAS a bucket list item. Rain! However, just before lap 38 I began hearing crew chiefs say it was going to rain and it was going to rain heavily. I had some good weather radar on my iPhone. However, the crew chiefs could protect NASA space shuttles with their weather equipment. Just as they said the rain started to fall. At first we used Jim’s “rain ponchos”. I told you we were prepared for just about anything. However, I soon deduced, that from the top row, we might be the last fans to leave the grandstands for the shelter of huddling UNDER the grandstands if the rain got really heavy…which it would and did. Jim and I were two of the first fans to seek shelter under the grandstands. When it rains, the race is stopped in NASCAR. They aren’t going to have a driver go off 200 M.P.H. into the corners at D.I.S. in the rain. Also when it rains hard the track is soon “lost”. That means it has received 100% saturation. The Air Titan to the rescue. NASCAR has recently developed a new jet dryer system, which can dry the track in about 90 minutes. That’s a 40% improvement compared to what they used two years ago. At least fans know that when it rains the rain delay will be shorter with this equipment. For about 90 minutes Jim and I stood under the grandstand to see how this was going to play out. If they had to cancel the race they would try again tomorrow. The scuttlebutt said they would begin at 5 p.m. on Monday afternoon if today’s race were canceled. A cancellation would be costly to me. If they did that it would cost me a minimum of $500. My non-refundable airline ticket could not be used to get me home on Tuesday. I would need another day of hotel and rental car. Yes, a rain cancellation would be very expensive. I was staying until the checkered flag was waving. However, I never gave any thought to not coming back on Monday if that was required to see the race. The Daytona 500 was a bucket list item! You don’t see just 38 laps of a scheduled 200 on your bucket list item. While we stayed under the grandstands in generally dry and warm conditions we talked about the events of the day. The skies were dark and it continued to rain off and on. What would make BOTH of our cellphones sound off at the same time? Then all of a sudden both of our cellphones went off. What could it be? There was a tornado warning in effect! Our phones are set up to notify us of such things in real time. That wasn’t good news. After a while, as it kept raining and lots of people were leaving the speedway grounds, we decided it would be a good idea to drive about ten miles to get Jim’s car. We could then bring it over to the speedway and park it in one of the fast emptying parking lots. On the way over to get Jim’s car he told me, “You know I might just head home after we pick up my car. It’s rained a lot and I don’t think they’re going to race anymore today”. I understood where he was coming from. He had already seen two Daytona 500s. This was my bucket list item. When we reached his car it was raining harder than ever. I suggested we have some dinner even if he was headed home. We decided on an Olive Garden. Years ago Carol and I used to eat there all the time. We liked it a lot. However, Olive Garden has fallen on hard times as a chain. It is no longer really a favorite of mine. Could this be true? When dinner was finished we walked out into the parking lot. It had stopped raining. The parking area was beginning to dry. Maybe they would race after all. I checked my iPhone’s weather radar for Daytona Beach. It looked clear at least for another 2-3 hours. We checked the NASCAR channel on satellite radio. It was about 7:30 p.m. They were saying they might have the track dried in an hour. This excited me. It must have excited Jim too. He agreed that we would drive our cars back to the speedway and try to stick it out. By now there were plenty of places to park at no charge. Perfect. Soon we were back in the grandstands. I was surprised at how many people had stuck out the nearly seven hour rain delay. I would guess that more than 50% of the seats were filled when they got back to racing at about 9 p.m. I like Daytona night racing the best. This was a “night” race now. I soon learned I like night racing better at Daytona than day racing. The colors of the cars just seem to come alive. The sparks fly. It’s a great atmosphere. At Daytona, which is one of only two “superspeedways” on the NASCAR schedule, they have “pack” racing. Cars race two and three abreast within inches of cars both in front and behind them at 200 M.P.H. That’s exciting. Don’t mess with the chocolate cake recipe. The remainder of the race was fun, entertaining and well worth the wait. Having a scanner and noise protector made all the difference in the world. Remember, if you try any of the ideas I ever recommend in these reports you MUST not leave out any steps. You wouldn’t leave out any of the main ingredients in making a chocolate cake would you? I like Junior. I am primarily a Jeff Gordon fan. I have been since he started. I pull for Hendrick Motor Sports as a racing team. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is one of the four drivers with HMS. I didn’t care much for his dad but I like Junior. He seems like a real nice country guy. Maybe too nice. Dale led most of the final laps of tonight’s race. However, he has a history of having something go “wrong” late in the race. These missteps usually have him forfeiting his advantage and creating a huge disappointment for his fans. Not tonight. Dale Jr. won his second Daytona 500 today. His first was in 2004. Of all the guys that could have won toward the end I was rooting for Junior. That includes Jeff Gordon who ended up in fourth. Tonight’s rain delay only added to my enjoyment. Some people might think that a nearly seven-hour rain delay would dampen (pun intended) my enthusiasm for this event. Not in the least. The delay only ADDED to my enjoyment. Who would want to travel nearly 5,000 miles for a bucket list item and have it be over in three hours? Not me. I wanted my Daytona 500 experience to last all day…..and it nearly did. I had the pleasure of spending the day with a good friend. I saw one of the best restrictor plate races of all-time. I saw NASCAR’s most popular driver win the race. I had the good fortune of someone giving me a $350 race ticket for free. I got souvenir t-shirt and a commemorative race ticket that I will cherish for forever. As I said in a text during the race back to my family… Tickets $350 each, jacket $1,200, experience – priceless. It’s the Daytona 500! Thanks for reading about my racechasing, Randy Lewis World’s #1 Trackchaser Peoria Old Timers Racing Club (P.O.R.C.) Hall of Fame Member QUICK FACTS AIRPLANE Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – Orlando, FL (MCO) – 2,218 miles RENTAL CAR #1 Orlando International Airport – trip begins Daytona Beach, FL Orlando International Airport – 362 miles – trip ends AIRPLANE Orlando, FL (MCO) – Miami, FL (MIA) – 192 miles Miami, FL (MIA) – Los Angeles, CA (LAX) – 2,342 miles Total air miles – 4,752 (3 flights) Total rental car miles – 362 (1 car) Total miles traveled on this trip – 5,114 miles TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: Daytona International Speedway – Complimentary That’s all folks! Official end of the RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Trackchaser Report 
