After the 2002 Pocono 500 we were wondering where should we go next year if we decide to go to a race. A few tracks that came up were Lowes in Charlotte NC, Bristol, Daytona, Pocono again or maybe Dover. Since the following year we were going to really start saving for a house we might as have one last big hurrah because it might be a while before we are able to go to any race at all. So, if we were going to go anywhere, might as well make it big and go nowhere else then the birthplace of speed, Daytona. The Daytona 500 was way out of our price range so we did the next best thing, go to the July night race and sit out under the lights at Daytona International Speedway.
We booked our package with a sports travel company, Premier Sports Travel.We got a pretty good deal on it. We decided to drive down so we left early on Wednesay morning July 2. We stayed over in Georgia that night and arrived in Daytona Beach early afternoon on July 3rd. We were pleasantly surprised with our hotel, The Adams Mark. Initially, we knew we weren't getting a beachfront room because they were more expensive, and none were available anyway. How surprised were we to find out that yes, we would be getting a beach front room. So we were on the 10th floor with a gorgeous view of the ocean.
Thursday night was qualifying so after we were settled at the hotel, we ventured over to the speedway. When we arrived there, it looked mighty impressive. Standing tall with its rich history, one can only look in awe at it. What was strange though, was its surroundings. It didn't really have a parking lot just for the track. On race days, all the parking areas from the surrounding stores becomes parking for the speedway. I'm not sure who actually claims the parking lots for these places, but some of the prices that were being charged were crazy. We wound up paying $20 to park in the lot for the stripmall across the street. Unlike Pocono last year, which allowed you to bring bookbags, camera bags, and coolers, Daytona was very strict. We were only allowed to bring clear bookbags, which we had none, and a very small soft cooler. Well we had to leave our bookbags in the car and carry our cameras, binoculars and a few other items in our hands. We would try to find a clear bookbag at the track but none were able to be found. We wouldn't get one until the next day. Most of the stores in the area carried them, but were hard to come back at the track itself.
We were used to all the private vendors at Pocono raceway and were very surprised to find none at Daytona. It was disappointing too because you could find good prices at the other vendors, but paid top dollar at the official ones. Because of that, we really didn't buy a lot of souvenirs. When we walked into the track, it was something I'll always remember. Cars were on the track practicing and zooming by the fence that we were walking next to. They sure were loud coming off of turn 4 and flying down the straightway. We made our way up to our seats which were very nice. We were in the Petty terrace right in front of the exit of pitrow. we could see the whole track just fine. We watched qualifying the whole night up there. Steve Park wound up being on the pole and his teammate Kevin Harvick was right next to him. It was a very good night for Richard Childress Racing. After qualifying we went back to the hotel dead tired. That night I proposed to Gwen on the beach, but that's a story within itself.
The second day was the Busch race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was on the pole with his Dirty Mo Posse car. At the hotel we met our tourguide and received our free programs and Daytona USA passes. We drove back to the track and wound up parking further away in a bank parking lot, but only paid $10. The day was brutally hot so we hit Daytona USA first. Outside we had to see the famous Dale Earnhardt statue. We had seen pictures of it, but they just don't do it justice to see it in real life. To see him there from that Daytona 500 win years ago, well it just brought a tear to your eye and a lump in your throat. There were also statues of Bill France Sr., the creator of NASCAR along with his wife. Inside, there were lots of different kinds of exhibits and all sorts of things to do there. There's a simulator ride called Daytona Dream Laps. It's the type of ride where you sit in a little car, about 4 people to a row, and it moved all over the place as you watched the big screen. It's like you're really racing a car in the Daytona 500 against Dale Jr, Jeff Gordon and other stars. There was also a movie there all about the Daytona 500. Another exhibit was a pit crew demonstration, where a pitcrew shows how a real stop is done using the 21 Motorcraft car. After they show how its done, they pick people out of the audience to do it. Depending on who they pick, the results can be quite humorous. Michael Waltrip's 2003 Daytona 500 win car was on display there complete with confetti. Jeff Gordon's car was on display, where the whole body would lift off the car leaving the chasis. At the top of the main room, running across the ceiling, was a representation of the start-finish line with real cars hoisted up there. Dale Jarret's and Tony Stewart's cars were up there with a couple other. There was a bittersweet display of Dale Earnhardt's Daytona 500 win car with articles along the wall. There was also the majestic wall of winners featuring all the winners of the Daytona 500, very cool indeed. There was also many other displays like race suits, helmets, trophies and all other sorts of neat stuff. You could also race against other people in a video game that went across a whole wall.
Throughout the day, different drivers made appearances in Daytona USA for Q&A sessions. Some of the ones that we saw were Elliot Sadler with Jeff Hammond, Joe Nemechek, David Green, Mike Wallace, Greg Biffle and Jeff Burton. Outside Dale Jarrett made an appearance to unveil a new UPS store paint scheme for his car. Also Michael Waltrip and Sterling Marlin made appearances there, but we didn't get to see them. Actually I nearly got run over by Michael Waltrip's golfcart. We had left Daytona USA and were walking back to another part of the vendor exhibits and we saw Mikey getting interviewed on camera. Afterwards, he signed a couple autographs but his driver was in a hurry to get him to Daytona USA for his appearance so she practically ran me over. We saw Jeff Gordon on the large Pepsi stage outside where they were doing a live radio broadcast. Afterwards they were throwing lots of freebie stuff out to the audience... didn't get anything though.
There were some nice exhibits being shown with a lot of racecars as well. They had showcars of Dale Jr, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Dale Jarrett, Mark Martin, Jimmy Spencer, Ryan Newman, Casey Atwood, Bobby LaBonte, and some others. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any drivers doing autographs like we did at Pocono. We did see a couple signs up for Jimmy Spencer, Michael Waltrip and Kurt Busch for the following day but we didn't go there then.
We finally made our way back to our seats for the Busch race. There was a nice pre-race cermony complete with flyovers, skydivers, and fireworks. After all the drivers were announced, guess who got the biggest cheer? Give you a hint, he was sitting on the pole. Actually Dale Jr. led the entire race that night, every lap. Most of the race was boring in the beginning because there wasn't much passing going on and not even any accidents. It did get better further along though. We were very happy Jr. won the race, we hoped it would carry over to the next night. After all the post-race victory lane fun, we made our way back to the car and concluded our very long second day.
The third day was the actual Winston Cup race. We would go to the track a little later by charter bus, which was great because we wouldn't have to pay for parking. We spent the early part of the day by the pool and went down to the beach one last time. We finally met our tour group around 2:00 and boarded the bus to go to the track. The crowd at the track seemed to have doubled from the last two days. We didn't have a lot to do before the race so we just went into Daytona USA for a little bit for the air conditioning. Unfortunately we didn't have tickets anymore so we couldn't go all the way inside. It was a shame too, because they put Dale Jr's Busch win car from last night inside. We walked around a bit more outside then finally walked into the track where we could use the pitpasses we bought to go out onto the infield. I have to say it was pretty cool walking on the infield. The slope of the track was very steep to walk down, much less drive over it. Certain parts of the track were roped off, so you couldn't go all the way around it. The painted parts of the grass were roped off so people wouldnt walk over it and mess it up. We walked along a lot of the pits, although some of them were roped off. The 2003 Winston trophy was on display there, of course there will be no name on it until the end of the season. Victory circle was gated off, but you could get a pretty good view of it. Unfortunately you couldn't go anywhere near the garages, where I really would have liked to gone. The day was brutally hot so we hid under the stands for awhile to get some relief. Later on they had a parade of all different kinds of cars prior to the race. When it was all over we made our way up to our seats again for the last time.
Before the race, country singer Sara Evans was giving a little pre-concert. She would also sing the national anthem. All drivers were introduced and were given a little parade lap in red Dodge Vipers. This race also had the fly overs and skydivers as well. Warren Sapp from the Superbowl Champs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, gave the word to start their engines. The start of the race and nearly just about all the rest of the race was very exicitng. It was bumper to bumper racing 3 wide. Amazingly enough there wasn't a lot of cautions, no spectacular race like Ryan Newman flipping through the infield from the Daytona 500. Kevin Harvick led most of the early laps. Pole sitter Steve Park quickly got shuffled back. On lap 55 Michael Waltrip took the lead and held it until Dave Blaney spun out bringing out the first caution. Elliot Sadler took the lead for a short time until Jimmie Johnson took over. On lap 72 Dale Jr. took the lead along with a huge cheer from the crowd. Michael Waltrip was right behind him and it looked like it was gonna be a good day for the DEI teammates. Not long after the pass, the race's "big one" happened. Well it wasn't that big, but 7 cars were involved in a crash on the backstretch. Throughout the rest of the race Jr. and Waltrip ran in the front but for some reason they weren't getting good fuel milage. From the lack of cautions, the duo had to make a late fuel stop which pretty much sealed their chances right there. A few cars ducked onto pitrow for fuel during the last caution and because of that, they were able to finish in the top 6. Greg Biffle pulled the biggest upset of the year by winning his first Winston cup race ever, and doing it at Daytona. The rest of the top 10 were Jeff Burton (2), Ricky Rudd (3), the Labonte brothers, Terry & Bobby (4 & 5), points leader Matt Kenseth (6), Dale Jr finished 7 (not too bad, but really wanted the win), then rounded out by Jermey Mayfield, Kevin Harvick and Dale Jarrett. Michael Waltrip finshed 11th. I was shocked by Biffle's win and disappointed from Jr's non-win, but hey, that's racin'. Also we got to see Robby Gordon's hood fly off his car and land in the stands. It hurt a lady but she would turn out ok in the end.
There were post-race fireworks but we didn't really stay for them because they didn't start right after the race ended and we wanted to get down to the bus. It was nice not having to drive back to the hotel even if it did take awhile for the bus to leave the track. It was a long 3 days and we were dead tired but we had fun. The next day we left Daytona and went up to Moorseville, NC to visit DEI and the other shops around the area which was great as well.
Visting Daytona was definately something I'll always remember. Plus we have lots of pictures and a video as well. We also won't forget it because we got engaged there. Someday I wouldn't mind going back, maybe even for the Daytona 500. It definately was exciting there although I was disappointed about the lack of good vendors around the track. Also I was disappointed that you couldn't get near the garages like we did at Pocono. The food was really expensive but I guess that's like that at a lot of tracks. The surrouding area of Daytona Beach is nice and there are lots of other things to do in the area besides the track if you have the time. Daytona USA was definately fun. I think I would like to visit other tracks before we would ever go back to Daytona. We did tour Lowes Motorspeedway that same trip so I wouldn't mind seeing a race there. Bristol would be a lot of fun going too I'm sure. Maybe head out to Vegas someday and catch the race there. Daytona definately was an experience. A lot of it was fun and some of it a little frustrating which must have been from the heat. I would recommend going there at least once in your life if you're a NASCAR fan, just to say that you've been to Daytona.
