Friday, July 13, 2012

Monday, July 9 Daytona Speedway

Last weekend, we attended the Nascar race at Daytona International Speedway, watching the Coke Zero 400.




This was our first time attending a race at Daytona so this qualified as a learning experience for us.  As usual, we camped at the track, and as usual we dry camped, or for the RV un-initiated we parked on a piece of ground and lived on what we carried in the motorhome which included about 100 gallons of water, our most precious and limited commodity.





With that information in mind, and with the understanding that this race takes place in sunny Florida where the temperatures hovered near 100 every day, along with very high humidity and you can begin to suspect that not all would be smooth sailing.  Actually, quite the opposite was the case as we had a great time at the "headquarters of auto racing", and we got to watch a rare, EXCITING Nascar race.  But, I am getting ahead of myself.

We arrived at the speedway on Thursday night after traveling from New Jersey over the holiday and with a quick stop in North Carolina to visit with our son, daughter-in-law and grandson.  It was late when we pulled in, and after a brief delay when we got lost and turned into the wrong gate, we were quickly escorted to our reserved "campsite".


We use the term campsite loosely here as we really had a piece of grassy dirt 20'x40' long, in the midst of dozens of other campers with the same goal we had.  We backed into the site, did minimal setup and then hit the sack.  Tomorrow would begin the weekend and bring new adventures we were sure.  Another thing that really adds to the "color" of camping at a Nascar race are the extreme eccentrics who attend.  These folks go to all sorts of extremes to express their support for various sports, including college football.



If you have never camped at a Nascar race, one thing you should understand is that you need electricity.  With temperatures hovering near 100 all weekend, if you didn't have access to air conditioning, you would wilt very quickly.  Fortunately in our RV, we have a large built in diesel generator which is capable of supplying our electrical needs 24 hours a day, and just as importantly it runs quietly.  Unfortunately most folks who camp at these type of events do not have this capability and provide for their electrical needs with what is known as a "contractor" generator.  This type of generator is relatively inexpensive, and works well on noisy construction sites.  However, in the close confines of a Nascar campground, the din of dozens of such generators running throughout the day and into the night begins to approach the level of a modern day rock concert.  Add to this the ever present carbon monoxide cloud and you have at best, an unpleasant situation. 

Then the cavalry comes to the rescue!  Or perhaps more correctly, our son Larry jr..  Jr. was camping with us during the weekend and after our first attempt to to settle in comfortably, he took it upon himself to find a better location, and succeed he did!  Jr. took off on one of our bikes and returned shortly after announcing that we were going to move.  The new location was, by comparison, almost heaven.  We had almost unlimited space, with not a single noisy neighbor, we were across the road from the local airport, and had a great view of the racetrack.  There was a large grassy area where we could walk the pups and plenty of room to set up the pool and other comfort accessories.  To say the least, the outlook for a great weekend was much brighter.



We decided not to attend the Friday night Nationwide race and missed a very exciting event with plenty of action and an exciting finish even though Kurt Busch eventually won.  Some of you may know that I am not a fan of either of the Busch brothers and consider them both to be total jerks and spoiled brats.  A study of their careers in Nascar will confirm my opinion.

Kurt Busch, one of the all time top 20 sports jerks!

Saturday, the day of the race, we spent relaxing and enjoying the warm sunny weather in Florida in a raceday kind of way.

  This is a plastic cup that was setting out in the sun and melted!  Man it's hot!



These are good times, spent with good folks, having good fun and we are fortunate to be able to do this kind of activity in our motorhome.



Saturday night we journeyed to the track, did some sight seeing, and then found our seats in preparation for the main event.  Nascar races are always filled with tons of "sight and sound" occasions and this one was no different.  The evening started with a live concert by "Train", and then the opening ceremonies which included driver introductions and a special event which was the introduction of four Congressional Medal of Honor winners.  This was a very moving ceremony and one that I enjoyed.  I was proud to be part of the large crowd that gave a standing ovation for all four hero's.  Following this, was the presentation of the flag, and the singing of the national anthem, which concluded with a flyby of a B-52H bomber, probably one of the most dramatic scenes you will ever see.  The B-52 is powered  by EIGHT huge jet engines and even though it was first introduced in 1952 it is still one of the most impressive war planes in the world.



The Daytona race is a "restrictor plate" race, referring to a component that limits the horsepower of the cars, and thus the top speed.  This practice creates a totally different racing environment and typically a very exciting race.  This one was no exception.  Although the early part of the race appeared to be boring, a study of some of the strategies employed by the various race teams kept observant fans keenly watching the race.  The latter part of the race was exciting because of the number of wrecks, sometimes known as "the big one" at Daytona and other super speedways.

To make a long story short, at the beginning of the race, I predicted that #14, Tony "smoke" Stewart would take the checkered flag.




There were times when my prediction didn't look too good, but at Daytona, track position during the race is not too important, only where you are when you cross the finish line.  That night Tony was the first.  I like Smoke, and was glad he won that night.


After the race, we went back to the motorhome and relaxed while the majority of the crowd fought departing traffic.  On Sunday morning we packed up and headed for our next destination in Sarasota on the west coast of Florida.


Our experience at Daytona ranks near the top of our ratings of various tracks.  The camping area was clean when we arrived and clean when we departed.  Although we were camping without connections, there were water outlets located around the campground that you could get water from at no charge.  That is a first in our experience at other tracks.  We enjoyed the race and had a good time all weekend and would definitely consider returning in the future.

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