Daytona…the greatest of all speedways and home of The Great American Race. We visited this historic track today and saw where some of NASCAR’s closest finishes have occurred, and also some of its lowest moments.
Daytona International Speedway has a large visitor center/museum, which we went to first. It is called Daytona USA. Some of the highlights of this interactive museum are: the most recent Daytona 500 winner’s car, the Wall of Champions, a 1-hour video, Dream Laps, Acceleration Alley, and a track tour.
This year’s Daytona 500 winner was Kevin Harvick, driver of the #29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet. HE edged out veteran Mark Martin by a mere .02 seconds, the second closet victory margin in NASCAR history. The car on display still had the victory lane confetti on it!
The Wall of Champions is a collection of commemorative plaques which celebrate the winners of all major Daytona races such as the Daytona 500, the Pepsi 400, Rolex 24, Gatorade Duels, and the Budweiser Shootout. For those of you who are not racing fans, I’ll explain each of these. Both the Daytona 500 and the Pepsi 400 are major NASCAR Cup Series races. The Rolex 24 is a 24-hour race. Both of the Gatorade Duels are races that determine some of the final Daytona 500 spots. The Budweiser Shootout is a 70-lap race at the beginning of each season which contains all of the drivers from the previous who qualified in the first position (or Pole Position) for a race. All of these and more are races held at Daytona International Speedway.
The video was very neat to watch, because the last half-hour of it was in 3-D. It showed some of the 500’s most legendary winners, some highlights from past races, and the most memorable moments. Names like Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, and Cale Yarborough popped up all the time. Both Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty won this prestigious race seven times. They had some major bragging rights! Racing also lost one of it’s legends during a last-lap crash during the 2001 Daytona 500. Dale Earnhardt spun after the checkered flat, and took a hard hit into the wall. His neck snapped from the impact. He never emerged from his car.
After we finished at the museum, we took a tour of the track. We saw places like Victory Lane, the start/finish line, and we also got to see the high banks of Daytona. They are banked at 31 degrees! If a car isn’t going 70 miles per hour while entering Turn 1, it will roll over. Yikes!
We then headed to Acceleration Alley, a racing simulator. You sit inside a car and drive it just like a NASCAR driver. You even flip the acceleration switch in order to start the car. It was a fun end to our Speedway visit.
We left Daytona International Speedway and went the short drive out to the coast and visited the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse, and then drove down on the beach. It was neat to drive on & park right on the beach. It’s so flat and compacted. We walked around for a little while and took some pictures, and then made the drive back to the Orlando area. What a fun day!
Daytona International Speedway has a large visitor center/museum, which we went to first. It is called Daytona USA. Some of the highlights of this interactive museum are: the most recent Daytona 500 winner’s car, the Wall of Champions, a 1-hour video, Dream Laps, Acceleration Alley, and a track tour.
This year’s Daytona 500 winner was Kevin Harvick, driver of the #29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet. HE edged out veteran Mark Martin by a mere .02 seconds, the second closet victory margin in NASCAR history. The car on display still had the victory lane confetti on it!
The Wall of Champions is a collection of commemorative plaques which celebrate the winners of all major Daytona races such as the Daytona 500, the Pepsi 400, Rolex 24, Gatorade Duels, and the Budweiser Shootout. For those of you who are not racing fans, I’ll explain each of these. Both the Daytona 500 and the Pepsi 400 are major NASCAR Cup Series races. The Rolex 24 is a 24-hour race. Both of the Gatorade Duels are races that determine some of the final Daytona 500 spots. The Budweiser Shootout is a 70-lap race at the beginning of each season which contains all of the drivers from the previous who qualified in the first position (or Pole Position) for a race. All of these and more are races held at Daytona International Speedway.
The video was very neat to watch, because the last half-hour of it was in 3-D. It showed some of the 500’s most legendary winners, some highlights from past races, and the most memorable moments. Names like Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, and Cale Yarborough popped up all the time. Both Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty won this prestigious race seven times. They had some major bragging rights! Racing also lost one of it’s legends during a last-lap crash during the 2001 Daytona 500. Dale Earnhardt spun after the checkered flat, and took a hard hit into the wall. His neck snapped from the impact. He never emerged from his car.
After we finished at the museum, we took a tour of the track. We saw places like Victory Lane, the start/finish line, and we also got to see the high banks of Daytona. They are banked at 31 degrees! If a car isn’t going 70 miles per hour while entering Turn 1, it will roll over. Yikes!
We then headed to Acceleration Alley, a racing simulator. You sit inside a car and drive it just like a NASCAR driver. You even flip the acceleration switch in order to start the car. It was a fun end to our Speedway visit.
We left Daytona International Speedway and went the short drive out to the coast and visited the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse, and then drove down on the beach. It was neat to drive on & park right on the beach. It’s so flat and compacted. We walked around for a little while and took some pictures, and then made the drive back to the Orlando area. What a fun day!
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