Daytona 500 – when there was racing in 2020

Writing about a race that was only a couple of months ago, but feels from another era feels very

strange, but here goes.

Visiting the Daytona 500 and having a holiday in Florida in February was a by-product of

conversations around my 60th birthday at the end of last year. Well now you mention it Alison, yes, I

think that’s an awesome idea.

With the usual reliance on the internet and its review sites we started a plan to visit a part of the

USA we’d never been to before, with race tickets, flights and a hotel on the Daytona side of Orlando

booked last Summer.

The hotel choice proved to be very fortuitous. On the Thursday before the race weekend there were

two couples having a coffee in the hotel with various pieces of NASCAR paperwork on the table. As

first-time visitors I was keen to learn anything I could about the practicalities of visiting the race, so

started a conversation with them. They helped with suggested parking places for the Friday night

truck race for my solo visit to the track.

Approaching Daytona the next day, the sheer scale of Daytona and it’s continuous grandstand from

turn 4 to turn 1 quickly became apparent. It’s a massive complex alongside the airport.

The trucks were forecast to be the racing highlight of the weekend and it certainly felt that way

when there were 3 lines of 5 cars racing in a tight-bunched pack at the head of the field. The fiery

action-filled race saw one truck on its roof and three wrecks of nine trucks or more, the last of which

set up the overtime finish won by Grant Enfinger. It was awesome tight racing concluded under the

lights.

Before leaving for the race I’d bumped-into one of the people from the hotel lounge again and he

explained his group had a place available on their coach for the Infinity race on Saturday afternoon

and may have two places for the 500 itself on Sunday. So I happily chipped-in my contribution for

Saturday and joined them on the coach. A screwball and a shot on the coach on Saturday morning

and after a while it moved from in front of the hotel and headed to the circuit.

The Infinity race, one level below the field for the 500, proved to be interesting, without being over

memorable. Maybe the most important thing was we could join the 54-seater coach the next day.

Sunday was going to a much busier day, with a sellout race attendance of over 100,000. The

weather forecast gave some concern; would it be possible to complete the race or would rain

scupper that? We’d also learned that President Donald Trump was due to attend.

The group from the hotel going to the race

originated as a hospitality, family and

friends group founded by Bill Wimble,

NASCAR’s National Sportsman

Championship in 1960. He also raced at

Daytona a few times with a best finish of

11th in the Daytona 500. His family still

attend, including window Nancy in her Bill

Wimble, The Flying Dairy Farmer T-shirt.

The group has members from all over the

USA who come together for the Daytona

500 and several other races.

On raceday morning it was quickly apparent that years of travelling to Daytona meant the group

knew exactly what it was doing. The contents of two pick-up trucks were transferred to the coach;

huge numbers of fold-up seats and a gazebo went into the luggage compartment. Then a luggage

trolley of chinking glass bottles was transferred into the coach, with massive ice buckets too. Ah,

this was going to be the open bar then.

The journey to the track was a little busier, but not too bad as the coach pulled-in to its parking area

close to the turn four grandstand.

Then all of a sudden the travelling seats were unloaded and the gazebo was up. It was fried chicken

time! Before everyone had gathered to leave, someone had been out and got box loads of fried

chicken. Add that to the ongoing bar and I realised this was the coach passenger equivalent of

‘tailgating’. In American parlance that means cooking or having food and drinks out of the back of

your vehicle, often a pick-up truck (hence with a tailgate) in the car park ahead of a public event.

Needless to say it was very sociable, but then it was time to show Alison the various displays, stands

and giveaways outside the venue.

We had a little alarm about getting in, when it became apparent security levels had been tightened

hugely ahead of the presidential visit, leading to massive queues. Security had gone from being a

civilian function to one operated by the Secret Service, although having officers with ‘Secret Service’

badges on their uniforms did feel a little incongruous.

Bag checks were carried out in good humour but with great diligence. How diligent? Well bags were

completely emptied onto tables and I saw the lens caps of someone’s binoculars being removed so

the officer could check the tubes contained optics and not anything else.

While in the queue, Air Force One was spotted and while the airport was on the opposite side of the

circuit the plane flew a 360-degree circuit around us first before approaching and landing. Ah yes,

showtime in election year. It was quite apparent we were in Trump territory in terms of the crowd’s

general political allegiance.

It was a relief to be inside and to find our seats, high-up for a view of the whole 2.5 mile track.

The drivers were introduced and each went around the track on the back of a pick-up truck.

The President made a speech and the all-American affair included God Bless America, the National

Anthem and a fly-past from the USAF Thunderbirds. This all seemed to take for ever, especially with

an eye on weather radar, but eventually it was time for “Gentlemen, start your engines”.

The Presidential motorcade, including of course The Beast (the Presidential car) left down the

pitlane to lead the cars out onto the track.

The race nearly started after a succession of pace laps, but rain fell just before the green flag was

thrown and so the 40-car field parked-up on the pit road.

When the race got underway just over an hour later, with the green flag waved by Dale Earnhardt

Junior, it was an amazing sight and sound as the huge pack thundered into turn 1. Alas after 20 laps

the rain returned and the red flag was out again. Because the whole occasion was so immense, it’s

only now I’ve realised that means we’d seen just 15 minutes of racing!

A huge fleet of track driers seemed to be out straight away and once the rain stopped, they made

good progress on drying the track and infield run off areas, but the sheer size of the place meant this

went on for a long time.

Many people returned to the coach hoping for a restart, but also ready for a quick getaway,

although a few of us stayed in the grandstand concourse as we chatted and willed a restart.

The drivers were starting to get back into their cars when there was a huge deluge and that was it

for the day. Water flooded out of a downpipe and washed across the floor and the stairways

became waterfalls. We got soaked heading back to the coach and rued our optimism.

The race was suspended for the day and deferred until Monday for just the second time in its

history. The organisation of the group came to the fore again as pizzas were ordered for delivery to

the hotel. We tucked into those and most people headed wearily to bed fairly early.

Monday was the day many people had to head home, so there was no coach to the track. We said

goodbye to many people, and checked-out of our hotel, although some of the group also drove

there.

Being British and used to rain our Monday night hotel booking was still accessible from Daytona, in

St Augustine a little further up the coast. We headed for the track in reasonable time and found $10

parking, certainly better than the $50 sites wanted the day before.

There was no threat of rain, so, minus the pre-race festivities we could look forward to a resumption

of the action.

At this point it’s worth recapping that the Daytona 500 is the first race in a 36-race season running

most weekends from February until early November. So the Daytona 500 is a chance to put down

an early marker, get some championships points on the board and move on from there…..

Nonsense! The first event in the championship is the undisputed blue riband event, so victory

means as much, or more, than winning the championship itself. Careers and fortunes are built on

winning this race. The sole objective is to win; no other places matter.

NASCAR races are divided into three stages, with ‘competition cautions’ between them. The early

stages tend to be quite tactical, with drivers adjusting the set-up of their cars at pitstops and in this

race in particular the teams aligned strategy by manufacturer. So we saw Toyota choosing to run at

the back of the field early on; an incongruous place to see reigning champion Kyle Busch.

The first two stages were relatively subdued, with the expectation the race would build to a

crescendo.

In the third and final stage there was ‘the big one’. That’s the term used for a crash on a

superspeedway that wipes-out a significant portion of the runners. Running so close together and at

speeds of around 200 mph there’s very little reaction time.

A chain-reaction crash on lap 184 of 200 started with a bump and ultimately involved 19 of the 37

cars still in the race. Various cars were eliminated, including seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson

who was probably making his last Daytona 500 start. The red flag was shown.

Then a nine-car wreck in Turn 1 on Lap 199 saw another red flag and forced overtime. NASCAR rules

allow more laps to be run than schedules, in an effort to have a green flag finish. Another incident

inthe tri-oval then set up the second overtime and finish.

The race finish really was one of mixed emotions. It became the second closest finish in the history

of the race as Denny Hamlin won his second consecutive Daytona 500 in a photo finish with Ryan

Blaney at the head of a tight pack.

That was rather lost in the moment though. Coming out of the final turn Ryan Newman led, but his

car was bumped and turned hard into the outside wall before it flipped. While airborne and upside

down it was hit, side-on, by Corey Lajoie, pushing the car upside down along the track. You may

have seen pictures in the UK mainstream media at the time.

The severity of the accident was apparent as the car passed in front of us, on its roof, with some

flames too. The rescue effort was calm and time consuming and the hush reflected the fact that all

outcomes seemed possible.

Race victor Hamlin did donuts on the grass, seemingly oblivious to the magnitude of what had

occurred. After Ryan Newman had been removed from the car, now partially hidden behind privacy

screens, it was a subdued crowd that left the venue wondering how he was. Finding out the next

day that he was in a serious, but not life changing condition in hospital felt like a very positive

outcome.

The best was yet to come though as Newman was pictured walking out of the hospital with his two

daughters a few days later. That prospect seemed unimaginable on Monday night and was a

testament to the improved safety in our sport over time. Ironically this included the ‘Newman Bar’

as part of the roll cage structure.

So the overall experience of going to the Daytona was ultimately very fulfilling, if a little frustrating

that the race couldn’t be completed in front of a capacity crowd on the scheduled day.

It was made extra special by joining the exceptionally welcoming group that we became members of

for the weekend.

In a strange twist of fate and synchronicity Alison managed her own ‘last lap drama’ by stumbling

over a kerb on the last night of our trip. After hospital assessment she travelled home with a

fractured elbow and suspected fractured kneecap, thereby adopting the ‘stay at home’ lifestyle

ahead of the rest of us. She’s recovering well now.

In concluding this article it’s great to see the Club’s online competitions flourishing to keep motor

sport alive during this enforced shutdown. However, don’t forget, maybe appropriately for NASCAR,

there’s ‘old school too.

Here’s four year old Archie Bird and his version of the Daytona track, created with Dad Liam and first

featured on the excellent Facebook group NASCAR Fans UK .

Here’s to a resumption of normal competition when we can safely and responsibly do so.