NASCAR 2019

Time for the racing season to start again, beginning this Sunday with the Daytona 500. 500 miles at 200 mph, with cars only a couple feet apart. It is intense racing, unless they all run single file.

One story to watch this year is the breakup of the long term pairing of Jimmy Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus. Knaus' new driver is William Byron. Byron was four years old when Johnson won his first Daytona 500 pole position in 2002. Byron claimed the pole position this year. Should be interesting: Byron is a Eagle Scout, and Knaus is a cheater.

Another thing to watch this year is the Ford cars, no longer based on a Focus, now they are a Mustang (at least a Mustang label). Makes sense. Who'd race a Focus?

I know DD stopped watching races much after Danica retired.  Maybe he'll enjoy the Monster Energy girls.

Do they all have cheek implants?

up7587 wrote:I know DD stopped watching races much after Danica retired.  Maybe he'll enjoy the Monster Energy girls.

Nope, I'm "old school," preferring the fully clothed Winston Cup ladies (with big hair   ) from the 80's and 90's.

The one and only Daytona 500 I attended was the 1985 race won by "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville,"  Recalling very little about the race except the exceptional noise and huge crowds, NASCAR as a whole was much more fun and less "packaged" in those days IMO....but unlike people, entertainment must change with the times....

I'm going to the Daytona 500!

While attending a conference here in Orlando, the hosts conducted a free drawing for five 3rd row seats located just out of turn 4 and prior to the start/finish line (Section 135, if anyone knows where that is)... and I snagged one of them.

When I arrived in Orlando on Tuesday I'd never before heard of the Daytona 500, but I put my business card in the bowl anyway, and today it was a winner.

I have no idea what to expect, but the tickets included transportation and meal vouchers (no mention of beer), so I guess I'll just take it all in....

StudentPilot wrote:I'm going to the Daytona 500!

While attending a conference here in Orlando, the hosts conducted a free drawing for five 3rd row seats located just out of turn 4 and prior to the start/finish line (Section 135, if anyone knows where that is)... and I snagged one of them.

When I arrived in Orlando on Tuesday I'd never before heard of the Daytona 500, but I put my business card in the bowl anyway, and today it was a winner.

I have no idea what to expect, but the tickets included transportation and meal vouchers (no mention of beer), so I guess I'll just take it all in....

Bring ear plugs. I’m not kidding. Enjoy!

Better yet, rent the headset system that allows you to listen to the teams, or to the race commentary.  Without the race commentary, you aren't sure what's going on in the pits, etc. a lot of the time.

Enjoy!

DoubleDipper wrote:

up7587 wrote:I know DD stopped watching races much after Danica retired.  Maybe he'll enjoy the Monster Energy girls.

Nope, I'm "old school," preferring the fully clothed Winston Cup ladies (with big hair   ) from the 80's and 90's.

Fully clothed? I must be confused again. Who was the guy who posted all the cheerleader pictures?

up7587 wrote:Fully clothed? I must be confused again.  Who was the guy who posted all the cheerleader pictures?

Well, those cheerleaders were about as "fully clothed" as they get in the NFL....


And in the '80s, many of those cheerleaders definitely had "big hair."

Daytona is crazy...and I love it!

Camping near the beach on Friday, we were awakened to the sound of the Thunderbirds overhead as they made two runs in over the Atlantic toward the track on practice runs yesterday morning, and today we had chance to meet the pilots.  I also met a kid just a year older than me who turned out to be the "pole sitter" for the race....William Byron. (He'd never heard of me either.   )

Good tip on the earplugs, there was a race yesterday that was ear-splitting, and I was told those weren't the "big engines."

The Daytona 500 begins in just over an hour and this place is filling fast with some crazy-ass raucous people...I think it's going to be a spectacle.  

My first impression: I had no idea the track would be banked like it is.  It must be close to 30 degrees in some areas, and it's even banked on the straight parts. We haven't gotten to our seats yet, but I'm told they're right where all the action is....gotta go!

Anything interesting happen late in the race?

up7587 wrote:Anything interesting happen late in the race?

Apparently, but I was gone by then.

Had an opportunity to fly in the right seat from Daytona to San Juan in a Conquest II with an instructor that I couldn't pass up, so I left before all the big wrecks and the finish.  Five hours of night flying in a twin-engine turboprop over water with an instructor trumped seeing the end of the race for this student pilot.

The noise and speed of the race was amazing, and I did rent a headset as you suggested which clued me in to what was going on in the pits directly in front of me.  Before the race started I was offered $200 to trade my 3rd row seat for one in the 23rd row, and I took it!  Much better view up higher and I didn't have to look through the safety fence.

I've been to the Rose Bowl with 100,000 people, but the Daytona 500 with 100,000 was much louder and rowdier...not out of control, for the most part, but there was definitely more beer being drunk than iced tea. And of course the Rose Bowl is a bowl, but at Daytona most everyone was packed high on one side of the track in stands that are incredibly high.  

There was definitely a military theme to the spectacle with the Thunderbirds flyover, the 82nd Airborne sung National Anthem, the combined services color guard and the many uniformed service members around the infield area.  Except for the military personnel, I was definitely overdressed in long pants and a collared shirt...oh to be a T-shirt sales person at Daytona!

I think I would have enjoyed the race more if I'd known or recognized the cars or drivers. As the only driver I "knew" was William Byron, I rooted for him, and he led for awhile, but I'm told he faded to the rear as the race concluded when others were wrecking and his tires were in bad shape.  

This was a more about the spectacle than the race, IMO....and although everyone seemed to be wearing a T-shirt, I don't think my President Obama shirt would have gone over well with the Daytona crowd even though he was Commander-in-Chief for eight years.  It was good to experience a part of Americana that I was unfamiliar with, and it gave me a better understanding of a segment of society I had not met as a student or NGO aid worker....which may have been the best experience of the weekend.

What a weekend for you.  But you did miss David Ragan doing an axle inspection on Aric Almirola.


https://www.sbnation.com/2019/2/17/18209688/daytona-500-crash

Also, Denny Hamlin won the race, which was very emotional as his #11 car became a tribute to the late son of owner Coach Joe Gibbs.  J.D. Gibbs died last month of a brain disease.  The 11th lap was a tribute to him.  And the #11 winning made it special.  Plus, Hamlin beat his teammate Kyle Busch, who tried hard to restrain his surly side in the post-race interview.

https://www.foxnews.com/auto/lap-11-to-pay-tribute-to-late-j-d-gibbs-at-daytona-500.print

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/02/18/denny-hamlin-honors-jd-gibbs-after-winning-crash-filled-daytona/?utm_term=.89e9a3c3551e

StudentPilot wrote: 

This was a more about the spectacle than the race, IMO....and although everyone seemed to be wearing a T-shirt, I don't think my President Obama shirt would have gone over well with the Daytona crowd even though he was Commander-in-Chief for eight years.  It was good to experience a part of Americana that I was unfamiliar with, and it gave me a better understanding of a segment of society I had not met as a student or NGO aid worker....which may have been the best experience of the weekend.

I'm not a NASCAR fan either, but I've had a ton of fun going to a couple races in Vegas when the race is the same weekend as the WCC tournament. I'm sure that the experience of race day in Vegas is nowhere close to what it is at Daytona. People in the South take racing much more seriously!

For one of the races I went to, we had great seats up high. We were able to follow the race really well and knew what was going on. The second race, we sat up close and at times in the front row (lots of empty seats up front). You can't see the race as well from the front, but you definitely feel the race more. It's pretty impressive to only be a few feet from the cars as the fly past. Of course, the best part of the race is the tailgate party before hand.