Racing at Daytona

It's been a while since we've checked in here. It's been a quiet time racing wise for us since last fall. However, we did recently get some racing in when we ventured to Florida and took in Speedweek at Daytona International Speedway. No doubt, most of you know about the rain postponed Daytona 500 that we got to experience! We not only saw the first ever postponed Daytona 500, but also the only one run at night. Plus...it lasted into the wee hours of Tuesday morning, so also spanned two days!

For the most part, other than that Sunday when the Daytona 500 was to be run, we enjoyed the nicest/warmest weather ever for racing in Florida. Thursday was beautiful for the running of the Duels. Duel #1 was pretty uneventful until Danica Patrick took a rough ride into the backstretch wall. Tony Stewart took the checkers (to my delight) in the first race of the day. The second race went to Matt Kenseth, which I was quite pleased about as well! We always enjoy the Duel races, as it gives you an opportuity to see ALL the drivers who are attempting to qualify. Also a little chance to wrap your head around all the car/driver changes from the previous year.

Friday wasn't quite as early a call to head to Daytona from our hotel in Orlando, since the race was a night running. The race vehicles are always beautiful under the lights. Little did we know then, it wouldn't be the last time we would see a race at night there! There were several cautions in the race but it was on a late-in-the-race restart, that things really changed up the game. I should have known when they announced the restart would be the "first" of a green-white-checkered finish, that they really knew what they were talking about! Yup...finally on the THIRD, green-white-checkered, the "bumper trucks" finally got the race in. That was after the second try resulted in a RED flag situation and then at the conclusion of the third restart, a big mess ensued after the white flag had flown and the race was called completed. It was nice to see a first-time winner in John King, get a victory, but an unfortunate situation that eliminated up-front runners all night being taken out of a good finish at the very end. It happens, as we've all seen before. One of the incidents resulted in a truck flipping pretty high just down from our seats, bending one of the catch fence poles at a pretty good angle. It was replaced by the next day.

Saturday, it was back again to the Speedway, and this time for the running of the Nationwide race. There were many lead changes early in the race, and once again, more than several cautions. And, once again, a big mess happened on the final lap of the race, taking out the top running cars. The lucky winner of this race was James Buescher. Not a bad deal for him since he had been running in 11th place as he rounded turn four coming to the checkers. He skillfully avoided the massive wreck in front of him involving the leaders.

Now comes Sunday, and the scheduled Daytona 500. We knew all week that Sunday was calling for rain. However, all those cells that pop up and move in can just as quickly dissipate as they form in that area. We were all hoping that would be the case on Sunday. It didn't happen...not for long anyway. We sat in the vehicle in a pretty convenient location to the track, so could hear the jet dryers on the track periodically as they attempted to get the job done. It drizzled off and on and with the scheduled start time approaching, we opted to head to the track. As we stood beneath our upper section seats (we were in the very top row of the frontstretch, just at the pit exit) the pre-race ceremonies were underway, Lennie Kravitz performing, and then the driver introductions. We were encouraged that this might just happen! Then, it poured!! We ended up standing there under the protected area of our section, for four hours, just waiting. We did get to know one of the ushers quite well though. When the rain let up, we decided to head back to the vehicle just to be able to sit down and rest, knowing that it would still be at least two hours before they could even get the track dried if and when it stopped. Wasn't long after we got there, that the word came that they had decided to postpone the race. This was for the first time EVER in the history of the Daytona 500. It was rescheduled to run at noon the next day. Thanks to a track text messaging, we got the word quickly, though it was also announced over the radio and people in the parking lot were also listening on their scanners. So...back to Orlando we went, booked our hotel room for an extra night, and crossed our fingers for getting the race in on Monday.

Monday dawned drippy too! Oh no, tell us it wasn't so! But we headed over to Daytona hoping for the best. We had heard that they probably wouldn't delay the 500 and run it on Tuesday if Monday didn't happen, but instead, would schedule it for an "off weekend" in April. That wouldn't happen for us then. It sprinkled off and on Monday morning and then came more than a sprinkle! The word then came that they had once again postponed the race, but were hopeful that a window of opportunity would come later that evening....races to be run at 7 p.m. Yup, got to see another night race.

The Daytona 500 ran at 7 p.m. on Monday, and the conditions of the track and the weather were actually quite pleasant. Of course, everyone had their ponchos close at hand! No umbrellas allowed in the grandstand, and apparently, many didn't know that as observed by the stash of umbrellas confiscated at the gates! Luckily, no more than a very few sprinkles fell the remainder of the night, and none enough to stop any action on the track.

Jimmy Johnson's night ended nearly before it started, with involvment in a wreck on lap 3 that took him out. A blown engine on lap 64 took out Jeff Gordon early as well. Everyone had their fingers crossed looking for that magic 100th lap, knowing that if rain came, the race would be declared offical. There was rain showing on radar, nearby. But no more than those few sprinkles mentioned earlier, ever appeared and the race continued. Late in the race, a caution came out and the yellow flag laps were counting down the conclusion of the race. During this time, we kept observing cars pitting...one right down from us. That would be the infamous car #42 of Juan Pablo (or JP as they are now calling him) Montoya. They checked it over, but didn't appear to make any changes, but he did go tearing out of the pits after his stop, in an attempt to catch the pack of cars on the track. We weren't really paying too much attention to the action on the track, since it was under yellow, but I suddenly looked up at the giant jumbotron to observe the wrecked, and on fire, car of Montoya! What the heck. About that time, a glance toward turn three brought a huge, "BOOM" and an enormous fireball! Thinking his car had exploded for some reason, we were still a bit puzzled (we didn't have a scanner) but soon learned that he had hit the back of one of the jet dryers! Not a good thing at all! Thankfully, Montoya and the jet dryer driver were able to escape safely...though I don't know how! The flames burned for a long, long time, the race was red flagged and not many people expected the race to be able to continue. The dryer melted to the track surface, and we thought that was it. Someone heard Dale, Jr. to say he didn't think there was anyway the track would be safe for racing. But....race they did. That would be after a two-hour cleanup of the track, using Tide! I am sure no one was more hopeful the race would NOT continue than Dave Blaney, who was scored the leader when the inferno occurred.

At 12:56 a.m. on TUESDAY, almost 36 hours after it was originally scheduled to run on Sunday at 1 p.m., the 54th running of the Daytona 500 was in the books...winner Matt Kenseth!! This race would also end under a green-white-checkered finish. A common happening during the four races we saw. Kenseth won the 500 for the second time in his career.

We not only saw a Daytona 500 that we will never forget, but along the way, ran into other fans who love the sport as much as us. All those hours of waiting around for the sky to clear, you meet a lot of people! We also, just by chance, were in a restaurant the week after the races....extending our vacation to catch up with our son and family who had flown down, when a couple dining just across from us, made a comment about a shirt Dick was wearing--D.T.U., Dirt Track University. That would bring about a conversation about racing in our neck of the woods here in Iowa and their dirt track racing...in Canada! They told us they were affiliated with Brighton Speedway in Brighton, Ontario. The track, a 1/3 mile slightly banked clay oval had previously been a sanctioned IMCA track, but they told us the newest promoter had opted out of sanctioning, though they ran nearly IMCA rules. It was nice to visit with Huck, who is the announcer at the track, and his wife Mary Ann. A chance meeting of people who love the great sport of dirt track racing. We encouraged them to try and make it back to Iowa for some racing in the near future and mentioned the IMCA Super Nationals. They said they had heard about that spectacle and would love to come sometime. So, Huck and Mary Ann, if by chance you happen to get to read this blog, as I gave them the link to this and a couple of our local tracks, "come on back" and enjoy some racing Midwest style.

We plan to head to Beatrice, Nebraska this Friday for the Beatrice IMCA Spring Nationals. That has often been our kick-off racing each spring in our area. We hope it happens and we get to see some good racing...dirt style!! Happy racing!