It’s three days of mud-caked, beer-drenched, stomping good times on the Florida coastline. The three days are music-filled, alcohol-fueled craziness that do not climax until about eight o’clock Sunday night. No, this isn’t a Phish-hippie jam band music festival but the Daytona 500 and the days leading up to it.
I arrived in Daytona Beach on Friday night, just as the Craftsmen truck race was concluding. What follows is a basic run down of tips, tricks, and general experiences at the tail end of speed week.
The Daytona 500 is the closest thing this generation will ever get to a Woodstock-type environment. Over 200,000 people converge on the Atlantic coastline of Florida and the city of Daytona every year for the races leading up to and including the 500 itself during “speed week”.
The party that is Daytona takes place outside the track at the campgrounds in the days leading up to the race. Campgrounds swell to capacity and overflow into other campgrounds until it’s all just one big community. A big tip I figured out is to make sure to bring an original flag or a bright light to hang outside your tent or camper. If you forget this, expect to be looking for your tent for about three hours, as I did Saturday night.
Imagine being at the biggest football game ever, but instead of the normal two teams of fans, you have forty-three. One major rule I learned is that if you are going to be sporting your Junior gear, it’s best not to wander over into the Jeff Gordon camp. Jeff may come off as being a softie, but the fans of his I met certainly are not. The fans play out the drivers’ rivalries all week and year long, and some of those confrontations can get pretty hairy.
If you are like me, a broke as a joke college student, getting your hands on a ticket and finding a way down to Daytona is a feat in itself, so a $100 a night hotel is most likely out of the question. Do not fear; there are many affordable camp grounds within ear shot of the racetrack. If your girlfriend is a little queasy about bugs and mud, you might want to leave her at home.
Don’t expect to sleep-in too much, as either the cars or trucks of NASCAR run from sun up to almost sun down the entire week. Whether it’s qualifying, practicing, the qualifying races, or the actual races themselves, the cars and the thunderous reverberations they bring can wake even the heaviest of sleepers. Don’t count on getting to bed after the cars call it a day either. The partying really kicks off each night at sun down. Road side bars and makeshift speak-easies pop out of the woodwork come nightfall, as thousands of rabid motor sports fans rage on into the night.
Oh, yeah, Jimmie Johnson won the race itself (darnit, I’m a Dale Jr. fan), but by Sunday night I hardly cared at all. I’ve just gone through three days (some people went all week) of the hardest partying of my life and needed a vacation from this vacation.
Whether you are a NASCAR fan or not, I recommend all people attend what is commonly referred to as the “redneck Woodstock” at least once in their lives.