Daytona International Speedway

December 26 , 2021

1801 W International Speedway Blvd, Daytona Beach, FL 32114

“Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event.” Wikipedia

This is the reason I came to Daytona Beach. I remember coming here with my family in 1968 and watching A.J. Foyt do over 180 mph in time trials for the Daytona 500. I wanted to return so I could bolster my childhood memory. I took the Speedway Tour, a one-hour guided tour by tram which took us to the infield to see Victory Lane, the garages, and gave a good view of the 31° banked turns. We were not able to go onto the track as they were the NASCAR Driving Experience was going on. After spending time in the infield we went back outside and were able to go up in the stands, where we watched the instructors for the Driving Experience test out the track. The tour ended in the Daytona Motorsports Hall of Fame, and interesting collection of cars and memoriabilia from the racing world.

If I ever visit again I would time it to take the VIP tour which is a more complete tour of the facility. The VIP tour is only given on Tuesdays and Thursdays at this time.

The tunnel under the track. I think the tram driver/tour guide thought he was a NASCAR driver through the tunnel as it was pretty quick.

Turn #1. It is hard to see how steep the 31° banking actually is. A couple other things I found interesting here...the lights were installed by MUSCO from Iowa (you can see the name of the gray boxes by the guard rail. The yellow number 41 indicates a camping spot. One could pull their RV into the infield and have a front row seat for any of the races.

I did not "punch" up the colors on this photo. The seats in the grandstand are actually painted the different colors. This was done for television, no matter how many people are in the stands the painted seats appear to be people on camera.

The steps up to the grandstand. There is an escalator to the right.

Turn four and the approach to the finish line as seen from behind the flag stand.

Cars waiting for the NASCAR Experience to start. For $500 you too can drive a car for 5 minutes on the track.

The Experience Instructors leave to check out the track.

A few seconds later they are approaching turn #1

And a little bit later they were headed back towards us.

The car of 2021 Daytona 500 Champion Michael McDowell. By contract the winner of the 500 has to allow their car to be displayed for the next year in the museum.

Basically, they just empty the gasoline out of the car and wheel it into the museum and display it just as it was when it finished the race.

The museum/hall of fame paid tribute to all motorsports. Here is a sprint car on display.

This is a photo showing the beach racing in the '50s, before the speedway was established.

Steve Kinser's racing shoes on display in the museum. Kinser won the Knoxville (Iowa) Nationals a record 12 times. I witnessed several of them.

A display showing how steep the banked curves of Daytona are, along with the different vehicles that race on the track.

Bill France Sr. and his wife. France founded the International Speedway Corporation and NASCAR.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s square on the Walk of Fame.

A panoramic view from behind the flag stand.

Home