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The Scene If you race them, they will come
Posted: Thursday February 17, 2000 08:32 PM
By Ryan Smithson, CNNSI.com DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Relatively speaking, Daytona Beach has been a virtual deserted island all week. Until the Twin 125s. The two 125-milers have grown into a major part of Speedweek. It gets so crowded on the Thursday before the 500 that Daytona officials are forced to open the backstretch grandstands, which previously were needed only for Sunday. And with the fans comes the traffic, which created a two-hour crawl on the roughly three-mile drive from I-4 to Daytona International Speedway. Exiting is no picnic because fans are not leaving town like they would on Sunday. Not that fans don't know how to entertain themselves while waiting. All that sitting in traffic allows them to banter with each other -- and with the 50 state troopers assigned to traffic duty along International Speedway Blvd. Several people jumped around from car to car trying to sell racing apparel. Several fans were seen riding in trunks (lid up) holding beers (also lid up). And, no, that's not Darrell Waltrip next to you on the road, just some guy in an '88 Monte Carlo painted exactly like Waltrip's old No. 11. Scalping is illegal in Florida, where you can resell tickets for only $1 over face value. Local law enforcement (as well as NASCAR) frowns heavily on scalpers, which is why the only ones in sight were stationed more than two miles away. Parking prices rivaled those of the Super Bowl this year in Atlanta. International Speedway Blvd. is littered with the typical restaurants and discount stores, and most of them were offering parking for $20. What did you get for your Andrew Jackson? A spot about a half-mile from the Speedway entrance. With these prices, many fans opted to park a mile or more away, a good distance to haul those coolers in the Florida heat. Which might explain why people were trying to lighten their load -- one can at a time -- while they walked.
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