February 16, 2024 - Daytona International Speedway

DID YOU KNOW? Daytona International Speedway is one of the largest outdoor stadiums in the U.S. with 101,500 seats, 40 escalators, 17 elevators, and more than 60 luxury track-side suites. It has a 2.5 mile raceway, encircling a couple RV parks, a campground, a 29-acre manmade lake, numerous garages, a healthcare center and so much more.

Since we were so close to Daytona, we planned in a short stop to experience a race at this iconic stadium. While the Daytona 500 was taking place around the time we would be in town, the exorbitant ticket prices gave us cause to select an earlier and much more affordable race instead...thus we ended up at the Nascar Craftsman Truck Series on Friday night of "Speed Week," just a couple of days before the BIG race. We spent two nights at a lot just down the road from the speedway, packed in like sardines in a can with hundreds of other RV's...talk about party city. We were ready to pull out after a brief 15 minutes of excitement, but we hunkered down and stuck with it.

Prior to the race, all the trucks were lined up and drivers introduced

For an extra price, you could go down into the track and be up close to the trucks...which we did not do.

One of only four still in use, the Goodyear blimp provides many aerial shots of the race

Maleah's favorite is the second car up on the left...while the boys prefer the second one up on the right, LOL

While it was neat to be at the Daytona International Speedway, I discovered that I much prefer the rural dirt tracks of Iowa over this enormous raceway. I'm not a big race fan, but I do enjoy our summer trips to the small speedways near our camper. Additionally, I didn't appreciate the practice sessions that the Thunderbirds insisted on having early every morning, right over where we were sleeping. I know they needed to practice for their big moment of glory on Sunday, but they really could have waited until after the previous night's racegoers woke up on their own, LOL.

Well, that's all I have for you today. We went to the Daytona Speedway and can say 'been there, done that.' Mom, Dad, and I all consider it a one and done deal. Glad we went. Glad when the time came to leave. :)

Until next time, God bless