This is Vacation Post #3 - Daytona International Speedway
So we travelled an hour up to the speedway from our base in Cocoa Beach - it's not an hour as the crow (or in this case, seagull) flies but since there is the huge area of Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral launch sites and the Air Force Base north of Cocoa Beach, one has to drive inland, then north to get around all that and then back east to Daytona.
Needlesstosay, my little NASCAR fan nearly peed his pants with excitement to see REAL NASCAR cars, to be on the ACTUAL racetrack and to touch (shhh, we won't tell) the winning car from this year's Daytona 500 (Ryan Newman's car). We thoroughly enjoyed the "Daytona 500 Experience" which is a huge exhibit with demonstrations, a chance to try your hand at being on a pit crew & get timed, a driving simulator (which I won't tell you how many times my husband HAD to do so he could finally come in 2nd place - Matthew was the passenger since he was not tall enough to drive & he was devastated when Don came in 29th the first time!). They showed us the guts of a race car, history, IMAX movie & of course, a tour of the actual track, pit area & garages!
Here's the photo proof of our visit - you fans will recognize a few "famous" cars running the track the day we were there! No the "famous" drivers weren't driving but to Matthew, the "famous" car is almost as good as the "famous" driver!
Jimmie Johnson's hand & foot prints
Dale Jr.'s hand & foot prints
Jeff Gordon's hand & foot prints
Matthew with a few friends - Kevin & Tony
Daddy & Matthew with Ryan Newman's actual car just as it was left after crossed finish line in this year's Daytona 500
Autographed tail end of Ryan Newman's car
All the parts of Jeff Gordon's car from engine to paint
Daddy on the pit crew - not too shabby...changed a tire in 22 seconds!
Dale Sr.'s car
The steep banks - did you know they have to be going at least 70 mph just to stay up on those turns without sliding down??
The stands
Dale Jr's car
Martin Truex Jr's car
This thingy tells you who's winning - excuse my technical jargon - LOL
The "twin tunnels" - vehicle entrance onto track
Matthew in heaven - I cannot tell you how badly he wanted this jacket ...the only size was a men's XL & he kept saying "it's really ok if it's a little big"...let's add that it cost $125. No, we did not buy it!
The boys in front of Dale Sr. statue
4 comments:
Needless to say, I've been sooo excited for this post...
I thought if no one else, you would sure appreciate it! LOL!
Andrea
There's no doubt in my mind that Mathew was in heaven. You can tell in every picture you took! Was there anyone there to answer questions? I'm sure Mathew would have a ton, lol.
Yes, everyone there was pretty well versed on NASCAR - so all ready for questions. We had a tourguide for the track but he wasn't all that helpful. I told him my son wanted to know where the get the gas for during pit stops (since there weren't pumps near the track)...he said "it goes in that round hole on the car". Duh! Hello! We didn't ask "where do you put the gas..!". So I had to rephrase and we finally found out the pit crew has to carry gas in gas cans from the pumps over to the cars. But yes, Matthew was in 100% Heaven
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