Time for my first NASCAR race!

The only Nascar races I've been to in person I saw from pit road or up top. I definitely say you want a radio or a scanner. There's a lot going in the strategies of the race teams, and it makes the races far more interesting. I spotted a few times too and I can tell you it is one of the hardest jobs there. Those guys don't get enough recognition.

We were a bunch of road race guys when we got there, so it was all new to us. From a work standpoint, Nascar was a magnitude of 10 more difficult for the crew. It is tough, tough, tough to set up a winning car, so given your background, if you can, I would suggest at least visit the garage area once. It's interesting to see what the teams have at their disposal these days.

The cooler dimensions are clearly laid out on the ticket - which you can print out with a picture of your favorite driver I am completely clueless about who is who, honestly. I appreciate stock cars for the incredible development level of the engines and the fact that they are cornering all the time, and I'm going to the race simply for the spectacle. I'll be cheering for the guy who's in second at any given point, probably.

Since I was at Daytona for the 24 just a couple of weeks ago, I've got a pretty good feel for the lay of the land. And Daytona actually has a really cool 3D website that lets you sample your seats, so I know I'm able to look right down pit row and get a good view of the entry to Turn 1 as well.

Parking's my biggest worry. Joe has offered up a number of options, so I'll read through them carefully tonight and see what I can figure out. I've ordered a scanner to be delivered to my hotel, so there's that sorted. I'm not sure if I should patch it into the rally headsets or just use normal earbuds. The rally headsets seem like fun.

We're pretty booked during our visit. I've got friends in the area (Gary, the guy who started Miata.net and who I've known for about a quarter century) and I want to get to the Cape as well. Then there's that Disney Princess Half Marathon for Janel. The Daytona race is just icing on the cake.

Time will probably prevent us from visiting garages, as we're not going to be able to get there much before the race. As an endurance racing crew chief, I think the radio chatter is going to be really interesting.

This will be fun.

The Cape / Space Center is certainly worth a visit. If you make it to Port Canaveral, Grills is a great place for food / beer:

Grills Seafood and bar

Keith Tanner wrote: Time will probably prevent us from visiting garages, as we're not going to be able to get there much before the race. As an endurance racing crew chief, I think the radio chatter is going to be really interesting. This will be fun.

Make sure you spend some time listening to the 48 group. A big part of their success is the way Chad runs that team. The 88 can be fun to listen to but that's mostly because Jr. generally just has fun in the car.

And be prepared for the absurdity that is the NASCAR collection. The absolute fortune people drop in the midway is staggering. I go to races to watch the impulse purchases alone!

As far as the pressure wave that you feel at a big speed track I must tell you to remember to wear in ear plugs as well as your headphones. Daytona is a quiet track but it's still dangerously loud and awesome. Bring protection.

Have an amazing weekend!

Our headphones are built for use in a noisy rally car, they're quite quiet with active microphones. Basically hearing protection muffs with an intercom built in. No worries there.

Racing needs people to spend money to survive. People buy Gulf Racing shirts at vintage races, Mercedes and Ford GT shirts at the Rolex and other team merch at NASCAR. That's good for the sport.

I've been to Canaveral before, but we ran out of time and it was just after the shuttle retired. It wasn't really an active spaceport at the time. Now, with the shuttle display and SpaceX, it's liable to feel a lot more lively.

Are the frequencies for different teams published?

Wanna know the difference between road racing fans, and NASCAR fans?

sleeves

I was going to say the addition or lack of a number 3 sticker on a back or side window.

Keith Tanner wrote:

David S. Wallens wrote: Mike Joy just happened to visit our office yesterday--I know, a total name drop. He said that if you can't get to the track like 4 hours before the race, show up just before the green flag is thrown. Otherwise the traffic is bad.

(googles Mike Joy...) We'll probably do that anyhow, simply because Janel has to run a half marathon that morning in Orlando Kind of limits how early we can leave. I figure we'll get there about an hour before race time if we're lucky. Are radios useful? Is it like an endurance race where it's impossible to know what's going on without an announcer, or are they all just in a pack all the time anyhow?

Is she running the princess?

Edit- she is running the princess. From what I know, theyre really fun races. Traffic will suck all over property that day.

Keith Tanner wrote: Are the frequencies for different teams published?

Yes, they are -> link

Keith Tanner wrote: Are the frequencies for different teams published?

You used to be able to pick up a sheet of frequencies from some of the souvenir trailers.

Best bet is pick up that race weekend's freq list at the radio stand, as they sometimes change on race weekend.

Well, the scanner is going to miss the race. "Lasership" is poorly (yet oddly) named. I would have preferred UPS but I wasn't given a choice.

So maybe I'll have to rent one and just abandon my new one at my hotel if it's delivered after I leave. Or go without one if they're not readily available at the track. Bummer. But that's what I get for not planning in advance!

I heard that last nights truck race was a demolition derby.

Why do they run the trucks at Daytona ? For a lot of these drivers it is their first time running at such speed.

The winner was so inexperienced that by his own admission he didn't know how to do a "doughnut".

I am here with my family. Watched the truck race last night. Pretty fun last lap. Got a guided garage tour so that was pretty cool. I race roundy round all the time but I know nothing about NASCAR. But I'm learning fast. I did not know that the tires have two full tires under one casing, or that the teams don't buy them, they lease them. Bumped into Bobby Allison, Richard Childress and Dolly Parton. My local autoparts chain (lordco) has a car in the race(squeaked in but still) so I will watch them chase the big boys. Off to watch the Xfinity race pretty soon. Best thing is that home got another dump of snow and I got a sunburnt neck yesterday!

In reply to iceracer:

The banking at the start finish line is 18 degrees. We measured it. He has probably done lots of donuts but never on a steep hill. He sure tried though.

So...what did you think?

I think I just got home last night, and I was enjoying being offline

It was fun. Very different from watching a sports car endurance race because it's a lot easier to follow what's going on. It was really interesting watching cars work together at speeds that solo cars could not manage. And good lord, the last couple of laps.

We got there about an hour before the flag dropped so we missed concerts, pit walks, etc but got to see the entire race. Traffic was a non-issue - we drove straight into the free Lot 7 parking, stepped on to a bus and were at the track with no lines anywhere. Heading home, there were a lot of people lining up for those buses but it was impressive how fast they got everyone moved out. Daytona knows how to move crowds. We headed back to Daytona Beach (against the traffic) for dinner at the Ocean Deck (5 minute wait to get a table) to let traffic clear out.

We did use the rally intercom headsets, they let us talk normally and were just about the perfect sound level. The scanner didn't arrive in time but it turns out NASCAR has a phone app that, for $3.99/month, lets you listen to all the various teams and also see live telemetry. Can't beat that - although interference from the metal stands mean the cellphone coverage in the seats is pretty poor. I plugged the phone into the rally intercom. The telemetry was more interesting than the spotters to me, although listening to the drivers after an incident was pretty funny. I heard no evidence of any real strategy on the scanner, mostly "go high go high" and that sort of situational awareness.

We did not get down beside the fence, the seating setup didn't really make that possible. Still, seeing the pack go by from our seats was awesome.

Overall, it was a great day. I'd go to another one for sure. The Princess Half Marathon was more of a bust, too many people means it was basically a walking tour of parking lots and access roads near the Disney parks with a stupid early start time and a one-mile detour through the Magic Kingdom. That went in the "glad I did it, won't do it again" category. Thanks to the 3:30 wake-up for the half marathon and a very relaxed dinner, it was a long day by the time we got back to our hotel at midnight.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm not particularly a fan of plate racing because I prefer less crashing in my motorsports but it's undeniably an exciting and unique form of racing. The skill needed to work with the aero on both the car you're driving and your competitor's is fascinating to me.

I've seen a few comments about how I shouldn't have enjoyed it because of restrictor plates, but the cars were going just over 200 mph. So it's hard to get upset about that.

Keith, I've told anyone who asks about NASCAR that if you are a sports fan, find someone who knows NASCAR racing or racing in general and go with them and have fun. Spend the weekend near the track, ideally. You're right- how can you complain about 200 mph. I get that some races have lulls and can get a bit boring. So people or pit watch. Or what's best when you are there - find the best racing on the track and watch that for 5-10 laps - you can't do that with your TV. I go to 1 race a year - Michigan. I want to get back to Richmond. I'd love to go to a new track. I wouldn't do 6 or even 4 races a year. But 1 a year is a great experience.

Glad you enjoyed it.

Your comment reminded me. I was curious about one thing - how many races per year does the average NASCAR fan attend? It's not like you can buy a season ticket. Do most people just go to the one or two that are closest locally?

There were some weird things going on with Daytona to try to break it up. The race had three "stages", which basically gave extra points for leading on lap 60, 120 and 200. They were followed by a multi-lap yellow that seemed to be intended to provide a pit stop opportunity. It's not the most obnoxious way I've seen people try to inject drama into racing, but it was a bit odd. Still, if you don't have a dog in the fight, it doesn't really matter.

It depends on your level of "fandom" and your resources. Some people only go to the track local to them. Depending on where you live and how far you want to drive, that could be several. Living in Atlanta, I have probably 5 or 6 NASCAR tracks within a 6 hour drive. Atlanta, Talladega, Charlotte, Bristol, Kentucky. Daytona and Richmond would be about 8 hours. However, my schedule prevents me from getting to pretty much any races (I can't go to Atlanta this weekend because all 3 kids have lacrosse games). But I think most of the "average" ones will do one or two per year.

There are some wealthy/retired fans who travel with NASCAR. They have RVs and drive all around the country following it. Not sure how many really get to all 36 races, but they probably get to a lot of them.

A huge number of truck drivers (insert stereotype here) are NASCAR fans. I've heard that some of them will try to schedule loads to be near a certain track so they can attend the race.

All races are now broken up into 3 stages. I'm not sure I like the idea, but time will tell. Daytona is so different than the rest of the races that it's hard to get a feeling of how well all the changes NASCAR made will really work. I totally agree with you that watching at Daytona must be a ton of fun, but in general, I don't like restrictor plate racing.

All the stages are are two more scheduled full course yellows. The truck race had something like 10 yellows anyway so what is two more? I didn't mind the stages. Lets you look for someone to make a move a few laps prior.