Racing to Beat the Heat & Some Media Trickery

The annual summer NASCAR Cup Series event at Daytona International Speedway is on Aug. 24 and, once again, it will be a night race and the next-to-last contest prior to the beginning of the playoffs.

Now that is certainly far removed from what Daytona’s summer race used to be.

For decades, it was always scheduled for July 4, the national holiday that routinely saw thousands of vacationers – and seemingly just as many race fans – fill the motels along A1A in Daytona Beach.

The 400-mile race, known as the Firecracker 400 for many years, always began at 11 a.m., which was in consideration of the often intense July heat in Daytona. Competitors, fans and media could come to the event in the relatively cool morning and in the late afternoon be seated by the motel pool.

Make no mistake, that was hugely appealing to everyone. Fans could enjoy a race that seldom lasted more than 2.5 hours, which meant they could be back on the beach with their families by 3 in the afternoon. Traffic wasn’t nearly as heavy as it was for the Daytona 500 in February.

Competitors enjoyed a similar situation. Race week schedules were compacted so they spent as little time at the track as possible. The fact was, by around 2 in the afternoon, any team still working in the nearly deserted garage area had problems of some sort.

All of this suited the media as well. Most NASCAR races usually meant filing stories into the night – sometimes well into the night.

But at Daytona in July, that was not the case. Like competitors and fans, they too could take advantage of the schedule and be sipping on a cold one by the pool in the late afternoon.

Speaking of sitting by the pool, for years at Daytona that was a rather rowdy experience. Believe it or not, there was at least one motel where fans, several competitors and media members had rooms. It was as if they were one happy family.

To be by the pool was to be at a party. Loud music, sharing beverages from coolers and raucous splashing in the pool were the orders of the day.

Often, everyone was treated to an exhibition staged by noted crew chief Buddy Parrott, a skilled diver.

I trust you can understand the appeal of a July 4 race at Daytona.

Now for the media, there was an additional appeal.

Being able to complete work and leave the track early was a bonus, for sure. But it was particularly rewarding to do so on July 3, the day before the race.

That was the day the media tried, in…