The proclamation “World Center of Racing” is blazoned above the Daytona International Speedway grandstands. While others may argue this, the hundreds of thousands of pilgrimages, the millions of accumulated miles crossed to congregate tonight around two and a half sacred ones, testify to it being the world’s most hallowed cathedral of speed.
Place your hand on this line, and you feel the reverberations from the decades when the sovereigns of speed: Pettys and Pearson, Allisons and Earnhardts, Elliot and Gordon, ruled.
Mike Joy’s call still echoes here. “Twenty years of trying, twenty years of frustration, Dale Earnhardt…finally!” In ‘98 the track crowned him. In ‘01 it took his life. But his spirit will reign over Daytona forever.
Underneath the revelry and screaming of engines is a reverence for the legend of Daytona. Every generation honors it…
…and passes it on to the next.
Daytona is where the myths and legends of the past…
…fuse with the energy and anticipation on race day…
…and ignite when the green flag finally flies.