Daytona 500

This past weekend, I went to the Daytona 500 to officially kickoff Racing season with my work team. This was my 2nd 500 to attend. The 1st was 2 years ago, but it didn't really count since I flew in for the day on the corporate jet and the race never actually started because of rain. We left early evening that same day without seeing any racing and it was actually rescheduled for Monday during Primetime. This was also the race where Juan Pablo Montoya famously hit a jet dryer with his car.

Back to this year. We had some new people on our team so we went in early to train them. After 2 quick flights from MEM-ATL-DAB, we landed in their tiny airport and went straight to the track for a JGR sponsor reception. We got to see all the folks we work with at JGR and the drivers, so it was a good kick off to the weekend. We headed to our hotel...a brand new, really nice Hampton Inn on the beach and called it a night.

Saturday was completely overcast. I woke up early (as I always do), went downstairs and got breakfast and spent some time with the iPad on my balcony overlooking the ocean, which was really, really nice! We didn't go to the track until 10a, so I had time to Skype with the kids before we left. Being back in Daytona where I grew up vacationing almost every year as a child, brought back lots of great memories. And the hotel had the most amazing kid play area that made me wish they were with me. Maybe next year and maybe we'll tack on a couple Disney days to the beginning of the trip while Caroline can still go for free.

Pool and kid splash area at our hotel

At track, we showed the newbies how to maneuver around on our golf carts and gave tours of the garage, hauler, pit road, etc. in advance of the race on Sunday. We left right as the Nationwide race was getting started and unfortunately heard the most awful rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" ever...the front part was normal, but the end was a bad rock experiment gone terribly wrong. It was all over Twitter and the news the next day! After a rest at the hotel and a completely yummy team dinner, we all hit the hay.

Saturday morning view from our suite of the backstretch. This area will be torn down after the 2015 Daytona 500 and we will move to a new suite being built in Turns 1 or 4.

The team - minus Jourdan who was at a wedding.

Race day began with a 5:30 EST wake up call...it was early! We got to the track, set the suite up and then I took my newbie coworkers over to the merchandise haulers and fan zone so they could take it all in. Being in the suite and in the pit/garage at most races, we really see a different and more conservative type of race-day clientele. In the fan zone, we saw it all...midrift tops and jorts (jean cutoff shorts) galore and even a guy with a checkerboard board!

Checking out the Clydesdales who made the trip around the track pre-race.

Now, I would wait in line for this...Goodyear Tire PLINKO!! Brilliant!

We headed back to the suite for the Coach Gibbs and Denny customer meet and greet appearances and then we took our VIP customers to the pit/garage. This is the best part of my day, as these customers love their experience and tell us repeatedly. We watched the first pit stop from pit road before heading back to the suite and that was when the rain started. It started as sprinkles on our golf cart window but by the time we got back to the suite, the cars were red flagged and stopped for the rain to pass. In the hours to follow there were massive downpours, lightning and tornado warnings! We actually left the track about 4 hours into the ran delay to grab dinner...we were craving real food and not track food. The newbies went back to the hotel after dinner, but Beth, Katherine and I toughed it out. 6.5 LONG hours later, the race finally restarted. We had a fast car and we were determined not to miss Victory Lane at the Daytona 500.

Russ posted this picture on FB that made my day! 
The caption said, "Per Tyler, if he makes a fist, his fingers are sleeping." 
And he still has a slight obsession with hats. Ha! 

One of the new jet dryers, the Air Titan, drying the track after the rain.
It took 1.5 hours to dry the 2.5 mile track.

Beth and I after dinner and in the pit box ready to watch some racing!

When we restarted, Denny's radio had major issues and for most of the 170 remaining laps, he had trouble hearing our crew chief and his spotter. And for the last 20 laps of the race, he had no radio communication at all! It is amazing that he didn't get wrecked or cause one. Denny fought hard and finished in 2nd...1st loser as we like to call it. This was his best ever Daytona 500 finish for the FedEx team but it was a tough loss...especially since we won the Sprint Unlimited and the Budweiser Duels leading up to this race. A sweep would have been nice, but at least we start the season 2nd in the points!

While I was at the track, my family was at home enjoying the unseasonably warm February temps. Granna was in town to help Russ and they had fun all weekend. They even went to the park at Shelby Farms (along with the rest of Memphis, I hear, since it was such a pretty day). Tyler had fun sliding and Caroline apparently had fun watching him...and watching everything else that was going on.