I've sat all over the front stretch. Last Kobalt Tools race, we bought out tix the last week and got start/finish line seats. Not bad, but crowded. It was pretty sad what we witnessed though (Yota's first win
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We don't do just the 1 day trip to see the race. We show up on Thursday and do a 4-5 day camping party. I've gone to see a race afew different ways. I've done the motel way, the pop-up camper way, the RV way, the tent way, and the staying with friends way. The infield with the RV is the best. Your always where the action is and you don't have to walk more than 20 steps and your on top of the RV watching whatever is going on, and Friday and Saturday night in the infield is party heaven. Just the infield pass ticket to get you into the infield for Kansas I know is $140. The actual RV spots cost a thousand $$ or more. I only pay for my infield ticket and the booze I buy before we get to the track. Everything else is a freebie. The RV spot they have for Talladega is the best in the entire infield. In the middle of turn 3-4 right up against the fence.
Daytona needs stimulus of a Mark Martin victory - Los Angeles Times
He has never won NASCAR's premier race, and in these troubled times, a triumph by a 50-year-old with whom everyday Americans can identify would be an elixir for a struggling sport and industry.
By Mike Bianchi
February 15, 2009
Reporting from Daytona Beach, Fla. -- With the car companies failing, this is a sport that desperately needs some positive news.
With corporate sponsorships falling, this is a sport that could use an uplifting story.
With ticket sales floundering, this is a sport that yearns for something to feel good about.
Now more than ever, the Daytona 500 needs Mark Martin to win today.
He is what working America should strive to be in these dreadful economic times. The world is moving faster, the competition is getting younger, the jobs are getting fewer. And so, Mark Martin just works a little harder, a little longer and a little smarter.
He's 50 years old and today will race in his 25th Daytona 500. He knows he'll be racing against kids less than half his age, and he knows deep down that all of us weekend warriors will be pulling for him.
"I feel like I'm carrying that banner right now," says Martin, a Daytona Beach resident who will start on the outside pole today.
"Some of the race fans are aging themselves and they love the idea of being able to still hold their own against a 25-year-old, whether it's playing softball or whatever it is."
If you're not rooting for Mark Martin to win the 500, you're probably the same person who rooted against Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" and rooted for the shark in "Jaws." There is no driver in today's race who deserves to win it more than Martin does.
What -- do you want Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win? If his last name were Finkelstein, he'd be driving the Demolition Derby at the Okeechobee County Fairgrounds this weekend.
Jimmie Johnson? Only if you inject Starbucks directly into your eyelids to stay awake during his post-race news conference.
Joey Logano? He's 18, for crying out loud. The only dues he ever paid was a turnstile token to get into the gaming area at Chuck E. Cheese.
And why would you want a kid such as Logano winning the 500 in his first start, anyway? Isn't that the essence of what's wrong with America today? We've had it too easy. We want too much, too soon. You want a huge house? Just borrow the money even though you can't afford to pay it back. You want a new pool? Take out a home equity loan even though you can't afford to pay that back either. You want new furniture? Buy it now and the payments don't start for six months.
Mark Martin has never been about too much, too soon. He has always been too little, too late. He has always paid his dues, but has never gotten his reward. He has always waited in line but never gotten to the front.
He has been retired, semi-retired, you name it. And always he comes back for one more lap, one more race, one more chance.
"I love this sport -- this is my whole life," he says. "This is what I think about all the time."
At long last maybe he will finally get what's coming to him. He is now driving for the Mother Ship of Motorsports, better known as Rick Hendrick -- the slickest, most successful team owner in NASCAR. Martin's teammates are Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Earnhardt -- all former Daytona 500 winners.
Martin has always been a workout warrior who keeps his body in arguably the best shape of any driver on the circuit. Now he'll have some of the best equipment and best drafting partners too.
If he doesn't win the 500 now, he probably never will. And even though he says he doesn't obsess over his 0-for-Daytona drought, you know it must bother him. This is, after all, a guy who bleeds motor oil, sweats wiper fluid and lives a few miles from Daytona International Speedway.
"This is the crown jewel of stock car racing," Martin says. "Everything else I've done in my career would fit around this."
If there are truly any racing gods up there in That Big Trioval in the Sky, Old Man Martin will win the Daytona 500 today.
The Great American Race needs a Great American Dream.
Now more than ever.
mike.bianchi@orlando-
sentinel.com
He has never won NASCAR's premier race, and in these troubled times, a triumph by a 50-year-old with whom everyday Americans can identify would be an elixir for a struggling sport and industry.
By Mike Bianchi
February 15, 2009
Reporting from Daytona Beach, Fla. -- With the car companies failing, this is a sport that desperately needs some positive news.
With corporate sponsorships falling, this is a sport that could use an uplifting story.
With ticket sales floundering, this is a sport that yearns for something to feel good about.
Now more than ever, the Daytona 500 needs Mark Martin to win today.
He is what working America should strive to be in these dreadful economic times. The world is moving faster, the competition is getting younger, the jobs are getting fewer. And so, Mark Martin just works a little harder, a little longer and a little smarter.
He's 50 years old and today will race in his 25th Daytona 500. He knows he'll be racing against kids less than half his age, and he knows deep down that all of us weekend warriors will be pulling for him.
"I feel like I'm carrying that banner right now," says Martin, a Daytona Beach resident who will start on the outside pole today.
"Some of the race fans are aging themselves and they love the idea of being able to still hold their own against a 25-year-old, whether it's playing softball or whatever it is."
If you're not rooting for Mark Martin to win the 500, you're probably the same person who rooted against Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" and rooted for the shark in "Jaws." There is no driver in today's race who deserves to win it more than Martin does.
What -- do you want Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win? If his last name were Finkelstein, he'd be driving the Demolition Derby at the Okeechobee County Fairgrounds this weekend.
Jimmie Johnson? Only if you inject Starbucks directly into your eyelids to stay awake during his post-race news conference.
Joey Logano? He's 18, for crying out loud. The only dues he ever paid was a turnstile token to get into the gaming area at Chuck E. Cheese.
And why would you want a kid such as Logano winning the 500 in his first start, anyway? Isn't that the essence of what's wrong with America today? We've had it too easy. We want too much, too soon. You want a huge house? Just borrow the money even though you can't afford to pay it back. You want a new pool? Take out a home equity loan even though you can't afford to pay that back either. You want new furniture? Buy it now and the payments don't start for six months.
Mark Martin has never been about too much, too soon. He has always been too little, too late. He has always paid his dues, but has never gotten his reward. He has always waited in line but never gotten to the front.
He has been retired, semi-retired, you name it. And always he comes back for one more lap, one more race, one more chance.
"I love this sport -- this is my whole life," he says. "This is what I think about all the time."
At long last maybe he will finally get what's coming to him. He is now driving for the Mother Ship of Motorsports, better known as Rick Hendrick -- the slickest, most successful team owner in NASCAR. Martin's teammates are Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Earnhardt -- all former Daytona 500 winners.
Martin has always been a workout warrior who keeps his body in arguably the best shape of any driver on the circuit. Now he'll have some of the best equipment and best drafting partners too.
If he doesn't win the 500 now, he probably never will. And even though he says he doesn't obsess over his 0-for-Daytona drought, you know it must bother him. This is, after all, a guy who bleeds motor oil, sweats wiper fluid and lives a few miles from Daytona International Speedway.
"This is the crown jewel of stock car racing," Martin says. "Everything else I've done in my career would fit around this."
If there are truly any racing gods up there in That Big Trioval in the Sky, Old Man Martin will win the Daytona 500 today.
The Great American Race needs a Great American Dream.
Now more than ever.
mike.bianchi@orlando-
sentinel.com
he was having a bad day, you can't blame him
was it intentional or was it payback for Dega 06? Maybe he was just intimidating him
but really, it's hard to say if he intended to spin him... he had a helluva run and Vickers did go WAY out of his way to block him, while being much slower. I tend to root for Vickers, being an underdog and all, but that was just a bad situation. Glad the 18 was taken out and the 48 was ok