You either love it, or you don’t know much about it; that’s the general consensus when it comes to NASCAR. For anyone that doesn’t know about it, it seems like a boring sport. At first glance, it just looks like a bunch of cars turning left for three to four hours. But if you ask a NASCAR fan why the sport is so exciting, you might get an answer like this:
“OKAY SO HERE”S HOW IT STARTS: You wake up at the crack of dawn, slam some coffee, load up your coolers and jump in the car. A race normally starts at 1pm but you want to get there early so you can tailgate and have plenty of time to set up your scanners. (scanners are a device that lets you listen to the drivers talk to their teams while their racing). Then you eat a bunch of food, get up in the stands and watch 43 testaments to speed and machine fight for glory at over 200 mile per hour. There are fighter jet fly bys, fire works and the very likely possibility that you will see a fist fight and explosions. The entire time this is happening you are drinking beer, and not just regular sized beers, I’m talking 24ounce “better drink it fast before it gets warm” tall ones!”
But what does that really look like? Recently What Weekly visited the Daytona 500 to get a look at the inside track.
Driving into Daytona International Speedway on race day, it’s not uncommon for it to take an hour and a half to traverse the final couple miles into the track. But where most saw gridlock, these cute Christians saw an opportunity. Just in case you haven’t heard. There is this guy named “Jesus”, and apparently he’s a coupon wizard or something.
One of the more exciting, less advertised elements of a NASCAR race are the ticket scalpers. These all American entrepreneurs will wheel and deal with anyone who wasn’t able to get a ticket before race day. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and manage to pay less than the original price, but if a race is sold out, you’ll be lucky if you only pay double their worth.
There is a very liberal dress code at a track. This man’s shirtless body just emerged from its long winter slumber.
Second only to the drivers, the fence side camera men probably have the most dangerous job on the track. This camera op is set up directly next to the barrier fence just past the start finish line. If there were a wreck, that fence is the only thing protecting him from the 3,300 lb. cars driving upwards of 190 miles per hour.
The average pit crew can change four tires, fill up a gas tank, clean the front grill and make minor adjustments to the car in 12 seconds. The pit crew for a stock car is just as important as the driver. Each team works tirelessly to make their car the fastest moving thing on the track. Sometimes, if there is a wreck on the track between two cars, the car’s pit crews will get into brawls with each other.
A race can be a terribly romantic thing.
This guy thinks his shirt is HILARIOUS
Here, at the very beginning of the race, you can observe half the crowd choosing to watch the start of the race through a screen rather than see it for the majesty that it is.
Normally you don’t want to be the guy that wears the shirt of the band that he’s going to see. Well that’s not the case with NASCAR fans and their favorite drivers. Seriously, there isn’t a single unbranded shirt at the entire track.
Here is a video of a green flag lap at Daytona
Roughly 50,000 people are in this picture
