first road trip to Daytona, 1978

[Boneman]

Where were you 30 years ago? I was 16 and off on my first solo road trip. My dad let me use his Datsun pick-up (with no A/C) and I was off to visit New Smyrna and Daytona for the first times.

New Smyrna was running a three night series, and I made it to nights #2 and #3. I also saw several hours of the 6 hour endurance race at Daytona. I think it was the ISMA Paul Revere race or something. It looked like a blast: the cars all appeared to be 4 cylinders: Gremlins, Pacers, Pintos, Vegas, you name it, that junk was running Daytona!

At that time, New Smyrna was viewed in awe by the south Florida fans. I couldn't wait to see it, and was amazed at how much faster it was than the little tracks I was used to down south.

Daytona was great too. It was my first cup race, and first superspeedway visit. There has been a bunch of race trips since, but the first one always stands out. 30 years already!

[OrlandoGraphix]

Where were you 30 years ago? I was 16 and off on my first solo road trip

ha ha ha... Hey Boneman... I was 3!

[ovalracer44]

I was negative 5.

Boneman has just revealed what we all suspected all along. He is a few years from receiving AARP applications in the mail.

[Boneman]

Ha yourself. Snot-nosed punks like you two will never know the "good old days"!

[ovalracer44]

Ha yourself. Snot-nosed punks like you two will never know the "good old days"!

What are you talking about? My first car was a 1967 Elcamino with a 454 and NO AC. Was a fire breather in the summer but man was it awesome. Could jump soda cans in the school parking lot. How much more good ol days does it get than that.?

[georgep]

In 1978 I was married, had 3 kids and had moved to FLorida in 1971. I was WELL over 21 by then. Also I had about 12 years of seat time by then.

[Bosco]

I was at the same Paul Revere race at Daytona. Peter Gregg won in a Porsche 935 (Brumos Porsche). The AMC Gremlins and such were part of the support race, IMSA RS class.

[ancrdave]

I was still stationed at Homestead in 1978 and came up for the race... My brother and a bunch of his friends would also be there in the infield and we'd all chip in to rent a big Ryder truck and a whole buncha food... It was a big party and really still affordable back then... To many restrictions and too expensive to even bother with anymore...
My first time at Daytona was to watch practice for the 1965 Firecracker!!

[Frasson118]

My first Daytona trip was the Firecracker 400 of 1985. Me and 3 buddies piled our junk onto the back of a roll-back truck and headed out. It was NOT the smoothest experience, and we sure learned a lot along the way.

We hadn't even got to the track when I ran the exhaust pipe of the truck into the overhang at the fuel pump island, bending the pipe, and knocking off some wood from the overhang. The owner decided he needed a police report, which delayed our trip. The officer agreed that the owner was out for some kickback money, since he had the height limit mis-marked and had probably 100 chips in that wood. The cop said he personally had written close to 30 reports at the same place.

We get to the track with our Beermeister, keg of beer, generator, and a whole bunch of chicken, and pull into the infield ($25 a head, and $10 for the truck... what a bargain back in those days!).

Of course the very first priority on arrival, was tapping the keg, usually a pretty simple process... except we didn't notice the missing O-ring for the gas bottle. We wound up cutting out a gasket from a 6-pack carton and installed it to get the beer flowing, which by now, had gotten warm. We'll just have to fire up the generator and cool that puppy down.... next lesson learned. We didn't bother trying to actually START the damn thing, and it sure didn't want to run now. I figured that since 2 of my buddies are mechanics, it shouldn't be that big of a deal. But armed with only a screwdriver and a pair of pliers, it took forever to get the thing running. Finally, we got it going, got the bottle to stop leaking, and the beer was getting colder, and flowing just fine.... except we never thought about checking the gas supply or thought to bring any more with us. Hell, we had plenty of beer, what else could we possibly need?

We wound up bumming 5 gallons from one of the school buses parked near us, and figured we were FINALLY in business... sort of.

You can't believe how fast those old, noisy, inefficient generators can go through 5 gallons of fuel. Well, it apparently goes too fast to save save our big bag of chicken, that had been getting warmer ever since we left the house in the first place. Now our food is ruined, our beer is warm, our generator is empty, and the race still doesn't even start until tommorow. We walked to the store, bought more beer, a few bags of ice (but didn't have a cooler), and wound up buying $6.00 hamburgers from the concession stand so we didn't starve to death.

Right at midnight, we heard and saw something I hadn't expected... a whole pack of Motorcycles racing past us at 180 MPH, in the dark, racing by headlight (the track wasn't equipped with lighting in those days). The Paul Revere 250 had changed from IMSA-type cars, to bikes. I still think those guys are about the craziest fools I've ever seen.

After all of our "experiences" so far, it was finally race time. Not being a huge Nascar follower, but rather a Modified guy, I picked an unsponsored back-up car, that was the R&D team car to Bobby Allison. The driver was a fellow New Yorker, named Greg Sacks, and I have witnesses that I picked him to win that race... probably the only person in the country without the last name Sacks that picked him to win. It still is considered one of the biggest all-time upsets in Nascar history.

The whole experience was a complete BLAST, and one that I'll never forget... yet we learned a lot about what to bring, what to leave home, and to check our gear before loading it up. In the next 15 years, I only missed 1 Daytona race, and had fun at every single one. Unfortunatley, Nascar decided it was more important to kiss the asses of those in air conditioned suites, rather than worry about us low-lifes in "the Ghetto" between turns 3-4 in the infield. They finally ran me off (as well as the rest of my friends over the years)... but man, was it FUN while it lasted!

[flvideo]

My first Daytona trip was in 1959 on bike week. We had it set up for a friend to haul a bunch of our bikes over there and at the last minute he got sick or something, anyway he wasn't carrying our bikes. Some of the guys decided not to go, others decided to ride over there. I decided to ride over. That was also my first road trip on a motorcycle. I rode a 1957 Harley 165 to Daytona. Some of you old timers will know what that is. That was a long trip for me then. I didn't go with the bunch, I had to work late. Rode over there by my self. Had never read a road map in my life. I knew generally it was east but other than that I had no earthly idea where Daytona was. I must have got lost a dozen times, but I finally got there and found my buddys. We had a motel room rented but 14 of us were staying there. Needless to say no body got much sleep that week-end. Party hardy was the word. I got to go to Barberville for some dirt racing and 2 other tracks in the vicinity that I can't remember. The weeks feature racing was held on the beach then and was it ever fun. I had the time of my life that week. When we went home I had enough money to fill my gas tank and had about 15 cets left. My tank only held 11/2 Gallons and the 15 cents would buy me enough along the way. My '65 got 110 mpg. Gas was about $.20 a gallon then. That was also my first time away from home, I was 16. When I look back I can't believe my mom let me go. I would no more have let my boys go off to Daytona for a week when they were 16 than the man in the moon. Bob...........

[larrytg]

My first trip to Daytona was not a pleasant one on Jan 5 (my birthday) 1965 where I was watching a tire test session in which Billy Wade was killed.

[Osmosis Jones]

I don't believe it!

Wow...a thread that CW hasn't contributed something to...
It's INCONCEIVABLE!

My first Daytona experience was maybe 2 or 3 years before yours, Boneman. My Dad and I loaded up the slide in camper in the back of his truck and headed out. We had a cooler with sandwiches and drinks and a portable radio. We left just after dark and I can remember going through the tunnels to the infield thinking it was the coolest thing in the world. We parked over in turns one and two amidst a bunch of other partiers and Dad promptly went to sleep. Which left me to roam the infield for the rest of the night. It truly was a different time back then and I don't think he worried much about me or maybe he was just looking forward to the possibility of a quiet ride home.
I dunno.
Anyways, I remember seeing the Paul Revere, whacky-racers going around the infield track and saw plenty of inebriated ladies who had liberated themselves from their tops. Like I said, heaven for a 12 year old. (scha-wing!)I hooked up with some other kids who were veterans of the infield rat club and they led us up to the grandstands where an old guy would pay us 10 bucks each to pick up the cups and wrappers in the main grandstands. I still have the program I found that night(bonus!) somewhere in a box in my garage.

I was back to wake Dad up at about 6 am and we made our way over to the garage area where we hooked up with his friend, James Hylton. Mr. Hylton could get Dad into the garage area pretty easy but he wasn't sure about me but when we got to the gate the man smiled and gave us both passes so I got to go just about anywhere I wanted. Nowadays that would take an act of Congress and a signed note from King Richard. Anyways, we ended up heading back to the camper just before the race (to eat) and then the folks who were next to us invited us up to the top of their big motorhome to watch the race. (big for then, I mean) That was the first time I'd ever seen what that kind of speed looked like up close. I have to admit it was pretty awe inspiring. But even then after a while the sensation wore off and I found myself waiting for some action which we got in the form of about 6 people streaking around out by the fence by the turn. This was the 70's, remember.

After the race Dad took another nap while waiting for the crowd to die down and I set off for the garage area again. It was pretty funny. the minute the races were over it seemed like every gate person and guard just took off. Like the whistle blew and it was quitting time. I waltzed right in and said my goodbyes to James and his crew guys. Then I walked pit road and found a few mementos. I picked up some lugnuts that were in Petty's pit area. Got a banner that said Yarborough that was over his pit stall....and some other cool stuff. Well...cool to a 12 year old me, anyways.

Got back to the camper and Dad was ready to hit the road. It seemed like such a haul back then but really it was only a few hours to get back to Bradenton. I hope Dad knew it but I can't remember if I ever told him that those trips were some of the best times we spent together. For everything we ever fought about as I was growing up we always had racing as our common ground. Unless, of course, we were fighting about racing which happened pretty often too.

Thanks Rex for the trip down memory lane.......M

[carolwicks]

1st. trip to Daytona...

wow... it was for the Bud shootout and arca race... i was in awe of the place. i have acrophobia so walking up all those steps was not an option. took the handicapped elevator. i WAS handicapped! actually it was when i really started to get sick. have been back to daytona twice since. once for the 500 and once for the 400... can handle the stairs now! I had a real good headset on (c/o my dear friend Greg.).. listened to billy venterini talk like he never learned anything but vulgarity. was sad because he is one heck of a racer. listened to bobby and his brother talking about a friend who had just had a baby and of course listen to Tony every chance i got. it was so exciting and the show was UNREAL... when those planes fly overhead it just makes you so proud to be an American....
there is alot of walking and sometimes you cant see anything but butts!... sometimes that isnt so bad either...roflllll everyone who loves racing should try to go once... it is an amazing place!!!
sorry it took me so long OSSIE (osmosis)
OZZIE (wicks)

[HaudFan]

I think it was 1979, Firecracker 400. Went with my dad, my brother, Dick Pace & Bryan Pace. I remember parking right in front of the track. We made our way into the stands down near turn one. While we waited for the race we ate sausage biscuits and I kept thinking it doesn't get much better. Just before the race my dad took us down to get a hat. I got a multi colored Cale Yarborough Holly Farms hat. I thought that thing was so cool. It was racing, not this overblown business its become.

[mr south 59]

1972 was my first 500. It was $25 dollars a car load to get in the infield. A whole bunch family and friends got together and camped in the infield. We built a tall scaffold to see from. You still couldn't see the cars on the backstrech because of the big hills of dirt around the lake and the scoring monitor was long ways in 3 and 4 which blocked your view for about a quarter mile of track. The week before the race Richard Petty had a car on display at the store across the street from the Ford deal in Ocala. I still have the Cale Yarbrough foam can cooler with the autograph I got from Petty there. In 1976 when I got my DL I got front row seat in the FireBall Roberts tower and kept them for 11 years. I still have a pile of the old programs that have a patch on the cover and all of my ticket stubs.

In 1979 I went to the race with a good friend Rusty Dingman. His father owned the Pontiac/Cadilac dealer in Ocala and sponsored some Nascar events. We had unlimited access. The pace car was the Trans Am that year. If you bought a T/A that year you could get a ticket to the 500 and free parking in a lot only for T/A's. I will never forget 20,000 T/A's in one lot. That was a cool site.

Back then on Thursday for the twin 125's it was general admittion $35 in the grandstands except in the Winston tower and kid were free.