Since living in Florida, it has always been a bucket list item for me to go a Daytona 500 Race – The Great American Race. My sister and I decided last year to make the commitment to come this year. It was a fantastic experience!

The Daytona International Speedway is organized, clean, friendly help everywhere, and it’s huge! When we purchased our tickets last year, we bought a two-day pass to Harley J’s suites which gave us access to unlimited food, beverages, suite tables inside, outside, and general stadium seating between the track’s center and fourth turn. It was a perfect way for us to have a frist time experience at the Daytona Speedway and to grasp the atmosphere and race excitement. Harley J’s holds the winner’s trophy until the end of the race. Last year’s winner provides their suit.

On Saturday, there were two races and hardly any fans in the stands. This allowed us to see the track layout and get up close to the track as the cars were racing by. Also, easy to purchase some merchandise and checkout the various stands outside and inside. We waited until Sunday to go out to the infield – the FANzone.

Sunday our mission was to walk the outside further down and take the tram to the infield FANzone. The amount of RVs and campers is incredible along the roadway in the infield. These people arrive to stay for the week. Even the tram ride was Disney World-ish! Here are some pics as we walked the outside runway to the tram.

The tram!

The FANzone allows you to look in the garages while the cars are being worked on. While we didn’t look in the winner’s garage, it was fun to see the behind the scenes activity prior to the race.

We left the infield and walked back across the track to the grandstand. Very cool experience. The tracks slant is amazingly steep! Fans start sitting down everywhere filling up the track to watch the pre-race concert. We did not stay there to watch Miranda Lambert the featured artist.

Next, the Thunderbirds flew over the track several times. WOW!

The race starts with a roar!

The race finishes with the winner Tyler Reddick after several serious crashes. Tyler Reddick’s car is owned by Michael Jordan, one of our Chicago favorite player. My style is not to stay to the end of baseball games nor Daytona 500 races. Best to beat the 100,000 (sold out!) fans leaving the stadium. In addition, there was a fire on I-95 making a traffic jam. We made it back to our hotel in Lake Mary relishing our Daytona 500 experience! Will we do it again next year?🤔