40+ years of watching our sport, and I finally made it to my first Rolex 24. My sons and I enjoyed the first 7 hours of the event, and I’ll tell you that I’ve never been to anything like it. We are heading back to soak up some more tomorrow.
Who was in the race? Who was leading? Who was doing what? Who knows! Its not the point: that place is an event and its a party!
I went to the Daytona 500 once. I had a very crowded seat in the stands, everyone stood up the whole time, then I had a two hour wait to get out of the parking lot. And it all cost too much money. The Rolex 24 is nothing, nothing, [SIZE=“5”]NOTHING[/SIZE] like that!
The Rolex has the intangible that all tracks desperately need: an electric atmosphere! The infield was packed with campers, tents, car clubs, bon fires, crazy fans, carnival rides, food of all sorts, shopping, displays and even music during the race. Of course there was also few thousand beautiful women wandering around, and that helps too.
Everyone came to have a good time and they were succeeding. The perfect weather and a big full moon were just added bonuses.
The tickets are only $10 for adults, and they are good for the stands, the infield, the super stretch, the “Sprint Fanzone”; really anywhere but the garage and pits. We were free to explore the whole place, so using the free tram service, we enjoyed it all…hassle free!
We had an interesting time on pit road before the green. Thousands of fans swarmed the cars (NASCAR does this also) to take pictures and get a close look. I give those road racers credit: most of them have a place on their crew for a few hot women whose job it is to a wear just a little bit of clothing that has the sponsors name on it. This is an inspired idea, truely heart warming, so I hope it fully crosses over into our version of racing.
A few notes about the cars… If you still think that road racing is a “gentlemans” sport for the wine and cheese crowd, and that there cars sound like some annoying chain saw that go through the gears like “eeeep! eeeep! eeeep!”, then think again. The Daytona prototpes run V8 engines. They are more powerful than a pro late model, but not as powerful as a SLM. The exhause strikes a deep and powerful note, and they really go. Remember, a restricted Cup car takes a lap to get up to speed, but these are un-restricted and much lighter, so they get up and get going much quicker. The top speeds are approaching 200, with an average of around 125 for the entire course.
Did my kids like it? Well, they wouldn’t stop singing on the tram back to the truck, they chattered for hours, ate their weight in hamburgers, watched the race through the binoculars, and on and on. Yeah, they loved it too.
Next year, we are camping and not coming out until its done!
