Daytona - Day 6 - This is it, The Daytona 500, Rain Delay & Tornado Warning

Sunday, February 23rd, 2014

The day we, especially Bryan, had been waiting for has finally arrived.  This has been on his bucket list for as long as I can remember and we are finally here!!!

We went to check out the fanzone.  We knew it would be very crowded but we wanted to be a part of that for a little while.

There were two goodyear blimps and the top one in the picture below was retiring after it's flight today, so it was a historic occasion.

The stands were filling up

We walked around a little bit and then we saw that we could go into the pit area and the track.  So, in we went.

Bryan was in his element and I was just as excited for him.  Luke Bryan was singing as part of the pre-race show and although we couldn't see him we could hear him.

I dragged Bryan onto the track. :)   We couldn't believe it, we were standing on the track before the Daytona 500.  Unfortunately, we didn't get there early enough to be able to sign the finish line but we were still happy.
We got guided off the track and stood by the side as the trucks came round to load the drivers in after the Driver Introductions. I took this short VIDEO of the trucks waiting to get the drivers. Here is a VIDEO of one of the driver introductions.  It is not very good but might give you some idea.
We waited by the track as we thought the drivers would come round in the trucks but it became apparent that they would drive into pit lane before they reached us.  We headed back across the grass in front of the pits.

Blake Leeper Honorary Race Official Car

Kevin Harvicks pit box

We headed back to the motorhome to watch the race.  We were nearly there when they played the anthem and the Thunderbirds did their flypast. Here is a VIDEO.

We got back to the motorhome and on the roof and I took this VIDEO of the pace lap as it passed in front of us. Here is Kevin Harvick in the number 4.

We got through 37 laps of the 200 before the rain started and the race was in a  rain delay.  It turned out to be  a long wait of 6 hours 21 minutes before it would restart.
It was pretty miserable sitting in the motorhome with the torrential rain coming down but at least we had the motorhome to shelter in.  We felt bad for the fans in the stands, especially as a tornado watch was given and the stands had to be evacuated.  It was a little scary but there wasn't any wind just a lot of rain.  We didn't know whether the race would continue today or even be able to be run tomorrow.  Our bbq got cancelled but I did BBQ Chicken in the oven instead.  The rain would stop and then start again but eventually they announced that they hoped to run the race about 8.30pm.  There was a window before the next rain would come through and so we were hoping the race could be completed.
The new Titan drying system they have seemed to work really well and the race did restart at about 8.30.  We got back on the roof.

Three of our neighbors.  The guy in the gray was telling the others Dale Jr. was third at this time.   They were Jr. supporters

Here are some other pics, they didn't turn out well in the dark. 

This was the view from inside the motorhome through the windscreen

Kevin was alternating from doing well to dropping back.  There were cautions but none of the crashes happened where we were.  

We were happy that if Harvick couldn't win that it was Jr.  and we were cheering for him in the end, especially as our neighbors were supporters.  It was great when he won.

It was a long and tiring day and certainly a little frustrating but it turned out well in the end and at least we got the whole race finished and it didn't have to be shortened.

We went to bed very tired and happy, although a little sad that our adventure would soon be ending.

 Here is a detailed report of the race.   and  Here is another report and the results of the race.

Happy Birthday to our son-in-law, John.  Hope you had as good a day as we did!!