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River Of Data.com |
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Tuesday, 20 January, Orlando, Florida Many Americans and others were watching all of the Obama Inauguration events on TV, but we were on our way early to Daytona to visit the Daytona International Speedway. We went early in the week, as later in the week it would be getting very crowded with the Rolex 24 sports car race for 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday, with related events starting on Thursday. The first Rolex teams were starting to arrive and they had all the appropriate signs, logos, and so forth up already. It was very cold for Florida, the first of three days of hard freezes damaging the oranges, lemons, and many field crops as well. We were definitely chilly any time we were out of the car or a building, especially since there was about a 20 mph wind as well. I did have my Boise RunWalk bright yellow overshirt, but was wishing I'd had something warmer with me here in sunny Florida. With all of the inauguration stuff, plus cold weather and a mid-week day, there was almost no one at the track, which made it easy for us to see the exhibits on NASCAR and Daytona racing history. Racing in Daytona Beach started actually on the hard, flat beach about a century ago, including the setting of many world speed records during the first 40 years of the century. Later there was a circuit that went one way on the beach and the other way on a city street, a couple blocks away essentially a very narrow oval. The current speedway opened exactly 50 years ago in February 1959, the first super speedway (2.5 miles circuit) and the first tri-oval. They had a wonderful 3D IMAX movie with really stunning shots of cars, in cars, from cars, and so forth. It had played in Boise a year or so ago, but we didn't see it. We also took a 45 minute track tour in a chilly open-air tram. We went around the whole track, including the pits, were able to see the SAFER barriers, the 31 degree high banked turns, the garages, and so on. Later I drove, with Gail riding shotgun, in a virtual reality car on a simulation of the track. My first lap I crashed three times, but a later lap was third fastest of the day. The steering was extremely sensitive, and when combined with the track bumps and other realistic things that happened, it was really tough staying on the right line around the track. We both enjoyed it, though. After leaving the track we stopped at a local Cracker Barrel for a "low carb supper". The trip back wasn't a lot of fun, as there was a very strong crosswind, but we made it fine. Back to itinerary (trip home page)
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