From Reader David N comes a sobering look at how the Daytona 200 was this year, a nice counterpoint to the press releases that said “20,000 sun-drenched fans” made it out to watch what ended up being a bit of a bummer.
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I committed to attend the Daytona 200 this year after a long absence on my part. My wife even agreed to go with me. We were both looking forward to it.
I was last there in the mid-90s. I saw the Daytona 200 Superbike races, AHRMA’s Battle of the Legends, the Battle of the Twins and flat tracks at the Volusia County Fairgrounds. It was all good but life eventually caught up with me. Time moved on. So it’s been a while.
Maybe they knew I was coming, because soon after I said I would go, they cancelled the race. Seems AMA’s new sanctioning partner, Moto America, and the Daytona International Speedway “were unable to find common ground on a business model that would be beneficial for both parties”.
My commitment grew when the ASRA stepped up at the last minute to sanction a new race. It may not be the quite same race, but I wasn’t going to miss it. Imagine if they cancelled NASCAR’s Daytona 500? Don’t even talk so dumb!
I arrived at 10:00am, early for the 1:00 main event. I wanted to get to the infield and have a look around before the race started. The gate across the track was closed so they directed me to the infield tunnel.
The walk from the grandstand to the tunnel was long and there were no signs to tell me the way. The nice man with the broom simply said, “Over that way.” Hmm, that’s what the other guy said too!
Walking over from parking lot 1 to the stadium. Next time, I’ll pay to park in the infield
Turns out, you can’t get there from here. To get to the tunnel from the grandstand, you must exit the stadium, go around outside and re-enter through the stadium tunnel gate. We ended up in an unauthorized area somewhere under the grandstand but still far from the tunnel. Then we were approached by security, but we were lucky! They had golf carts!
The pit-area fan zone was interesting. Racers were handing out pictures and autographs. I got some free memorabilia for my shop wall. Josh Herrin ran out of photographs, but he had scantily clad women! Folks were posing with the babes next to his bike. I thought, skip the women, and just give me the bike!
Josh Herrin’s pit crew works the crowd.
By now I was smart enough not to use the tunnel. My wife and I scuttled across the track as the gate opened. We returned to our seats. Next year, I’ll park in the infield and pay the $15.00. That’ll be good.
Press releases anticipated a good race and nearly all post-race headlines confirmed that. Maybe they were talking about a different race because quite frankly, the 2015 Daytona 200 really did mostly suck! And I don’t blame the racers or the ASRA, but I wonder, was the Speedway purposely trying to kill the race?
This is Josh Gallusser, or at least it is his bike, a Suzuki 600. He qualified in the middle of the pack at no. 37. The qualifying and final results can be found at www.asraracing.com, one of the few sites that post the bike number along with the model and the number of laps completed. Only 7 riders went the full 57 laps! That’s a pretty telling statistic I think, but I’d have to compare it to other maybe to last year.
I had good tickets, in a box no less. Unfortunately the box was oversold and the large screen TV inside did not work. So the set up a 15” TV screen on a counter. The TV sound did not work, and the overhead speaker? Well, let’s say Charlie Brown’s teacher had better word clarity, and she was a trombone!
We found some stadium seats in the shade but the loudspeaker was no clearer. I tried to find a broadcast on the radio. There was none. Not even on the local Daytona News station, WNDB! What, did I miss Bikeweek? Was this a different week? Maybe my radio was broken? So, I downloaded an app called Race Monitor. It wouldn’t be live but maybe I could figure out who led. Then my phone died.
There were four red flags, which means each time they stopped the race. The first read flag occurred on the first lap. I’m not sure who crashed in the horseshoe. A second rider DNF’d from the first restart. That’s the lap on trending on Youtube. It’s the second lap. They call it the first. That may be some hype.
The second red flag at lap 19 was a long one, but I’m not sure why it was called. The reason was not announced, not even by the trombone. So, I asked around. Some speculated “something fishy” to “re-group the riders and make for closer racing”, which it did, but I don’t believe in conspiracy theories. Newspapers later blamed hay bales.
By this time, only 17 racers led on the lead lap. The remainder were lapped or out, and by the third or fourth read flag, who knows?
There seemed to be two races on the track, a handful of veteran riders battling each other and the rest of the group, mostly lapped. The veterans led the lead group swapping leads often multiple times per lap. That was the good part!
The final lap was much like the first 56 but I didn’t see it. I left after the fourth or so red flag. That trombone over the speaker was killing me! I figured I could catch the final lap on TV and see who was wining, but I was wrong! The race was not broadcast on TV.
So coming home I flipped the local news highlights. Bright House Networks Volusia’s news station 13 showed jellyfish and Spring breakers in Brevard County, but no race results. I watched the news all night but no race news, nothing, nada. Whoa! Was this Bike-week or the twilight zone?
The next day’s newspaper reported the race. It counted “20,000 sun-drenched fans” were in attendance. That’s just plain not true. We guessed there were maybe 2000 in the stadium, not counting staff, riders and their crew. I saw more people at a JV football game!
Except for the seats in the shade, the stadium was empty!
I don’t know why they don’t run Superbikes in Daytona. Some say the tires just can’t hold up on the 1 liter bikes, but heck, they were changing tires on these 600cc bikes, and with four red flags, tire changing was not an issue. Others cite the track. The outer wall is thick and there is no spill way. Maybe the track is dangerous and slower speeds are necessary for two wheels. I don’t know but with stadium improvements pending (and let’s not forget millions in State tax incentives for Daytona Rising), they could improve the track for motorcycles. I don’t think they will.
Talk about canceling the race is a poke in the eye, particularly spoken by an entity that receives public funding through State and Federal tax incentives. 500,000 to 700,000 people come to bike week each year and it started with this seminal race event. While they talk about cancelling the race, I see a missed opportunity. There’s that poke again! Ouch!
Attendees I spoke with shared two schools of thought. Most prevalent was the thought that MotoAmerica would come next year to re-energize the event, but I don’t see it. Not with empty seats, little promotion and mismanaged facilities. It’s a dead event. The other thought was the race continuing through the ASRA, and it may be a smaller different fare rising from the dust. Whether an ASRA race can grow is the question. Either way, I want the Daytona 200 to succeed but I fear it may not.