Daytona Changes Geared Toward Fans

After 45 years of growing into its self-styled “world center of racing” image, the Daytona International Speedway has undergone a face lift. Actually, more like a tummy tuck.

Inside the rim of 230,000 seats that surround the 2.5-mile racing tri-oval, about the only thing unchanged since last year is the racing surface itself.

The changes were made not only to replace aging garages and buildings but to create what NASCAR President Brian France refers to as a fan-friendly environment.

Designed to bring some of his estimated 75 million fans closer to drivers and crews, without hampering their work, all 44 individual garages have picture windows on one side, allowing spectators to peer in and get close-up views of mechanics at work. And if they can get a driver’s attention by tapping on the window, there is an opening where a piece of paper, program or cap can be slipped inside for an autograph.

New inspection stations, where cars must pass muster from NASCAR officials before they can take the track, have an open viewing area on their side. The roof also offers unobstructed views of the start-finish line.

The Bennie Kahn media center, where the exploits of Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, Ned Jarrett, Fireball Roberts and other racing pioneers were chronicled for readers across the country in the early days of Daytona, has been razed. In its place is a fan zone, more suitable for a Mardi Gras than a Grand Prix, complete with a bistro, bandstand and sidewalk food and drink vendors.

The year-old media center and the medical care center are the only two buildings to survive the overhaul.

“We are excited to have an opportunity to put a new dress on an old lady,” said Robin Braig, speedway president.

The changes are so dramatic that even drivers were confused when they arrived to prepare for next week’s season-opening Daytona 500.

“It took me a while to figure out where to go and what to do,” said Jimmie Johnson, who will be qualifying Sunday for his fifth 500.

Elliott Sadler didn’t take any chances. He got a map from NASCAR before coming in.

“I didn’t get lost, like Jeremy [Mayfield] and some of the guys did, because I took my map and actually walked around and checked it out,” said the winner of last year’s California 500 at Fontana. “I’m really proud of the work that NASCAR and the speedway have done to fix things up, not only for the fans but the crews too. It’s great to have nice, new, spacious garages instead of the tight spots like we had here in the past.”

Although the racing surface was not repaved, it underwent some repairs during construction of a vehicle tunnel under the first turn. Construction necessitated cutting a 400-foot portion of the track so two tunnel lanes could be finished 25 feet below the surface. Given that Florida’s water level is about three feet below sea level, that was a tricky assignment.

Once the tunnel was completed, paving engineers spent four days blending the new asphalt with the old surface, making certain there were no bumps to disturb drivers racing at close to 200 mph.

“When I came here and saw the hole they had dug, I thought it would be hard getting out from there, but they did a pretty good job getting it patched up over the tunnel,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr., winner of last year’s 500.

“They talk about paving the whole track next, but I don’t know about that. There’s a whole lot of changes to get used to the way it is.”

The track, with its three-story-tall 31-degree banking in the turns, was last resurfaced in 1978.

Lake Lloyd, the huge infield reservoir, has been reduced one-third in size to make room for 500 SUV parking spots that come with waterfront docks. That helps increase the anticipated infield crowd count to 60,000.

That would put attendance for a sold-out Daytona 500 at 290,000.

Drive For Diversity

Leonard Miller, an African American racing enthusiast who entered a car in the 1972 Indianapolis 500, long before NASCAR ever thought of its Drive for Diversity program, will discuss his views of black racers’ struggles and triumphs next Thursday at the Petersen Automotive Museum.

The talk will be part of the museum’s Celebrate Black History month.

Miller will discuss his book of memoirs, “Silent Thunder: Breaking Through Cultural, Racial and Class Barriers in Motorsports.” The book chronicles Miller’s 40-year career from drag racer to team owner, from fielding a white driver in his Indy car to backing Benny Scott’s efforts that put him in the first Long Beach Grand Prix.

Miller believes that there will be a Mexican driver in the Nextel Cup series before there is another black driver.

That seems likely, considering NASCAR’s first venture into Mexico, a Busch series race March 6 in Mexico City. Already it has prompted Mexico’s two premier open-wheel racers, Adrian Fernandez and Michel Jourdain Jr., to make the jump to stock cars.

Fernandez, 41, who announced that lack of sponsorship had forced him to skip this year’s Indy Racing League season, will drive a Chevrolet for the Hendrick Motorsports team in the race. Jourdain, after eight years of driving Champ Cars, has signed with PPC Racing to drive a Ford in the full Busch series, starting with Saturday night’s race at Daytona.

“For sure, having the Busch race in Mexico helped me to make the decision to come [to NASCAR] but I had been talking about it for two years,” Jourdain said. “Jimmy [Vasser] was telling me I should make the move and that they were looking for a good Hispanic driver but at that time there was no race in Mexico.”

Jourdain originally was going to skip Daytona because of lack of experience in rooftop machinery, but after driving in a

NASCAR West race in Phoenix, where he finished sixth, he was cleared to drive in Saturday’s Busch opener.

Southland Scene

Residents of Long Beach received their annual reminder this week that the Toyota Grand Prix is not far away when construction director Dwight Tanaka ordered the first concrete blocks into place to define the 1.97-mile street course. The 31st edition, featuring Champ Cars, will be run April 8-10.

The Cal Club regional sports car runoffs last weekend at California Speedway attracted 235 cars, the largest field since the closing of Riverside International Raceway. Lee Fleming nipped Barry Moen in a tense Spec Racer Ford feature race. The Cal Club will hold a national event July 30-31 at Fontana.

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Schedule

* Saturday -- Budweiser Shootout (75 laps, 125 miles), *5:10 p.m. Also ARCA Re/Max series (40 laps, 200 miles), 1:10 p.m.

* Sunday -- Pole qualifying for Daytona 500 (2 laps per car), 10:10 a.m.

* Thursday -- Twin 150-mile qualifying races, 10:05 a.m.

* Feb. 18 -- 250-mile Craftsman Truck series race, 5:15 p.m., after IROC race (40 laps, 100 miles), 3 p.m.

* Feb. 19 -- 300-mile Busch series race, 10:20 a.m.

* Feb. 20 -- Daytona 500 Nextel Cup race, 11 a.m.

* All times Pacific