President's Day

Being the first President's Day I have ever worked, today is fairly depressing, as I am usually capping off a week in Miami with good friends, that includes golf, relaxation, and an overall fantastic time.

Watching yesterday's Daytona 500 brought back memories, as the four of us attended the race in 2005. We work up @ 5:30 to make the drive from Miami to Daytona. Upon arriving, we found the area to be extremely depressing (the Speedway is right off 95, and there is one main road that runs from the highway to the course, replete with numerous bars, Home Depots, and Chick-Fil-A's). Upon arrival, and paying $50 for parking (the fee was $45, the operator - jean shorts and a tank top, didn't offer change) we went straight to a bar at 8:45 @ 1/2 mile from the track and proceeded to get hammered. Great times.

After three hours of "preparation" tickets were extremely tough to come buy, as it was a complete sellers' market. After splitting off into groups of two, the only way we got tickets was my friend who lived in FL knew one of the scalpers we ran into. $150 apiece for great tickets was quite the bargain.

Inside the place was magic. I've never seen a more prolific scattering of beer stands, 22s, bought by the tub. We made the mistake of not bringing any in. No security checks to speak of. Figure if anyone was going to start something, they would be swayed not to by the thought of being beaten to a pulp by 200,000 rednecks. It certainly works.

I've attended a number of sporting events, and playoff games, and a Super Bowl, but nothing gets a person more fired up that the first lap of the Daytona 500. The tightly packed cars, speed, screaming crowd, and wind is a 100% pure adrenaline rush.

The race was fantastic, weather was perfect, and 70% of the crowd would have been euphorious of Dale Jr. pulled out the win, over Jeff Gordon, who had 26 supporters in the entire place. Overall the crowd was an extremely knowledgeable and nice group of people, who have all been attending for years. The next time I go, I am splurging $50 on the RaceDay scanner, which everyone seemed to have.

Finally, saw this tidbit:

"3:47 -- Courtside we have: Jamie Foxx in a Dodgers hat, in discussion with Ludacris; George Bush Sr., not in discussion with Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas"

Fergie sung the National Anthem at Daytona, and then made the All Star game.Did she stay for any of the race?