A HARD DAY’S NIGHT
“HAPPY HOUR 1.40PM – 1.40pm. Race… What race? Toothbrushes $25, AA meeting 1.41pm. Free beer.” It might not pull in the size of crowd that Le Mans does, but the Daytona 24 Hours draws a fun one, as a sign embedded on the inside of Turn 6 can attest.
Since my first visit in 2018 to watch Fernando Alonso, Lando Norris and Lance Stroll take on the endurance classic, I’ve always been at a loss to explain why this race is not more popular. The location in the US creates an obvious barrier to European racing fans who find it much easier to drive to France in the middle of summer for their 24-hour fix, but Daytona has something equally special about it. Perhaps even more so.
This is a race you can fully immerse yourself in. As an event, Le Mans is far bigger, but the race itself can often pass you by as you pick a short vantage point of an 8.5-mile long track. Awesome cars flash past you and then disappear for over three minutes, closer to four if it’s the GT classes.
At Daytona, as soon as you arrive at the self-proclaimed ‘World Center of
