Drivers begin the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway on Feb 16, 2013
Photo – Jerry Markland/Getty Images
Every year, when February rolls around, one thought crosses your mind. Daytona.
Your reaction? Ecstatic.
Daytona in February means that the NASCAR season is about to get rolling and that NASCAR will be entering the hallowed grounds of the Daytona International Speedway. That feeling you feel when you hear the roar of the engines on the high banks of Daytona either on your television or in person is what many will describe as the Daytona spark.
The Daytona spark is an indescribable feeling but, you know exactly what it feels like. When NASCAR returns to Daytona it’s like you wake up from a long and race-less winter and get in the mood for NASCAR which is generated by that Daytona spark. The glow that can be read like a book across your face is what creates your excitement and blissfulness due to the fact that NASCAR is back at Daytona. The word ‘Daytona’ just sends that special feeling throughout your body. That’s the feeling only the high banks of Daytona can produce.
Names synonymous with Daytona include Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Cale Yarborough. Those gentlemen made Daytona what it is today and they originated the spark we get from witnessing race cars on Daytona’s high banks. If those gentlemen didn’t achieve what they achieved at Daytona, I don’t believe NASCAR or Daytona would be like it is today. Petty, Earnhardt and Yarborough likely don’t know what they created but, each year when the Daytona 500 rolls around, the magic they produced on the high banks create the inexpressible feeling that runs through race fans.
The stars of NASCAR today are the generation of racers that have the responsibility of keeping that Daytona spark alive. They continue to keep that spark alive by making those daring moves on the race track and creating that Daytona feeling by running four-wide in a pack down the backstretch. We get to feel and experience the Daytona spark each February and that’s due to the show the drivers put on during each event at the legendary grounds of Daytona.
Keeping that spark alive is the job of today’s racers as well as the responsibility of race fans. If we keep enjoying and experiencing that spark each and every year that we are in Daytona, the spark will remain animate. This spark has made ordinary people do remarkable things and it has also created race fans. Seeing the sun shine down on the cars as they race around Daytona’s pavement is what we absolutely love to see. Witnessing that, will forever keep the Daytona spark alive while it runs through the veins of race fans across the world.
