Daytona 500 – More than 30,000 fans expected to pack famous racetrack for biggest sporting crowd since pandemic
MORE than 30,000 Nascar fans are expected to attend the Daytona 500 in the largest sporting event of the Covid pandemic.
Thousands of spectators have already packed the stands and emerged from RVs in the center of the Florida track to watch practice and pre-races ahead of the main event.
The track made all the usual moves to prove safety is a priority, with temperature checks, distanced seating, cashless concessions and adherence to CDC guidelines.
Among those heading to Florida are Sam Maxwell and his friends from Cleveland.
They packed up their 1997 Four Winds motorhome with 105,000 miles on it, headed south in the thick of the pandemic and have pinned their hopes on a party.
Trraveling on a budget, the friends like to hit a premier sporting event each year, and this week – thanks only to interest spiked by playing FanDuel – parked in the infield grass at Daytona International Speedway.
They came to soak in the Daytona 500 atmosphere, killing time with games of cornhole and flip cup.
“We´re still going to have a party one way or the other,’ Maxwell said.
“Whether there’s 100 people or just the four of us, we’re still going to have fun.”
The diehard Browns fans brought the party to them.
They hit a thrift store, plunking down $25 for a ratty sofa – perfect to absorb spilled PBR – and even plucked a keyboard out of a dumpster.
They blew up red balloons and tied them to a sign: ‘Moms Drink 4 Free!!!’
Their plan to liven up the bash was overheard by a neighbor, who pressed her face against a window screen and asked if there was an age limit for the moms.
One tradition that’s not been hit by Covid are the booze fuelled wheelbarrow races in which revellers dump their buddies in the belly of the barrow then sprinting, stumbling to the finish.
The new NASCAR season is the first full one in which Confederate flags will be banned, following a campaign by the sport’s only black driver Bubba Wallace.
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There is also a debut for basketball icon Michael Jordan’s 23X1 racing team.
The mood is in stark contrast to last year when NASCAR fans were revved for then-President Donald Trump´s visit.
Trump flags swayed here and there this week, and there was at least one notably profane one directed at President Joe Biden, but politics was greatly tamped down.
