Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
377
who are riding with an adult. Votran also runs
buses
through downtown and the
beaches.
For a taxi, call
Yellow Cab
(
&
386/255-5555
) or
Southern Komfort Cab
(
&
386/
252-2222
).
A VISIT TO THE WORLD CENTER OF RACING
Daytona International Speedway/DAYTONA USA
You don't have to be a
racing fan to enjoy a visit to the
Daytona International Speedway,
4 miles west of the
beach. Opened in 1959 with the first Daytona 500, this 480-acre complex is one of the
key reasons for the city's fame. The track presents about nine weekends of major racing
events annually, featuring stock cars, sports cars, motorcycles, and go-karts, and is used
for automobile and motorbike testing and other events many other days of the year. Its
grandstands can accommodate more than 150,000 fans. Big events sell out months in
advance—tickets to the Daytona 500 in February can be gone a year ahead of time—so
buy yours and make hotel reservations as early as possible.
Start your visit at the
World Center of Racing Visitor Center,
in the NASCAR office
complex at the east end of the speedway. Admission to the center is free, and you can
walk out and see the track during nonrace days (there's a small admission to the track
during qualifying races leading up to the main events). Entertaining 30-minute guided
tram tours of the facility (garage area, pit road, and so on) depart from the visitor center
and are well worth taking.
The visitor center houses a large souvenir shop, a snack bar, and the phenomenally
popular
DAYTONA 500 Experience,
a 60,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art interactive
motor-sports attraction. Here you can learn about the history, color, and excitement of
stock car, go-kart, and motorcycle racing in Daytona. In Daytona Dream Laps, you get
the feel of what it's like to zoom around the track from a 32-seat motion simulator. If
that doesn't get your stomach churning, hop inside your own 80%-scale NASCAR
vehicle in Acceleration Alley, buckle up, and roar up to 200 mph in a spectacular simula-
tor for the ultimate virtual reality-like racing experience ($5 per ride). On the milder
side, you can participate in a pit stop on a NASCAR Winston Cup stock car, see an
actual winning Daytona 500 car still covered in track dust, talk via video with favorite
competitors, and play radio or television announcer by calling the finish of a race. An
action-packed IMAX film will put you in the winner's seat of a Daytona 500 race.
To really experience what it's like, you can make (for $135) three laps around the track
in a stock car from May to October with the
Richard Petty Driving Experience Ride-
Along Program
(
&
800/237-3889;
www.1800bepetty.com). Professional drivers (sorry,
none is named Petty) are at the wheel as you see and feel what it's like to travel an average
of 115 mph.
Allow at least 4 hours to see everything, and bring your video camera.
1801 W. International Speedway Blvd. (U.S. 92, at Bill France Blvd.).
&
386/253-7223
for race tickets,
386/253-7223 for information, or 386/947-6404 or 947-6800 for DAYTONA USA. www.daytonaintlspeed
way.com and www.daytonausa.com. Admission to speedway free except on race days; tram rides $7.50;
DAYTONA 500 Experience $24 adults, $19 seniors and children 6-12, free for children 5 and under.
Speedway daily 9am-7pm; trams depart every 30 min. 9:30am-5pm except during races and special
events; DAYTONA 500 Experience daily 9am-7pm (later during race events). Closed Christmas.
HITTING THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS BEACH
The beautiful and hard-packed beach here runs for 24 miles along a skinny peninsula
separated from the mainland by the Halifax River. The bustling hub of activity is at the
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