When the drivers accelerate away at the start of the classic Daytona 500 motor race on Florida’s north-east coast on Sunday, they can expect to touch speeds of around 180mph.
That’s nothing, though, compared to what Sir Malcolm Campbell managed on March 7, 1935, when he set the then world land-speed record of 276.82 mph while zooming along the hard-packed sands of Daytona Beach in his sleek Blue Bird racing car.
This was considered one of the key moments in the British driver’s career, a blistering burst beside the breaking waves that formed the foundation stones of ‘speedway’.
His and other pioneer speedsters’ exploits were soon to lead to the first stock car races on what was known as the Daytona Beach Road Course (along the beach and the coastal road) before the Daytona International Speedway, opened in 1959.
So began the popular NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) jamboree of races of which the Daytona 500 is just one.
Tom Chesshyre visited Florida’s north-east coast to check out the classic Daytona 500 car race
Sir Malcolm Campbell and his wife Dorothy. Sir Campbell set the then-world land-speed record of 276.82 mph on Daytona Beach in 1935
Tom found riding in a NASCAR Chevrolet ‘a dizzying, exhilarating and terrifying experience’
The great thing is you can go for a ride yourself on the tracks where the race is held, while catching some rays on your Florida beach break — which was how I found myself hurtling at 170 mph in the passenger seat of a gleaming NASCAR Chevrolet.
At the banked corners the car flew upwards, the speed gluing you backwards; a dizzying, exhilarating and terrifying experience.
Afterwards, still shaking a bit, our group got a chance to look around the Motorsports Hall of Fame, a museum full of famous old, fast cars including Sir Malcolm’s Blue Bird.
Here, you learned that the early days of fast cars were to do with bootleggers rigging vehicles to outrun the police during Prohibition.
But Daytona has more to it than fast cars. There are slow cars, too.
Daytona Beach, where Tom says ‘you can hire a golf buggy and drive along’ or simply stop for ‘some food at one of the excellent crab, oyster and burger joints’
Tom found ‘fishing with old-timers at the end of Sunglow Pier’ on Daytona Beach relaxing
Down on the wide, sandy, 23-mile-long beach, you can hire a golf buggy and drive along (max speed 10 mph) stopping for a swim here and there or for some food at one of the excellent crab, oyster and burger joints. Just watch out for cops in ‘beach control’ pick-up trucks sometimes issuing tickets for speeding.
The beach is so perfect at Daytona it’s long attracted American university students on ‘spring break’ parties at the end of March and beginning of April. At other times of year, however — aside from the big Daytona 500 weekend — it’s a surprisingly quiet spot for a Florida getaway.
There’s plenty else to do other than sunbathing and driving cars. Paddleboarding on the Halifax River was a wonderful experience, floating through the city centre and seeing Daytona from a completely different angle.
Fishing with old-timers at the end of Sunglow Pier was relaxing, too. No bites ourselves, although a neighbour reeled in a two-foot shark.
You can also go on catamarans rides from Ponce Inlet, watching locals enjoying ‘water picnics’ on sandbanks with the ocean up to their knees. Away from the fast tracks, life can be slow and easy in Florida’s speed HQ.
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Fast times in Florida: My dizzying 170mph ride in a NASCAR Chevrolet – and the joys of a much slower golf-buggy drive across the ‘perfect’ Daytona beach
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