CONKLIN: Why Daytona?
Written by: Rich Conklin Detroit, Mich.�–�2/10/2006
Speed record attempts on the Daytona sand paved the way for Daytona Speedway and NASCAR. (Richard Conklin photo)
In the first installment of his new series, �Dave Despain on Assignment�, which debuts later this month on SPEED, Dave explores the question: �Why Daytona? How did this sleepy beach town become synonymous with racing in America?�
Looking out my window at another gray Michigan sky, I�ve got part of the answer. It�s approaching mid-February and the charm of another blanket of snow is wearing thin. That�s why God invented Florida.
To just about everyone who lives in the Northeast and Midwest, the promise Florida sunshine pulls like a magnet at this time of year, as if every February, I-95 and I-75 had positive current running through them, only to be reversed come April.
But why Daytona? It�s a question worthy of at least an hour Despain�s attention, if not more.
Even before the Interstates made it easy for snowbirds to flock to Florida, the state had a powerful appeal � especially to millionaires. In the northern part of the state, the Hotel Ormond attracted a well-heeled clientele that included pioneers of the auto industry like Ransom E. Olds and Alexander Winton. The hard-packed sand near the hotel was perfect for exercising their creations, and motor racing on Ormond Beach started in 1903 � before Le Mans, before Indy, before Europe�s first grand prix. Soon, newspaper reporters started filing stories from the hotel�s �Winter Carnival,� a precursor to today�s Speed Weeks. With highlights that included world-record runs like Barney Oldfield�s 1910 pass in the Blizten Benz, clocked at 131.7 mph, it was front page news. By the late 1920s, a pair of English military types named Major Henry Segrave and Captain Malcolm Campbell had the media riveted to their high-stakes game of one-upmanship. In search of record speeds, each brought out the heavy artillery �Segrave�s �Mystery S� had 1,000 hp; Campbell�s Bluebird displaced 1,464 cubic inches. In 1929, Segrave topped 231 mph.
OK, but why Daytona, not Ormond? For the 1905 Winter Carnival, the sanctioning body of the races built a clubhouse on the south end of the course, across the line from Ormond Beach in the town of Daytona Beach. Some of the newspaper reports from the speed trials began to appear with the dateline �Daytona Beach, Fla.� Soon, the name Daytona eclipsed Ormond altogether.
From this unassuming locale, NASCAR history began. (Richard Conklin photo)
OK. But why Daytona, as in Daytona 500, as in NASCAR? Here�s where the story takes on its mythic stature�.
One of the spectators drawn to Daytona Beach to witness Campbell�s world speed record attempt in 1935 was a 26-year-old auto mechanic from Washington, D.C., named Bill France. Bill had come to Florida the year before, intending to move his wife and young son from Depression-era D.C. for sunnier prospects in Miami. But, heading down U.S. 1, France pulled over at Ormond Beach, drove onto the sand and decided to park his Hupmobile for good. He knew the history of the place. It wouldn�t be long before he�d make his own.
In 1938, France began promoting racing on the sands of Daytona Beach. Business was good, but the sport of stock car racing was fragmented. France was one of dozens of race promoters working in a vacuum. On December 14, 1947, in the Ebony Bar of the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Bill France filled the vacuum, convincing his fellow promoters to create the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, a private company to be owned by France.
That incredibly canny move is a key piece of the puzzle of �Why Daytona?� Still, it�s a hard to imagine anyone, Bill France included, believing that NASCAR and its showcase event, the Daytona 500, would ever become a cultural icon, or that the sleepy Florida beach town would witness Air Force One touching down just before the flag drops. The Hotel Ormond is gone, but the Streamline Hotel stills stands today, among the dog-eared motels on the inland side of A1A as it passes through Daytona Beach. It�s just a few miles out to Daytona International Speedway and pageantry of Speed Weeks � but it feels like it�s a million miles away.
I look forward to making the journey with Dave Despain as tour guide.
Rich Conklin is a Senior Writer for RACER magazine. To learn more about RACER, click here for subscription information.
