Life on the Road - Trucking News Blog

The 50TH running of the Daytona 500 will start with the Corvette Z06 pace car out in front. Seen in the photo are Daytona International Speedway President Robin Braig, The 2007 Daytona 500 Champion Kevin Harvick, Orange county Mayor Richard Crotty, and General Motors Jeff Chew.

JUNIOR JOHNSON

Driving the 2008 Daytona Pace Car will be none other than the 1960 Daytona 500 Winner Junior Johnson. Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990 and named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998, the North Carolina native claimed his Daytona 500 victory in only his second season in NASCAR competition. That memorable win was behind the wheel of the No. 27 John Masoni Daytona Kennel Club Chevrolet Impala. Junior Johnson got his start racing by running from the law with a trunk full of moonshine back in the day. He now sells the stuff legally on his website. Anthough it is not the same as what was in his trunk back in the day, it is still pretty potent. Check you local laws before you attempt to get some though.

Johnson joins past drivers who have paced “The Great American Race” including Baseball “Iron Man” Cal Ripken Jr., Actor Ben Affleck and Tonight Show host Jay Leno.

This is the 37th consecutive year that General Motors has provided the Daytona 500 with the Official Pace Vehicle, and the fifth year running that Chevrolet has chosen Corvette for the job. The ‘08 Corvette Z06 will be decked out in “anniversary gold” in honor of the occasion, making it one of Chevy’s most uniquely designed pace cars.

CHAMPIONS ABOUND

There are plenty of things to see at Daytona during Speed Weeks, including a bunch of past Daytona 500 Champions who will be on hand for various events. Daytona 500 Champions Darrell Waltrip and Richard Petty will cement their place in history by placing their right footprint and handprint in a 3×3 cement block to be placed in the Daytona 500 Champions Walk of Fame. Past Daytona 500 Champions Buddy Baker, Darrell Waltrip and Junior Johnson will take your questions in an informal question & answer session in the Sprint FANZONE inside Daytona’s historic infield. Junior Johnson and Buddy Baker will take your questions in an informal question & answer session in the Daytona Club hospitality tent. Cale Yarborough and David Pearson will take your questions in an informal question & answer session in the Daytona 500 Club.Past Daytona 500 Champions A.J. Foyt, Cale Yarborough, Mario Andretti and Geoff Bodine will take your questions in an informal question & answer session in the Sprint FANZONE inside Daytona’s historic infield.

“To have all 24 living past Daytona 500 Champions on site during our historic celebration is something we’re proud to have accomplished,” said Speedway President Robin Braig. “We are honored to host 24 Legends who have made their mark on DIS and NASCAR.”

WHATS IT PAY THIS YEAR?

The 50th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 17 – the most anticipated event in racing history – will carry a record purse of more than $18 million. The posted awards for “The Great American Race” on Sunday, Feb. 17 will be $18,689,238.The posted awards for the 2007 Daytona 500, which was won for the first time by Kevin Harvick in a photo finish over Mark Martin, was $18,386,023. The winner of this year’s Daytona 500 will collect a minimum of $1,445,250. The second, third, fourth and fifth-place finishers in the Daytona 500 will receive a minimum of $1,044,400, $752,400, $598,450 and $471,500 respectively. The last-place finisher in the Daytona 500 will also be well compensated with a minimum of $233,865.

The winner for the inaugural Daytona 500 back in 1959 – Lee Petty – collected $19,050 and the last-place finisher – Ken Marriott – earned $100. A hundred dollars! Man have things changed from then to now. A hundred dollars won’t get you in the stands today.

The ARCA REMAX series this year at Daytona pays a total purse of $283,552 while the Budweiser Shootout pays a total of $1,217,154 with the winner pocketing $215,000 of that. There are more ways to win the big bucks this year at Daytona. How about The Gatorade Duels at Daytona? There is a purse of $1,350,000 to win there, $675,000 for each of both races. Then you have The Chevy Silverado 250, Nascar Craftsman Truck Series race with a purse there of $875,448. Last but not least by any means is the Camping World presented by Chevy, Nationwide series 300 with a purse there of $2,640,772. All in all the total for all the events there at the 50TH running of the Daytona 500 is $6,083,374! Thats a lot of dollars going into some pockets!

CAN YOU STILL GET TICKETS?

The Daytona Speedway’s ticket office announced earlier that all grand stand tickets for the 50TH running have been sold out. You may attempt to purchase infield tickets though unless they have sold out since the latest “ticket” press release. Ebay has one page of them for sale through their online auction site starting a bit over $150 and going as high as $1100.00 for a four day package. I would imagine that as the race draws near, there will be more available as people find that life gets in the way of their racing vacation. I wouldn’t bet too much on there being a whole lot more in the low price range though, as this is the 50th Anniversary of the Great American Race. I thought that there would be a whole lot more tickets on Ebay. It looks like most people are dead set in being there for it and I don’t blame them. I would love to go see it but that would cost more than I could afford. I tried to look at Stubhub.com but their site was down so I have no idea how many are being listed on that site. Give it a whirl if you have a pocket full of money and you are just itchin to get down there for this race. Hey! If you have a lot of money, I am looking for a free ride and some free tickets to the race too! You will have to feed me though and that may ruin my chances though as I like to eat ha ha!

FINAL LAP FOLKS

If you can swing it in your schedule and your pocket book can handle it, You need to get down there and see this one! This will be the biggest Daytona 500 racing has ever seen. You only turn 50 once and The Daytona International speedway promises that this one will be one you will never forget. If you have never gone to a nascar race and you want to start out in style, then you could do no better than the 50TH Anniversary of The Great American Race.

Speedweeks start with The Arca Remax Series practice on February the 7TH from noon till 5P.M.
The cup cars will draw for the Budweiser Shootout at 7 P.M. on the 7TH

February 8TH

The Daytona 500 will be Broadcast on you local FOX television station.