For the second year in a row, we attended the Rolex 24-hour race at Daytona! We had a great time last year, but the weather was particularly bad, and the race stopped a few hours early due to rain. We knew that this year would be better. We showed up before the start of the race to walk around and see the cars and drivers. The photo below was a particularly cool car with cartoon graphics on it. It was the only, or one of the few, cars driven by a woman. Unfortunately it caught on fire sometime during the night, so it didn't get to finish.
Just prior to the race, they let spectators go onto the track. To adjust to the cars' high speeds around curves, the track is actually angled at over 30 degrees at the upper level. The kids had fun running up and down the angled track.
A really cool thing is that they had sharpie markers on the track so that fans could write their names on the yellow lines.
Before the race we also get to walk around the cars that were about to compete and even see the drivers. Ronan, Kraig, and I were rooting for the #5 Cadillac.
Brielle opted for the #10 Cadillac, and we got to see one of the drivers, Barbosa, being interviewed next to the car.
With the race about to start, we headed back into the stands. The kids enjoyed the opening music.
Since the race is a full 24 hours, and there are in-and-out privileges, we watched the start then decided to walk around inside of the stadium.
Without assigned seating, we also had the ability to go into the stands to watch the race from several different viewpoints.
At one point we decided to see what it looked like from the very top of the stands. As the seating goes higher, it also goes up at a more extreme angle.
I'm not at all afraid of heights, but I seriously felt a little nervous sitting at the top at such a severe angle!
The kids weren't fearful at all - they loved running up and down the steep stairways.
We left for a little while to enjoy a nice dinner at PF Chang's, then check into our hotel on the beach. We had a great ocean view, and got to go out onto the sand at sunset, but my camera was acting up, so unfortunately I don't have any photos. Then we headed back to the stadium to watch the cars drive at night. I attempted to take photos, but when cars are going close to 200 mph, I found it impossible to avoid blurry photos. But here's a video...
We watched the lit-up cars for a bit, but decided to spend our time in the infield, enjoying the huge, colorful ferris wheel.
From up high, you get a great view of the colorful cars racing on the track around you.
The next morning we returned to watch the last part of the race. We had time in the morning to view the cars on display, including this Fabulous Hudson Hornet, straight out of the Cars movies.
The kids spent a good amount of time on the free inflatables.
Unlike last year, there weren't any rain delays, so the cars raced the entire time. The weather was cool, but the sun warmed things up considerably. It's so great that we can enjoy outdoor events like this in January!
At the end, Brielle's car - the #10 - won!
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