When we got together at the track, we discovered that we all had realized the same dream: We are going to race at Daytona!
At the pointy end of the field, there was a great battle lining up for the season championship between rookie Jose Garcia in his first year of wheel-to-wheel racing in a car — but what a year he’s having! — and Richard Spaeth. They’re teammates, and rumor has it that Garcia’s lightning fast car is for sale. It’s a quick one because he took both victories over the weekend. Drafting also was a huge part of racing at Daytona.
“We were locked together lap after lap, bump-drafting around the NASCAR oval,” said John “Hammer” Palazzolo. “We talked about it in the meetings and everyone played nice. The hand signals were really helpful and we all have a newfound respect for what we had previously only watched on TV.”
Other highlights included some great wheel-to-wheel action between Keith Williamson and Scott Dennewitz, especially at the restarts. Jim Platis pulled double duty at Daytona. He was the tire guy at the track and also wheeled his PerformanceTread.com Spec Miata. Dylan Stancil had the only damage of the weekend, finding the tires in Daytona’s tricky West Horseshoe. After fixing a wrinkled fender and split brake line, he was back for Sunday.
For the drivers, Daytona was an amazing opportunity to compete at the World Center of Racing. And for that, we are all thankful!
