Daytona Beach, Florida · US
The World Center of Racing. Home to the Daytona 500 and the Rolex 24, this iconic 2.5-mile superspeedway with 31-degree banking has defined American motorsport since 1959.
Daytona is a 2.5-mile tri-oval with 31 degrees of banking in the turns and 18 at the start line, steep enough that walking on it is difficult. The banking allows sustained speeds high enough that cars run in tightly packed drafting groups, which is why superspeedway racing here looks unlike anything else and why large multi-car accidents are a recurring feature. The infield road course adds a technical section and the fast Bus Stop chicane on the backstretch, used for the Rolex 24. Lake Lloyd sits inside the infield, a 29-acre lake left behind by the excavation that built the banking. Infield camping during Speedweeks is a substantial part of the experience.
The Speedway exists because Bill France Sr. recognised in the early 1950s that racing on the beach at Daytona could not last, as the population grew and crowds became unmanageable. He put a proposal for a permanent facility in motion in April 1953 and signed a contract with the City of Daytona Beach and Volusia County in August 1954. Land clearing began in 1957, and the 31-degree banking was designed in deliberately, both to allow higher speeds and to let spectators see the whole lap.
Racing moved off the beach-road course in 1959, and the first Daytona 500 ran on 22 February that year before a crowd of more than 41,000. The finish was so close that Johnny Beauchamp was initially sent to victory lane; 61 hours later, newsreel footage showed Lee Petty had taken it by about two feet, and the result was reversed.
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