The Indycar Dad Podcast Jan 19, 2026

Indycar Dad - Ep. 4 - How To Enjoy the Rolex 24 Hour at Daytona

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Term

IMSA

IMSA is a group that organizes car racing events, especially for sports cars. They have different types of races and are popular in North America.

Car

The Miata Cup Race is a type of car race where everyone drives the same model of car, the Mazda MX-5 Miata. This makes it fairer because the winner is determined by how well the drivers can handle their cars.

Car

Mazda MX-5 Miata

The Mazda MX-5 Miata is a small sports car that is very fun to drive. It’s often used in racing events where everyone drives the same type of car to see who is the best driver.

Concept

IndyCar

IndyCar is a type of car racing that takes place on different types of tracks. It's known for fast cars and exciting races, especially the famous Indianapolis 500 race.

Brand

Lamborghini

Lamborghini is a famous car brand from Italy that makes very fast and expensive sports cars. They are known for their unique designs and powerful engines.

Term

LMP

LMP is a type of race car made for long-distance races. These cars are very fast and built to perform well over many hours of racing, like the famous 24-hour race in Le Mans.

Term

radio conversations

Radio conversations are the talks between race car drivers and their teams while racing. They help the driver get important information and instructions to do better in the race.

Brand

Aston Martin

Aston Martin is a famous car brand that makes luxury sports cars, often seen in movies like James Bond.

Term

GTP

GTP is a racing category for fast sports cars that compete on tracks, focusing on both speed and handling.

Term

GTD Pro

GTD Pro is a racing category where professional drivers race high-performance sports cars.

Car

Chrysler Daytona

The Chrysler Daytona is a sporty car from the 1980s that looks fast and was designed to be fun to drive. It has a unique shape and was popular for racing, making it a cool choice for car fans.

Car

Chrysler New Yorker

The Chrysler New Yorker is a big, comfortable car that was made for many years. It's known for being fancy and having a lot of space inside, making it a popular choice for families and those who like a smooth ride.

Car

Toyota A90

The Toyota Supra is a powerful sports car that has been around for a long time. It's famous for its speed and stylish looks, and many people love it for racing and modifying to make it even faster.

Concept

restomod

Restomod is when someone takes an old car and updates it with new parts to make it work better, while still looking like the original. It's a way to enjoy classic cars with modern technology.

Term

turbocharger

A turbocharger is a part that helps an engine get more air, which makes it go faster and use fuel better. It's like giving the engine a boost to make it stronger.

Term

open exhaust

Open exhaust means that the exhaust system of a car lets out gases freely without much blockage. This makes the car louder and can help it go faster, which is why it's often used in racing.

Concept

Daytona 24

The Daytona 24 is a famous car race that lasts for 24 hours, where different teams compete with their cars. It's a big event for car fans and takes place at a well-known racetrack in Florida.

LIVE

Hi, I'm IndyCarDad.

I'm an expert at attending races, and I'm going to the Rolex 24, and here's how I do things.

Some advice for you from my experience.

So are you listening to this as part of the IndyCarDad podcast?

I hope you'll subscribe and hear more racing weirdness from me, your friend, IndyCarDad.

So this is a bit of a last minute trip for me, but I think I've got it covered.

I attend a lot of races.

So I've got a lot of things I do to have maximum fun at the races, and I want you to have fun

too.

So I'm going to share.

I really, my whole point in my whole project, the IndyCarDad project, is to help people

have more fun at the races.

So that's what we're going to talk about here.

So a lot of having more fun is to avoid some friction.

So let's talk about some pre-prep.

I definitely don't like to go into a race weekend without any preparation, but I'm

not IMSA dad.

I'm IndyCarDad.

So some things I'm going to have to brush up on.

So I prepare by reading the Reddit, the subreddit for IMSA racing.

There's a lot of information online there, and there's a lot of people I'm not familiar

with.

So I like to brush up on what's going on and what people's opinions are and what

sort of the storylines are as well.

Also those people are really helpful in what ticket to buy and what parking area

to go and they even have a meetup plan.

So one of the things that I did was I looked up the meetup and I put it in my Google Calendar.

I sort of run my life and my phone from Google Calendar.

So this will remind me 30 minutes ahead of time that there's an event happening.

Will I attend the Reddit IMSA racing meetup?

You know, unless I'm doing something super important, I probably will attend.

There's a lot of people there that I have a lot in common with, so I'll probably enjoy

meeting them.

I'm a bit of an extrovert though, so I know not everybody wants to go to meetups, but

for me I really like it.

Let's also talk about what ticket I bought.

So this year I bought a two-day ticket with Garage Pass.

That was available.

I'm not sure if it's available on Race Day, but it's available in advance.

Last year I had more time and my favorite driver, Felix Rosenquist, was racing

in the race and he was going to be there Friday.

So I got the four-day pass and I went on Friday and they had, like, autograph sessions

and I got to see Fro, and I showed him a thing I made.

I made this Fro-Fro, big Afro thing, and it was a big hit.

So I had a great time on Friday as well.

This year I don't have as much time to spare.

I'm just really not so interested.

My favorite driver isn't in it.

I'll see a lot of drivers I like.

So I'm just going for the Saturday-Sunday thing, which is fine with me.

So last Friday, the last time Friday had something that I really would like to attend

again, which is they have the Miata Cup Race on Friday.

My story is, last year, for the Miata Cup Race, I was entering the track and if you've

never been to Daytona, it's a pain in the neck to get inside and out of the track.

They only have two tunnels with which to do it.

In one tunnel, they just let car traffic go and it's a single-file walkway with a bad sort

of ceiling over it.

And I tell you what, it just takes one person who can't walk very well to slow down the

whole line.

And, of course, we're walking slow, which is kind of how it happens.

And the giant pile-up, last year there was a giant Miata Cup pile-up.

The giant pile-up occurred over our heads.

You could hear the spinning and crunching and everything like that.

And it was like, man, if I had just gotten through there just a little bit faster, I

would have seen the spectacle.

But so anyway, so Friday in the morning, I think that is the Miata Cup thing.

Hold on a look.

Friday morning is, yeah, Friday morning at 10 a.m. if you're going to attend is

the Miata Cup race, which is 60 cars and it's really, really competitive.

Racers like Connor Zillich came out of Miata Cup racing.

So there's some exciting stuff going on there.

Also back to the IMSA reddit, I actually scored second-hand parking passes through the IMSA

reddit.

There was someone on there that had bought an extra one and he was going to sell it.

They were already long sold out.

So this year, I scored a lot for parking pass.

You might find discount tickets.

You might find other things, but I'm real happy about getting my parking pass.

That'll make, allow me to park closer to the Speedway so I can go to my car for a nap easier.

So that's good.

Also so that's the reddit portion of my online prep.

I do some more prep as well.

There's a couple of things I like to bring with me printed.

Like I'm old school enough that I have actually printed some things out and carrying them

with me in my backpack.

This is helpful because sometimes the data is not so great in a crowd of 40,000 people

or however many people will be there.

So I like to print a spotters guide.

So this is generally like it will have a picture of the car, the color scheme, the drivers,

the number of the team, the type of car, and it will have the radio frequency.

So I can, if I print that in advance and I bring it like on the airplane, like I'm

flying down there.

I can spend that time wrestling with this thing, my scanner, and programming and the

frequencies that I want.

I like to do this custom because there are some teams I'm just not interested in and

there are other teams that I'm very interested in.

So I like to sort and organize the teams and the radio frequencies in a way that makes

the race weekend more enjoyable for me.

And I do that using the spotters guide.

So that's just kind of how I do it.

I am a big IndyCar guy, so I'm going to follow all the IndyCar drivers teams and then there's

other teams I'll follow as well.

Last year I followed the Lamborghini team because they had tried to be an LMP, which

is the fastest cars, and their car was a giant mess.

It was three seconds off the pace and it failed early on in the race, but before

it failed, the radio conversations were fascinating.

The driver was like, you need to keep up with the other, the team was like, you need to keep

up with the other drivers.

And the driver was like, I could keep up with you.

This thing wasn't such a piece of crap and they were arguing back and forth and I

was all for it.

I was sitting in the stands listening to the whole thing and then within a short

period of time the car just failed or whatever.

So anyway, I'll be looking for the team that is a bit of a train wreck.

It could be Aston Martin this year, an LMP.

It could be, I mean, GTP.

It could be the Faf Lamborghini and, you know, we'll see in GTD Pro.

So there's definitely a team out there that's going to be a bit of a mess and I'll make

sure I have their frequency in my thing.

So that's why I need the spotter's guide.

The other thing I'll download is the entry list, which will have all the drivers

and teams.

There'll be a little information there.

And then I like to print in my hand a track map so I can see where exactly is the

Ferris wheel again?

Where's the tunnel?

Where can I pick up the tram?

All of those things are difficult to remember and they're nice to have in a

printed fashion rather than pulling on my phone and downloading the PDF and

zooming in on it.

I can just, I'm just old school in that way.

And then finally, I add Daytona, Florida to my weather app on my phone.

So the week leading up to the race, I can look at the weather.

And right now it's looking pretty good.

Last year was very cold.

So I'm very happy to have better weather on the forecast this year.

So that is my online like race weekend prep.

I also went online and booked my flight, my rental car.

I don't need a place to stay.

We have a place down near there.

So but if I would have, I would have done that too online.

So here's some tips I have about the travel to Daytona Speedway.

So I live in the Detroit area and a flight to Sanford or Orlando or Daytona was

like $600, $700, $800.

But a flight to Jacksonville from where I from near where I live, like a small

airport from near where I live in Flint had a flight to Jacksonville,

which was $130 for on trip.

Now, Jacksonville is about two and hours and 15 minutes from the Speedway.

But yeah, I get a rental car with unlimited mileage and you know,

$500 difference is a big difference.

Maybe try to get creative.

There's a lot of airports in Florida and and rental cars will give you

the mileage to get there.

So see what you can do with that.

The second thing, rental cars.

I rented a minivan.

I know it's a little bit more money than a car.

Sometimes like I think my was like $15 more a day.

But man, it's it's a nice vehicle to use on race day.

So I have a house down there.

Our house has an air mattress in the spare closet in case we have extra guests.

So I will throw that air mattress, spare comforter, spare pillows.

I'll have all of that in the back of this minivan with the seats stowed out of a

cooler in there.

I'll be it be really set.

If I get tired, I can go out and get some rest in the minivan.

So consider the comfort of a minivan and the flat rows.

By the way, rented all the minivans and the Chrysler minivan.

You may not like Chrysler.

I'm not a big fan.

The Chrysler minivan has the flattest floor when you fold down all the seats.

They call it Stone Go and it's fantastic for sleeping in.

So so if they give you a if they say pick any minivan out of this row, you walk

right up to that Chrysler and you grab it.

So that's my advice.

And then the next thing is my experience with the Daytona area is that there's

so many hotels there that the Rolex 24 isn't going to crank up hotel prices

like nothing like the Indianapolis, any 500 does or anything like that.

So you shouldn't have to pay too, too much to get a hotel near Daytona.

So so that's some travel information.

So I do have a house not too far from Daytona.

It's about an hour north in St.

Augustine, so I know a lot about the area.

So I'll try to give you some advice on that.

So we're going to talk about the Daytona area.

So as you can imagine around the Daytona International Speedway,

there's a lot of racing related stuff.

So if you're a race fan like me, like you, you can find a lot of things to do.

There's there's racing cafes and there's a good a really good indoor

go kart track and might get crowded around a race weekend, but it's a good place to go.

Daytona place Daytona Beach is a great place to stay.

So if you're looking to stay a couple of days and you want some place

good to stay, stay as close to the beach as possible.

It is a really nice beach.

And although wait, January isn't the greatest beach time for Detroit to go down there.

It feels like summer when I get down there, even if it's 65 degrees.

I'm walking around in shorts and a t-shirt and I like to get my toes in the in the water, too.

So this time of the year, the water temperature is going to be about 63 degrees.

That is about 10 degrees colder than a pool swimming pool.

So and and it's definitely like you could go for a dip.

Comfortably, if you want to learn to surf or anything like that,

you'll probably want to wear a wetsuit.

And if you want to learn to surf, there are surf.

There are surf shops in the area that you can take a lesson.

And that lesson will include the board, the wetsuit, everything you can.

So you'll find beginner friendly surf in the area.

So I my one of my things I like to advise my friends to do

if they're coming down to this area Atlantic side of Florida

is to possibly try surfing.

It's a great activity, one of my favorites.

It's very difficult, but it's a great thing to try.

The second thing you can do, I mean, surfing is not for everybody,

but everybody likes a long walk on the beach, right?

I mean, isn't that the the trope?

So and I have some advice.

I do a lot of beach walking and I have only one requirement.

If you came with me to the beach,

which I would invite you to come to with me to the beach.

It's one of my favorite places.

You got to take off your shoes and socks.

I'm not kidding you.

The thing about walking on the beach is to get your toes in the wet sand

and in the water and until you do that, you have no idea what you're doing.

It's just one of those things.

So go for a walk on the beach.

Enjoy your time in Florida, Eastern Florida, Atlantic and Atlantic

sign of Florida, but get to the beach, get your toes wet and go for a walk.

You'll sort it out when you get back to the car.

Your feet will be a little sandy.

There's probably a place to wash them off nearby.

Any of the parking lots have a little spray thing.

And then use the outside of your socks to wipe the sand off your feet

and put your clean socks, clean feet and inside of your socks.

That's a little pro tip for your friend, Tom, the IndyCar Dad.

So that's my advice.

Try to get to the beach, stay near it and go for a walk.

It's definitely worth it.

I don't really have any solid food recommendations for the Daytona area.

You're going to just go to Google and the Alp and all that sort of stuff.

Daytona is a little big city, kind of.

So you're going to find whatever kind of cuisine you want.

But if you expect the food that's really good at home to be really good

in Daytona, you might be disappointed.

So don't go there expecting like German food or Mexican food or anything like that.

Look for local specialties.

You're going to find things like if you go for seafood, grouper, flounder, shrimp.

Those are all local species.

If there's a fish on the menu you've never heard of,

reef fish or something like that, rec fish, try that.

Trigger fish, these are local fishes as well.

So go with those.

There's enough transplanted New Yorkers in the area that the pizza is going

to be good, a kink energy, it's the best pizza in the world.

If you're a New Yorker, you might be disappointed in it.

But if you're from other parts of the country,

thin crust is kind of going to be the ruling pizza of the area.

I will also tell you that the Cuban food is going to be really good.

So Cuban sandwiches, you'll also find good Caribbean, Dominican and things

like that. So think about who lives in the area and go for food of that type.

Does that make sense?

All right.

that's that's my advice on the Daytona area.

The next thing we're going to talk about is this is a 24 hour race and the

weather conditions are definitely going to change.

It helps to understand what's coming and how to pack accordingly.

So Florida weather is generally pretty predictable.

But you have to pay attention to the weather apps.

They will tell you if it's going to rain tomorrow, right?

But look at the hourly forecast as well,

because sometimes it rains for 10 hours straight and we will know this in advance.

And other times the weather calls for a 90 percent chance of rain tomorrow.

But that just means it's definitely going to rain for one hour tomorrow.

So that's a big difference.

If you're at the races and you only have to wear a poncho for one hour.

No problem.

If you're at the races and you have to wear a poncho for 10 hours.

That's a different situation altogether.

So pay very close attention.

Generally use the radar map on your phone.

This is one time you're going to want data and the weather will be coming from

the West and Northwest and it will just come right over.

You can see it coming right for you.

So that's how I predict the weather.

So just also remember you're going to look at the low temperature.

I think right now it's predicted to be in the upper 50s, which is great.

But.

Upper 50s is still really cold when there's no sunlight on you and you didn't

bring enough clothing and you're walking around outdoors and you're sitting on a

cold aluminum seat.

So just be ready.

This is a long haul and you're going to need a lot more insulation than you

thought.

Insulating clothes, just keep your body from losing the heat and your body

doesn't generate that much heat.

So it's a battle.

Dress a lot warmer than you think.

And that's that's that's going to be the overall advice.

Last year, a lot of people were in this lesson.

It was cold.

You know, Florida cold is a little.

It's it's cold.

It's really not that it's Florida cold.

It's that it's a nighttime cold and there's no light and there's nothing

to add heat to you and you're only your body versus the outside air.

And it can be quite windy at the speedway.

So it's tough.

It's tough. Be ready.

I think everybody will have told you that, but I'm just one more person to warn you.

So let's talk about more ways to treat your body right.

So here's some things you're going to need to treat your body right.

Sunblock is going to be essential.

You've got probably six or seven hours in the sun, maybe even eight hours in the

sun, and I'm not sure where you're coming from.

But if you're coming from the north,

Florida sun, where Florida is closer to the equator than you used to.

So the fun is going to be more overhead.

It's going to be stronger than you used to, more direct than you used to.

And this is you get a sunblock, a sunburn, real bad if you don't pay attention.

So it brings the sunblock.

I like spray sunblock.

It's lightweight.

It packs well in your bag and it's very easy to apply any of these creams.

We're getting them on your hands and rubbing them off.

Now you got this stuff on your hands.

It's going to taste bad with your food and stuff like that.

The spray gets your ears.

These are areas where the people in Florida get skin cancer like the top of their

ears, the back of their necks.

So, you know, a spray really works well with that.

You're going to need water.

You're going to need food.

You're going to need weight arrest.

You're going to need ear protection and you're going to need appropriate

clothing, appropriate footwear, and you're going to need to stay dry.

So let's go over those things again.

Way to treat your body right during this weekend is to have sunblock,

to have water, to have food, to have ear protection, to have clothing,

to have footwear and a way to stay warm and dry.

So all those things, but you can do this.

I mean, you probably own all of these things.

It's just a matter of not forgetting them.

So we'll talk about what I'm bringing specifically and what I'm wearing and

when I'm bringing my backpack later.

Oh, yeah, there's a backpack involved.

Without a doubt.

I can't imagine going to the Rolex 24 without a backpack.

It's a fool's game.

So just get your backpack ready because we're going to have a whole list of things

that are going to go in there.

All right, we've talked about treating our body right.

Let's treat our mind right.

We're going to need a few things to keep our mind in the game, you know,

or just to have a good time, right?

It isn't about surviving the Rolex 24.

We're not spending our own money to get there and survive it.

It's not it's not an endurance event for spectators.

It's a fun event.

We're going there for the fun of it, right?

So let's try to remember that.

So what's way to keep our mind in the right way is to give ourselves some rest,

to protect ourselves from the sound.

It will ruby, Jeff, you don't have good food or foods we like to have beverages

we like to see and be entertained on the sites and the sound and the drama.

So these are the things we're going to try to do to keep our mind right.

And then we want to treat our wallets right, you know?

So you want to bring things that you already own and need and can do in advance.

And you want to not spend money on things you don't need to spend money on.

And if you want to spend money on things you like, that's great, too.

But treat your wallet right.

All right, let's talk more about what I was just talking about.

We'll break it all down.

Treating your body right.

So this is staying dry, sunblock, water, beverages and all those things.

So let's talk about staying dry because it's very important.

First, there's going to be a couple of possible scenarios here.

One is there's going to be a shower or one or two short showers.

And then the other possibility is there's going to be just downpours for hours.

So we're going to prepare for both.

And and we're going to be aware of both because we're going to watch the weather report.

So if there's a chance of rain or there's going to be a light rain,

you know, I suggest one of these emergency ponchos, they pack up really small.

They're less than a couple of bucks and they're just easy to work with, right?

They pack easy.

But if it's going to rain multiple times or multiple hours, now you need a rain

coat or something that's fully waterproof, that has a hood and something

that's long as well.

So I have I have this.

This is my poncho poncho.

It is bigger, like it's longer and more durable and

bigger, longer and more durable than an emergency poncho.

And it packs up this big.

You can see so if it's going to rain a lot, I will bring this.

If it's not, I will bring just emergency poncho.

Then also choose the right footwear as well.

If it's going to rain a lot, you're probably going to want waterproof shoes to

keep the water out of your feet.

But if it's only going to rain a little bit, you could wear shoes that dry well,

like running shoes, dry quickly.

There is one thing about Daytona is you cannot bring an umbrella into the track.

They're just not allowed.

So you'll have no opportunity to have an umbrella.

Unless you have an RV or tent at the track,

you don't really have a dry place to hang out very well.

There's not a lot of cover at Daytona.

There's not a lot.

I shouldn't shouldn't say that.

There's not a lot of cover at Daytona where you can watch the race undercover.

There's places where you can be under cover,

like underneath the stands and that type of thing.

And there's plenty of room there because the track is so big and the Rolex

doesn't really attract that big of a crowd.

So, but it's generally if it's going to rain for eight,

ten hours straight, it's a it's a slot.

So bring rain gear, you know, rain gear, like with pants and jacket and boots

and everything is what you'd really need if it's going to rain all night.

Anyway, that's the stay dry portion.

Just figure out what the weather is going to be and be appropriate.

Sunblock and a hat.

I mentioned earlier that the Florida winter

strong sun is stronger than you think it is.

You're closer to the equator in Florida.

That means there's a longer day.

You know how the days are longer in the summer and shorter in the winter?

Well, that effect is less and less as you get close to the equator.

So Florida is going to have a longer day than you're used to.

Also, the sun is more directly overhead.

If you're in the northern climate like we are,

a winter sun is low over the horizon and less direct.

But as you get closer to the equator, the sun is higher and higher in the sky.

And it beats down on you more directly.

So also, if you're from someplace cold, like I'm going to go down to Daytona

and my melanin level is low because I've been sitting indoors for the last two months.

So that will get me up sunburn pretty easily.

So pack SPF in a spray bottle, I like spray bottle.

It's easier to use.

And then I keep a small tube in my backpack as well.

I have a big nose and the only thing worse than having a big nose is having a big red

nose, so I make sure I keep a sunblock on my nose.

So I you want a hat to wear and, you know,

I think you'll see a lot of old timers in the big straw hat.

And those guys know what they're doing.

There's a reason I generally will wear like this is my Rolex 24 hat number 60.

I like the Meyer shank number 60 and it's signed by all last year's drivers.

So that's pretty good.

And so I will probably wear this.

But a hat like this leaves your ears exposed and leaves the back of your neck exposed.

So I'll be spraying those down quite often.

All right, let's talk about water or beverages.

So 24 hours is a long time.

It's longer to because you're probably going to arrive around 10 a.m.

and you might not leave till like 3 p.m.

the next day, so it's like 29 hours.

So let's talk about how much water you're going to need.

So the Rolex 24 is a fairly active event.

You're not going to be sitting the whole time.

You're probably going to be walking around a good bit of it.

So let's talk about people that walk some of the day and sit some of the rest

some of the day and that would be like a hiker on the Appalachian Trail.

Now, there's good data on how much water they need.

They have a fairly active day.

They're outdoors and and yeah.

And it's they're out 24 hours at a cycle.

Trail hikers generally drink about 120 ounces of water a day.

So bringing a water bottle that holds, you know, a pint of water,

you'd have to fill that up like eight times.

Be ready to do that and a drink a lot of water and bring a water bottle

that you can fill up and you'll be able to fill it up at bathrooms

and things like that around the track.

It's not impossible to fill your water bottle with the track.

It's not super duper easy.

They're not everywhere, but they're not far away.

So water bottle is a good idea.

All right, so now we're hydrated.

We'll block the sun and we're dry.

Let's talk about my favorite part of the races, which is food.

I love to pack a lot of good food.

So it's my specialty.

In fact, I did a YouTube video just about race provisions and I have a lot of opinions.

I hope you get time to watch it, but I'll go over some of the things.

I'm just going to list what I'm bringing with me this weekend and you guys can go

from there. I bring on crustable sandwiches.

If you're not familiar with these, these are frozen peanut butter and jelly

sandwiches. They do really well in your backpack.

Oh, I should mention I am bringing a backpack, just a backpack, just regular

backpack. It's not a special backpack.

It is a regular old backpack, but it holds everything I need.

I do not bring a cooler.

I do not bring anything else.

I'm not carrying a chair or anything.

I have a backpack and it has everything I need inside it.

And this is the food that will be in the backpack.

So I bring uncrustable sandwiches.

These are those frozen peanut butter jelly sandwiches with no crust on them.

You get them in any grocery store, Walmart, any place they are everywhere.

I bring three of them.

They have about 200 calories each and that's a good thing.

I bring trail mix.

Oh, the reason I bring uncrustable sandwiches is because they're frozen,

they actually don't get too banged up in your backpack.

So they're pretty portable.

They're also in like sealed up

bags like sealed in plastic.

So if they get mixed with things that get wet or if they get wet from the rain,

it doesn't destroy the sandwiches because they're all sealed up.

So two thumbs up for uncrustable sandwiches.

I bring trail mix.

I bring trail mix because I like the taste of it because I get the kind

that has like chocolate and caramel and dried cherries.

And also it has a lot of calories for how big it is.

So I can put a lot of calories in a small space in my backpack with trail mix.

I bring a protein shake generally because I drink one for breakfast.

And I will be the first thing I drink.

So it's a good source of protein.

It's satisfying and it will be cold and I'll put it in my bottle in my backpack.

I bring two bottles of water

and then I bring them frozen.

So I do that for a couple of reasons.

One, so I can drink the water and two, because they keep my stuff cold.

So I like to bring a couple of bottles of frozen water and they and I don't have

a cooler with me. I just have my backpack, but the food area,

the backpack will have these two frozen bottles of water and they'll be

keeping everything cold.

And as the day goes on, those frozen bottles of water just turned into cold

water, which is good.

So I bring I usually go go and get a Walmart sub.

Again, these are sealed in plastic.

I get the Italian sub or maybe it's a different one, but it's sealed in plastic.

So I can go in the backpack and it doesn't get wet and soggy.

It's not like subway where it's going to get soggy.

It's set up to be kind of carried in a wet environment.

So that's good.

I'll probably bring carrots or celery sticks just to snack on if I want

something healthy. I like Snickers bars again, because it tastes good.

And they have good decent calories in them.

I will bring I don't bring potato chips.

They take up too much space.

I don't bring any chips.

I bring either Pringles because the two doesn't take up too much space.

But actually, my new favorite is Goldfish crackers because as you eat the bag,

it gets smaller and smaller and smaller and takes up less and less space.

I will bring as much beer as I want to drink, which for me,

I don't drink much beer.

So there's probably like one or two beers in my backpack.

That's really all I'll have.

If I was a big beer drinker, I'd I'd lug the beer around, I suppose.

I see everybody doing it, but I'm just not a huge drinker.

So there you go.

I'll tell you what, though, if I ever had an RV, if I ever had

an RV and an RV parking spot on the infield of this track or if my car was

in the infield of this track, I would have that son of a bitch stock so high.

If my car was in the infield, the Daytona,

I would have every snack in my house, I would bring it to the raceway.

And if I didn't eat it, I'd bring it right back, but I'd have a cooler.

I'd have a camp stove.

I would have all of the stuff when I go to like Road America and I'm camping

there, I'm set, I'm ready to go.

But at the Daytona 24, I'm living out of my backpack and I'm packing things

that I like that don't take up too much space that provide a lot of calories

because I'm going to need a lot of calories at this time.

So there you go.

While I'm at the track, I plan to get like a cheesesteak sub.

I think I remember there's a cheesesteak place at Daytona.

My memory could be wrong.

But I think I remember getting a cheesesteak last year and really enjoying it.

So I'm planning on getting a cheesesteak.

I hope I'm not imagining this because I'm really looking forward to that cheesesteak.

So I don't know what time I'll get that, but it'll be some time.

Last year, I attended something called the taste of the 24,

which is a charity event where like local restaurants come and serve like appetizers.

And it's like an appetizer stroll where you go to like 10, 15 different rooms

and there's over and up like little appetizers.

It was really fantastic and the food was delicious.

I think it happens around six or seven p.m.

and it's put on by NASCAR charities.

I really did enjoy the taste of the 24 last year, but I'm actually not

doing it this year because it took a couple of hours to do it.

And during those couple of hours, I had no idea what was going on in the race.

And that's where I kind of lost the plot on the race.

I wasn't paying attention and I tried to pick it up later in the evening.

And I kind of didn't really get back in the swing of things.

So this year I'm going to be walking around the infield and checking

things out between race start and.

Let's see. OK, let's we're still taking care of our bodies.

We're talking more and more about this.

I'm sorry if this keeps going on, but it is a podcast and I'm trying to tell you

everything I know, rest.

Your body needs rest.

And last year I kind of ran out of steam and didn't do a very good job of

resting. I never went back to my car and I never laid down anywhere to just rest.

I was just go, go, go, go, go.

I went from race start.

I walked all around.

I went to the taste of the 24.

I did all this other stuff.

I went through the garages and I was beat.

This year I have a lot for parking ticket, which is a little closer.

So I plan to go out to the car and take a nap and just, you know, get some rest.

I also am bringing something this year that I didn't bring last year.

This device is like, God, do you know what a thermo rest is?

It's like an air mattress pad that you sleep on when you go camping.

This is the tiny version of that.

It's it's for your butt.

So it's a little like, you know, you see people at a high school football game

or even a race and they bring like that butt pad that they have to sit on.

That's what this is.

It's an inflatable, very portable one.

So I'll have this in my backpack so that when I sit in the stands,

I don't get really sore.

And some if you want to, if you want to lay down someplace like on a bench

seat or something, you put this under your head and it's kind of pillow like.

So it's part of my rest plan.

I'll either be comfortable in the seats, which I wasn't last year,

even though the stands have like a bucket seat, like a regular stadium seat.

They're not comfortable.

I also didn't have a way to lay down and it was very cold.

And then the third thing was I didn't have a go a place to go and really lay

down like my car was too far away.

So my rest plan is improved.

The biggest improvement I'm making from last year to this year is my rest plan.

Let's talk about hearing protection.

I'm an IndyCar guy, usually go to IndyCar races.

IndyCar's have a turbocharger between the engine and the exhaust.

And I would call them loud, but not exceptionally loud.

You cannot say the same thing for Imsa cars.

Imsa cars have no turbocharger most of the time between the engine and the exhaust.

In fact, there is nothing.

They're open exhaust and they are loud as hell.

So even in IndyCar races, I wear hearing

hearing protection because when I was younger, I did not.

And now I don't hear very well.

In fact, I probably say the words what at least 20 times a day.

And it is probably one of the bigger negative effects on my life.

So I'm going to warn you I'm 55 years old and I've already lost a lot

of my hearing because I was too much of a race fan.

And I rode motorcycles without earplugs and things like that.

So you've got to protect your hearing.

Once it's gone, you cannot get it back.

There is no surgery or pill you can take to get your hearing back.

My hearing will never come back.

I have a mom, she uses hearing aids.

It's unbelievably annoying for her and for us.

And I'm probably going to be that person.

So don't do it.

Don't do what I did.

Protect your hearing.

So I protect my hearing now because I'm trying not to let any more fall off.

What I wear is I wear noise cancelling headphones that I plug into my scanner.

There's a kind you see people wearing on an airplane, the big over the ear things

with all the rechargeable batteries and the electronics in them to make outside

to block the outside world. I wear those.

I don't wear noise cancelling earbuds because they work in a different way.

And the ones that go over your ears are more protective of your hearing.

So look for something.

They have a decibel rating from which they're going to cancel and my headphones

cancel 35 decibels of sound, which is a lot.

Plus, they also allow me to listen to my scanner

at the same time so I can find out what's going on in the race and I don't

have the sound pressure in my ears.

So take my advice, please.

Noise cancelling headphones or some sort of ear protection.

I see people with those ones where when you mode one where they have

an FM radio because the race is broadcast on FM.

Wear that.

It's a world of difference, please.

Don't let me see you without ear protection.

As a last resort or as an emergency thing, I have a pair of those orange ear

plugs in my bag and I will put those in.

I don't like to wear them for 24 hours because they make the earwax

and my ears clog up and everything like that.

But sometimes, you know, if I have to recharge my noise cancelling

headphones or anything like that, I'll wear them for a while.

There you go.

Ear protection, important stuff.

For glasses, I bring my prescription glasses.

I wear them to see far, far away and to read at long distances.

Listen, I'm paying to watch your race.

I'm going to watch this race.

So I'm bringing my prescription glasses and prescription sunglasses.

I'm paying good money for this and I'm going to see what's going on.

I'm not going to be squinting and wondering which Cadillac that is

and what number that is or who's what's the leaderboard say?

Just bring your glasses.

You know, this is what you're what you're doing.

I wear them to the movies, too. Right.

All right. Clothing.

So for clothing, I layer it up.

The morning is going to be pretty cold.

And then the afternoon is going to be really warm.

And then the evening is going to be very cold again.

So I also like to wear fun clothing.

So I'm wearing it right now.

I wanted to show off my these are my Ploveralls.

They're Alex Plo overalls, Ploveralls, right?

I make stupid clothes.

I also made this.

I'm very proud of my dumb clothing that I make.

So I also made this.

This is I don't want to show you.

This is my instead of Kiffin Simpson.

This is my Kiffin The Simpsons shirt.

So I invented this, too.

My two clothing inventions.

Sometimes I wear a fro fro, but Felix Rosalquist is there.

So I'm just going to wear my Meyer shake number 60 hat.

But I am I'm layered up and I got like a

Imsa t-shirt underneath.

So I probably will have one more layer.

I'll probably have a t-shirt, then I'll have long sleeve shirt,

then I'll have this hoodie, then I'll have overalls.

And I will have my rain jacket or rain poncho depending on the weather.

So so layers really good.

Yeah, just so that I can adjust for everything.

So I will say when it gets really hot, like if it's hot midday,

I will take off this sweatshirt and I will tie it around my waist.

It probably won't fit in my backpack.

I know that it won't fit in my backpack because my backpack is going to be full

of food, but you can always tie a hoodie around your waist and that works really well.

So just and just try to keep it with you.

You know, you can always kind of tuck it into the strap of your backpack

if it's really hot, but I've always been pretty comfortable with the setup.

So I think it will work for you as well.

Just something that the sort of experts do as far as footwear goes.

I'm going to walk 10 miles in this 24 hours.

I'm sure of it. 10 miles.

I'll be standing at least 14 hours.

So I am going to be wearing the most comfortable shoes I own.

Just no doubt about it.

The most comfortable shoes I own.

You know, I'll try to look nice and I'll try to do these things.

But I am definitely not wearing flip flops or anything that slides on my feet

would make you know, would make blisters and I'm wearing my favorite pair of socks

because I want the moisture wicking and I want the thickness and I want the comfort

and I don't want my toes scrunched and all that sort of crap.

I'll be wearing some good footwear on race day.

So and I think you should too.

All right, let's talk more about taking care of our bodies.

And one thing I want to do is I don't want to carry too much stuff.

So the best way I see people of ruining

their time at the races is on the how much stuff thing.

Some people don't bring enough stuff and some people bring way too much stuff.

So we want to strike a good balance.

If you do this perfectly, you will use everything in your backpack

and you won't want for anything.

Now, that's hard to achieve really hard,

but that's kind of after years ago into lots of races.

I'm going to tell you what I'm bringing to the Rolex 24 and you can decide

if that's for you or not for you.

So here are things I will not be carrying.

I do not bring a chair.

No, I have the lightest of the light little packable stools.

It weighs a pound, maybe a pound and a half.

It's tiny little thing folds up.

I have maybe a two pound by camp chair, super light, really nice.

And when I go to mid Ohio in a place where I'm going to sit on the hill for a long

time, I will bring that chair because there's no stands there.

But it's not worth it at Daytona.

Anywhere you want to sit and watch the race, there are seats pretty much.

And anywhere that there aren't seats, you need to stand up because

there's a cement wall in the way of the racetrack.

So a chair is not very good.

I know some people bring a step stool to Daytona.

The photographer types bring a step stool.

I'm not a photographer type.

I'm literally going to be taking photos from my phone.

And nobody's ever going to want to see him.

I just went and looked at my photos from last year and nobody ever asked to

see those. I might have posted them on my social media or something.

But I'm just there to watch it.

I'm watching it with my eyeballs.

So I don't need a chair.

I don't need a step stool.

OK, I'm not going to carry a ton of beers all day either.

Right. I'll bring the one or two I know I'm going to drink and if I happen to

meet up with some people that want to drink some more beers, I'll buy beers.

Or if I happen to meet people that have an RV full of beers,

I'll take their beers.

I'll pay it back in another time or take care of them in some other way.

But I'm not carrying, you know, I'm not going to carry

15 pounds of beer around all day.

It's just crazy talk.

So I don't bring a cooler.

In fact, I don't bring anything in my hands.

I will be hands free when I'm there because I don't know how good your group

strength is, but I don't want to carry a cooler for 24 hours straight.

And I don't have a place to put it.

Right. I have two frozen bottles of water in my backpack that are keeping

the stuff in there cold.

And that's it.

Like that's it.

Maybe I'll have a cooler in my car.

And if I want to walk the mile and a half to get out to my car to get something

out of it, I'll have that option, but I'm not carrying that thing around all day.

All right, I'm not bringing a big heavy jacket either.

I have a heavy jacket.

I live in Michigan.

It's freezing here, right?

I'm just layering my clothes and the outer layer that I will have with me

is a raincoat.

If I have to wear a raincoat to keep warm, that's that's the way it goes.

Again, I might have a heavy jacket in my car.

In fact, I probably will.

It'll be the same one that I wear down to Florida on the plane or getting on the

plane, but I'm not carrying it with me everywhere.

I don't bring a blanket.

I don't bring a separate camera again.

I'm not a photographer.

I don't have photo access either.

I can't get to the good spots and I'm bringing a camera and a step stool

and all that sort of stuff.

It's not my art.

I like to go to the races for fun.

It's I don't find it fun to take pictures like that.

But if you do, go for it.

But man, that's some weight you're going to be carrying.

And if I can't fit it in my backpack, I'm not carrying it.

I don't want anything in my hands.

I want to be able to shake hands with people I know, express myself,

eat a cheesesteak sandwich,

make a beer, that type of thing, take photos.

If I see anything interesting, I want to go put my phone out quick

and stamp a picture of it or make a video or talk to my friends.

If it doesn't fit in my backpack, I'm not bringing it.

OK, I'm not bringing gloves.

What? Like as a Michigander, as a cold weather guy, grew up in the Boston area,

wintertime without gloves seems crazy.

You would think that if there's any chance of cold weather that I would bring

gloves, but I'm not bringing gloves, you know why?

I will not be doing any work at the Rolex 24 hours.

I'm in full recreation mode.

I have a pocket on the front of my sweatshirt.

I have pants pockets.

If my hands get cold, I'm putting them in my pockets.

I don't need gloves.

I'm not doing anything if I was working or something.

I need gloves, but I don't intend to need to use my hands for anything other

than eating, so no need to bring gloves.

OK, I'm not bringing anything to autograph unless I'm wearing it.

I would like to get Kiffin Simpson to autograph my new sweatshirt, right?

I got my hat autographed last year.

Those are good things, but a die cast car or a flag or something like that.

I'm sorry, folks.

That is not worth carrying it around for 24 hours that it requires.

If I had that type of thing, I would maybe bring it on Friday and then

bring it home.

But Saturday for the race is not the day to be carrying shit like that.

It's just not any of that stuff.

OK, let's talk about things I don't want to be carrying.

I want to lighten my backpack as quickly as possible.

So I'm going to eat all the food in my backpack first.

Right?

Everything I eat, everything I drink, lightens that backpack and that's good.

So hopefully by the heat of the afternoon, I will have enough room

in the backpack to put my hoodie in there so I can kind of lighten it up.

And then later in the day, I'll put my hoodie back on.

There'll be some room in there.

And if I want any souvenirs like for a buy, like some t-shirts or anything,

I'll bring those.

I'm also not bringing my full wallet.

I just bring cash, credit card, my license.

And that's it.

I don't need the whole thing.

I could leave it in the car if I wanted to leave it at home,

but I don't need all that.

And then I'm also trying to minimize trips to my car.

Daytona is a huge place.

It is not out of the question that I will be a mile and a half

from my car at any given point.

And that walk will take an hour to go back and forth.

So I hope that I only have to go back to the car if I really need a good nap.

So otherwise, I'm hoping I have everything in my backpack.

So OK, travel and light is very important.

It will improve the amount of fun you have at the races.

I hope that you can fill a backpack with only the things you need,

not the things you don't need.

And I hope it's not too much of a burden for you.

Mine is not really that heavy.

So I don't really ever sweat carrying it around.

The food isn't heavy.

The only thing that makes it heavy is a lot of drinks.

And I try to avoid too many.

So I can always buy beers at the racetrack.

And honestly, after you've had a couple of cheap ones from your backpack,

you know, buying one isn't really the worst thing that ever happened.

All right.

The Rolex 24 is fascinating and there's lots of great things to see.

So let's talk about the cool things to see.

So that's why we're going.

I'm sorry, I'm giving you all these

warnings and it has been a bit of a Debbie Downer.

But let's talk about the cool stuff there is to see.

First, if you get there early, you can see all of the cars prepped

and everybody's ready and the teams are getting excited and they're rolling out.

Just stay out of their way.

But the garage pass is worth it.

Those guys are under a lot of stress and time constraints.

Just stay out of the way and enjoy yourself.

So I'll probably get there around 10 a.m.

just to sort of see final cars moving around and that type of thing.

That's plenty early.

Again, start is at 1.40.

So it's not like you have to get there at 7 or 8 in the morning.

Nobody's even going to be there.

So the second thing that is cool.

I'll just go and order a time is that the driver introduction started 11.15.

So you can go down on the front stretch one for this and you can see the drivers

introduced and all that sort of stuff.

There'll be a stage and you can get pretty close to it if you really want to

or hang back and watch it.

So at 12.15, they'll have rolled all the cars

onto the grid and then the drivers come down afterwards after they're

introduced onto the grid and then that goes on for like an hour.

The drivers are out there standing with their cars and their teams are there

and people can walk around and sort of

shit the chat a little bit with them.

They usually roped off, but you can usually see them and talk to them.

So last year I saw my guy Felix and we were chatting.

So I thought that was pretty nifty and I'm going to go down there this

year as well and catch up with some of the drivers that I like and say hello.

Some of them recognize me and I recognize almost all of them.

So hopefully we'll have something fun to talk about and I'll get feeling for their

vibe and if they're excited about the 24.

Around one thirty,

it's going to the race is going to get started.

So before that, like say one fifteen or so,

you can get to the stands by walking across the racetrack.

They will shut this down at some point.

But my advice is to get across the racetrack while you still can walk across

the pavement. It's kind of cool to go up the front stretch like the banking of the

front stretch is not too steep, but also it saves you a ton of time.

The only other way to get from the area of the pits to the grandstands is

through the two tunnels that are at turn four and turn one.

It's literally like an hour walk, 40 minute walk to get from one to the other.

Daytona International Speedway is a horribly designed venue.

It's impossible to get from the stands to the pits in an efficient manner.

So before the race starts, they actually let you walk across the track to do it.

So my advice is you probably want to watch the race start from the stands

and the time to get across the track is before the race starts after

at the time of the grid walk at the end of the grid walk.

So I tell your way up to the stands, get a great seat.

140, this thing will start.

I mean, it's TV time.

It will start at exactly 140 and you want to be at the stands where you can see

the track from up high to watch it.

and that's the time to watch some great racing.

You know, they're everybody's on fire.

They're excited and they're racing hard.

They're trying to set the pace in the first hour of the race.

And it's a great time.

So so from two to three o'clock, I'll be in the grandstands, you know,

watching everything unfold and paying attention.

Hopefully at that time, I'll have my by three, I'll have my radio all tuned in

and I'll have everything tagged and know who all the teams are and everything

and be able to listen to it.

So at four o'clock, there is a meetup

in the infield that I'm planning to attend.

So I will probably take a tram from the grandstands to the infield and go

and hopefully make that meetup.

There's people up at some of the races and they do like bracelet swaps.

Kind of like Taylor Swift fans do like bracelet swaps.

So I made not really a bead bracelet kind of guy.

So I made some weather bracelets.

They say IndyCar dads, IndyCar fam on them.

So I can see that.

See, IndyCar dads, IndyCar fam.

So I'm going to swap these at four o'clock.

So it's supposedly it's opposite the Budweiser or something or other.

I'll tell you more about it later.

So that's where I'll be at four o'clock after four o'clock or five o'clock or

whatever. I'm going to walk around the infield.

I'll go down the horseshoe, sit in the stands there, walk down the back stretch.

See if I see anybody in the camping area.

I know I'll probably ride the Ferris wheel.

I'll stop by the fan zone, have a good time.

By then I'll have eaten on my food.

Maybe I'll get that cheese steak and and then maybe buy some souvenirs.

So I'm not going to the Taste of the 24 event.

That does start at 6 p.m.

And it's up in the sweets, which is above the grandstands.

So last year I never went to the infield from there.

I went from the start, which is at 1.40.

Watch the racing.

And then at 6 p.m.

I went up to the Taste of the 24, which I do recommend.

I'm just not doing it this year.

So that's so that's my schedule.

So I'll walk around the infield.

I'll probably go take some get a rest, see what's going on in the garages.

You know, during the race, check up any of my teams that I'm following on the

radio need to go back in the garage or go go watch that happen.

Try to, you know, I don't just see what's going on.

Just watch all the stuff.

OK, so finally I'm going to go over exactly what's in my backpack and

what I'll be wearing.

So in my backpack will be sunblock, noise canceling headphones, a scanner,

a printed version of the track map, a printed version of the spotters guide,

two frozen bottles of water that will be keeping everything cold.

There'll be snacks, food, drinks that will be a packed up rain jacket or poncho.

There'll be a koozie.

Oh, yeah, I didn't mention a koozie keeps your beer cold, you know,

also keeps your hand warm.

I'll probably have a phone charger or battery back in there.

Bear battery bank.

I'll have a Sharpie to get anything signed.

I will have my inflatable chair pad.

I'll have a glasses case with whatever glasses I'm not wearing.

So if I have my prescription clear ones on, my sunglasses will be in the case.

If I have my sunglasses on, the clear ones will be in the case.

And I'll have spare ear protection.

What I'll be wearing, I will be wearing comfortable, comfortable shoes.

I'll be wearing wicking socks.

I'll be wearing long pants, actually, these these pull overalls.

I'll have a t-shirt.

I'll have a long sleeve shirt out of a hoodie.

I'll have glasses, sunglasses.

I'll have a hat and I'll have my back.

All right, so let's talk about what time to get at the track.

So I'll be the first to admit I've done this badly in the past.

But this is my experience.

First, the race starts at 10 the race starts at 140.

So this is not like a get up at 7 a.m. type of deal here.

So I plan to arrive at the track about 10 a.m.

I have a little bit of time that way to walk through the garages, see the cars rolled out.

Also, it takes a little while on the first day you get Daytona to turn your

electronic ticket into like the right wristband or lanyard or whatever you got.

So your first day there is going to take a little longer.

So I probably will get there a little before 10 a.m.

But if I've been there Friday and had my weekend pass all taken care of

with the wristband, I would be more apt to show up at 10.

That way I hopefully will get through the stupid ass tunnel from the parking lot

to the tunnel takes probably 20, 30 minutes because it's all backed up.

It's ridiculous.

The worst part of the experience, honestly.

So hopefully I get to see driver introductions at 11.15

through the grid walk at 12.15 till about one o'clock.

Then I'll go up into the stands and watch the race.

So oh, the meet up at 4 p.m.

is across from the Budweiser bistro.

I think that might be in the fan zone, but I'm not sure.

But the Budweiser bistro at 4 p.m.

So it's organized by someone that organizes meetups at IndyCar races.

So I'll be there. Hopefully I won't be the only one.

But in the past, it's been usually 20 or 30 people there and they're nice.

I'll probably recognize a couple of them and have somebody to talk to.

Yeah, so that's kind of my schedule.

And then from there, I'm going to freestyle the rest of it in the middle of the night.

If I'm too, too tired, I will try to sleep in my car if I'm really sick of it.

Yeah, sometimes I'm just not that interested in racing for 24 hours.

I really like racing, but, you know, just like a food you like, you might get

sick of it. So if I have to head back to the house, I will do that.

And I might head back in the morning.

I might not. So I might watch the finish from my couch.

So one of the good things about flying solo

with these things is you kind of do decide what you're doing.

That's my schedule.

OK, I have one more tip for you.

It involves parking and traffic.

Parking and traffic to the 24 can be a little bit terrible.

And the terrible spot is between the Raceway and I-95.

So I-95, obviously the big highway.

And the racetrack is just east of I-95 on International Speedway Boulevard.

So the Boulevard runs right by the Speedway and also runs right by some big malls

and big stores and Best Buy and all these places you've heard of.

I would say maybe it's not even a mile from the highway.

But that road will be backed up badly, badly.

So the crazy thing is, though, that I have a really easy way to get around it.

So there's an exit just north of the Speedway and there's an exit

off 95 just south of the Speedway.

So whatever way you're taking to get to the Speedway,

get off one exit earlier than the Speedway and head east.

You'll go east about a mile and then look for a road called.

Let me see.

It is called Clyde Morris Boulevard.

So what I want you to do is I-95 is here and the Raceway is here.

There's an exit right there.

I want you to get off either here or here and then take Clyde Morris Boulevard,

which is over here, up to International Speedway and come in from this direction.

If you're coming from Daytona Beach, you will already be coming

from the from the east, so you don't have to do this.

But if you're coming from I-95, get off one exit early,

go east past the Speedway and come down or up Clyde Morris Boulevard.

This will put you on the east side of the track and they'll be parking

really close to there.

So that's where Lock 4 will be parking is.

It's also where the free parking is, which is at this mall, the Volusion Mall.

But the Volusion Mall free parking, which everybody talks about, is hard to figure out.

The Volusion Mall is a big shopping mall and all of the parking that is between

the mall and the racetrack is paid and there'll be a dozen people there with

flags and stuff waving you to a parking spot.

And as soon as you park there, they'll tell you, oh, the money.

That's not free parking.

The free parking is behind the Volusion Mall.

But in order to get behind the Volusion Mall, you would have to know that you can drive

by all these people with flags, but most people don't know that.

And it's really a difficult thing to do once you end up there.

And though all those people are directing people in from I-95.

So if you come in from the other direction from the east on International

Speedway Boulevard, you can take us take the little access road behind the mall

and park there. So here's my advice.

Set your navigation to the Metro Diner on International Speedway Boulevard

in Daytona, Florida, Metro Diner.

The Metro Diner is on the corner of

International Speedway Boulevard and that access road that brings you to behind

the mall. So turn off International Speedway Boulevard by Metro Diner.

Go behind the mall and park.

You shouldn't be harassed by the people with the flags and you get free

parking. The only problem is the free parking is a good walk from the Speedway.

It's probably three quarters of a mile to a mile from the tunnel.

And then you have some more walking to do there.

But it's like 40, 50 bucks to park there, so to park in front of the mall.

So you're saving yourself a good amount of money.

Also, Metro Diner is pretty good.

So if you're looking for some good food in the area,

it's a pretty solid choice in the Florida area.

There you go. That's everything I think I know.

In closing, the Daytona 24 is a great event.

There's a ton of things to see there.

Imsa gets you pretty close to the cars and the drivers before the race.

The racing is quite good.

Action is a little bit hard to follow because there's four classes going on

there, so I really recommend a scanner and FM radio as well as that printed

spotter's guide.

And then there's lots to do with the Speedway.

You can walk around and see it all.

You're going to walk a good distance.

And the 24 hour race attracts some really nice people.

I enjoy meeting them and I'll see you there.

So anyway, my name is Tom.

They call me IndyCarDad.

You'll find me on social media as IndyCarDad.

This is my podcast.

I appreciate you listening and watching.

It's on all the networks.

And I also post some funny stuff on Instagram more often.

There you go. Oh, the other thing is I'm actually really friendly in person.

So if you see me at the races, please say hi.

I really do want to talk to you.

We have a lot in common.

We're both big race fans.

So so we'll have a nice conversation.

So hope to see you.

Enjoy the 24 hour race, everybody.

I know I will be.

About this episode

IndyCarDad shares his expert tips for enjoying the Rolex 24 Hour at Daytona, emphasizing preparation and maximizing fun. He discusses essential pre-race prep, including ticket choices, parking strategies, and useful online resources like Reddit. Attendees will learn about the importance of weather awareness, packing essentials, and personal comfort during the race. IndyCarDad also highlights the excitement of meeting fellow fans, exploring the Daytona area, and enjoying the race atmosphere. With practical advice on food, hydration, and gear, this episode is a comprehensive guide for first-timers and seasoned attendees alike.

Aston Martin Daytona 24 GTD Pro GTP IMSA IndyCar Lamborghini LMP Miata Cup Race open exhaust

Chrysler Daytona Chrysler New Yorker Mazda MX-5 / Miata Toyota Supra

Original notes

In this episode of the Indycar Dad Podcast, host Tom shares his expert tips for maximizing enjoyment at the Rolex 24 hour race. He emphasizes the importance of preparation, from researching the event on Reddit to organizing tickets and parking passes. Tom discusses his personal experiences, including the excitement of meeting fellow fans and drivers, and the significance of having a well-planned schedule for the race weekend. He also highlights the need for proper gear, such as comfortable clothing, sun protection, and hydration, to ensure a fun and safe experience at the event.
Tom dives into practical advice for navigating the Daytona International Speedway, including tips for parking, avoiding traffic, and making the most of the race day atmosphere. He shares insights on what to pack in a backpack for the day, including snacks, water, and essential items for comfort and enjoyment. Throughout the episode, Tom's enthusiasm for racing shines through, making it clear that with the right preparation, fans can have an unforgettable experience at the Rolex 24.

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