From Fistfights to Potholes, the End of an Era

Well, another Coke Zero 400 is in the books, and it’s the end of an era at Daytona International Speedway.

The pavement that Saturday night’s race took place on, by the time you read this, will be in the process of being torn up and replaced by new asphalt.

The thing about this pavement is, it has some history to it. The first time it hosted Speedweeks was in 1979, and that culminated with the event that put NASCAR on the map.

As a blizzard shut down the Northeast, it left precious little to do above the Mason-Dixon Line, and a sport that barely registered on the sports scene there was thrust upon millions of viewers with nothing better to do.

A stellar race culminated in a last-lap crash between the leaders, a fight erupted in the aftermath and Richard Petty won another Daytona 500. Americans who heretofore wouldn’t cross the street to watch a NASCAR race sat enthralled by the drama, and the boom was on.

It also saw Bill Elliott blister it in qualifying to the tune of 209 mph plus, Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt win for the first time after long winless streaks and some pretty good racing in between.

The final winner on the old pavement, Kevin Harvick, said there was a mystique about the old place.

“I think this racetrack is obviously the most historic racetrack that we race on, and I think if that asphalt could talk, you can go back and look at all the stories,” he said. “But it's just such a neat deal to be able to win the last race on that particular asphalt. It's going to be a lot different race when we come back.

“Any time you can win, though, whether it's new asphalt or old asphalt, it's always going to be the baddest place to win, and that's Daytona.”

There’s some trepidation that the new pavement is going to change the racing back to single-file, as it has for many of the tracks that have added new surfaces over the years.

Then again, given the excitement of the last 30 laps on Saturday, there might be a huge sigh of relief in there as well.

“I'll be honest with you, I'm starting to get used to the fact that every race we go to is basically bumper cars at 190 miles an hour,” said third-place finisher Jeff Gordon. “You know, my favorite part of the race to be honest was the first half when we were spread out, and while it might not be as exciting for the fans, it's awesome as a driver to be out there knowing you're making a difference in how you drive the car, the team is making a difference how they set up the car. The pit stops under green, to me that was just a blast out there racing in those long runs, managing tires, all that stuff. That's what I love about the older surface.”

Whether or not that still holds true the next time the teams come through the tunnel to Daytona is up in the air. The pavement will have nearly 7 months to cure in, and it might be just the same, only with more grip.

There was precious little grip out there Saturday, as David Ragan proved when he just turned sideways at the top of Turn 3. Several other cars were wrecking loose, and a lot of that had to do with the fact that the track surface was flat worn out.

The problems with potholes of late hastened the repaving, too, and the surface was 30 years old to begin with. It was repaved the first time 20 years after the speedway opened, in 1959, and even with the new technology, it was getting long in the tooth. For my part, I’m waiting to see if I can get a piece of the old track. Think about the history it’s seen since 1979.