Let Your Pulse Race...It's About On!

It's almost here...

The Daytona 500. As much a rite of spring as baseball training camps, warmer weather and cutting the grass, only a lot more fun.

It's about here, and so is the February issue of ONMC's OFFICIAL MEMBER magazine, which will be delivered to your inbox in the next couple of days. You'll be able to scratch that itch you've been feeling since Homestead faded into the background in November.

As the editor of your magazine, I do like this one the best. It is as much a catharsis for me to do the planning, write the stories and get ready for one more season in the sun.

If you've never been to Daytona for the 500, you have to go. It is a moral imperative, if you're the kind of NASCAR fan that is a Member of the ONMC. And if you're reading this, you are.

It's kind of like the Super Bowl in reverse. It's the beginning of the season instead of the end, but there's that same feeling in the air: whatever happens, it's going to be big. It is an event, not just a race. It's like a festival...Woodstock without the music but still the noise. And, of course, everybody usually has access to a shower now and again.

There's the beach, too. If you can, go out to the beach one day at sundown. Stand there and look north for a while, then turn and look south. Realize that at one time, that was the place they raced cars for land speed records.

Then look east. The first thing you'll see, if you could see that far, is the west coast of Europe. Kind of puts things in perspective.

Then there's the people. You see the same people every year, plus hundreds of new ones. You try to do the same things, too. Go to Ocean Deck, eat seafood, walk around the strand and watch people. Listen to a band or two, go to Maui Nix and buy T-shirts, wander the beach some more.

Daytona is the re-gathering of the clan, ready to make war for nine months and determine a champion. We buy our new '12 driver gear, get sunburned for the first time (hopefully), we consume an adult beverage or six...it's spring training for the season.

There's a new hope in the garage. Nobody has any points, nobody has a problem that can't be overcome, nobody is into it with anybody else. In other words, the season doesn't have tension yet. There's tension on Thursday, to get a good starting spot and run well. There's tension Sunday morning when you're worrying about how the race will unfold.

Once the race is over, and they are facing the long pull to Phoenix, then the worry sets in.

For fans, it's just the opposite, depending on how your driver did at Daytona.

That's what I love about February. The season holds so much promise...