NASCAR: Rumble in Florida

You can always learn a thing or two from the Americans. If you see something often enough, chances are you will eventually get to like it or even love it. Each time you checked Speed TV within the past 2-3 weeks you would be compelled to view a program glorifying V8 stock car racing – NASCAR.

The various series under the NASCAR umbrella (Camping World Truck series, Nationwide and Sprint Cup) got underway last weekend (12th – 14th), at the Daytona International Speedway in Florida and if you are a fan of growling, antiquated, but proven, good old V8 muscle, then you would have been pleased. Highlights of the weekend included:
-  photo finishes for two of the races
-  IRL’s darling, Danica Patrick’s debut
-  a spectacular demolition – car flipping, sliding on its roof etc. involving mega crowd favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr 
-  a grueling  truck race, fraught with excitement. One which began with a dramatic mangling of sheet metal (crash) on the very first lap and concluded with a hair-raising finish, heightened by a last lap pass, which sent a youngster, Timothy Peters, to victory lane (Camping World Truck series).

Jamie McMurray

In the ‘super lotto’, the Daytona 500, the intensity hit fever pitch. A race which eventually consumed six hours due to unforeseen issues, the Daytona 500 played host to driver’s Jamie McMurray’s rise to stardom and team owner Chip Ganassi’s entry into a club which has rather few members.

Jamie took the lead with two laps to go, released himself from the tentacles of the chasing pack, withstood the pressure from an aggressive, late charging Dale Jr. and etched his name in the column titled Daytona 500 winner. NASCAR fans are still recuperating from adrenalin overdose!

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-Line Writer