by: Dargan Watts with PattyKay Lilley

I bid you welcome gentle readers, and hang onto your chairs, especially if you are one of the lucky ones heading down to Speedweeks in Daytona Beach this year. There is much... and more much, going on this weekend, next week and of course, it all culminates in the Great American Race, a week from Sunday.

If you're a race fan, and why would you be reading this column if you aren't, you already know all about the Sprint Unlimited... and yes, I have trouble typing that, but then, I had trouble getting over the Busch Clash and moving to the Budweiser Shootout too. I'll live and learn, I'm sure. You know about Daytona qualifying on Sunday, and that only the top two positions will be set that day. I've already given the course in Daytona qualifying in an earlier column, so no need to go through it again. If you missed class that day, just click here. The Twin 150s or Dual Duels are back with meaning this year and though we're a week late getting the show on the track as it were, all is good in Daytona Beach.

But for some, it's about to get a whole lot better! Between the Victory Lane Racing Association and the Living Legends of Auto Racing, I don't believe there is a spare moment throughout next week. For more detail on some of those goings-on, please see Tim Leeming's column on this page today or visit our Events Page here at RacersReunion.com.  No, darn it, I'm not going down. I'm old and would only be a pain in someone's posterior as I don't navigate quite like the young gazelle I used to be. Besides, someone has to stay behind to mind the store...

What has me all het up today is an event that has not happened in any way, shape or form since 1958, fifty five years ago. (Remember, I said I am old? That was the year I was married, at 20) My friend and fellow member here at RacersReunion, Dargan Watts, along with a host of other good folks including those at Racing's North Turn Restaurant in Ponce Inlet FL, that town itself, if my understanding is correct, and Volusia County will be hosting and staging a parade of Legend cars from the North Turn Restaurant south down A1A, east through the old South Turn and north ON THE BEACH back to the North Turn Restaurant.

That's correct gentle readers. For the first time since the Beach and Road race in 1958, there will be racecars on the former Daytona Beach road course! Oh, but who's excited? Well, for openers, I AM! I'll turn this over to Dargan now, to give you more details on the parade. Guys and gals, if you can be there, this is one not to miss. It may never happen again, but it's happening this Saturday!

There is probably no one in the world who follows past history any more than a race fan. If one fan gets with another fan, soon the topic will come up about racing in the past and if there are other fans within hearing distance, a real round-table discussion will begin.

The old-timers can hash out stories from the past and the younger fans can't seem to learn enough about the happenings from yesteryear. Vintage car shows are held all over the country and several websites have cropped up in the past few years that are dedicated to racing in the 40's through the 80's. One popular website has complete records of almost every race run since the 40's.

Just as history buffs like to trace paths of the early settlers through land, mountains and water, racing fans and drivers will get a chance to follow the path taken by hundreds of drivers who raced on the beach/road course in what is now known as Ponce Inlet. For the first time in years, the town, Ponce Inlet, Volusia County and the Racer's North Turn Restaurant have teamed together and will open the entire course to more than 50 drivers in pre-'59 cars, who will make another trip up and down memory lane.

The event will be held on Saturday, February 16th. It is free to the general public and there is no entry fee for entering a car in the parade. The parade will leave from in front of the North Turn Restaurant, located at 4511 South Atlantic Avenue in Ponce Inlet at 9a.m. The parade route will follow the NASCAR race course south on Atlantic Ave (Hwy A1A) through the South Turn onto the beach.

Following the parade, race cars will be on display in the Racing's North Turn Restaurant parking lot. Invited racers and others from the Beach Racing days will be signing autographs and will be interviewed inside the restaurant by NASCAR historian Buz McKim. Spectators may park in the vacant parking lot at the corner of Toronita Avenue and Highway A1A and a complimentary trolley shuttle from the parking lot to the Racing's North Turn Restaurant and back will run from 8a.m.until noon. This project has taken a lot of work and the full support of the town and county in obtaining a permit to drive north on this section of the beach.

The event is open to race cars and race car replicas from model years 1958 and older. Modified cars with fenders are welcome and open-wheel race cars that date from the beach racing era are also welcome as well as motorcycles from that era.

Cars brought in by trailers and haulers are urged to unload and park the trailers and haulers at the Ponce Inlet Town Hall, located on the west side of 4100 South Atlantic Avenue, which is north of the North Turn Restaurant. Cars should arrive by 7:30a.m. and should be staged for the parade in a parking lot across from the North Turn Restaurant by 8am.  A 15-minute mandatory drivers meeting will begin promptly at 8:30a.m. This meeting is a requirement in order to obtain the permit  to drive on the beach. If you miss the meeting, you will not be permitted on the beach. The parade will roll off at 9a.m.

At this time it is undetermined whether another parade will be held on the beach/road course in future years, so for what could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to follow the path of legends from the 40's and 50's era should not pass this one up.

Ponce Inlet is located 10 miles south of Daytona Beach on Hwy A1A.

For more info, please contact Bob Coolidge at 386-956-3465 or Rhonda Glasnak at Racing's North Turn Restaurant. Telephone: 386-566-1167

Well gentle readers, is it any wonder I'm excited about this one? Truth is, no one thought to ask me about doing a piece on the parade until today. I guess everyone thought that someone else was doing it until Jeff [Gilder, HMWIC) and Dargan got together today and figured out no one was doing it.  Well, Jeff is on the road and that leaves only me that can publish an article, so by process of elimination, here I am... fresh from the eye doctor, with dilating drops in my eyes that refuse to wear off, doing a bit of retina searing in the name of love and racing.

Along with Jeff, RacersReunion will have several members at or in the parade, as the Bell and Bell Vintage Racing Series is sending several cars to participate, most of which are owned and will be driven by our members. Two that I can remember right off hand are Bobby Williamson and Sherman Garris. Those not driving have already been threatened with dire things if many pictures are not forthcoming immediately... but they will be. One reason I'm sure of that is that our ace photographer... and my buddy... Ray Lamm, aka Raytona, will be there snapping as fast as his fingers can manage. I'm hoping for some video as well, perhaps from my partner in Southern Nights, Johnny Mallonee? We shall see.

Be well gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!

~PattyKay

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