Speedway unveils a true world class home' for racing
NOW : The Sprint Tower and grandstand backsides as they look today may warm the hearts of longtime race fans, but the image people see driving by on International Speedway Boulevard isn't the modern look that Speedway officials want for the front door to Daytona Beach. THE FUTURE : The Speedway's redesigned exterior will bring it into the 21st century of sports stadiums and look like nothing that has come before, with a curved modern faade and five massive gates linked to elevators, escalators, concourses with merchandise sales and refreshments, and all manner of new amenities for fans inside. As Speedway President Joie Chitwood put it: It's big. We're a big property. We want people to know how grand Daytona is. . .what's cool about Daytona. It's big from a history perspective. It's big in the fact that the legends have created their names on our property. And in a redevelopment we've got to make sure we're projecting this big feeling about our property. It is our Super Bowl. So it's got to have that feeling.
Daytona International Speedway / Jim TillerFriday, February 22, 2013 at 8:24 a.m.
DAYTONA BEACH Even Big Bill France Sr. would probably be wowed by the 21st century vision unveiled Friday for the race track he built in 1959.
The vision for Daytona International Speedway includes five massive entry gates with escalators and elevators that would feed throngs of fans into the world center of racing, 10 indoor concourses each the size of a football field where people could get a bite and take a break from a race, and a huge open space overlooking the track that would be part motorsports museum, part sports bar and part memorabilia shop.
At a press conference Friday morning packed with dozens of reporters in town for Sunday's Daytona 500, Speedway President Joie Chitwood shared a video narrated by actor Tom Selleck and new colorful renderings that show all those dreams and more.
Chitwood also announced that legislation could be filed in Tallahassee as early as today that would be aimed at enabling the Speedway to receive sales tax rebates for the first time, provided it invests at least $250 million in its proposed track overhaul.
The common thread running through the multimillion-dollar ideas for the Speedway is their magnitude.
It's big. We're a big property, Chitwood said. We want people to know how grand Daytona is. It's big from a history perspective. It's big in the fact that the legends have created their names on our property. And in a redevelopment we've got to make sure we're projecting this big feeling about our property. It is our Super Bowl. So it's got to have that feeling.
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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM
