Daytona 500...not just any car race.

 

This year's Daytona 500 was full of historical firsts.  It was the first time in 53 years the race was delayed by weather.  It was the first time that a female driver seemed to have a preliminary chance of competing for a win.  It also marked the first time that stock cars ran with fuel injection rather than carburetion.  The sport has come a long way since running the first races literally on the beach.

The Daytona 500 means a lot of things to a lot of people.  Unlike other organized sports, NASCAR runs its premier race as the first race of the season. Winning the 500 can be enough to secure a sponsor and a ride for a driver who may not do anything noteworthy for the rest of the season, can you say Ward Burton (finished season 25th) or Trevor Bayne (didn't earn any points for season as he raced in Nationwide serires).  Daytona is also where the sport lost one of its most prolific characters with the death of Dale Earnhardt in a last lap crash.  To the outsider with no interest in racing, it is just a bunch of dudes and a gal, turning left for 3-plus hours in brightly colored cars that really look nothing like the Fusion or Camry that are painted on their cars.  As I watched last night's race, I got a sense of the greater representation of what stock car racing is, it is a reflection of the constantly changing dynamic in America's automotive culture.

Last night the pace car was a Toyota Camry...seriously a Camry?  I guess they could have used a muscle car with a V8 engine, but Toyota would have to build one first.  To me there is something systemically flawed if the pace car can't make at least half of the horsepower of the vehicles actually in the race.  Toyota would need to go outside of the box for this though and use something like a Toyota GT-One.  Pace cars are not the point here though, the point is that just a few years ago, Toyota had to battle the hierarchy just to be let into the field.  Presently they win races and contend for titles with some of the sport's bigger names behind the wheel.

Last night might have also marked a first when a safety vehicle was involved in one of the least safe incidents of the night.  For those of you who could not stay up that late, a wreck under caution between a car driven by Juan Montoya and a track drying truck led to a fiery explosion.  Other than Tony Stewart's success in the sport, those former open wheel guys really have a tough time catching a break.

All was right in the world though when a Roush owned, Yates powered Ford Fusion driven by Matt Kenseth took the checkered flag early Tuesday morning.  Think Ford First....right?