Note: My bosses on the television side charged me with capturing the essence of the annual pilgrimage to Daytona for a new season. The piece will air throughout Daytona 500 weekend. I wanted to share the script with you:
Only the rarest of pillars stand firmly on a foundation of sand …
For, sand is fickle …
Individual grains are loose and free in the ocean breeze … or are swept away with the tide …
But packed hard by pressure … sand molds as solid as stone … confirming Big Bill France's vision that Daytona's Beach would provide the foundation on which he would create NASCAR …
Daytona's legend evokes visions of Spring Break bikini beauties … and Harley-clad bikers. … And its racetrack wields a checkered flag so powerful … it propels he who captures it directly into immortality …
Or in an instant, history becomes heartbreak …
And therefore, Daytona's Beach is the ultimate destination point for NASCAR fans …
Here the cadence of 43 handcrafted steel chariots marching is your pulse … the roar of 200,000 breathless brethren your heartbeat. … And so every February fans from the farthest reaches of this great NASCAR Nation load up their dreams and make the pilgrimage …
Daytona marks a new beginning … an empty canvas with infinite possibility …
None has dipped his brush … no one is ahead … no one behind. … All are equal in status and in opportunity …
The same goes for us … the fans. … With the dawn of every season … the longest … coldest … most excruciatingly dormant months of our year are over … and we burst like spring's first bud with the boundless hope of excellence …
So to that hope I raise my glass to you, Daytona …
Cheers.