Daytona International Speedway - Speed Week

[randymerri@...]

Hi Allen,

I have camped in the red reserved area next to Lake LLoyd during Speedweeks.
The spaces are cramped unless you are lucky enough to get an end site. I had
45 foot motorhomes with quad slides on each side of me and there was not
enough room to walk between my coach and theirs without ducking under the
slides. You are able to see most of the track from the roof of the motorhome
and
there are Jumbotron screens along the lake. The site I had was reserved a year
in advance, but you may be able to get a site from a canceled reservation.
The red area is a fenced in area, security controlled. No one is allowed
inside the fenced area without a red area ID. There are water and electric and
cable hookups and the "poop truck" runs 24 hours a day to pump out tanks. I
believe it was $25.00 to empty the tanks. I had 4 people in the coach and we
were conservative with water and only had to be pumped out once.

As far as the boys go, I think they would have a great time. My 14 year old
nephew went with me and he had a ball. There is a pavilion in the red area
that has pool tables and a few game tables and tv's to watch the races. There
is
an outdoor snack shack that also serves mixed drinks. There are always power
boats in Lake Lloyd and water skiers doing tricks and jumps. You can buy
passes to go to the garage area straight from the red area and there is a
raised
platform to watch the activity along garage alley. With the passes you can
get up close to the teams and look through windows straight into each bay. I
got great pictures of many teams, drivers, cars and owners in the garage and
along garage alley.

I used to park at a campground about 3 miles from the track and the owners
told me they preferred Bikeweek campers over NASCAR fans. They said Bikeweek
fans spent more money, were less demanding and were better behaved than NASCAR
fans. Their opinion, not mine. I have never attended Bikeweek so I can't
judge.

I can not attest to what camping is like in the regular infield area as I
have never experienced it. I do know from seeing it from the secure RV area
that it is crowded, can be noisy and fans can be unruly. I witnessed two RV
fires in a 4 day period two years ago. One fire started after fans built a huge
bonfire too close to the RV's. There are no hookups in the infield area so you
would have to rely on your generator for power. I'm not sure if there is a
"no generator" period at night. There are bath houses in .the infield area

As a side note, I would like to see a Wanderlodge group formed that wanted
to go to races together. I think it would be fun to park together and tailgate.
Prevost sponsors rally's at nearly every NASCAR race. I wonder if someone
from the group spearheaded the effort ( I would be happy to) if the new owners
of Bluebird would help with corporate relations in getting several premium
sites at specific races. Prevost had at least 15 spots all in a row in the red
area at Daytona when I was there two years ago.

Good luck in whatever you decide, and if you are ever looking for another
Wanderlodge to park next to you at a NASCAR race give me a shout.


Randy Merrill
1993 40' WLWB
Ocala, FL



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