Daytona International Speedway - Speed Week

[Allen & Conny]

Hello Everyone!
We are planning our continued shake-down cruises prior to our big
Western trip next summer. Does anyone have any thoughts or experience
with camping in the infield at Daytona Speedway? I was thinking of
the Lake Lloyd area specifically due to our size. Is this an
appropriate venue for children (boys - 10 and 13)? I think it would
be great watching the races from the roof of the bus, but I've heard
horror stories about Bike Week. We're not prudes, but the whole idea
of buying the bus was to spend lots of quality time with the boys over
the next two years before they move onto interests other than their
parents.

As always, thank you for your thoughts and input. They are much
appreciated!!

-Allen and Conny
'00 LXi "Lone Wolf"
New Port Richey, FL

[fanfor35]

Hi Allen. Are you planning to be in Daytona for Biketoberfest in
October or Bike Week in Feb/March? Bike Week doesn't coincide with
the Daytona 500. I've been to both a number of times. Biketoberfest
in October only runs Thursday thru Sunday and is significantly
quieter than Bike Week.

My parents retired to Daytona Beach and lived there over 25 years.
I'm sure this is going to aggravate some of this forum's Nascar fans,
but my parents always told me the residents there preferred the Bike
Week crowd to the Nascar crowd.

I would say that Bike Week is probably not be the best time to bring
10 and 13 year olds to Daytona. But having said that, I can also tell
you that the Speedway is primarily impacted outside by the vendors in
the parking lots.

Hundreds of thousands of bikers go to Bike Week, but the vast
majority of them/us are much more interested in Main Street, The Boot
Hill Saloon, The Iron Horse Saloon, and The Broken Spoke Saloon, than
they are the Speedway and/or the motorcycle races.

Just my observations.

Dave George
Biker
BB Wannabe



--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Allen & Conny"
wrote:
>
> Hello Everyone!
> We are planning our continued shake-down cruises prior to our big
> Western trip next summer. Does anyone have any thoughts or
experience
> with camping in the infield at Daytona Speedway? I was thinking of
> the Lake Lloyd area specifically due to our size. Is this an
> appropriate venue for children (boys - 10 and 13)? I think it
would
> be great watching the races from the roof of the bus, but I've
heard
> horror stories about Bike Week. We're not prudes, but the whole
idea
> of buying the bus was to spend lots of quality time with the boys
over
> the next two years before they move onto interests other than their
> parents.
>
> As always, thank you for your thoughts and input. They are much
> appreciated!!
>
> -Allen and Conny
> '00 LXi "Lone Wolf"
> New Port Richey, FL
>

[Allen & Conny]

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "fanfor35"
wrote:
>
> Hi Allen. Are you planning to be in Daytona for Biketoberfest in
> October or Bike Week in Feb/March? Bike Week doesn't coincide with
> the Daytona 500. I've been to both a number of times.
Biketoberfest
> in October only runs Thursday thru Sunday and is significantly
> quieter than Bike Week.
>
> >
Hey Dave,
I was actually thinking of Speed Week. Based on stories I've heard,
Bike Week would probably not be appropriate. Besides, they're more
car guys than bike guys at the moment. I thought by limiting their
exposure to those staying in the infield, I could mitigate exposure
to excessive alcohol, language, etc. I am betting that the average
NASCAR party animal won't pony up the $3K to stay in the infield.
Ofcourse, I could be dead wrong and that's why I posted the
question. I have always been a fan of race cars but have never been
to a oval track race, nor have my sons. Since we only plan on
keeping the bus for a couple of years, I thought this might be a
cool, once in a lifetime kinda thing to do. Watching the Daytona
500 from the roof of a Bluebird - it's what they were made to do,
right?
>
>
> > > -Allen and Conny
> > '00 LXi "Lone Wolf"
> > New Port Richey, FL
> >
>

[Allen & Conny]

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "fanfor35"
wrote:
>
> Hi Allen. Are you planning to be in Daytona for Biketoberfest in
> October or Bike Week in Feb/March? Bike Week doesn't coincide with
> the Daytona 500. I've been to both a number of times.
Biketoberfest
> in October only runs Thursday thru Sunday and is significantly
> quieter than Bike Week.
>
> >
Hey Dave,
I was actually thinking of Speed Week. Based on stories I've heard,
Bike Week would probably not be appropriate. Besides, they're more
car guys than bike guys at the moment. I thought by limiting their
exposure to those staying in the infield, I could mitigate exposure
to excessive alcohol, language, etc. I am betting that the average
NASCAR party animal won't pony up the $3K to stay in the infield.
Ofcourse, I could be dead wrong and that's why I posted the
question. I have always been a fan of race cars but have never been
to a oval track race, nor have my sons. Since we only plan on
keeping the bus for a couple of years, I thought this might be a
cool, once in a lifetime kinda thing to do. Watching the Daytona
500 from the roof of a Bluebird - it's what they were made to do,
right?
>
>
> > > -Allen and Conny
> > '00 LXi "Lone Wolf"
> > New Port Richey, FL
> >
>

[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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