Settling in at the race track in Daytona Beach

By By Austin Bishop / EMG regional sports director
Feb. 6, 2004
East Mississippi Group regional sports director Austin Bishop is on assignment at Daytona International Speedway covering the first weekend of Speedweeks. This is the first of four daily installments tracking his experiences.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Just in case you're wondering, it is 689.7 miles from my front door to the infield at Daytona International Speedway.
I pulled through the tunnel at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday and was greeted with the roar of the ARCA cars as they were attempting to qualify on the 2.5 mile track.
After finding my way around the massive infield, my search for the IPOWERacing garage began.
After nearly bumping into Kyle Petty as he made his way from his motorhome to the Nextel Cup garage, and walking within 20 feet of NASCAR legend Terry Labonte, I finally found the place that will be my home through the weekend.
I will be spending the next three days working with the IPOWERacing Dash Series, which takes the track Sunday at 2:30 p.m. (Central) on SPEED channel for the IPOWERacing Dash 150.
The six-cylinder series raced as the NASCAR Goody's Dash Series since it's inception in 1975. During the 2003 season NASCAR decided to go a different route. That is where Buck Parker and Randy Claypoole stepped in.
The Daytona Beach duo purchased the series from NASCAR in October and have been running wild the last four months trying to get the series off to a flying start.
Claypoole says the series will have between 16 and 18 races this season throughout the Southeast, but without a doubt the biggest and most important will be Sunday.
Nothing gets a true racing fan frothing at the mouth like the beginning of a new season.
The Nextel Cup cars take to the track for the Daytona 500 on Feb. 15, but between now and then there will be at least 10 televised racing events at this historic track.
And when Cup fans are hungry for racing, they will watch anything. That's where the IPOWERacing Dash Series comes in.
But don't think that just because these cars are six-cylinder jobs that they can't fly.
The Dash Series cars will run at over 170 miles per hour in the draft this weekend. Brother, that's flying.
Thursday's ARCA qualifying kicked off the action, with the Dash cars doing their qualifying today. On Saturday the big boys will hit the track at night for the Bud Shootout, a race matching up all of the Cup pole winners from last season.
But before they hit the track, ARCA will hold its race at 3 p.m., which also can be seen live on SPEED.
On Sunday comes Nextel Cup qualifying, followed by the IPOWERacing event.
So, it should be a wild weekend.
I'll be roaming around the IPOWERacing, ARCA and Nextel Cup garages trying to pick up whatever tidbits I can find.
I've already met a few neat
characters, including Pat Avery and John Latchford.
Pat is a Daytona Beach resident and longtime follower of the Dash Series when it ran under the NASCAR label. He's pitching in to help Claypoole and Parker get their IPOWERacing project off the ground.
Latchford lives in Charlotte, N.C. the undisputed hotbed of stock car racing and is truly a racing lifer. He got into it when he was 17 and now he is closing in on 53.
He has worked for several NASCAR teams, including Jimmy Spencer's Busch Series team. This weekend he is one of the officials for the IPOWERacing Dash series and is full of some wild stories.
I'm sure you'll get a chance to hear a few of them before the week's out. Geez, this guy can out talk me and that's some talking.
Well, that's all for now, it's time to get some rest before another big day at Daytona.
Hey, it's tough work, but somebody's got to do it.