Daytona 500 Experience facts for kids
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| Established | 1996 |
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| Location | Daytona Beach, Florida |
| Public transit access | VOTRAN |
The Daytona 500 Experience was a cool museum and attraction all about car racing. It used to be called Daytona USA. You could find it right at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It was all about the famous Daytona 500 race and mostly showed off things related to NASCAR racing. But it also had exhibits about other exciting races, like the Daytona 200 motorcycle race, the 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race, and even the old Daytona Beach Road Course.
The attraction first opened its doors in 1996. In 2005, it was considered as a possible home for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. However, it wasn't chosen. Because of challenges with running the museum and not enough visitors, its owners decided in November 2010 that it would no longer be open to the public. Instead, it would only be used for private events.
After being closed to the public for four years, a new plan was announced in 2014. The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America decided to move into the same building. This new, bigger, and updated museum opened in February 2017.
Contents
History of the Racing Museum
How the Museum Started
Before 1996, the Daytona International Speedway had a smaller visitor center. It was a two-story building near the fourth turn of the track. The first floor had the ticket office and a few racing items. The second floor showed photos of past Daytona 500 winners. You could also take tours of the track on open-air trams.
In 1995, this old visitor center closed down. A new, exciting, and interactive museum was planned to take its place. This new attraction opened in July 1996. It was called Daytona USA. (Don't mix it up with the popular arcade game of the same name, even though the game was sometimes at the museum!) In September 1997, the museum won a special award called the Thea Award for its amazing design.
Changes and New Names
The museum got even bigger in July 2001, adding about 1,000 square meters of space. This update brought two new motion rides. One was called Daytona Dream Laps, and the other was the Acceleration Alley simulator. A third ride, Toyota Tundra's Thunder Road, was added in 2003.
In 2006, Daytona USA celebrated its tenth birthday. To mark the occasion, they added the Daytona 500 Champion's Walk of Fame. This was a special walkway in front of the building. Then, on July 1, 2007, Daytona USA changed its name to the Daytona 500 Experience.
What You Could See and Do
The Daytona 500 Experience was a large museum, about 5,600 square meters in size. It had many different exhibit areas, simulators, and hands-on displays. Some of these are still used for private events today.
- The Coca-Cola IMAX Theater: This theater showed NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience, a full 3D movie released in 2004. For special events, other movies were shown. For example, during Speedweeks 2007, they showed Dale, a movie about the famous NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt.
- Acceleration Alley: This was a racing simulator where you could sit in models of NASCAR stock cars. You could race against other visitors or computer opponents.
- Dream Laps: This was another motion simulator ride. It let guests experience what a NASCAR race day was like.
- Chevy 16-Second Pit Stop Challenge: Here, you could test your skills as a pit crew member. You could even compete against the museum's own pit crew, who practiced every day!
- Goodyear Heritage Museum: This part of the museum focused on the history of racing at Daytona Beach. It showed everything from early land speed record holders to stock cars racing on the old Daytona Beach Road Course and at the Daytona International Speedway.
Outside the building, you could find the Champion's Walk of Fame. This was like a Hollywood-style concrete walkway honoring the winners of the Daytona 500 since 1996. There were also statues of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt and NASCAR founder Bill France Jr. with his wife Anne. Inside the museum, you could see the NASCAR championship trophy and the Harley J. Earl Trophy. This last trophy is given to the winner of the Daytona 500.
The Daytona 500 Experience also had an arcade. It featured many racing-themed games, including Sega's very popular Daytona USA. This was the game the attraction used to share its name with.
The museum also hosted fan events during race times. It was home to the Richard Petty Driving Experience from April through October. During Bike Week and Biketoberfest, the Daytona 500 Experience changed into D5X. This was a cool, air-conditioned spot for bikers with live bands, food, and motorcycle displays.
The two different speedway tours that the attraction offered are still available today. There is a 30-minute general tour and a longer, 60-minute All-Access tour. The All-Access tour costs more but covers more of the speedway.
The Daytona 500 Winning Car Display
Since 1997, the car that wins the Daytona 500 is kept and displayed at the Daytona 500 Experience for the next twelve months. This was a very popular exhibit at the museum.
The winning teams had to agree to give up their winning car. The car had to be uncleaned, complete, and exactly as it was after the race. This rule was sometimes criticized by the racing teams. They argued that it stopped them from using a successful car in other races that season. This could put them at a disadvantage, especially in other races that use restrictor plates.
Only twice since 1997 has a Daytona 500 winner been able to win the next restrictor plate race (at Talladega) with a different car. This happened with Jeff Gordon in 2005 and Jimmie Johnson in 2006. By the time the winning car was returned to the team, about a year later, it was usually considered too old to be useful for racing anymore.
The morning after the race, the winning car was officially added to the museum. This happened during a special Champion's Breakfast ceremony. In some years, the driver's helmet, racing suit, or other items used in the race were also put on display. The winning driver also had the honor of showing off the logo for the next year's Daytona 500 race.
