To start the Dover 400, the drivers do a few laps behind a pace car. Finally, the pace car departs the track and the crowd is treated to a roar of the engines as the entire grid flies by at full throttle. Rolling Start. When I heard it I began to tear up a little.
Let’s rewind to the summer before my junior year in high school. While I was a little younger than most in my cohort, this was the summer where my friends turned sixteen and we could go anywhere without parental supervision. So, it seemed every afternoon I’d wake up to the call, ‘yo, we’re going to x, I’ll pick you up in a few’. This particular afternoon (and yes, it was afternoon because I was a teenager on summer break), we headed up to a mall in Baltimore county with an impressive arcade. And as I walked in I saw, it. Sega’s arcade masterpiece, Daytona USA.
This game holds a special place in heart as the last video game to visually WOWed me. It came out at the time where video games were beginning to move to 3D graphics. While the stuff on PlayStation and PC were primitive and blocky, Daytona was bright, with smooth realistic cars, and FAST! It almost looked real. The delta between it and any video game I had seen before was incomprehensible. Add to that that I’ve always been a car guy. I was in love. When a scaled down version of it made its way to the Sega Saturn, it was the first game I played on the system. The graphics weren’t the same, but the sound was. The cheery, but catchy theme for the first track, ‘Rolling Start’. When you started a race, the game, in CD quality played the sound of the start of an actual NASCAR race. At the track in Delaware, I heard it (and felt it) in real life, in person, some 30 years later. That joy all came back.
The race day itself was a fun as well. A few quibbles. Probably the most notable thing is that, despite my love of the roar of the engines, the race was literally deafeningly loud. I brought earplugs and upgraded to a sound deadening headset. And, it was also stupid hot. I never knew Delaware could get so hot! The great parts were, sitting about 3/4 up the stands, we had a great view of the track. They recommend sitting towards the back to see everything (as opposed to just about every other live performance where you pay more to sit in the front row). Fans were friendly. The event is sort of like a small carnival with live music, carnival food, and attractions before the race.
The Dover 400 is both 400 laps and 400 miles of driving. The track is lovingly known as, ‘The Monster Mile’. While each lap is only around 24 seconds. It is a lot of laps. And, the split it into 3 stages, so you will be there for a while. All and all, it was a great day and great chance to experience more of automotive culture.
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