Officials: Project won't hinder track from being race ready for Rolex 24
Headline Surfer videos® / Construction and engineering crews are working in earnest to ensure the $400 million renovation and upgrade known as Daytona Rising is sufficiently on schedule for the Jan. 23-25 Rolex 24 and for the hundrteds of thousands of fans for Speed Weeks and the Daytona 500 in February.
DAYTONA BEACH – Officials at Daytona International Speedway said they are confident enough of the preliminary work has been completed in the mammoth renovation and upgrade of the word-famous track that it will be "race ready" for tthe fans and their love of restrictor-plate racing in the Daytona 500.
"We are proud of the progress thus far on the Daytona Rising project and equally excited to welcome fans for the start of the 2014 racing season," Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood said Friday in a media statement provided by the track.
"They will get an up close and personal look at all the progress we've made to date and hopefully, they will share in the excitement that we've felt since the groundbreaking in July."
Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood on race readiness
"We are proud of the progress thus far on the Daytona Rising project and equally excited to welcome fans for the start of the 2014 racing season," Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood said Friday in a media statement provided by the track. "They will get an up close and personal look at all the progress we've made to date and hopefully, they will share in the excitement that we've felt since the groundbreaking in July."
Changes already under way to make the track race-ready include relocating the merchandise store building pad outside the front stretch, building a temporary suite tower lobby and temporary ticketing trailers, as well as the relocation of admission gates and pavement to improve fan access.
Graphics for Headline Surfer® / Renderings of the Daytona International Speedway as shown at left and above would include more entranceways, social neighborhoods along the front stretch and expanded concessions and restrooms.
Even with the holiday season, construction crews made major strides in December, installing steel near the middle bowl section of the front-stretch grandstand, making the first elevated concrete pour to construct the first slab on the metal deck and completing pile cap installation.
Once complete, the revamped speedway will have five redesigned entrances, social neighborhoods along the front stretch, as well as 101,000 wider- and more-comfortable seats and expanded restroom and concession facilities.
Set for a January 2016 completion date, this month the focus shifts to making the facility race-ready for the Rolex 24 at Daytona on Jan. 25-26 and the more than half-million visitor's expected for the Budweiser Speedweeks, culminating in the 56th annual Daytona 500 on Feb. 23.
Headline Surfer® videos produced by Multimedia Editor Serafina Frederick / Highlights of the 2013 Daytona 500 from the 24/7 internet newspaper's vantage points in the pits and in the infield.