Photos for Headline Surfer / Dale Earnhardt, Jr. is barely noticeable in a sea of multi-colored seats at Daytona International Speedway, part of the $400 million upgrade. While DIS is adding upwards of 100,000 new seats, the reality is the total number of seats coming out permanently before the 2016 racing season is 59,000, reducing overall seating from 160,000 to 101,000. With the Goodyear blimp shown here in this Headline Surfer® photo Saturday morning at New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport, the different color seats give the impression that the seats are occupied.
By HENRY FREDERICK / Headline Surfer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Going by the wayside is the black & white checkered flag seating at Daytona International Speedway, which has many fans have asking: Why are the new seats in all kinds of different bright colors? Reds, blues, yellows, and whites?
Some have wondered if the different colors are for different prices? Nope!
Some have wondered if they are color-coded to represent racing team colors? Nope!
The answer is so very obvious: NASCAR and the Speedway, which really are one and the same -- both are controlled by the billionaire France Family -- Lesa France Kennedy, kid brother Brian France, Uncle Jim France and mama Betty Jane France -- to name a few of the principals, want to give the impression the seats are filled with paying customers.
For the most part, since Dale Earnhardt was killed in the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, sellouts have been few and far between, if at all, in the interim since NASCAR doesn't announce attendance figures anymore and hasn't for the better part of a decade now. But with the Goodyear blimp hovering over the Speedway, it's hard to hide the fact that seats are not filled, even for signature races like the Daytona 500. So, bright-colored seats in reds, blues, yellows, and whites, blend in more with clothes worn by the fans.
For the most part, since Dale Earnhardt was killed in the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, sellouts have been few and far between, if at all, in the interim since NASCAR doesn't announce attendance figures anymore and hasn't for the better part of a decade now. But with the Goodyear blimp hovering over the Speedway, it's hard to hide the fact that seats are not filled, even for signature races like the Daytona 500. So, bright-colored seats in reds, blues, yellows, and whites, blend in more with clothes worn by the fans.
The new, wider plastic seats are part of the $400 million Daytona Rising, but with 59,000 seats to be permanently removed before the 2016 racing season, perhaps a more appropriate branding for the project could be "Daytona Shrinking."
Posted: 02/14/2015 - 01:10:56 pm
About the Byline Writer: Henry Frederick is a member of the working press and publisher of Headline Surfer, the award-winning 24/7 internet news outlet launched in 2008, that serves greater Daytona Beach, Sanford & Orlando from Lake Mary, Florida via HeadlineSurfer.com. Frederick has amassed close to 150 award-winning bylines in print & online. He earned his Master of Arts in New Media Journalism from Full Sail University in 2019. He was a breaking news reporter (metro cops & courts beat) for the Daytona Beach News-Journal for nearly a decade. And Before that worked the same beat for The Journal-News/Gannett Suburban Newspapers in Rockland/Westchester counties, NY, dating back to 1989. Having witnessed the execution of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Florida's death chamber and covering other high profile cases, Frederick has appeared on national crime documentary shows on Discovery ID, Reelz, and the Oxygen Network series "Snapped" for his analysis. • Award-Winning Journalism: Florida Press Club recognizes Headline Surfer for nine stories in 2020 statewide competition. • Award-Winning Journalism of Henry Frederick.