Peter Ellegard ready to ride at Daytona's famous Speedway Sunset beach bike ride. Photo: Daytona Area CVB
the high part of the 31-degree banking. Within
30 seconds we are doing 170mph so close to the
concrete wall I could reach out and touch it if it
wasn’t for the webbing where the window should
be. groups, with superb golf and some of the best-
value green fees in Florida.
Less than a minute after starting the 2.5-mile lap
we approach the final turn, where during a race in
2001 one of the sport’s legends, Dale Earnhardt,
hit another car and slammed into the wall at the
top of the banked curve, killing him instantly. We
are so close to the wall ourselves it would only
take a puncture or a false move by Greg to send
us hurtling into it. But he keeps us rock solid on
the track. And just three minutes after he first
put pedal to the metal we pull into the pits and I
can catch my breath again. Not so much a white
knuckle ride as a brown trouser one!
For those with a need for speed, you can also
buy packages where you drive the cars. And
following a $400 million investment, it offers live
entertainment, social areas, a museum, tram tours
and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.
LPGA INTERNATIONAL
This is a return visit to Daytona Beach for me.
I was first here some 20 years ago. I’m back to
experience the best of the area’s golf as well
as see how it has changed – and boy, has it
just. Once notorious as a spring break haunt
for raucous college kids, it has grown into a
sophisticated and fun seaside resort for all age
I’m on a group visit, using the spacious Residence
Inn by Marriott Oceanfront as our base, and
our first golf stop is the LPGA International
just a few minutes from Daytona’s airport and
the Speedway. The Ladies Professional Golf
Association relocated its HQ here from Houston
in 1989, lured by the year-round golf-friendly
weather. Don’t be fooled by the name, though:
girly golf it most certainly isn’t. The facility boasts
two gruelling 18-hole courses, by acclaimed
architects Robert Trent Jones and Arthur Hills.
The Hills is marginally the tougher of the two,
with a slope rating of 143 off the back tees. I play
the blues, still a challenging 138.
So challenging, in fact, that you need a good drive
just to reach the fairways and although landing
areas are mostly generous, there’s lots of danger
if you don’t drive straight. I manage to find the
scrub palmetto, pines and wetlands hazards
several times, losing balls or having to drop out.
Even then, the fairways narrow to small, fast
greens for approach shots so even from a good
tee shot, par has to be earned. Every hole is
memorable, particularly those lined by marshes
where stands of ghostly pines rise out of the
water, and while it may seem a course for brute
strength off the tees, strategy pays dividends.
Although I didn’t play the Jones course this time
I did play it previously. The first of the two,
Volume 3 • Issue 41
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