Can the Daytona 200 fill the grandstands again? (Larry Lawrence photo)

Two weeks ago in File POV I wrote on a discussion with a friend about the fall of the Daytona 200 in terms of its international and even national importance. In that piece I listed some of the reasons I feel the race has fallen from its formerly high status. It’s easy in a sense to document why the race is no longer one of the premier motorcycle road races in the world, it’s considerably more challenge to consider ways the standing of the race could be restored.

Today I’ll review possible ways of returning the Daytona 200 to prominence. Few of these solutions would be simple, easy or cheap, but if the management of the Daytona International Speedway is serious about restoring the Daytona 200 they will have to consider some of these options.

Let me also say that these ideas aren’t mine alone. I’ve had lengthy discussions with racers, race officials, longtime fans, manufacturer and tire reps and other journalists. Here’s the best we’ve been able to come up with. As is often said in humor at the end of one of these discussions, “Between us we can solve the problems of the world.” Of course that’s never the reality, but for parties who are interested in seeing the Daytona 200 thrive once again at least we are still discussing the possibilities. The numbers of Daytona 200 believers, if you will, are dwindling rapidly and decreasing by the day.

Here are some of the things DIS and the DMG could do to try to bring the Daytona 200 back to life:

1) Make the Daytona 200 a Superbike race once again. To have America’s biggest, most historic race run a support class simply makes no sense. In NASCAR terms it would be like making the Daytona 500 a Nationwide Series race. I had a newspaper reporter once ask me a few years ago, “How can the Daytona 200 be the biggest race when Mat Mladin isn’t in the race?” It was a good question that I couldn’t really answer.

2) Run the Daytona Supercross Friday night and bring back the daytime Daytona 200 on Saturday, with Sunday as a rain date. The nighttime race wasn’t a bad idea, but Friday night doesn’t seem to be the answer. Of course moving the Supercross to Friday might diminish the attendance of that race, but Speedway officials have to decide what exactly is the premier event of Bike Week. I still maintain that the 200 should be the spotlight event.

3) Raise the purse. Back in the 1970s the purse was impressive, but it’s not grown much since those days and now the prize money is nothing to write home about. How about awarding $100,000 or more to the winner and promoting the fact that it’s the richest motorcycle road race in the world? The U.S. Open of Supercross pays $100,000 and that’s held in the MGM Grand Garden Arena, not in one of the largest motorsports complexes in the world.

Those are the easy quick fixes that would start to put the race back on good footing. The follow suggestions are slightly more challenging.

4) Work with FIM and BSB officials to make sure MotoGP, World Superbike and British Superbike are not scheduled on the weekend of Daytona.

5) Work with MotoGP and World Superbike safety officials to come up with a track design that could meet FIM homologation standards.

6) Aggressively go after top MotoGP, World Superbike and British Superbike racers to participate in the Daytona 200.

7) Make the Daytona 200 either a combined World Superbike/AMA Superbike super race or the first leg of the renewal of the Transatlantic Match Races with a second leg held around Easter in Great Britain.

8 ) Perhaps make the Daytona 200 road racing’s version of Motocross des Nations with teams of riders from various countries racing to determine an overall champion country. Or work with Suzuka and Monza to create a big money Triple Crown Series. 

9) Treat the riders like gold. Rent out a hotel and provide them with complimentary rooms, transportation and have fun things for them to do that could also attract media, like celebrity softball games, go-karting, bowling. Bring in national music acts and give riders and crew VIP tickets with meet and greets for the riders. Bring in Hollywood celebrities to take in Bike Week and make appearances at the races.

10) Bring back the media: Work with manufacturers to do new model intros that coincide with Bike Week to help bring international motorcycling media back. Treat the media with swag bags when they sign in, instruct security personnel to be welcoming, work with respected photographers to open up areas to photographers that are safe for shooting motorcycle racing. Do pre and post-race media work; including taking Daytona 200 winner to New York to do media work and appear on shows. Put the race on network TV.

11) Fans will come if some of these measures are enacted, but make it easy for fans. Shorten the day. No more 8 am to 5 pm track action. Tighten up the daily show to four or five hours max. Make it family friendly with a $10 ticket in the stands. Kids under a certain age get in free. Bring riders around to the grandstand side on an hourly basis for autograph sessions. Invest in Jumbotrons to make it easier to follow the action. Have a big hot air balloon launch to kick off raceday, local marching bands playing where fans are coming in. Make it festive.

12) Get proactive with the community to start a campaign called “Bring Back Bike Week”. Work with local chambers and community government to put up banners welcoming motorcyclist, work to keep hotel operators from price gouging, have activities at the beach and track for visitors. Do everything possible to consolidate Bike Week back in the immediate Daytona Beach area.

13) Build a Daytona 200 wing in the Daytona Experience Museum. Respect the history of the sport and make it available to locals by inviting area schools to bring kids in for field trips. Also sponsor field trips to the track during Bike Week. Let the kids come up in the stands and take in 15-20 mins. of the bikes with an autograph session. A percentage of them will become lifelong fans of Superbike racing. Bring back legends from past races for Bike Week and do video features of them; autograph session and other activities for them to be to be featured.

I understand these steps would be costly, but DIS and the Daytona Beach community should continue to look at the Daytona 200 as a lifetime investment and something where growth trends are tracked over decades. It’s an event that can bring in tens of millions of dollars into the Daytona Beach-area economy so why shouldn’t city and state money be involved? Most of the off-track suggestions I mentioned would give the race an immediate “booster shot”, but the primary thing that will bring fans back are the big-name riders. Created something unique while still retaining the integrity of the classic old race.

It’s going to take bold steps and someone with a vision of what the race could become, to help restore the Daytona 200 back to the place of being a can’t miss event.