A Daytona 500 Party

NASCAR's Daytona 500 rivals the Indianpolis 500 as the most important American auto race. The Daytona 500 grew from a race run on the actual beach at Daytona, Florida to the ultra-modern 2.5 mile speedway of today. Speedway attractions such as Daytona USA have made Daytona 500 a larger than life tourist attraction for thousands of fans of stock car racing. As NASCAR racing is one of the fastest growing sports in America, with the Daytona 500 being its biggest event, the time is right for a gathering of all your racing buddies.

Setting the Stage

• Use diecast cars and checkered flags as decorations.
• Make name tags for your guests that look like pit passes.
• Be sure to have a large television set up in your main room for viewing the race.

Activities

• Watching the race is, of course, the most important activity.
• If your guests are looking for a little more active fun, you can set up a little pit stop competition. Divide your guests into teams. Give each team an unassembled die-cast model kit. The first team to assemble their car wins a prize.
• Set up a friendly betting pool for one or more of the following: the leader of the first lap; the leader at the mid-point of the race; who will crash; who will fail to finish the race; the winner of the race; the top five finishers.

Party Favors

Send each guest home with a diecast NASCAR race car of their own.

Food and Beverages

The beverage of choice at this party is BEER Be sure to serve an American brand such as Budweiser, Miller or Coors.

The food should be racetrack fare. That includes any or all of the following: hot dogs, sausages, kielbasa, burgers, barbecue, potato chips, potato salad and fries.

For dessert, what could be better than serving a NASCAR race car cake?