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Issue Date: February 18, 2007
Daytona Beach Boys
Our annual NASCAR poster kicks off the new racing season with a nod to the sport's surf-and-sand roots.
By Dennis McCafferty
If it's mid-February, then NASCAR fans are heading south to the beach -- to Florida, that is, where the Daytona 500 kicks off another exciting season (Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on Fox). What better time than now for USA WEEKEND to gather three of racing's hottest stars -- Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards -- to pay homage to the sport's surf-and-sand roots? (The first NASCAR-sanctioned race was in Daytona Beach in 1948.)
On the day of USA WEEKEND's annual Daytona cover and poster shoot (a Beach Boys-style affair that takes place at another sun-splashed Florida venue, Homestead-Miami Speedway, on the last week of the 2006 season), all three drivers get their own surfboards -- car-themed, complete with racing numbers. Hamlin playfully strums one, as if he were competing in an air-guitar contest. Before it's all over, he and his racing pals reflect on Daytona, racing and the beach life:
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Driver: Denny Hamlin, # 11
Hometown, age: Chesterfield, Va., 26
Claim to fame: In his first Nextel Cup season in 2006, made the top 10 Chase for the Nextel Cup, ending up third, earning Rookie of Year honors.
Racing in his first Daytona 500: "I'll never forget all the excitement on pit road, with all the celebrities and stuff. I'm getting ready to race, and all the sudden Kid Rock is in front of me. That's unreal."
Has he ever surfed? "No way. I don't have the balance for it."
Favorite Beach Boys song: "'California Girls.' It really takes you back to when things were simple and cool. Beach Boys songs always bring back those kinds of feelings."
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Driver: Kasey Kahne, # 9
Hometown, age: Enumclaw, Wash., 26
Claim to fame: Made top-10 Chase last year, finishing eighth. Won more races than any other Nextel Cup driver in 2006, with six victories.
On watching Daytona 500 growing up: "Every year, we'd watch it when I was a kid. We'd make a big party out of it. There would be at least 15 people over at my house. Now, we were watching it on Pacific Time, so it would come on at, like, 8 in the morning. Our party was all about lots of eggs and sausages and muffins."
What do drivers think about Daytona racing anyway? "We all get pumped up about it because of the tradition and history there. Daytona is the perfect place to get your season off to a good start, because it's the first race of the year that counts in the points standings."
Has he ever surfed? "Actually, I just did for the first time. I was in Honolulu with [NASCAR driver] Jamie McMurray, and we were hanging out with Kelly Slater, who's a professional surfer. I did OK, especially considering who we were surfing with."
Favorite Beach Boys song: "'Surfin' USA.' When you think about the Beach Boys, that's the song you always think about. Or, at least it's the one that plays in my head when I think about them."
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Driver: Carl Edwards, # 99
Hometown, age: Columbia, Mo., 27
Claim to fame: Made Chase in 2005, finishing third. Was named one of "People" magazine's 50 Hottest Bachelors/Daredevils in the same year. And, in 2006, finished 12th in the Nextel Cup competition.
On watching Daytona 500 growing up: "When I was growing up, Daytona was always some kind of mythical, magical place, like it existed somewhere far, far away. Keep in mind that I grew up in Missouri, so when I'd be watching the race and everything was beach and sand and sun, it would be freezing outside my house. I never imagined I'd ever race there someday, although I wanted to badly."
Has he ever surfed? "It's something I've wanted to do for the longest time, and, this past off-season, I did. They say surfing is the ultimate thrill and that, once you do it, you don't want to stop. That turned out to be the case for me, as well."
Favorite Beach Boys song: "Definitely 'Wouldn't It Be Nice.' It's about a guy and a girl talking about everything they hope and wish and pray might come true. That's so cool. Who wouldn't identify with that?"
Cover photograph by Brian Smith for USA WEEKEND; Photo illustration by Saundra Giering/Eyeland for USA WEEKEND
Check out last year's USA WEEKEND poster featuring NASCAR legends.
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