Celebrity Autographs And Celebrity Addresses

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Sharon Stoner jumped with glee after her husband, Cork, showed off the ballcap that had just been autographed by NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield. That was on top of the autographs they had gotten earlier in the week from Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart.


"The only thing I can't get is Michael Waltrip's autograph," said Stoner, 53, a medical technician from Sharon, Pa. "OOOHH. I love him."

Aficionados at the Daytona International Speedway have unprecedented access this week to their favorite drivers thanks to a multimillion dollar fan-friendly redesign of the infield.

The infield now includes a FanZone where 44 of the drivers' garage slots have individual windows through which fans can watch crews prepare cars for Sunday's Daytona 500 and its preliminary races. They also can pass T-shirts and ballcaps through small openings for drivers to autograph.

Drivers often times come out and pose for pictures and driver Rusty Wallace even signed a model car for a fan.

But some of the drivers' crews aren't happy about being scrutinized so closely by the fans or distracted by fans taking photos or knocking on the windows. Some humorously placed signs in the windows that said "Don't feed the animals" and "We're locked in, please send food."

"We're monkeys in a cage. That's what everybody says," driver Kyle Busch said Wednesday. "Sometimes it's a little stressful, but otherwise it's all right. You're pulled over to sign autographs when you're still trying to work on your race car."

Driver Travis Kvapil enjoyed seeing fans on the railed deck above the garage, snapping photos and shouting down to their favorite drivers. The viewing deck also was a new addition.

"It's really cool to see them stand on top, and actually be a part of the race," said Kvapil, who added his crew didn't mind the garage scrutiny from fans. "We're not really one of the high profile deals either, so it would probably be a different situation for Dale Jr."

Daytona International Speedway officials had been planning the changes, which cost tens of millions of dollars, for years in order to keep pace with newer tracks around the country and allow more interaction for NASCAR fans, who are some of the most loyal in any sport.

"It's an effort to give fans who come to the race track a little more than just seeing cars go around," said David Talley, a spokesman for the speedway.

Other changes to the infield underscore NASCAR's move toward a higher-end market as reflected in the recent name change of NASCAR's top series from a cigarette-maker to a telecommunications company.

No longer are fans in the infield limited to beer, hot dogs, hamburgers and pizza. A new outdoor dining area called Bistro offers shrimp skewers, jumbo lump blue crab cake, crab and artichoke dip, rare roast beef on focaccia bread and martinis. Bistro's chefs wear white hats.

"You look at the number of Fortune 500 companies that are involved in this and the guests they bring down. This is an opportunity for them to have high class fare so to speak," Talley said.

Other changes to the infield are outside the FanZone. A wooden dock was installed on the infield's lake, around which fans have created a weeklong village of motor homes and campers. A new clubhouse with pool tables, Golden Tee golf video games and kitchen and Internet access was build for fans who pay $2,500 to park their motor homes along the lakeshore.

Randy and Connie Kellick, Rusty Wallace fans who came from Mer Rouge, La., in their motor home, said the changes are worth any additional money. The price to enter FanZone is $20 for most of the week but $85 for the Daytona 500.

"Last year, if you didn't have a garage pass or a pit pass or anything, you had no access to what was going on behind the scenes. You didn't even get close to the cars," said Connie Kellick, who farms 5,000 acres with her husband. "This way people feel more a part of it."