Destination Florida!

Daytona Beach, Florida with 23 miles of white sand beach.
Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau Photo

by Dave Weiman
Published in Midwest Flyer Magazine April/May 2023 Digital Issue

If you are from the Midwest, chances are you are sick of the snow and cold temps in the winter and are looking for someplace warmer for a week or two or longer! Even our spring weather can be reason enough to want to escape, as weather systems change, and don’t leave fast enough.

With lots of destinations down south to choose from, might I suggest you consider Daytona Beach, a city on Florida’s Atlantic Coast with 23 miles of white sand beach. The town has a sign arching over the street leading to its boardwalk with the phrase, “World’s Most Famous Beach.” Explore this destination at https://www.daytonabeach.com/

Daytona Beach is an hour north of Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Centre on Merritt Island. Each time we visit the Kennedy Space Centre, I am fascinated with its history, space vehicles, layout of buildings, and facilities. I have yet to watch a launch, but that’s on the bucket list: https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/

Besides its beach, Daytona Beach is known for “Daytona International Speedway,” which hosts February’s iconic Daytona 500 NASCAR race.

We arrived in town after dark and drove past the enormous speedway. You cannot miss it! It’s huge!!!!

The massive multi-sports facility leaves visitors in awe with every visit. Kids love it as well. The track charges their imagination and gives them plenty to see and do.

After checking into our hotel, we went online to see if tours were available, and they are, so we bought our tickets online to ensure availability.

It doesn’t have to be Speedweeks to get your blood racing. And you don’t have to be a race fan to get spellbound by taking the “Speedway Track Tour” in an open tour bus. Cruising below the speed limit that does not exist, you experience the steepness of the track and turns, and from the bleachers your imagination will soar! The tour also took us inside the track by the pits and garages, and to the campgrounds where race teams and fans park their campers. A city within a city.

On select dates, you can choose a 2.5-hour VIP Tour which features an exclusive stop at the NASCAR Archives & Research Center, the home to thousands of vintage and rare items, including Dale Earnhardt memorabilia and images of beach racing history and famed moments of the race.

Even before entering the speedway, the sidewalk outside includes the names of those who have won at Daytona and the years they won. It was great to see the name of Wisconsin native, pilot, aircraft owner and local Oregon, Wisconsin race champion, Matt Kenseth, engraved in sidewalk.

About 10 years ago, Matt visited EAA AirVenture Oshkosh and graciously offered to meet fans and sign autographs, and the lines were long…so long that my schedule would not permit me to wait in line to take a few photos of him with race fans. So, I spoke with his publicist and was able to quickly meet Matt and take the photo I needed for publication. I found Matt very personable, and when I told him we published Midwest Flyer Magazine at our offices in Oregon, Wisconsin, his face lit up, as Oregon is where he got his start racing stockcars at Madison International Speedway.

In 2009, Matt won a rain-shortened Daytona 500 and won a second Daytona 500 in 2012. As of 2022, Matt is the last driver to compete in at least one NASCAR Cup Series Race in four consecutive decades (1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s).

To read more about Matt Kenseth, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Kenseth.

While at the track, be sure to visit the “Motorsports Hall of Fame of America,” which honors racing in all its forms – Open Wheel, Stock Cars, Powerboats, Drag Racing, Motorcycles, Sports Cars, and Air Racing, at large and historic (https://www.mshf.com/).

Daytona Beach International Airport is a county-owned airport located 3 miles southwest of Daytona Beach, next to Daytona International Speedway, in Volusia County, Florida. The airport has three runways, a six-gate domestic terminal, and an international terminal. Imagine the corporate jets lined up on the ramp during race week.

General aviation airports in the vicinity include Orlando Executive, Ormond Beach Municipal, New Smyrna Beach Municipal, Flagler Executive, and DeLand Municipal. Spruce Creek (Residential) Air Park is in Daytona Beach, but access is private!

I will never forget the time when our daughters were just toddlers in the mid-1980s, and the wonderful treatment our family received from the fixed base operator at Orlando Executive when we arrived in our Cessna 172 Skyhawk. It was after sunset, so from 9,000 feet, we got a great view of the Florida coastline with all its lights contrasting with the dark ocean.

After we landed and taxied to the ramp, line personnel literally rolled out the red carpet, then drove our rental car to the plane to load our luggage. Tired and anxious to see “Mickey and Mini” the following day, and unfamiliar with the airport, it was a very nice gesture on the part of the fixed base operator and their staff. It was as if the Magic Kingdom had transformed our C172 into a Gulfstream GVI.

If you want to enhance your flying experience, consider signing up for Patty Wagstaff’s one-day “Confidence Course” in St. Augustine, Florida. It’s an introduction to aerobatics course and “Upset Prevention and Recovery Training Airplane” (UPRTA) course all in one! The one-day, two-flight course in Patty’s Extra 300L or Super Decathlon is taught by her highly experienced Certified Flight Instructors. Patty created the course in accordance with current International Air Transport Association (IATA), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and FAA guidelines. Tailwheel endorsements are also available.

Alissa Brown, recipient of the Marion Cole Memorial Scholarship, in the front seat of Patty Wagstaff’s Extra 300L.

Patty Wagstaff is a featured performer at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh and many other airshows in North America. She is known throughout the world for her airshowmanship and precision aerobatics. Patty holds titles as a three-time U.S. National Aerobatic Champion; six-time member of the U.S. Aerobatic Team, winning Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals in International Aerobatic Competition; as a National Aviation Hall of Fame inductee; and the recipient of the airshow industry’s most prestigious awards — the “ICAS Sword of Excellence,” and the “Bill Barber Award for Showmanship.” In March 1994, Patty’s Goodrich Extra 260 was placed on permanent display in the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum on the Mall in Washington, DC. Check out Patty Wagstaff’s UPRTA course at https://pattywagstaff.com/, and send her an email at pattyaerobatics@gmail.com to schedule a date and time for your training.

Wiktor Kun of New York, N.Y., completed his Single-Engine Commercial Seaplane Rating in Adventure Seaplanes’ economical Cessna 172 Skyhawk.

And if you ever considered getting a “Seaplane Rating,” fly inland to Lake Wales, Florida, where Minnesotan Brian Schanche operates “Adventure Seaplanes” at Cherry Pocket Fish Camp in the winter. Space permitting, Brian can provide you with overnight accommodations right on the lake, and there’s a restaurant within walking distance. Contact Brian for additional information: 612-868-4243 or 612-749-1337 (adventureseaplanes@gmail.com, www.adventureseaplanes.com). Brian migrates north to Minnesota in the summer, where he offers a variety of course options that can combine training with an adventure to Canada, the Northwest Territories, or the Arctic Circle. I shared my experience in acquiring a Seaplane Rating on the Midwest Flyer Magazine website: (https://midwestflyer.com/?p=13390). Depending on the aircraft you train in, you can get your high-performance endorsement at the same time as I did in a Cessna 180 amphibian.

If you plan your trip around Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo, March 28 – April 2, 2023, you can land at Lakeland Linder International Airport (https://www.flylakeland.com/) and park on the Sun ‘n Fun grounds. For additional information, visit https://flysnf.org/. Wisconsin natives Kris Hallstrand at Lakeland Linder International Airport, and Gene Conrad at Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo, will take good care of you.