"Gentlemen, start your engines!" Trump exclaimed this Sunday at the stands of the Daytona circuit in Florida, where there was not even a free seat. The president of the United States was thus beginning to the car test of the 500 Daytona Miles of NASCAR, one of the most popular competitions in the country. The organizers of the event named Trump as "great marshal" of this unavoidable event for motor lovers, becoming the second president to attend this event. Earlier he also pronounced these famous words George W. Bush, Republican, in 2004.
After flying aboard the Air Force One, among cheers, the Daytona oval, Trump also went down the asphalt to run a symbolic lap in the presidential limousine, known as 'the beast' next to the cars of the 40 pilots participating in the test. "It doesn't matter who wins," he told the crowd, "what matters most is God, the family and the country." The maximum interest was present as it was the first fair of the season and the most anticipated race of 2020, which completes 200 laps on the circuit, or what is the same, 500 miles (804 km).
Daytona Beach, converted in recent years into the mecca of speed, built an oval-shaped circuit in 1936, whose route passed half on asphalt and the other half on sand. This racetrack was replaced in 1959 by the current Daytona International Speedway, which has since been a symbol of this sport in the US, in addition to the circuit where the Indianapolis 500 Miles are played.