I watched the end of the Daytona 500 and it brought me back to the year I was at this race. I covered NASCAR for many years. I’ve been to many tracks, Daytona, Atlanta, Charlotte, Bristol, and Darlington to name a few.
I was there in 1998 when Dale Earnhardt won the 500. I remember how happy he was after chasing that elusive first "500" victory. Earnhardt was 0-for-19 in that race until he won on that February afternoon.
Four days earlier, my boss flew me down to Florida to do a 30-minute show, which I hosted, live before the race. With a late start, coming up with 30 minutes worth of material and still doing a show for 6, and 11pm newscasts was challenging.
The morning of the race we were still editing inside the satellite truck at 4am. All three of us fell asleep in the truck, with pizza boxes scattered all over the vehicle. At 6am, we drove back to our hotel south of Daytona to get three hours of sleep.
Somehow, at 11:30am it all came together. The show went off without a hitch. When young interns ask about our industry, I tell them about this story and the ”glamorous life of television news.” But, I loved every minute of it.
