tool name
closeDrivers find a reel diversion at Daytona
TIMN POVTAK
The Orlando Sentinel
Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The infield of Daytona International Speedway isn’t exactly the Great Outdoors, but the focus here will turn to fishing and the search for largemouth bass for a few hours Friday morning.
The infield might not be a back-to-nature scene, yet the relationship between racing and fishing is a natural. The 29-acre Lake Lloyd in the infield has been a part of Daytona 500 lore for many years.
“Fishing and racing are as American as you can get,” said Darrell Gwynn, whose foundation uses the annual Hot Rods and Reels Fishing Tournament here as a major fund-raiser. “Most everyone in America has a car and fishing pole in their garage. We don’t have any trouble getting guys to fish.”
Almost 20 Sprint Cup drivers will be fishing the tournament, which raises money for Gwynn’s foundation to cure paralysis and the Betty Jane France Pediatric Center at Halifax Hospital.
The list of fishermen who will race in the Daytona 500 on Sunday is long. Some of them fish occasionally around their race schedule but often fish extensively in the off-season, and have been for many years.
Ryan Newman holds his own Foundation Charity Fishing Trip each December.
He had 300 fishermen there in 2007 in Mooresville, N.C., raising $100,000 for charity. Among those who fished were Kevin Van Dam, one of the leading fisherman on the pro BASS Tour.
“Fishing is the polar opposite of racing, at least the way I fish,” Newman said last week. “Kevin Van Dam fishes differently. He fishes how I race. I do it to enjoy the outdoors, to relax and get away from racing.”
The money from his tournament becomes a source for grants to nonprofit groups that work toward conservation of America’s natural resources and to educate and encourage others to appreciate the outdoors.
Newman spends much of his offseason on fishing and hunting trips. Among his recent favorites were a fly-fishing trip for trout to Alaska and another for northern pike in a part of Saskatchewan that was accessible only by small plane.
“The whole idea is to get people back outdoors,” he said. “I played a lot of video games when I was in college, but I sure enjoy the act of fishing, and catching fish a lot more. We’d like everyone to get that chance.”
Also scheduled to fish Friday are Tony Stewart, Kyle Petty, Carl Edwards, Bobby Labonte, Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton, Brian Vickers, Scott Riggs, David Gilliland and Martin Truex Jr., among others.
Truex – an avid fisherman – is lucky enough to be sponsored by BASS Pro Shops, which provides him with all the outdoor gear that he wants.
“It’s been a dream come true for me,” he said last week. “I love to fish. I’ve always been a water guy, growing up in coastal New Jersey. I’ve always fished and hunted.”
Truex’s family owns a large independent clam and specialty seafood company.
When he was younger, he worked as a deckhand on a clamming boat, long enough to know he’d rather be racing for a living.
He was fishing on Lake Norman in North Carolina the day before he left for Daytona Beach. He spent parts of Monday and Tuesday fishing in the Disney World area, filming promotional spots for BASS.
“Sometimes fishing isn’t so relaxing. Sometimes you get ticked off and want to throw the rod in the water,” he said. “But I’ve been enjoying it since I was a kid with my grandfather and my father.”
Casey Mears said he loves the salt-water fishing and still was talking last week about the recent trip on team owner Rick Hendrick’s boat off Key West. There were a dozen other friends on the boat, which went 20 miles offshore.
“We were catching the heck out of those fish, three or four lines hooked up all day long,” he said. “But I’d like it even if we didn’t catch anything. I love the ocean, and I just love getting out there, getting away from what I do on a weekly basis. It’s just a good time.”
Gilliland said his best fishing memories came when he and the family were following his father around on the Winston West Series years ago, helping drive the motor home. He and his father occasionally found time to stop in the Mount Hood area in Oregon and fish for Steelhead trout.
“Our schedule now just doesn’t allow you to get out as often as you would like, but I still love to fish,” he said. “We live near Lake Norman, and I take my 7-year-old son with me. It’s a great way to get away and focus on the time I can spend with him.”
