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50th RUNNING OF THE DAYTONA 500 CELEBRITY QUOTES
USAF THUNDERBIRDS
ROBERT SKELTON, Operations Officer, Rome, Ga: “Believe it or not, but arriving at the end of the national anthem is a lot like we would drop weapons in combat for an exact time over target. So the same training that you train for with that has an application for setting up for a national anthem fly-by. Obviously, the production crew and support folks involved with the race are part of the giant team that helps time things down to, literally, half a second. So we know pretty much up front within about a second how long it’s going to take for the national anthem and they want us to be over there. We know how fast we are going, we know how long it will take us to get here. We want to get over the track at the right moment. There’s a lot of radio communications going on, there¹s a lot of adjustments with air speeds and timing. We do our best to literally make that TOT within just a couple of seconds so it gives the effect that we want to do. The Air Force right now is about effects-based operations. Part of our job as the Thunderbirds is to help inspire people, and that is exactly what a fly-over at the national anthem does. We start out about 10-12 miles away, and we’re doing about 400 mph as we cross over the stadium. “In full afterburner, the F-16 is capable of 29,000 pounds of thrust. While there is no translation from pounds of thrust to horsepower, our informal calculations are about 55-60,000 horsepower. That’s a lot of horsepower, and it’s pretty formidable against the starting lineup today.” ANTHONY MULHARE, Advance Pilot, Narrator, Williamsburg, Va.: “Jeff Hammond and Jamie McMurray were very excited about what we were doing. They both wanted us to do more maneuvers. They did well throughout the maneuvers. They got to experience 9 Gs nine times the force of gravity. Your body is not designed to pull that many Gs and go that fast when we turn a roll. They were very excited about what we were doing, and they wanted us to do more. They were still excited about the time we were done. Neither of them got sick. CHUBBY CHECKER: “It’s great being here. Twenty years and a month ago, I played the Super Bowl in 1988. So this is another big crowd of people I’m playing for. I’m very excited to be here. This town, with this event, is nuts, and it’s great. I’m so glad they asked me to come down to this great celebration. Today I come on first, then Michael McDonald does a great job and I was very surprised to see that Kool and the Gang, because I never really met them, and Brooks and Dunn. It’s a real exciting segment of music today. It’s going to be great. We really want to turn them loose today and make up some sparks. “I kind of have a soft spot for Kenny Wallace, because he’s been beaten up and pushed around like me, and if he wins, he’ll be a comeback kid like me. “I do like them all. To get out in a car and driver around at that speed, you’ve got to be a little crazy. That’s why everybody loves it.” KOOL AND THE GANG: DENNIS THOMAS: “This is NASCAR, and it’s fantastic. It’s phenomenal. I’m just starting to realize how spectacular and awesome is in the United States. I’m glad to be invited. Have a ball we will. We’ve done things with Jeff Gordon five or six years ago. He knows how to, as Kool would say, get down with it. “Race drivers have got to aggressive, hopefully not reckless, and they’ve got to have some cold water in their veins to be doing 190 mph constantly and not worry about crashing. We grew up thinking about Dale Earnhardt and those guys from way back. They’re courageous guys. You’ve got to a real courageous person to do what they do.” CURTIS WILLIAMS: “It’s interesting. I’ve been taking in some of the old photos and the literature of where this started, and it’s amazing to see where it was and where we are with it. This is incredible. We’re glad to be here, and we’re going to have a great time and celebrate. My sons love racing. The sound is just amazing.” MICHAEL McDONALD: “This is our second time at Daytona. This is such a huge event. It doesn’t surprise me the amount of people that are here. It’s amazing to see the infrastructure involved and how much it takes to put an event like this on and keep people moving in one direction and handle everything that can happen. Then, driving through the campground. That’s another planet all by itself. It’s an amazing thing to behold. This is probably the biggest event I’ve ever seen. This is the biggest crowd I’ve ever played for or will ever play for. The biggest difference is that the crowd is so far away. “Dario (Franchitti) is my neighbor, actually, although we’ve never met. I’m rooting for him, from the hood. As far as riding in a race car, but I’ve been too much of a coward to ever even think about it.” BROOKS & DUNN KIX BROOKS: “It’s a big gig for us. A lot of people here. We used to play in amphitheaters with 15,000 people out there and it was packed. Multiply that by 10 hundred (Dunn: ‘thousand’). It’s real exciting. Obviously, this isn’t about us. It’s about a car race. We have some fond memories of a dear friend of ours Dale Earnhardt. Ten years ago this year, he finally won this race and that meant so much to him. It’s really special to be part of the 50-year extravaganza. It’s a special gig. NATIONAL ANTHEM SINGER TRISHA YEARWOOD: “For so many reasons, I’m nervous. I didn’t really know that over 200,000 number until this morning. I’m excited. There’s some great energy here. I’ve been several NASCAR races, but I’ve never been to anything like this. The 50th anniversary is amazing. I’m honored to be here. I’ve sung the anthem at some World Series games, I’ve done NFL games, but never anything like this. I’ve sung at the closing ceremonies of the Olympics, that was big but this is bigger, this is huge! But I’m nervous, I’m fine, I’m loving it.”
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