Ford Veterans Day Classic at Daytona is a hit. Will it return? If so, where?

· Yahoo Sports

Yes, we can call it the “inaugural” Veterans Day Classic at Daytona.

We’ll eventually see the TV numbers from USA Network’s Wednesday night coverage. But the eyeball test suggests a hit for the Ford Motor Company, its Ford Racing division, and the combo of NASCAR and Daytona International Speedway.

Visit moryak.biz for more information.

“We love throwing races. We love throwing big events. We love partnering with friends like Ford,” Speedway President Frank Kelleher said Wednesday night while mixing in the thick FanZone crowd. 

Logistics can be, you know, logistical, and sometimes timing and schedules are a challenge, but Veterans Day appears to fall in a unique place on the calendar — right after the NASCAR season, just before the holidays start dominating the scene. Thankfully, Veterans Day isn’t going anywhere, and my guess is Ford will always have cars to sell, so maybe this becomes a yearly thing.

“I would love it,” Kelleher said. “We know how to execute high-level music acts. Music and racing are definitely in our DNA.”

Except he then tossed in a wrinkle worth noting.

“We will be excited to chat with Ford and everyone involved in the weeks to come and see if it makes sense to bring it back, whether it be here at Daytona International Speedway or perhaps at another speedway.”

Will Veterans Day Classic return? Probably. But where?

… Or perhaps at another Speedway. That seems like a logical move. However, and back to logistics, Wednesday’s event had the advantage of blending into an existing Daytona race week — Historic Sportscar Racing’s 12th annual Daytona Classic 24, which started Wednesday and runs through Sunday.

The track’s race operations were already in place, which brings a nice advantage. 

Given the HSR presence, the garage area was wall-to-wall with a wide variety of yesterday’s racing machinery, including cars that previously ran here in both stock-car and sportscar races.

For anyone who walked the grounds and saw the recent racing equipment and virtual museum pieces, there was contrast, since one of two threads running through it all was promotion of Ford’s new Mustang Dark Horse. 

The NASCAR version of the new Mustang was unveiled Wednesday afternoon at the museum outside Turn 4. The road-racing version was center stage for the 30-minute race on Daytona’s Rolex 24 road course. 

The other thread, of course, was Veterans Day. The Speedway and NASCAR have always leaned heavily toward the promotion of our nation’s military and its veterans. Usually, it’s part of the show. Wednesday, that theme blanketed the entire evening of loud music and louder machines. 

And you’d have a hard time finding anything other than a thumbs-up from those who joined the festivities.

Email Ken Willis at [email protected]

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Ford Veterans Day Classic at Daytona is a hit. Will it return? If so, where?

Read full story at source