DAYTONA BEACH — They found the right guy.
A couple months ago, Bluefoot Entertainment’s production team came to town for a project with NASCAR Studios. Those folks do the SEC Network show, “True South.” They wanted to explore Daytona Beach and illustrate what shaped the sport’s birthplace.
So they turned to an area expert: our very own sports columnist, Ken Willis.
Willis stars as one of the guests with host Jay Busbee in a 21-minute documentary titled “Spring Break, Sand and Speed: How NASCAR molded Daytona’s rich history | Home Turn.” It was released on NASCAR’s YouTube channel Tuesday and will air on NASCAR’s Tubi feed soon.
“Our goal was to show all of Daytona, not just the track — to show how the whole community works together and yet acts independently of the track and the sand,” Busbee said. “And also to show some good places to get a bite to eat and a beer to drink.”
Willis can fill you in on all the above.
He and Busbee, a longtime journalist for Yahoo Sports and the author of “Earnhardt Nation,” started at The Breakers Ocean Front Restaurant & Bar. They chatted about Ken’s connections to the area — he was born at Halifax Hospital and has lived here all his life — and how the area has changed, from racing on the beach, to the last 66 years of Big Bill France’s Daytona International Speedway.
Then, they went fishing. It is Daytona Beach after all.
Willis gave Busbee a few pointers. Within a few seconds of Busbee’s first cast off an Ormond Beach riverfront dock, he hooked a redfish. Willis headed home empty-handed.
Call it beginner’s luck.
Or at least that’s what Ken told us.
“Not the first time I lost a fishing contest, but for the record, it’s a quirky reel and I made the cast before handing the pole to Jay,” Willis said. “Overall, it was a good experience, and I was blown away by the production value in the final product. If you’ve watched their ‘True South’ shows, you know they’re good, but to see it first-hand is another matter entirely.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona 500: New NASCAR doc features News-Journal columnist Ken Willis
