DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Featuring breathtaking shots of the Daytona Beach shoreline, with the Atlantic Ocean’s lapping waves and a setting sun, the “Home Turn” documentary episode carefully takes viewers to the start of it all – NASCAR’s stunning birthplace.
Longtime journalist and author Jay Busbee hosts this NASCAR Studios video project, which comes from the heart and will touch the soul of both longtime NASCAR fans and those simply curious about the sport’s history and culture. “Home Turn” debuted at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Feb. 11 on NASCAR’s YouTube channel.
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“I love the stories behind NASCAR every bit as much as I love the results of the races,” Busbee said. “I love talking to drivers, love talking to people in the stands, love seeing what goes on around the track and so that was always my background — the whole culture of NASCAR.”
Not only does Busbee share his favorite parts of the sport’s most famous high banks, but “Home Turn” takes a deep dive beachside in neighboring locales that offer a long list of compelling reasons to bookend days at the track with visits to interesting places nearby. Think NASCAR culture: The track, but also beyond the track, to local history and the life that goes on outside Daytona’s four turns.
Busbee explores the earliest days of racing on the beach and integrates local expertise via conversations with longtime Daytona Beach News-Journal sports columnist Ken Willis, a Daytona Beach native who has covered NASCAR for decades, to Suzanne Heddy, a local historian and member of the National Racing Heritage Association, and Steve Gooch, the owner of Fun Coast Tours.
The episode visits the locals’ favorite restaurants from Fernandina Beach in the north to New Smyrna in the south. It explores the sky diving culture in nearby Deland and, of course, Daytona Beach’s famous rowdy Spring Break scenes dating from the 1980s.
“We just did our best to get a feel for the city outside the track,” Busbee said. “In Daytona, you’ve got the track, that Krispy Kreme and the Steak and Shake down the road and that may be all you see when you’re covering the race or going to the race.
“So, what I wanted to do was get outside of the track and tell the story of Daytona but also the story of some of the people, the restaurants and the culture of Daytona and the beaches around it.
“What I love about Daytona, it’s got all these identities. It’s got racing on the beach, spring break, obviously the track, bike week and a destination place for people to retire and settle down. There’s just so much there that if you’re just focused on the race, you might miss other things. That’s what we were trying to get across to everybody.”
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The video work is stunning, the interviews compelling, and the premise of taking people to new places beyond the grandstand is fascinating. Unsurprisingly, the people working on this project are all accomplished and include the producers and writers from the award-winning “TrueSouth” documentary series. Blue Foot TV is a production company, and John T. Edge is the writer who collaborated with Busbee on this debut film.
“It’s all completely new for me and that’s why I was really glad to have these guys that have done this work; it’s a collection of real professionals, Emmy Award winners,” Busbee explained.
The result is something that is not only informative but that stands the test of time by examining the tests of time that have made Daytona Beach such an iconic place in sports history.
“I see how documentaries now can be 10 hours,” Busbee said with a laugh. “I see how that happens because we had so many things we didn’t even get to, and even some of what we filmed, we couldn’t include all of it. I hope people will see this and enjoy the entire Daytona experience, not just the track. I want people to understand what happens in Daytona the other 364 days when the race isn’t in town.
“It’s just tremendous fun,” Busbee added, “and I was really glad to be able to do it with something as meaningful to me and to so many people as NASCAR is.”