LITTLE ROCK — Daytona’s pedestrians on notice
The track - and sadly this year, the grandstand - aren’t the only places car accidents can happen at Daytona International Speedway.
The Florida Department of Transportation spent $174,500 in federal highway taxpayer money to sponsor two cars at this weekend’s Daytona 500, because car vs.
pedestrian accidents traditionally spike during the event.
More than 250,000 people flock to the track, walking along and across the eight-lane road that runs in front of the speedway.
From 2008 to 2011, there were 10 accidents involving pedestrians within a five-mile radius of the track during Speed Weeks, including three last year, according to the state.
To hopefully prevent some of those mishaps, the agency decided to sponsor two cars - one Nationwide car Saturday and one Sprint Cup car Sunday - with each car’s hood bearing a public service announcement in the shape of a red bull’s-eye.
“It might be hard to notice the slogan as cars whiz by at close to 200 miles per hour.”
The message wasn’t just on the cars, however. During Sunday’s race, an airplane was scheduled to circle over the speedway pulling a banner that read: “Alert today, alive tomorrow: Safety doesn’t happen by accident.”
“I laugh only because it’s so stupid,” said Florida state Rep. Mike Fasano, who served as chair of the Senate’s transportation appropriations committee from 2004 to 2010. “I don’t see how spending $174,500 at the Daytona 500 will do anything to promote auto safety. No one in attendance will take any notice of this message.”
Maybe not, but better safe than sorry, right?
Slip-sliding away
Good news from Pennsylvania - the missing training sleds for the U.S. luge team have been found.
Last week, Team USA marketing director Gordy Sheer was returning to his hotel after working at an eastern Pennsylvania ski resort when five sleds, costing $400 to $600 apiece, fell out the back of the truck.
Sheer didn’t realize the sleds were gone until the following morning. Retracing his route, Sheer determined where they would have slipped out.
“I actually banged on the door of one the neighbors,” Sheer said.
“I said, ‘This is going to sound completely out of left field, but I’m from the U.S. luge team.’ Before I could even get the word ‘luge’ out of my mouth, he said, ‘Sleds.’ ”
Turns out the neighbor saw the sleds along the side of the road- and then watched them being hauled away by a man in a pickup.
The driver of the truck, Mike Miller of Moore Township, Pa., heard about the lost sleds from the media and contacted the police, who picked them up Friday.
Here’s hoping Sheer invested in some bungee cords.
Flip-shot
Ashlee Arnau, a cheerleader at William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Miss., made an incredible front-flip half-court shot Thursday night at halftime of the school’s men’s basketball game.
The ball was placed on the floor at midcourt. Arnau, 21, approached it with a running start, did a front-flip, grabbed the ball while she was upside down, and then launched it toward the basket while her legs swung forward. Nothing but net.
“I really don’t practice at all,” Arnau told The Associated Press.
“Everyone was going crazy,” said Arnau, a junior from Hattiesburg who said she is studying to be a nurse. “They were cheering my name.”
Is it safe to say they flipped out?
Quote of the day
“I would imagine pretty much anyone would be kicking themselves about what they coulda, shoulda have done to give themselves an opportunity to win.” Danica Patrick on her eighth-place finish in Sunday’s Daytona 500
Sports, Pages 14 on 02/25/2013