Florida Hospital yesterday as part of the $400M Daytona Rising project participated in a "ribbon cutting for its entryway on the western end" of Daytona Int'l Speedway's renovated grandstands, according to a front-page piece by Dinah Voyles Pulver of the Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL. NASCAR Sprint Cup series driver Jamie McMurray, a former Daytona 500 champion, "flew down for the ribbon cutting." His No. 1 Chevrolet "will be sponsored in part by Florida Hospital for this year's 500." McMurray said, “This is a completely different experience than what a fan will get anywhere else. It's going to be so hard to explain what you're seeing here.” Pulver notes the entrance, or injector, "features an expansive two-story waterfall and interactive exhibits that underscore the mission of Florida Hospital and other facilities in the Adventist Health System." Florida Hospital Senior VP & COO Darlinda Copeland said that the hospital system "was looking to give race fans a little respite when they came into the open areas in the injector." Copeland and other hospital officials "admitted it's something far different from their usual marketing and community outreach efforts." She said, "To impact 1 million people a year? We could never reach a million people at [Florida Hospital]. It gives us an opportunity to get out into the community we serve.” McMurray added that the entire experience in the newly renovated grandstand "is going to be 'amazing' for fans.” He said, “It's the whole experience. The fact that there's wi-fi. It's like a football stadium that's taken to the next level and also magnified 20 times" (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 2/11). Florida Hospital’s agency of record for its DIS injector is Aquarius Sports & Entertainment (THE DAILY).
POSITIVE REVIEWS: USA TODAY's Mike Hembree notes everyone from motorsports heroes such as IndyCar team Owner A.J. Foyt to everyday race fans are giving the project "positive reviews." Daytona Rising "transformed the face of the speedway and turned the frontstretch grandstand -- almost a mile long with 101,500 new, wider seats -- into one of the most imposing seating structures in sports." The project "appeared to sail through its initial real-life test Jan. 27-29 with the Rolex 24 sports car race." The "bigger challenges will come in the weeks ahead as the track hosts the first two big weekends of the NASCAR season with the Sprint Unlimited (Feb. 13) and the Daytona 500 (Feb. 21)." DIS President Joie Chitwood III said, “There’s no way you come out of the box knowing everything, but these are valuable opportunities to get ready. When we’re at maximum capacity for the 500, hopefully we’ve learned a lot to get better and better.” Hembree notes four of the five “injectors” are sponsored by Toyota, Chevrolet, Sunoco and Florida Hospital and "have video boards and other large displays designed to highlight those names." The fifth area "is not sponsored but could be named for the new company NASCAR signs to replace Sprint as the lead sponsor of its top-level series" beginning in '17 (USA TODAY, 2/11).
