ISC COO Joie Chitwood III recalls the skeptical reaction he got three years ago, when he first laid out plans for Daytona Int'l Speedway's massive redevelopment to journalists at SportsBusiness Journal. “There was a little bit of a look, like ‘What? What are you talking about?’” he remembers. The track last night won the Sports Facility of the Year award for its Daytona Rising project, which transformed the track into the world’s “first motorsports speedway.” Chitwood knew the project was a success in '15, when fans tried out the new seating as construction still unfolded around them. "We did what we said we were going to do, we did it on budget, and in a project this massive to never miss a race,” Chitwood said. “We did our job, and took our job to a new level. I truly think the Daytona team is very special.” But the track is just getting started, he said. As notable as the construction project was, Chitwood thinks it has opened the door to a diversified sports opportunity. “It will be a couple years before we even realize how we can operate the venue in a new way,” he said, holding his trophy and a bottle of commemorative champagne. "Racing’s in our DNA. The Daytona 500, the Rolex 24 -- we’ll always do a good job with those. But now this property, maybe instead of being the world center of racing, it’s the world center of entertainment.”
