About an hour northeast of Orlando is Daytona Beach. Here you’ll find the Daytona International Speedway, home of “The Great American Race” — the Daytona 500. The Daytona 500 is the biggest, richest and most prestigious race in America and annually kicks off the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series. Although the Daytona 500 garners most of the attention, the enormous 480-acre motorsports complex boasts the most diverse schedule of racing on the globe — earning it the title of “World Center of Racing.” In addition to nine major weekends of racing activity, featuring everything from NASCAR to the Rolex Sports Car Series to the American Motorcyclist Association and the World Karting Association, the Speedway is also booked for more than two solid months each year for testing and development of various race vehicles. A diverse group of events are held through the balance of the year, including two other major professional weekends, as well as Sports Car Club of America amateur sports car races; antique and classic car shows held in the spring and fall by the Daytona Beach Racing and Recreational Facilities District; the Police Motorcycle Skills Championship; various charity and community athletic events such as walk-a-thons, bike-a-thons and dinners; receptions; and picnics.