When 20-year old Trevor Bayne drove the Wood Brothers’ No. 21 Ford to a surprising victory in this year’s Daytona 500, he was racing in only his second NASCAR Sprint Cup event and his first-ever Great American Race.
Meanwhile, there were others in attendance more familiar with the Daytona venue.
In a few cases, much more.
The year was 1960 when Glenn Romines, Jr. first watched a Dayton 500 in person. He then missed the ’61 through ’64 races.
But since then, the lifelong Houston resident has been back every year, putting his streak of attending the race at 47 straight.
“I’ve only missed five races,” Romines said. “I missed the first one in 1959 and then the ones in the early 60s, but I picked up from there and got them all from there on.”
Romines knows he doesn’t hold the record for consecutive Daytona 500 attendance. In fact, he met a 78-year-old man this year who wasn’t at the inaugural race in ’59 but has been to every one since.
“And there was a man who rode in the pace car this year who had been at every single race and this was going to be his last year,” Romines said. “But there aren’t many people who have been there that many times. You just can’t be.”
The Daytona 500 as it is known today evolved from races staged on the beach at Daytona. During its early days of being run on a paved track venue, Daytona International Speedway sported a single grandstand, pit crews held up reader boards to communicate with drivers and the 500 wasn’t even televised.
Now the event is staged in a gigantic stadium setting that can accommodate a quarter-million people, crews and drivers carry on conversations by radio and huge world-wide TV audiences tune in.
And the cars?
“It’s about like comparing Model T’s with today’s cars,” Romines said. “Really, the cars were pretty fast back in those days, but they’ve come a long, long way.”
Romines’ interest in stock car racing began to kindle during his high school days when he got involved with promoting racing at local tracks, including Blue Moon in Texas County.
“We didn’t have a speed limit back then and I was a kid who liked to drive fast,” he said. “We were just raised that way.”
Of course, the Romines family has for decades run a Ford dealership in Houston. Over the years, Glenn Jr.’s interest in NASCAR racing grew to the point where he got involved in car sponsorship from 1991 to 2004.
The list of drivers who competed in NASCAR events in cars bearing the Romines logo reads a bit like a who’s who of stock car racing during that time period; included are Kurt Busch, Chad Little, Kevin LePage, Dick Trickle, Hut Stricklin, Loy Allen, Jr., Gary Bradbury and Ricky Craven. Car owners Romines became involved with include Mark Smith, Greg Polich and Jack Roush.
The many highlights in the Romines sponsorship ventures include Little winning six NASCAR Busch Series races in 1995 and finishing second in season points behind Johnny Benson, and trips to victory lane with Busch in 2004 following wins in NEXTEL Cup races at Atlanta and Homestead, Fla.
The Homestead win wrapped up the points championship for Busch and the Roush Racing No. 97 Sharpie Ford team.
“It was really an honor to be standing there with the NASCAR champion in victory lane,” Romines said. “That’s the ultimate dream for anyone in NASCAR sponsorship.”
As a longtime salesman, Romines at times used his sales experience to help begin other racing sponsorships and was even instrumental in getting Bass Pro Shops to pony up for its first-ever Daytona 500 sponsorship – on a General Motors car no less. He has also made a habit of helping other people get exposure to what it’s like to be at Daytona on race day in person.
“I’ve probably been instrumental in four sponsorships outside of myself,” he said. “And I’ve taken well over a 100 different people to the Daytona race in my lifetime.”
Romines says one of the best parts of his annual trek to Florida is the food – and the accompanying camaraderie to be found on the Daytona area’s restaurant circuit.
“I’m on a diet now because I gained 14 or 15 pounds in six days there this year,” he said. “I know every Cracker Barrel between here and Daytona, but there are so many great places to eat in that area. And it’s such a great thing to go out and wear your race paraphernalia and talk to people from basically all over the world.
“You meet a lot of the nicest people that way.”
Over the years, Romines has attended NASCAR races at all but a few possible tracks. But the whole experience at Daytona keeps him coming back.
And he plans to continue doing just that.
“It’s fun. It’s like a big family reunion going down there every year,” Romines said. “I’m 67 now and I figure I ought to be good for another 10 or 15 years.”
I’m 67 now and I figure I ought to be good for another 10 or 15years.”