President Donald Trump takes a few laps around Daytona International Speedway | NASCAR ON FOX

Donald Trump is the second sitting

president

to attend the Daytona 500. George W was here in 2000 for a race won by the man who will wave the green flag for today's race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. but this is truly a historic first: a sitting

president

of the United States strolling through the countryside for the American capreit race said he wanted to take a ride and he's going to do it right he's the president he has that right and I just can't imagine it like this a driver as a competitor, the magnitude of this just builds what the great American race is and one of the biggest races in the world to put so much pressure on you to win this race today.

I'm not sure how this idea came about. about, but I have a suspicion that a phone call came in the other day in Franklin Tennessee to the home of our former colleague Darrell Waltrip, who retired from broadcasting at the end of the 2019 season, asking him to fly to Palm Beach this morning and joined President Trump. on Air Force One on the trip here to Daytona, so I wouldn't be surprised if the little hand on what we're about to see, maybe giving you some tips on those high banks here at Daytona and are the drivers excited ? this well, here's Clint Bowyer's radio, you know, Mike, people ask me, are you missing it?, you know, are you jealous of those competitors that there are today?

I am. I would love to be in this field at the Daytona 500 competing today. This is so special. We now know that it

takes

at least 70 miles per hour to keep those cars on the bank. Those presidential limousines that are built on truck chassis Burnout and what kind of horsepower under the hood of the car, well Jeff, our graphics department at Fox came up with a comparison between the NASCAR Cup Series. cars and what the Secret Service calls the Beast, the presidential limousine built by Cadillac on a Cadillac sheet metal truck chassis, is two feet longer than the Cup car and is slightly heavier at 22,000 pounds of horsepower. strength and maximum speed is sufficient, but it is unknown that it has been estimated that those the side windows are five inches thick, a bulletproof glass and the sheet metal is about twenty inches thick, as it is completely armored and seats seven for the limo and one for our cup cars, the only thing I wish they had modified in that limo.

A spoiler was put on the rear deck lid for NASCAR only. Well, it has a pair of antennas for communication. After all, I'm not sure what those flags on the front fender will do for aerodynamics and we don't care either. Donald Trump is the fourth president of the United States. The President of the United States will attend a race here Ronald Reagan gave the order to start from Air Force One and was here when Richard Petty drove to his 200th victory over Cale Yarborough in a 400 firecracker George HW Bush the summer of '92 and George W Bush 20, 2004 Daytona 500 Bill Clinton campaigned at Darlington in a NASCAR race, but the president with the closest ties to the sport was Jimmy Carter, one of Jimmy's closest friends in Georgia when was governor, he was Alf Knight, the veteran superintendent of the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

He visited the track frequently and was at a race there when he was governor. Someone on Twitter took a photo of the presidential limousine and stamped a NASCAR-style number 45 on the door, but that idea was rejected in favor of the president. Seal, we know, but these racing fans have been ready all week and are super excited waving flags for their favorite driver, but I imagine there are a lot of American flags flying in the field right now as we get ready to take. the green flag here and if you are a fan of professional cars, limousines and the like, there is a great display of presidential limousines from the past at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, and a great roar from the crowd as they pass the green flag. and American flags fly from the pedestal, that's a sight for the ages.

Right there, a very special moment for our sport, after all, what sporting event wouldn't want to have the President of the United States in attendance, much less get the party started? the best access perspective and personalities in all of sports follow fox sports on twitter facebook instagram for more great NASCAR content on fox subscribe to our channel it's somewhere around here