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"Drivers, Start Your Engines!" When you think of Daytona Beach, Florida, the chances are you immediately think of car racing. As the home of NASCAR, Daytona Beach has hosted many great races going back for more than 50 years. The city of Daytona is also the headquarters for the Great American Road Race Association, offering even more opportunities for race car enthusiasts to enjoy the city.
Located Florida's Space Coast, along the Atlantic Ocean, the city of Daytona Beach was originally settled as the Williams Plantation in 1871, when a man named Mathias Day, Jr. purchased a tract of land totaling over 2,100 acres on the coast of Florida and began building a hotel to attract visitors. The area continued to develop with more hotels and businesses being built along the coastline, when the Florida East Coast Railway took notice of the growth and decided to put a railway line through the area. This made transportation to the little community even easier, causing a boom in development.
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As the area continued to grow, there were four separate communities located close to each other along the coast including Seabreeze, Kingston, Daytona and Daytona Beach. In 1926, they all merged together and became the city of Daytona Beach. The inviting sandy beaches of Daytona have long been an attraction for many visitors including young people looking for a place to enjoy a Spring Break or families just wanting to go to the beach for a day of fun. With plenty of hotels and attractions available in Daytona Beach along with great weather, it is a perfect location for tourists to enjoy a vacation.
It's no wonder that the area has attracted a number of automotive races including the legendary Daytona 500, one of the most popular of all NASCAR events each year as well as races like the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona Race, the NASCAR Coke Zero 400 and even non-automotive races like the Daytona Beach Bike Week Daytona 200 and the annual Biketoberfest in October.
Due to the city's popularity and exciting attractions, more than 8,000,000 tourists visit Daytona Beach each year, making it one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United States. The climate around Daytona Beach is known as humid subtropical and temperatures in the summer can often reach just above 100 degrees Fahrenheit while winter temperatures can get as low as the upper 20s.
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