I was supposed to go to this race, my first Daytona 500, but my grandparents and I left because of the postponement, and I stayed up till midnight with my grandfather watching this race, and it was worth it. I did see my first 500 the next year.
We were sitting on the Supertretch during this. I’ll never forget MRN over the speakers: “Trouble! Juan Pablo Montoya’s car has just blown apart!” We all look towards three and see that massive inferno. My younger brother who decided to skip that year said he could see the flames all the way from the beach. That’s how big of a fire one Juan started...
Wow, I had no idea that they made a documentary out of this! I was so excited for the 500 that Sunday (I watched the entire Sunday telecast), and then I found out it was cancelled. I remember going to school the next day, finding out that I would watch the race that night, and then came everything else. I watched the entire race up until the jet dryer incident. That's when I realized that there no way the race wasn't going to be completed before midnight. So I went to bed and then found out who won the next morning. That was unequivocally the craziest 500 I've ever seen, and no other is going to even remotely top it.
My dad and I were at this race. I'll never forget a fan to my right screaming "WOAH!" and pointing toward the backstretch when Montoya hit the jet dryer. Nobody around had noticed what happened except for him. I thought he was just another drunk idiot, but he totally witnessed history when most around us hadn't.