Come early. Take cameras out of carrying cases. Bring clear plastic bags and soft-sided coolers. These are tips officials at Daytona International Speedway are giving race fans who plan to attend this week’s races and avoid long lines. Security concerns stem from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the possibility of new attacks as the nation prepares for war with Iraq. The Bush administration placed the nation on a heightened state of alert Friday by raising the threat level from the yellow, or “elevated,” level to the orange “high” level based on “specific and credible” threats indicating al-Qaida terrorists were planning large-scale attacks. Last year, law enforcement and Speedway officials tightened security in response to the 2001 attacks. “It’s the same drill this year. Nothing has changed,” said Glyn Johnston, the Speedway’s director of communications. Johnston and law enforcement officials said they had no information about threats to the area during Speed Weeks, which brings in hundreds of thousands of visitors and concentrates them in a confined area leading up to Sunday’s Daytona 500. But like their counterparts in other areas of the country, officials don’t want to take any chances. “We realize nothing is impossible within the warped mind of a terrorist,” said Terry Sanders, a captain with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office who works with special events. Officials declined to release specifics of their security plans, except to say plans would involve multiple agencies — including the Daytona Beach Police Department and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement — and resemble last year’s plan. Last year, hundreds of officers helped patrol track grounds and direct traffic. They guarded gate entrances, checked car trunks and truck beds and poked mirrors under vehicles. The Federal Aviation Administration restricted the airspace last year to one nautical mile around the Speedway. Officials are restricting what a person can bring into the Speedway: one soft-sided bag or cooler no larger than 6 inches by 6 inches by 12 inches, and one clear plastic bag no larger than 18 inches by 18 inches by 4 inches. People can still “bring cameras, scanners and binoculars, as long as they’re not in bags,” Johnston said. He advised people to arrive at least an hour early for the race. Officers also rely on spectators and race fans for security, said Sgt. Al Tolley of the Daytona Beach Police Department. “We rely on people who see something suspicious to give us a call,” Tolley said.( Daytona Beach News Journal )(2-10-2003)
