UF doctoral student studies NASCAR, picks Daytona winners

February 16, 2006

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Daniel Simone can’t predict the winner of Sunday’s Daytona 500, but he can make an educated guess.

Simone, a doctoral student in American history at the University of Florida, has studied NASCAR and motorsports for several years as the unorthodox subject of his graduate studies. He does not expect anything dramatically different about this year’s big race. Rookie drivers will stay in the front pack for the first two-thirds of the race, but then the veterans will take over the lead spots. Of course, he said, fans also will witness a big wreck, as they do most years.

So who will win Daytona this year? Jeff Gordon is Simone’s best guess. Joe Nemechek is a dark-horse possibility, he added.

Simone’s master’s thesis in American history at North Dakota State University discussed the history of auto racing in the upper Midwest, and a significant part of the first chapter focused on NASCAR’s rise to national popularity. He has presented seven papers on auto racing and given two guest lectures on NASCAR.

He admits some academics look down their noses at the scholarly study of motorsports, but he said its star is rising. He was pleased to find the support of associate history professor Jack Emerson Davis as his adviser at UF as he starts planning his doctoral dissertation.

Simone shared a fact that intrigues him: More women drivers competed in NASCAR’s top races in the 1950s than at any other time in history.

Simone can be reached at (352) 373-5487 or e-mailed at dsimone@ufl.edu.