Going the Distance - Tailgating the Rolex 24 at Daytona

In auto racing, it's one thing to pilot your machine to the edge for a few hundred miles. It's quite another to do so for 24 continuous hours, to push the limits of mechanical and human endurance.

The situation is no different off the track. As fans in the infield, we spend the 24 hours eating, sleeping and breathing racing. It's this urgency and excitement that had driven me to declare our watching of the Rolex 24 at Daytona as the ultimate time and place to push the limits of what I knew of tailgating and to deliver a day's worth of meals fit for the greatest of champions. Sure, we could have wolfed down a few Pop Tarts, some cold sandwiches and a cup of terrible coffee and called it a day. No, the racing gods demanded more.

While men (and women) with guts of steel were racing, and pacing and plotting the course, I was manning the grill and stove. After this ordeal, I hereby declare that the days of substandard sports-cookery kaput in the Conway household!

My equipment? The Meco Adventurer grill (designed by my company), a Coleman stove and a sweet new camp kitchen. I began simply enough by whipping up a mess 'o bratwursts for dinner. This is a super-simple dish and a real crowd pleaser. I've made over 100 links in the last year!

Here's Craig enjoying a solid breakfast of eggs, refried beans with queso fresco, grilled sausage and a simple homemade salsa (recipe below). After staying up the whole chilly night watching the race, it was a delicious way to start the day. Of course we didn't just drink some swill coffee, we roasted our own Ethiopian beans before leaving and ground them track side in a coffee mill powered by BMW (by way of an inverter).

Salsa Montoya

2 med. Tomatoes
1/2 sm. Red Onion
2 jalapeños
2 cloves Garlic, finely minced
1 sm. handful Cilantro, finely chopped
1/2 Lime

Quarter and remove seeds from both jalapeños. Grill 6 of the 8 quarters until lightly charred, then finely dice all jalapeños, grilled and ungrilled.

Dice tomatoes and onions and combine with jalapeños, garlic, cilantro and the juice of 1/2 lime. Add salt to taste.

Makes 2 cups, 0 points per serving.

It wasn't until after the race had ended that I brought out the big guns - a dinner of jerk chicken and red beans and rice. The jerk chicken is pretty stock (I used an excellent store-bought seasoning mix), but the red beans were an authentic Emeril Lagasse recipe. I modified it to replace the dry beans with canned and halved the recipe for our group. I don't have a picture because we over-stayed our welcome at the track and had to eat a little faster than I'd intended.

Daytona Red Beans and Rice
Closely adapted from this recipe by Emeril Lagasse

1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1/2 cup Onion, diced
1/4 cup Green Pepper, diced
1/4 cup Celery, diced
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Dried Thyme
1 Bay Leaf
1/2 lb. Ham, cubed
1/4 lb. Andouille Sausage, halved and sliced
2 cans Dark Red Kidney Beans
4 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
Water

Heat oil in a pot, and sautée the next six ingredients until translucent and slightly brown. Add ham and sausage and brown. Add remaining ingredients and add enough water to cover the ingredients. Simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Crush half of the beans against the side of the pot and stir. Simmer for another hour, until the whole pot is thickened and gooey, or until the Speedway police come and tell you to pack your stuff up and get the hell out.

Makes 4 servings, approximately 8 points each. Serve over hot white rice (4 points per cup).