DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Country music blares from the stereo systems of the team trucks parked in the Winston Cup garage area. Drivers can be seen telling stories, slapping backs, laughing.
A year after the deaths of Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr at Daytona International Speedway put this sport in mourning, there is a sense of calm -- if calm is possible amid dozens of roaring stock car engines.
"I think it goes without saying, that we can all focus more on our jobs and what we've got to do and think about other things without walking around with our hearts hurting all week," said Darrell Waltrip, who spent much of the last Daytona 500 week answering questions about why men race when death can claim them on any front straightaway or around any curve.
"Certainly, up to this point, everything is a lot more laid-back," Waltrip said. "For me, this has been the most enjoyable Daytona I've ever had, and I think a lot of guys feel that way. Last year, even if you felt like talking and laughing, it was not appropriate."
Rusty Wallace, who made an impassioned plea for safety at the drivers meeting preceding last year's twin qualifying races, also spoke of the peacefulness.
"It's a much calmer atmosphere," said Wallace. "There haven't been any problems. It's so quiet. No tire issues. No tragedies. Everything is all systems go."
The 1994 Daytona 500 week had seemed endless because it was filled with so much turmoil. First, there was the tire war that began when the Hoosier company announced it would compete with Goodyear on the Winston Cup circuit. The challenge intensified when little-known rookie Loy Allen used Hoosiers to win the pole for the 500. And the situation turned worrisome because Hoosier tires were on cars driven by Bonnett, Orr and several others involved in serious crashes.
To this day, some think the tire competition may have contributed to the serious nature of the accidents here because the two tire companies were perceived to be pushing the bounds of safety in search of speed.
"We'll never know whether it did or not," said car owner Robert Yates, whose Texaco Havoline Ford is on the pole for Sunday's 500. "But from the moment it was announced that there would be two competing tire companies, it was frightening. And then all the bad stuff happened and it was an 'Oh, my goodness' situation. It created a cloud, a terrible feeling of 'What's going to happen next?' "
But there is much less of that here now. Kyle Petty spent yesterday afternoon sitting on the back of his truck signing autographs, posing for photos, doing interviews, a smile always just a moment away.
"The difference in the atmosphere is that all the talk and all the focus is on racing," said Petty, who, like every other driver this year, will be using Goodyears. "Last year, all the talk and all the focus was on tires. What I'm saying is that that's akin to going to spring training and all the talk and all the focus is on the strike or on the bats or the baseball instead of being on the game itself. Now, here all the focus is on the game. The tires are totally out of the picture. You don't have to worry about cutting a tire or the safety of a tire."
Ernie Irvan, still recovering from an accident at Michigan last season, and Dale Jarrett spent a pleasurable afternoon helping the team tweak Irvan's Havoline Ford for Jarrett, who is "care-taking" the ride for Irvan this season. "What a nice situation," said Jarrett. "We're just here to race, and our biggest concern is who's being caught doing what. And some of that stuff you can laugh about. And even if you can't, it's a whole lot less unsettling than last year.
"There wasn't a person in this garage who didn't respect Neil, and he was a friend to just about everyone," Jarrett added. "There were very few people he hadn't helped somehow, and his loss made it a very difficult two weeks."
Certainly, it was most painful for the Richard Childress/Dale Earnhardt team, which had given Bonnett the car he was driving as a favor to a friend for helping it with its testing program.
Earnhardt, the seven-time Winston Cup champion, considered Bonnett his best friend and dedicated last season's race and championship to him. Even now, Earnhardt isn't over the loss.
After clinching the outside pole for Sunday's 500, the first person he thanked was Bonnett.
"His legacy goes on," Earnhardt said.
Earnhardt's crew chief, Andy Petree, acknowledged yesterday that the team still feels the loss, but he managed a smile and said being at Daytona this week is not the trial it was a year ago.
"We're still without our friend Neil," said Petree. "But we feel better, and we're definitely better able to focus on the car."
Fans will be better able to focus on the teams and the record 18 driver changes that took place in the off-season, changes such as the one that moved last season's pole-sitter, Allen, to the Junior Johnson team. There he had become an afterthought until yesterday's second round of qualifying, when he turned in the top speed of the day, 190.247 mph.
Waltrip, whose Chevrolet is ninth-fastest and who seemed totally relaxed in his trailer yesterday during a rain shower, drew the line when asked if fear had receded to an afterthought.
"I wouldn't say the worry and the fear has disappeared," said Waltrip. "I think every one of us, particularly those of us who have been coming here for a long time and who have seen the good, the bad and the ugly, every one of us knows this place can jump up and bite us any time.
"I think that's the thing about Daytona and the other big tracks these days. You're kind of afraid to be too comfortable, afraid to be too confident, because we know what could happen. So I think we all just walk around cautiously optimistic."
Even at that, Daytona is a much happier place to be.