By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
CHULA VISTA, Calif. – The calm before the storm known as NASCAR San Diego Weekend doesn’t begin at the Qualcomm Circuit for Daniel Suarez. Instead, it begins at the K1 Speed in Chula Vista.
Suarez hosted a Daniel’s Amigos event Thursday evening where his fans got together and had an opportunity to interact with the Coca-Cola 600 winner. Plus, two San Diego FC players, Anders Dreyer and Christopher McVey, partook in both a jersey swap and dabbled in go-karts before the night wrapped up.
Whether it’s the Mexican food or Suarez pulling raffle ticket prizes ranging from Universal Studios to Coca-Cola gift items, it was certainly a time for the his legions of fans to spend time together outside the frantic world of racing.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Suarez. “This was the first time we have done this kind of event and I can’t wait to do it again.”
Mexico may have defeated South Korea 1-0 to collect three valuable World Cup points, but it was a footnote on what truly was the competitive contest – running go-karts.
Before running the competition which included the San Diego FC players and the press, including yours truly finishing eighth out of 11 entries, Suarez partook in a jersey swap with Dreyer and McVey.
The soccer duo were given Spire Motorsports crew shirts while Suarez can add another soccer jersey into his collection.
Suarez won the 12-lap event by a single lap. Dreyer finished fourth, with McVey taking home sixth.
Dreyer explained it was a good experience tackling something new that’s outside of his element.
“For me, I love trying stuff like go-karts,” said Dreyer. “It’ll be a nice team event.”
“(Anders) did pretty good,” McVey replied. I was a few spots behind him unfortunately, but maybe I’ll catch up to him next time we go.”
Speaking of next time, when asked about considering running go-karts with his fellow teammates, both agreed that it’ll make for an excellent ice breaker to get away from the madness on the pitch.
“We should come out here as a team and do a go-karting event. That’ll be really fun,” said McVey.
Both agreed that Suarez was simply quick and chilling piloting a go-kart, not even sensing any sweat compared to themselves.
Suarez admitted that he didn’t feel any fatigue in large part of how accustomed he is driving compared to soccer players who have their own athletic approach. Despite showcasing sweat and fatigue for 12 laps, Suarez admires the soccer players which he puts them in strong regard as the most athletic people in the world.
“The thing I was most impressed is these guys are real athletes,” said Suarez. “They’re unbelievable in what they do and their level of fitness (for a soccer player) is as high as it gets. If you saw those guys how tired and sweaty they were after a 10-minute session, I couldn’t believe it.
“I didn’t think I sweat one drop because I’m so used to this. Those guys were worn out. Like, ‘Man, I was hot out there.’
“That tells you how difficult to is to drive a race car and this is just go-kart,” Suarez continued.
“For me, it was a walk in the park and for those guys, they were actually working. It’s kind of funny because I have a lot for everything that these guys do. It’s kind of funny for these guys to come into my world and actually see it’s a little tricky.”
Now, all concentration shifts on the Anduril 250 at Naval Base Coronado with Sunday’s race coverage starting at 4:00 p.m. ET on Prime Video.
Be the first to comment