There was so much racing history inside this restaurant I wasn’t able to include too much in our post below, but you can check out so much more on our YouTube video here.

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It finally had come, the last morning of our family vacation. We took our time packing up all our stuff and checking out of our hotel. Then we visited a few last souvenir shops before heading back down south to Ponce Inlet where we had spent most of the previous day.

During our drive the day before to the Lighthouse we passed by a restaurant that was right along the highway and on the beach that caught out eye. We tried to visit after the Lighthouse but the place was packed so we thought we would try for an early lunch and even then we had to wait a bit for a table.

Daytona Beach has quite a history when it comes to motorsports and other automotive racing. This place was called Racing’s North Turn Restaurant and it sits on the exact location of the first sanctioned Nascar Stock Car and Motorcycle racing took place from 1948-58.

The parking lot right near the restaurant only had a few spots available, but there was a much larger parking area across the highway but was a bit dicey trying to cross the busy road. This place was like a museum inside with tons of historic pictures, memorability, racing trophies, and even cars both inside and out.

The whole back of the restaurant was completely wide open and you could see the beach and Atlantic ocean not too far away. The exhilarating ocean air always makes for a relaxing eating experience. The food offerings here included plenty of fresh seasons, burgers, and so much more. I opted for some Chicken Tacos which were stuffed with chunks of fried chicken, shredded lettuce and homemade pico salsa then tossed in a supercharged spice sauce. These were a bit messy but so delicious.

I’m a sucker for some good onion rings and order them always anywhere we got that has them on the menu. These were nice big sweet onions with a super crunch but light batter. With a nice ice-cold draft beer to top things off this place made for a really great lunch experience.

Back inside the restaurant, there is a small gift shop near the check-in desk when waiting for a table. In this same area, they had a pretty interesting-looking penny press machine. It had a really striking dark cabinet and a big plexiglass display in the middle showing off the larger inner working of the machine. There seemed to be a lot of extra parts inside but after using the machine I realized it was because this machine supplied the pennies to be pressed. You can see the three storage tubes in the middle and extending up towards the top of the machine. Quite an interesting design. The machine was $1 per press and only took dollar bills, there were no credit card or digital payment options here. Also, the machine was extremely slow to press.

The penny sets available here were all about the area’s racing history. You can see above the designs of a racing motorcycle, the classic 22 race car that could be found out front of the restaurant, a couple classic cards on one coin, and my favorite the restaurant’s logo Racing’s North Turn Bar & Grill.

We paid our tab, headed back across the highway, into our car, and then started heading back home. This wasn’t a long vacation, but we certainly packed it with plenty of things to see and do. My entire family had such a great time and we are already coming up with ideas of where we want to visit next. Thank you for tagging along on our vacation to Daytona Beach, we pressed plenty of pennies and had plenty of fun in the sun. Stay safe and Keep on Pressing!