For the better part of three decades, race fans rolling into Daytona Beach on International Speedway Boulevard knew exactly where they were the moment they saw it: the Ramada Inn Speedway, the friendly two-story motor hotel that sat directly across the street from Daytona International Speedway. This site preserves the hotel's story, its pages, and the Daytona it served. The property no longer operates under this name, and no reservations are taken here — what remains is the record of a great American race-weekend hotel.
Strategically Located in the Heart of Daytona
The hotel's own words, from its very first homepage in 1997, still describe it best: "Strategically located in the heart of the Daytona Beach area, the Ramada Inn Daytona Speedway brings you within minutes of all the city has to offer. Our comfortable rooms and suites, with cable TV, in-room movies, and king or double beds, provide a good night's rest for all that is important the next day — whether it's shopping at the adjacent mall, calling on nearby colleges and businesses, enjoying the NASCAR races at the Daytona International Speedway, or basking in the sun on the World's Most Famous Beach."
That paragraph was not marketing exaggeration. The hotel stood on International Speedway Boulevard (US 92), the great east–west spine of Daytona Beach, with the Daytona International Speedway grandstands literally across the road, the airport runways behind them, and the Volusia Mall next door. Guests could walk to the track on race morning while everyone else idled in traffic.
A Hotel Built Around Race Weekends
Daytona Beach calls itself the World Center of Racing, and the Ramada Inn Speedway lived on that calendar. February brought Speedweeks and the Daytona 500. March brought Bike Week and hundreds of thousands of motorcycles. July brought the summer 400-mile night race. Fall brought Biketoberfest and the Turkey Rod Run classic-car weekend. The hotel's historical rate cards read like a racing almanac — six-night minimums for the 500, sold-out notations stamped across Bike Week, karting rates between Christmas and New Year's.
In between race weekends it was a different hotel entirely: golfers chasing package tee times on a dozen area courses, families breaking up the drive to the theme parks, parents visiting students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University a mile away, and business travelers working the US 92 corridor.
127 Rooms, a Tropical Courtyard, and a Chicago-Style Grill
The property offered 127 rooms and suites arranged around a palm-shaded outdoor pool and courtyard — the kind of honest, sun-bleached Florida motor-hotel comfort that's getting harder to find. A national-chain Chicago-style bar & grill operated inside the hotel from early breakfast until 1 a.m., the Daytona Room and Board Room hosted everything from sales meetings to race-team debriefs, and a complimentary shuttle ran guests to and from Daytona Beach International Airport.
A 2008 top-to-bottom renovation brought duvet bedding, free Wi-Fi in every room, and upgraded baths — and earned the property recognition among the top ten percent of hotels in its brand. Guests noticed: the guestbook preserved on this site is full of repeat visitors who came back year after year.
Explore the Archive
- Attractions — the Speedway, Speedweeks, Bike Week, the beach, and everything within a few miles
- Rooms — king rooms, double rooms, and the full amenities list as guests found it
- Historical Rates — what a race weekend actually cost, 1997–2003
- Gallery — the pool deck, the rooms, and the racing life around the hotel
- News Archive — renovations, awards, and host-hotel announcements
- Supercross — the hotel's years as host hotel for Daytona Beach supercross events
For today's visitor information about the area, the official Daytona Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau remains the best starting point. This site is a historical archive; it looks back, not forward.