During his visit to Daytona, EuroNASCAR legend Alon Day was interviewed on the topic of US NASCAR opportunities and the ongoing Israel-Palestine war by Kickin’ the Tires’ Jerry Jordan.
Four-time NASCAR Whelen Euro Series champion Alon Day was placed back into the spotlight after he was seen to be visiting the Daytona International Speedway during last week’s festivities surrounding the Daytona 500 and the Speedweeks.
The visit to the “World Center of Racing” not only allowed Day to meet his former EuroNASCAR colleagues, who are present for their yearly Daytona tour, but he also got the chance to be interviewed by Jerry Jordan from Kickin’ the Tires.
The Israeli remained under the radar throughout 2023, barely appearing in the news after it became apparent that he’s not defending his fourth title last season.
In his exclusive interview with Jordan, Day revealed that his visit to Daytona was made to find opportunities to secure a NASCAR ride in the United States.
He also stated that he is “done with Euro” after winning his fourth title and wants to find “something bigger” for the future, something the series honors by giving Day a farewell present during their meetup at Daytona.
“So I won the 2022 championship but then I never got the ring because of the COVID and everything that happened,” said Day to Kickin’ the Tires. “They gave it to me today, so I feel special today.”
“That’s my fourth championship and I got to the point that I realized I am done with Euro. I need something bigger. I need something better. And obviously, the next natural step will be to come here to the States.”
“It’s kind of hard, but I’m sure I have, you know, a lot to deliver. I’m a road course guy. I’m a road course specialist. I’m coming from Europe. I’m coming from a road course background, GT, endurance, touring car, stock car, everything. And I’m sure I can deliver and bring some good things here and in the race.”
Day also opened up to Jordan and Kickin’ the Tires about his feelings regarding the Israel-Palestine war that has been raging on in his home country for the past few months.
The conflict, which has brought out widespread global protests and a large divide of opinion all over the world, has been tough for Day as he lost some of his friends with some others currently being kidnapped.
Jordan acknowledges that Day’s decision to open up is something that “many might not be willing to share publicly.”
“I’ve seen it firsthand,” said the 33-year old to Kickin’ the Tires. “I think it doesn’t matter how many words I will tell about this story, nothing can express what happened on October 7.”
“Obviously, everybody knows exactly what happened but I used to live in a house in the kibbutz, in a village just next to the border in Gaza and thank God I wasn’t living there at that time. But I knew everybody, all the friends, my neighbors and my friends. And I lost quite a lot of friends.”
“It was tough. Again, I cannot even express what happened. But it was a tough, tough week at the beginning, you know, to go from funeral to funeral to funeral and I have four friends that already (held) for 133 days as hostages in Gaza.”
“There is nothing, it’s more than a human mind can digest. You know what I mean, to think about the fact that we are here, we are at Daytona racing, it’s wonderful and somebody, a civilian, an innocent guy is sitting right now in Gaza surrounded by terrorists and bombings and inside a war. It is something that the human mind cannot even realize.”
Day believes that the war will only end if Hamas is eliminated, but is hopeful that the war will end as soon as possible so that the people in both Israel and Palestine can return to their normal lives.
“There are so many innocent people on both sides that deserve to live a happy life, you know, just a normal life and the fact that a terrorist group is holding function as a government of Gaza, that’s, you know, that’s the issue,” adds Day to Kickin’ the Tires.
“And I think that everything will be over, I hope, I really hope everything will be over when we get rid of Hamas.”
“Before that, Israel was a wonderful country, it is still a wonderful country. Just living life like everybody else, same like here. Thank God, my family is safe.”
“I have a lot of friends fighting in Gaza, trying to do their best to get the hostages back. I think this is the first war in the world that we actually fight underground and above ground at the same time. Hopefully, it will end soon, as soon as possible.”
To hear more about Day’s thoughts in regards to the ongoing Israel-Palestine war, check out Jordan’s interview with Day on Kickin’ the Tires in the links provided here.
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