Alon Day celebrates a historic podium at Lime Rock after he spent a long time to even get to the US, which included a 30 hour-long trip in the sea.
EuroNASCAR legend Alon Day achieved his greatest American success to date in NASCAR’s inaugural race weekend at the historic Lime Rock Park.
Day received a chance to compete for Venturini Motorsports, one of the powerhouse teams in the ARCA Menards Series. It was the Israeli’s first top ride in the United States and he took the opportunity with both hands.
The weekend started strong for Day, who qualified his No. 25 JSSI Toyota in fourth place. Race start was frantic for the four-time EuroNASCAR champion, who had to avoid the spinning No. 70 TGR Toyota of Thomas Annunziata after Annunziata got spun around by Lawless Alan.
Day began to lead the race by lap 16 of the 68-lap race. Day led until the halfway mark, where the race was temporarily stopped for a mid-race break.
ARCA is one of the few racing championships to institute a mid-race break in its race format. Live pit stops are prohibitively expensive for the majority of ARCA teams, who lack the money to sign professional pit crews.
As a result, this break gave them an opportunity to service their car without having to worry about losing too much time to the better funded teams.
As is customary for pit stops, drivers must do one in-lap before they enter the pits. Unfortunately, a miscommunication with the Venturini team members resulted in Day accidentally staying out for an extra lap.
This resulted in a back-to-the-pack penalty for Day when the race was restarted. Restarting in 11th was not the worst that could happen, but it still meant a lot of work for the Israeli driver to do for the remainder of the race.
Day passed his rivals one by one as the laps ticked by. By lap 66, Day was back to second place, only behind the driver who started from pole: Annunziata.
However, in the end Day ran out of laps to catch Annunziata, who held onto first position all the way to the checkered flag – Annunziata’s first win in either NASCAR or ARCA.
“I need better English I guess!” said Day in the post-race interview. “It’s hard to swallow. I really wanted that victory today, I felt it in my hands. I’m so sorry for everybody, I did what I could.”
“It was a hard journey [to America], and I wanted to get a win. The JSSI car was so quick and I’m thankful for the opportunity they gave me to compete here on American soil. I love racing in America. The Venturini guys did an amazing job!”
“Hard journey” is certainly an understatement, as Day had a mountain to climb to achieve this ARCA podium – both figuratively and literally.
Figuratively, this is Day’s first top ride since the end of his PK Carsport driving days in 2022. Opportunities with teams like Alpha Prime in Xfinity to progress his career was important, but it was frankly nothing when compared to the Venturini machine that Day drove at Lime Rock.
In a literal sense, Day had to risk his life in order to even reach the USA. Jim Utter, writing for Catchfence, sums up Day’s journey in two sentences.
“Nothing – absolutely nothing – was going to stand in the way of Alon Day’s best opportunity to find success racing in America. But little did he know to do that may mean literally risking his life,” wrote Utter.
Utter wrote that Day was originally scheduled to arrive 10 days before the race. However, Israel’s recent missile attacks on Iran – which prompted a counterattack from Iran – shut down air traffic for any commercial airlines operating in the region.
Day was left with two options to go out of Israel: By land or by sea. Naturally, each option possessed its own risk, perhaps more so for the former.
“I thought about going into Egypt [by land], going into Jordan,” said Day to Catchfence. “But I’m an Israeli and I’m Jewish. In those countries, even though we’re in a peace agreement, it’s uncomfortable to go there, especially when we are in the middle of a war.”
Neil Book – chairman and CEO of Day’s sponsor JSSI – acted quickly and looked for options to get his driver to the States. At first, Book considered getting Day on board a cargo ship heading to Egypt’s capital of Cairo.
Day then found another option: A private pleasure boat heading to Cyprus. Despite the name, this boat ride was less than pleasant.
For one, the trip took 30 hours to complete. Day also had to go alone, leaving him at risk of having anything happen to him.
It is, however, the fastest way for Day to get to the US. In the end, Day chose this option.
“Never. Again,” said Day about this boat trip. “It was a rough trip. I’m not kidding.”
Utter wrote that “the sea conditions were so bad most of the time” that simply looking at his phone “would make Day sick to his stomach.”
“The sea was rough, like the waves were extremely high,” Day recalled. “But I could not give up on the race in Lime Rock and to race in Sonoma. I just couldn’t give up.”
“Finally, I have a good team. I have good sponsors. Everything I need around me. So, I felt like I must. “It didn’t really matter. I will do anything I can.”
In spite of this arduous journey, both Day and Book are thrilled to be able to do this one-of-a-kind campaign with Venturini that could see Day finally achieve his dream of going full-time in the United States.
“I think it just makes me more motivated,” said Day to Catchfence. “You know, you can’t stop thinking about everything. My family is back there. My wife is there. My phone is ringing every time there is a siren going off in Israel.”
“Even here in the States, I can’t go to sleep completely peacefully because I know that there is a chance that the missile will land on my house in Israel.”
“It’s hard, but this has also motivated me more because I want to succeed. I want to justify this whole campaign that we’re doing here.”
“The key role of a CEO is to identify talent and give people an opportunity to be the most successful versions of themselves and to excel,” Book said to Catchfence.
“Alon has a heart of a true champion, who spoke openly about the world and I respect his willingness to show leadership. I knew if I surround him with the right team and equipment, there’s nothing he can’t do.”
“With Alon’s coming to race in the U.S. straight from the bomb shelter, his mere being on the track is a victory. I can’t be more excited for the upcoming season for him because I know he’s going to take the racing world by surprise.”
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.