DAYTONA BEACH — The truck meet that attracted thousands of modified, big-wheeled, jacked up pick-ups to the area got plenty of police attention as officers wrote more than 2,000 citations, made 77 arrests and dealt with 23 crashes throughout the city, officials said on Monday.
The number of citations issued this weekend for the Daytona Truck Meet — this year with organized events at Daytona International Speedway — more than quadrupled over the truck event held in July 2017 at the Ocean Center. Last year residents complained of rude behavior by the visitors, including public drinking and urination, and litter. Volusia County leaders vowed never to host such a group again at the Ocean Center, which runs the convention center.
A total of 2,151 citations were issued Thursday through Sunday, a 381 percent jump, compared to 447 tickets given out over three days in 2017.
"Citations were given out for reasons ranging from equipment failure to careless driving," said Daytona Beach police Chief Craig Capri.
Capri said he was out working with his officers all day Saturday and Saturday night. He said traffic for the event was heavy as there were five to ten thousand trucks in town.
Organizers of the truck event, on their website, dubbed this year's Daytona Beach truck gathering as the largest in the country, saying 15,000 spectators were among the vendors and customized vehicles from around country.
The heavy traffic also led to multiple crashes, mostly rear-endings. A Daytona Beach police officer's unmarked car was also rammed from behind, sustaining extensive damage, Capri said.
"Fortunately there were no injuries reported during the event," Capri said.
According to figures provided by the Daytona Beach Police Department, police also made 13 felony arrests, 64 misdemeanor arrests. It was not immediately known what the nature of these felony and misdemeanor arrests were Monday.
In the tourism realm, some area hotel managers reported disruptions from the event, even as others noted that it brought welcome guests after the rain-plagued Memorial Day weekend.
Disruptions related to the truck event affected the weekend at the 744-room Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort, the area’s largest hotel, said Jim Berkley, the hotel’s general manager.
“Unfortunately, our hotel staff did experience several verbally abusive and profane interactions with truck owners and truck event attendees this past weekend,” Berkley said by email on Monday. “Not painting with a wide brush here, but it seems there are some truck event guests that behave in a discourteous manner unlike other motor vehicle-driven events in town, where those types of negative interactions are quite rare.”
Berkley also was unhappy about the timing of this year’s event.
“I also feel that the truck event organization's selected dates were poorly timed due to falling directly on top of multiple high school graduation ceremonies at the Ocean Center,” Berkley said. “We have seen this now for two consecutive years with this event: the traffic congestion, the extended law enforcement presence and the uncivil antics by some of the truck attendees that accompany this event.
“I can't support the return of this event to our destination at this time,” Berkley said.
A few blocks north on Atlantic Avenue, the truck event created unwelcome problems at the 90-room Daytona Beach Regency, at 400 N. Atlantic Ave. There, issues included profanity, alcohol use, “profane music” blasting from truck sound systems, trucks occupying multiple parking spaces and altercations involving event attendees, said John Betros, the hotel’s general manager.
“The people there for this truck event have a pretty serious disregard for the experience of other guests that are not a part of the event,” Betros said on Monday. “I heard several guests say they will never be back. This is becoming a serious concern.
“I get where we’re all driven by occupancy and revenue, but I’m having a really tough time reconciling revenue versus the long-term impact,” Betros said. “I heard a lot of guests saying that they’ll never be back. ‘We’re going to Clearwater’; ‘I told you we should have gone to Disney World.’ That type of stuff.”
Echoing that sentiment, Bob Davis, president of the Lodging & Hospitality Association of Volusia County, reported on Monday that he had received “tons of complaints” from residents and community leaders.
“It’s not a good event for Daytona Beach,” Davis said. “I don’t know how we do away with it. It’s the type of event that we’ve been trying to get away from, that type of stuff, but we just cannot. “
The response was more positive, however, from Manoj Bhoola, president and chief operating officer at Elite Hospitality in Ormond Beach, which operates two oceanfront hotels in Ormond Beach and three hotels on the mainland in Daytona Beach, close to the airport and Daytona International Speedway.
“The weekend’s truck event gave a necessary business boost to our hotels, especially after a dismal Memorial Day weekend which did not bring in ample families to our area,” Bhoola said by email. “We did not experience any unusual negative disruptions by truck event attendees, and have heard positive remarks from our customers whom filled Daytona One’s stores and area restaurants.”
The truck event also boosted business at hotels owned and managed by Ormond Beach-based Premier Resorts & Management, said Domien Takx, the company’s vice president of operations. Premier properties include Hilton Garden Inn; Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites; Best Western Daytona Inn Seabreeze; and Ocean Breeze Club Hotel, all in Daytona Beach; as well as the Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Daytona Beach Shores.
“All of our oceanfront hotels saw an increase in bookings as a direct result of the Monster Truck Event,” Takx said by email. “It was earlier this year, which helped us, as we typically sell out all weekends in the summer and for us, this past weekend was better due to the event.”
Yet Premier properties also experienced the event’s downside, Takx said.
“Noise complaints and some vandalism accompanied the event,” Takx said. “We believe that the event has merit, and more organized events for the attendees — at the International Speedway, for example — would help. Local police was instrumental in keeping the beach area patrolled.”
This story is developing. Check back for updates.