Each April, Daytona hosts one of the largest Jeep gatherings in the country: Jeep Beach, running ten days in its 2026 edition (April 17–26 as filmed), split between the speedway and the sand itself. It is the beach-driving tradition's modern festival form — thousands of Jeeps, an entire vendor industry, and customs all its own.
The speedway main event
The event's center of gravity is Daytona International Speedway: a huge vendor midway (hundreds of vendors, recovery gear a major shopping category), show fields of builds from preserved CJ7s to a camo Gladiator on 40-inch tires, and the official obstacle course built inside the track — the Jeep Beach film and the News-Journal's footage run it from the fences. The 2021 film catches the community note outsiders miss: when the national anthem plays, the whole midway stops.
The beach itself
Jeep Beach is not only at the speedway. The 2026 film opens on the sand at high tide — morning tides limit how many Jeeps can line the beach early — and the Expedition Portal feature ties the whole story together: the speedway event, the Cracker Ranch off-road course, the Hall of Fame's beach-racing exhibits, and roughly 18 miles of drivable hard-packed beach underneath it all.
Ducking, explained
The custom newcomers ask about: 'ducking' — leaving a rubber duck on a Jeep you admire, a compliment tradition that started in Canada in 2020 and now covers windshields all week. Expect to be ducked.
Sources: the 7 videos on this page, filmed at Jeep Beach in Daytona Beach between 2021 and 2026.
Watch: Jeep Beach, guided
1 videos · summaries from the actual guidesMore Daytona Beach essentials
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