Jerry Bonkowski
NBC Sports•Sep 25, 2019, 3:00 PM
Joey Logano has received numerous trophies to put in his trophy cabinet, including last season’s NASCAR Cup championship trophy.
But the latest trophy of sorts is just a bit too large to fit in Logano’s cabinet.
Logano is being celebrated for winning the championship in a unique four-acre corn maze designed by Lyman Orchards in Middlefield, Connecticut – just a short burnout from Logano’s hometown of Middletown, Conn.
The maze says: “Lyman Orchards 2018 NASCAR champion Joey Logano”.
The path through the maze extends for 2 1/2 miles, the same distance as it takes to get around Daytona International Speedway. While it takes less than a minute for Logano to do a lap around Daytona, it takes between 20-40 minutes to get through the corn maze, according to Lyman Orchards.
But unlike Daytona’s tri-oval, the Logano maze has — hold onto your steering wheel for this — over 230 turns!
“But they’re not all left-handed turns,” Lyman Orchards director of marketing Tim Burt pointed out with a chuckle while speaking with NBC Sports. “Just going through the words Joey Logano alone, there’s a lot of turns.”
Lyman Orchards has been building its elaborate corn mazes — some of the largest in New England — for the past 20 years. Among past honorees it has built mazes for include the UConn women’s basketball team, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox and also this year, the 50th anniversary of Sesame Street.
“We like to celebrate local people that have done real well and Joey being the NASCAR champion was one of the places we felt would be a good thing,” Burt said. “Obviously, being a Middletown resident brings that proximity to where we are, he’s literally 10 minutes away.
“We first reached out to Joey’s wife (Brittany) and she said ‘Absolutely.’ Joey’s team got NASCAR on board to allow us to use the NASCAR logo and Joey gave us his permission to use his personal logo as well. Joey and his team have been fabulous to work with.”
Lyman Orchards will donate $1 from each admission to the American Cancer Society. Lyman Orchards has raised over $600,000 for the cancer charity since building its first corn maze in 2000.
“Joey is really involved in the community through the Joey Logano Foundation and we thought it would be a great way to bring awareness to the great work he is doing,” orchard owner John Lyman III said in a statement.
The maze is open Wednesdays through Sundays through November 3. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for kids ages 4-12 and free for kids 3 years of age and under.