The Cup race - Supporting Carl, from Pole winner, and race leader, to the garage

Sunday November 11th

They say it's always fastest just before it blows...sadly, on this day, it was true.

Sunday morning, in order to beat the worst of the traffic, we headed back to the track bright and early again.

Pulling into the hospitality parking, Anne and her Mom chose to hang out at the truck while LeadfootRN and I decided to explore the souvenir haulers, which we had not explored in-depth at this point yet.

Eventually we headed down to pit lane, where the Cup teams were starting to set up their pit stalls. Heading up to the overlook of the Cup garage, we spent about 90 minutes just taking in the preparations, snapping pics and video and just enjoying the view of the garage activity.

A little later we retired to a table behind pit lane to sit and people watch, and relax…I headed onto pit lane, and down towards turn one, knowing that that’s where the 99 team would be setting up. They were, but unfortunately that end of pit lane was off-limits to the fans, so I had to settle for snapping some pictures.

Returning to where LeadfootRN was relaxing, we finally headed back across the track, as they were allowing fans to enter and exit that way as no cars were on the track, and after a few more pics, we headed out to the Speed Stage to meet up with Anne and her Mom for one last attempt at getting the Edhead banner on TV on Raceday.

This was trickier due to the TV camera angles that required we stand at the back of the crowd and select our spot according to the landmarks behind the guys on screen, but eventually we succeeded, and LeadfootRN squeezed up to the front of the crowd and snapped this pic of the banner from the stage area:


After this successful foray, for the final time, we headed to our seats, but Anne and I decided once more to put the banner on display during Driver Intros, and found a spot along the fence towards turn one.

We had quite a while to wait, with Carl being on the pole, and the last driver introduced, but finally, success…we got a big grin and a thumbs up when he saw us with the banner as he went by…here, he waves, seconds before the thumbs up:
Packing up the banner for the final time, and retreating to our seats, we settled in for what we hoped would be an AWESOME race.

And for Hendrick fans, it was. As for me, a Diehard Edhead, the AWESOME part ended after 80 or so laps, when Carl, in the race-leading car, suddenly reported the engine was blowing up…it’s so sad that often the car is fastest just before it blows. Not wanting to fully blow up and lay oil all over the track, possibly ruining another driver and team’s day, Carl pulled in to the garage so the team could look at it and see if there was anything they could do:

20 laps later, I had recovered from my disappointment, and was avidly rooting for Clint Bowyer to get the win, but it was not to be, and we headed out when it was obvious Jimmie Johnson was going to win yet again, for the 4th race in a row.

All in all, it was a great race weekend, and I can’t wait until next year, when I get to do my race season all over again!

Busch Race Day - Hikes, Cakes, and Rattlesnakes

Saturday, November 10th

Bright and early Saturday morning Anne picked us up and we headed in the VIP way to the track. PIR has this cool VIP parking for those who purchase Fan Hospitality, which Anne had, and as such we were back in that primo spot we parked in last spring, not nearly the hike of the day before when LeadfootRN and I arrived by ourselves.

Now I had had some issues purchasing our Cup tickets from a NASCAR tour holder who had extras…as I purchased them immediately after moving from LA to San Diego, I had not yet changed my billing address on my credit card…by the time I realized that they were shipping to my CREDIT CARD address, where I no longer resided, it was when they e-mailed me a copy of the Fed Ex label, and the tickets had already been sent to LA. With my past issues of tickets getting lost in the LA UPS area, this made me even more nervous than just they were being sent to my old address. What would we do if that black hole sucked these tickets up, too.

After much e-mailing and phone calling, this issue was sorted out, but not in time for me to receive the tickets before leaving for the races, so the plan was for them to be left at Will Call by the time of the Busch race Saturday, as the tour operator would be arriving at the track with her tour group that day. So that was on my agenda.

But FIRST, pit lane…LeadfootRN, Anne and her Mom headed down there, while I headed for the Official Nascar Member’s Club tent to sign in for my 10am garage tour. Then I headed out to meet Paige at the entrance to the tunnel, to help her with a cake and gift basket being sent to the 60 crew by some fans in celebration of their clinching the Busch Championship the week before.

We arrived there at the same time, then headed up to “Rattlesnake Hill” in turn 3-4 where the gal that got the cake with Paige was setting up for the race day with their family, to pick up the cake and gift basket. As it was a good-sized cake, there was no way Paige could get it and the basket down to the garage without some help, and I was glad to help.

After finding the camp site, and a bit of a chat, we headed back down the hill, but not before admiring the view from up there. They may be “cheap seats” with no access to the fan area inside the gates, but the view is of the entire track, and if you don’t mind being on the lookout for rattlesnakes, it’s a great deal!

Venturing back down the hill, we hopped on the tram to the infield because there was no way my arms, carrying the cake, would hold out for the trek, but fortunately at this time of the morning the tram was not yet busy, and it dropped us off right beside the Busch garage, so it was simple to head to the garage entrance in the hopes of flagging one of the 60 guys (or better yet, PK!) down to deliver them.

We were exceedingly lucky, as just as we arrived, and set the cake down on a table there, one of the 60 crew came by…followed closely by PK!!!

So we congratulated them on the championship, and snapped a few pics of PK with the cake:

The pit crew member showed his gratitude by grabbing a Nerf football out of the basket with something that appeared to be glee. It’s nice to know they appreciate the things the fans do to show their appreciation of them.

Leaving Paige there, I hopped back onto the tram and headed out to the ONMC tent to gather with my group for the tour. I don’t know why they wouldn’t just let me meet them down there, and 20/20 hindsight it would have been a good idea, as the trip back into the infield, crammed on 3 big golf carts, was like a race at Darlington…in that one of the golf carts blew a tire, so we ended up squeezing onto the 2 remaining carts. At least it could have happened while we were in there, where there were plenty of people experienced in changing tires!! LOL

Arriving at the Cup garage, we entered the coolest place on earth, as Matt, our guide called it, and having had only limited access through such tours myself, I had to agree.

Wandering through, we saw teams in garages and just on the grounds (the “field fillers” who don’t get a garage, because of limited garage space) tuning up their cars and going through inspection in preparation for further practice that day.

Sterling Marlin and Johnny Sauter were 2 of the drivers we saw in the garage, but I paid for the luxury of a garage tour by missing Carl’s Busch qualifying run (qualifying was going on at this time) and his interview, done right in front of LeadfootRN, Anne and her Mom, and his signing…and THIS time he signed LeadfootRN’s standard-issue NASCAR hat, so she was pleased.

But all I got to see of him was a smile and a wave as he ran by us in the garage, on the way to his RV in the driver’s RV lot behind the garage.

Thank goodness for friends with cameras, as at least I got to see some pics:
Seeing the COT “claw” that replaces the multiple body templates used to measure the old cars in the inspection process was cool, and the various garage stalls, where teams were hard at work tweaking the cars for practice:



Winding up our tour, we gathered for a group shot in front of the garage exit to the track, then split up.

I left them there, not wanting to put added stress on the 2 remaining golf carts and not seeing the need to ride back out, only to turn around and ride back in on the tram, and headed out to pit lane to join my friends at the primo spot for the remainder of Busch qualifying.

As I walked down to their spot, I missed a great shot of Jamie McMurray, running down pit lane to make his Busch qualifying run, but stopping to goose an unfortunate Nascar official who had paused to bend down for something…it was so hilarious to see that I was still chuckling when I joined the gals. Paige eventually showed up, and we hung out for a while, then we split up again, as I was sadly short of shots and wanted to hang around down there for practice…Anne and her Mom headed to their hospitality experience, and LeadfootRN, footweary after standing around for several hours, headed into the stands to relax and watch practice from our seats.

I went down the walkway in front of the Cup garage to snap some pics of the cars coming in off the track to the garage to tweak before going back out, but unfortunately, even with the scanner tuned in to their frequency, I missed the 99 coming in…and they spent so long in the garage, then out on track again, that I got tired of standing there and headed out of the track, realizing there was just a short time until the race started, and I had to get down to the Will Call office in turn one (the opposite end of the track from the tunnel in) to pick up our Cup tickets.

Satisfied to finally to have our Cup tickets in hand, I headed in to the stands…Anne and I met with the Edhead banner to the turn 1 side of the Driver Intro stage to hold it up as Carl rode by on the truck…only to realize they weren’t DOING the driver ride-bys for the Busch race. Disappointing, but probably a result of the tight schedule, with both Busch qualifying and Cup final practice crammed in before the race. So we headed up to our seats to enjoy the race.

Mind you, it had to have hit 90 degrees by this time, and when we arrived at our seats, we found a very hot LeadfootRN, who had been sitting there in the sun, chugging water, for several hours, as there were so many stairs up to our seats that she had vowed she wasn’t going to go down and return to the seats…as the race progressed, the heat got to be too much for her, so I gave her my Fanscan, which I had rented out of curiousity, but had found not to be something I was a fan of, and she headed down to the seats beneath the stands to cool off, still able to watch the race on the Fanscan. It’s a cool toy, but I find it unnecessary. LeadfootRN, the electronics addict she is, absolutely loved it, and swore she would own one before she attended another race. Well, at least there was one satisfied coustomer.

I did find out that sitting towards turn 4 at Phoenix, as with many tracks, was not conducive to snapping pics down the frontstretch, due to the glare of the sun as it descended towards turn 1 and 2, so most of my pics are of the cars in turn 4 and coming onto pit lane.

Carl had a decent day, so we left that night satisfied with our full day of race-going. LeadfootRN, despite applying and re-applying sunscreen, ended up being slightly crispy, but happy. We headed back to the hotel to rest up for the next day…the Cup race!!

PIR - Over hill and dale, dodging tumbleweeds, and the Blimp...doesn't soar?

Nov. 9-11, 2007
En route to PIR for the fall race weekend, I had driven up from San Diego to the Palm Springs home of my friend LeadfootRN, Thursday night…the trip up there was fine, although driving through mountains in the dark is not my favorite thing, especially in company of a bunch of big trucks, but it was otherwise uneventful, and Friday morning we headed out bright and early for Phoenix.

Now, as my friend’s nickname might indicate, since she was driving, we made AWESOME time, and arrived at the track in plenty of time to Truck qualifying, and later Cup qualifying, with only a few narrow misses…fortunately, when we passed police officers on the road, we were stuck at traffic speed.

On the way down Avondale Blvd to the track, we saw a symbol that anyone who is familiar with Nascar is immediately recognizable, although at this point, it was in a slightly different perspective than we usually see it:

Now PIR pit access is an AWESOME experience, even for those who have had access at other tracks. As I had been to the track in the spring and it was LeadfootRN’s first time at PIR, I knew exactly where to take her for up close and personal mingling with the drivers and crews. When they emerged from the garage or took the shortest route back TO the garage, they had to walk by one area where quick fans could be on the front line.

We were pretty quick. The hike into the infield was a bit much for her long-time RN knees, but once we got there, she quickly forgot her discomfort. And me, in a blonde moment, I kinda forgot to mention that there was a tram…

LeadfootRN’s Tony Stewart hat was quickly filled by autographs of truck and Cup drivers returning from or heading out to their qualifying runs, as did my camera card, of pics of the same…most had no problem signing the hat, even if it was not their souvenir, but a few balked (even my fav, Carl Edwards, who seemed to have no interest in signing a Tony Stewart hat…hmmm, I wonder why that is???), so on the way out of the track later that evening, LeadfootRN’s goal was to pick up a standard NASCAR hat for the next day.

As qualifying ended and the officials started shooing fans off pit lane, we walked out to pit lane, supposedly to cross the track to the stairs, rather than trek all the way around again, but a crowd gathering to the side distracted us. Quick thinking and politeness soon found us standing in that crowd, gathering in front of the Bud Pole Award banner, awaiting the Pole winner…Carl Edwards!!! I saw his mother, Nancy, and greeted her with the enthusiastic applause of a fan happy for her driver, then we quietly settled in to the crowd to wait, not drawing attention to ourselves in the hopes of grabbing a few shots of Carl as he posed for his award.

Then it was on out to the Speed Stage for Trackside, where we planned to get the Edhead banner on TV for the final times this year…it would be sent back to another Leadfoot after Homestead, and she planned to send it to Carl for his memories, as he had seen it several times throughout the season at the track; we Edheads did our best to let him know we supported him with it.

In the Trackside crowd, I met up with a long-time friend from another message board, a friend whose wife and son I had met before, but I had not met him in person before. He’s my computer guru, and despite being a Jeff Gordon fan, a pretty good guy.

Then Anne and her Mom, Paige, Julie, LeadfootRN and I all gathered as close to the stage as possible and got the banner on Trackside several times…although I personally never saw it on the telecast, because for whatever reason my DVR chose not to record it, despite it being scheduled…Go figure!!

Karen16 snapped this pic of the banner in the crowd:

Tired from our first long day, we headed out to find our hotel, and dinner, and settled in to rest up for the next day, an entire day on pit lane. Where ELSE would we be?!

Saturday September 8th. Nascar Nurse has a coronary, and Elvis is in the…Pit Lane??

Saturday, Anne’s flight arrived promptly by 10am, so I picked her up and we headed off to the track to get a decent parking spot. Another side trip to Subway and we had a nice lunch when we got there.

After eating and resting a bit, we decided to head in to explore the souvenir area, spend some money, and sign in at the Official Nascar Members Club, verifying we were here and ready to join the crowd for the post-race Chaser celebration in Victory Lane after the race. We were both looking forward to it, even though I had attended enough of these “special events” by now to know that they are often not as fun as we think they will be when we sign up for them. We can imagine all SORTS of great scenarios when given a chance at inside access that often the reality falls short of. However, no matter what, it was going to be cool to get to be down there while the 12 Chase Contenders are interviewed post-race.

Collecting up my things, I suddenly realized that my tickets, in their lanyard, were missing!

A horrible sinking feeling arose that maybe I hadn’t been careful with them when I got out of the car at Subway, and even that while we were relaxing and chatting with our neighbors in the parking lot at the track, someone had grabbed them off the seat of the car.

All sorts of plans were going through my head, including throwing myself on the mercy of the gals at Will Call, to be sure they would at least give me my pit pass, and buying whatever crappy ticket was left over for the race from a scalper, then sneaking up to find out who was sitting in my seat….to giving up our primo parking spot near (at least not a 3 mile hike) the gates in order to go back to Subway, hoping and praying if they fell out there, they still were….

We tore that car apart 3 times…but for some reason, the third time, Anne looked under the passenger seat…and there they were!!! I guess neither of us looked in that one spot. It’s always the last place you look…which makes sense, because if you found it in the FIRST place you looked, and kept looking, you’d seem a touch…off…

WHEW! Coronary averted!!! Had we NOT found them, I would have strapped MYSELF to the defibrillator!!!

Off to the track, where we said Hi to Mark and the gals at the souvenir hauler, and I waved at Randy as he walked by…of course, he had no idea who I was, but as you’ll see by my pics, I spotted him SEVERAL times this weekend.

Of course, being the pit lane addicts Anne and I are, we headed down there as soon as it opened, just hanging around, seeing the sites. We chatted with some of the pit crew guys, including John, who was having a heckuva hose issue…LOL
People at Nascar races are usually very friendly, and this day was no different. We met all sorts of people down on pit lane, and not just fans…Richmond is not far from Charlotte, where most race shops are, and crews and family tend to live around there, so I wasn’t too surprised to meet a few crew family members who had come up for the weekend, making time to be with their spouses or family members who they must not see very often, as many have “day jobs” during the week, then are gone all weekend, 38 weeks of the year.

The most…interesting…person we saw was…Elvis. Leading a pit tour!! Elvis is NOT dead…he’s just following the NASCAR circuit!! As he headed straight for the #8 pit stall, I suspect his presence had something to do with the fact that his face was plastered all over the #8 car that weekend. But he definitely was NOT camera-shy! I snapped a couple of pics for our Elvis-crazy Brandi, who was not on pit lane…what a day for her to not have a pit pass!! Before long the cars started being rolled through inspection and out onto pit lane, so Anne and I took up position near where they came out and snapped away…looking impatiently for the 99 car and crew.

Applause broke out along pit lane as the 31 car, proudly adorned with the AT&T logo across the hood, came on to pit lane...the car had started the race weekend with a blank orange hood, a result of the on-going battle between Sprint-Nextel and AT&T/Cingular over AT&T's right to have THEIR logo on the hood of the car they inherited when they bought out Cingular:

Sadly, getting up-close shots of the 99 car and it's crew was not to be. After several hours on pit lane, our water gone, the sun hot, we finally had to give up, after going down to see if the 99 car and crew was even close to coming through inspection…which they weren’t. We HAD to get out of the heat, or suffer the fate of hapless race fans every hot race weekend…heatstroke!!

So we headed to the hospitality area, and wonderful shade…watching the workers in the structure, with their cool fans, still fanning themselves, I wanted to say “You don’t KNOW hot!”, but as they were slaving over chafing dishes full of hot food, working, while we could sit and cool off, I decided that would be unwise. I guess I get mean when I’m overheated!!!

After a while sitting in the blessed cool, a little food, and a lot of cold beverages, we felt ready to head back out into the heat.

We found our seats, right at the start/finish line, easily enough, but almost had to CLIMB over bodies to get to them, as Daughtry was playing right in front of us. Not being an American Idol fan, or whatever, I didn’t know who the group was, but I recognized the songs, and picked it up later during my vacation…another Daughtry CD sold!!

After the concert, and people thinned out considerably, and we settled in to watch the pre-race festivities.

Unfortunately, our primo seats were NOT primo for driver intros…rather than move out the Daughtry stage, or use the same one, right in front of us at the start/finish line, they set up the standard Driver Intro stage down closer to turn 4…so we didn’t have a great view for that. But we made do.

As the race started and went on, it became apparent that Carl had a strong car…way to go Bob and crew!! BUT…sadly, we suddenly heard Carl over our scanners saying the engine was going, and the following troubleshooting session was almost more painful, because then we had hope that it might be something electrical, something they could fix and keep going with…but that big puff of white smoke across the track in turn 3 dashed our hopes.

After the requisite mourning period (you HAVE to mourn when your driver’s engine goes south!!), I turned back to the action…joking with the gals via text message that now that I’d lost my red flag virginity during the Busch race the night before, I had now, experiencing 2 more red flags during the course of the race, become a red flag HUSSY!!! LOL

Eventually, it was time to join the ONMC crowd down by the tunnel, as the laps wound down, in preparation for our trek into the infield and eventually out by the Victory Lane/Chaser stage. Even with my knowledge that we would likely be packed in and not have a front-on view (that would be reserved for the press…Anne and I SHOULD have flashed our CCN press/photo passes, I guess!) I was excited…and sure enough, despite some prime views of most of the Chasers, who came over and interacted with us (Carl even faked a stage dive!! LOL) for the actual shots of the group we were sadly out of view…BUT, when they cracked open the champagne and turned it on us, the fans to the side, as well as the Victory Lane guys filming on the other side of the stage (and the press, who were mostly out of reach of the champagne) I happened to be mid-shot of what I COULD see…and got an amazing shot, albeit blurry: Finally, tired but happy (mostly) with our race weekend experience, we headed out when it was apparent that the drivers were all leaving, so there was nothing else to see…

Back in the car, the traffic had thinned a bit, but was still pretty heavy once you got out on the road. I put my experience of the night before into good use, and managed to get into the lane that, after the Busch race, would have had us going straight down the road to our hotel….

And was disappointed to find that, even with the foresight of the night before, this time, with the bigger Cup race crowd, that lane, too, was directed north instead of south…so we once again were headed the wrong way.

This time, though, I knew which exit to take on the interstate to go the fastest way, NOT back by the race track, down to our hotel.

The moral of the story: NEVER expect that you’ve finally figured out race traffic, because it WILL change! LOL

Back at the hotel, we were still on a race weekend high, even though Anne had to head to the airport in a few hours, so we chatted and watched some of the coverage on TV…and before we knew it, we woke up and it was time for Anne to go.

The rest of my race weekend was pretty quiet. As I was bound for Toronto, home to my family on Monday, once I woke up Sunday afternoon, refreshed, I made a quick call to the airlines just in case there was a late flight out I could get instead, but they were all booked up…so I lazed around the rest of the day. Not a bad end to a race weekend!

Friday, September 7, 2007…Elvis hunting, PK stalking, and Official harassing.

Pit lane!!! AHHH!!! I love it!!! I arrived before noon, wanting to get as much time as possible down there…this was the day that was best to get on pit lane, as Richmond International Raceway allows fans to remain on pit lane during the practices and qualifying.

I headed down after a quick lunch at my vehicle (O-kay, so Subway no longer sponsors a Roush Fenway vehicle, but it’s still my favorite lunch to start a racetrack day with!!), in time for the first Busch practice and Cup practice.

When practice was over, I left pit lane for a short while to say hi to the folks at the souvenir hauler, then headed to the Speed stage for Trackside. Being the lone Edhead there, I couldn’t manhandle the banner by myself, but did draw up a sign from the poster board they supplied “All yours, Babe!! 99 Champ” was caught by the camera once, as was the “Proud Edhead” reverse in the crowd shots. Mission accomplished, and I got to see Greg Biffle interviewed as a bonus.

Back down on pit lane, I delivered a goodie bag from the Carl Edwards Diehards to the 60 crew, who were already set up in a pit stall on pit lane. Having not heard from the others yet (they weren’t going to be there as early as I was) I planted myself on the pit wall to watch Busch qualifying, right by the 60 stall. Primo spot, especially after I had been sitting up the way for a while to watch practice.

Unlike pit passes at other tracks, here we pit lane addicts got to see the cars and drivers as they came down pit lane for Busch qualifying…many of the drivers were, unfortunately, already sitting in their cars by the time they got that far down pit lane (Carl was), but I saw Stephen Wallace (who was riding on the tool cart, pulled by his team…I pointed this out to the girl next to me, saying “At least he could HELP the guys push the car!!” to which she responded with “They probably don’t want to risk his wrecking it already!!” LMAO!!!), Scott Wimmer, David Ragan (whom I felt like I was stalking…every time I turned around, there he was!!), Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Brian Vickers, JJ Yeley, Ryan Newman, and of course I saw a lot of Jack Roush, too…he seemed to be all over the place. When Busch qualifying was over, they had already rolled quite a few cars out onto pit lane for Cup qualifying, but as the Busch teams now needed to set up in their pit stalls (where we were sitting) they started shooing us back behind the pit stall lines, so I lost my primo spot. I ALMOST asked the 60 guys if I could borrow a chunk of their wall, but they had work to do, didn’t need to be trying to work around me.

By this time, I FINALLY found Brandi, Pam and Kristina, who reported they had been stalking PK!!! I had been down there all that time and never once saw him…go figure!! We chatted with one of the officials, who Pam tried to con into making sure the 29 team had some “missing lugnuts” during the Busch race necessitating their coming back in (he, of course, declined!) and he introduced us to the flagman, who just happened to be walking by at that time, flags and all. They were both very nice, but the original official declined to take a picture of the group of us, saying he would get in trouble if he were caught taking pictures…then laughingly joined us IN a picture. That one must be on someone else’s camera, because I remember it, but don’t have it…Pam?

After stalking Marty Smith a bit...o-kay, Pam was, because the man would NOT stand still for her to take a pic (for me, he practically posed!!! LOL), Brandi then resumed her mission to find the #8 Elvis car, and we set her up right across from where the cars were coming out of inspection….and I, at this point having been on pit lane or somewhere in the sun for most of the afternoon, chose rather than staying down there in the heat and further dehydrating myself (my water had long since been consumed) through Cup qualifying, to head out to get some food and find some shade for a while. That’s the ONLY think pit lanes around the country sadly lack…shade!! By this point I was pretty sure that if I didn’t sit in the shade for a while, I was going to melt into a puddle.

After a trip to cool off in the hospitality area, I climbed into the stands just In time for Carl’s qualifying lap (in time, actually, to watch the late 99 car and team, who must have been put on the 5 minute clock when delayed going through inspection, because they were BOOKIN’ it, pushing that car down pit lane, several other cars having already gone in Carl’s stead…) Carl was already in the car, ready to go, so I watched his qualifying run (SECOND!!! Good enough for a 6th place starting place by the time all of them qualified) from the stands, then grabbed some food and relaxed. And tried not to pay attention to mental images that kept flitting through my mind of Brandi tossing herself on the hood of the Elvis car as it finally came through inspection…I didn’t see her on the car when it lined up on pit lane, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t been there!! LOL

By Busch race time, I was fully rehydrated and ready for a race.

I’m not sure, but I think this was the first time I have ever experienced a Red flag live, so I joked with Brandi, Pam and Kristina that I had lost my red flag viginity…this joke would carry over to the Cup race.

After a long day at the track during which the only time I spotted Carl was as he rolled by me in the car either in practice or on his way to qualifying, I headed back to my hotel with only one detour…had I been one lane over, I would have been in the traffic that was directed straight down the road my hotel was on, but of course I was not, and ended up circling the north part of Richmond on interstates I am well familiar with after living in Virginia last year…I didn’t need to see them again late at night, when I was tired and just wanted to go to sleep!! Since my hotel was in SOUTHERN Richmond, this was frustrating…especially since this route took me RIGHT back by the racetrack on I-95 before I finally got there…UGH!

At least now I knew which lane to be in after the Cup race Saturday night. Right??

Thursday September 6, 2007…Relaxation, and a few good Edheads Support…Tony Raines????

My plane had arrived in Richmond late Wednesday night, I’d come early on the off chance that perhaps Carl would be doing a signing somewhere Thursday, as he had last year. Sadly, with his crazy schedule, there was none, although I can’t begrudge him a little down time, if he got any that day.

After catching up on my sleep (working nights meant I had had to stay up all day Wednesday, when I should have been sleeping, in order to get a flight to Richmond that day, the OTHER reason why I flew in Wednesday instead of Thursday…gotta get my beauty sleep before I sweat off pounds on pit lane Friday!!) and picking up my rental car (when they said they were out of Ford Fusions, I said “Anything but a Chevy!” in support of my Ford guys…and was given…a TOYOTA!!! Oh well!!) I did a bit of shopping, and then met up with Brandi and Pam at the Short Pump Mall to attend Tony Raines’ signing.

We felt, as good Edheads concerned with the betterment of society, that it was our duty to try to cheer up this man who had just been told he would NOT be in the 96 car next season, making room for JJ Yeley, that he MIGHT be a bit blue at still having to support a sponsor that didn’t want him. So we went to his signing “incognito”, as he didn’t need to know that we weren’t particularly fans of his.

The first time through the line, we got some pics with him, then it occurred to us we should see about getting a pic with the 3 of us with him. As the line wasn’t very long, we got into line again, and then asked him if this would be o-kay. He said sure, so we went around the table and one of the workers took our cameras to get pics.

By the second pic, it was obvious to us that he WASN’T a happy man, so Pam decided to do something about it…she said “Come on, SMILE!!” and tickled him, saying “Coochie, coochie, coo!!” which busted up ALL present up, even Tony.

Mission accomplished!!!

After taking some pics with the show car outside (and talking to a lady there who we suspected after the fact might have been Tony’s wife…and we had related that Pam had “Coochie cooed” him inside, to which she responded “I do that all the time!!” LOL), we headed off to dinner. BTW, the fact that my “Incognito” shirt actually perfectly matched the 96 car paint scheme was purely unplanned.

Then we hunted Kristina down, who was chatting with some co-workers, and split up, intending on meeting up on pit lane Friday.

The Brickyard 400 2007

No offense to AllState, or any sponsor that puts in that kind of money to sponsor a race, but it will ALWAYS be the Brickyard 400 to me!!

And I learned something new this weekend…it was Dale Jarrett who started the “kissing the bricks” when he won the race a few years back. I did not know that. I hope some other important piece of information doesn’t get shoved out of my head by that little bit of trivia. Hmmm, where did I put my apartment keys when I left home?? Uh oh!!

As is our practice, we headed to the track bright and early at 7am so as to beat some of the traffic, and score a decent parking spot. Our hotel this year was down towards the south end of town, allowing us to skip getting on any interstate anywhere to get to the track…it was all surface streets to the track, a route we had plotted out during our errands on Friday.

Unfortunately, Indianapolis police had a slightly different idea of what our route should be, and for a fraction of a moment we thought they were going to direct us all the way out to I465 to come back in on Crawfordville road with the masses, but we managed to find a substitute side street to the one we had originally chosen, but that the police had blocked off, and made it there without major problems.

Parking in our favorite lot right across from the tunnel to the infield, we first headed down to the Tony Stewart hauler so my friend could pick up a knapsack to replace her sagging vinyl bag. The girl carries so much in…as there was no rain predicted, and my seat cushion was left behind at home due to lack of room in the suitcase, I was traveling light, scanner on the hip, camera around the neck, and my small purse with the necessities. Oh, and our neck coolers…we bought those at IRP the day before when the sun came out and things heated up, and they were a Godsend. Past experience told us we were going to need them again this day, and we were right.

After dropping off our purchases at the car, we headed inside, as once in, if you leave, they won’t let you back in. First stop was the souvenir haulers inside, and I found the 99 hauler no problem. The told me that someone had the banner, so I didn’t have to worry about it. Things were starting to pick up at the haulers, so I left them be to go about their business, and we headed down to Gasoline Alley to see what we could see.

Imagine our disappointment when we got there, only to find out that you now must have pit passes to cross over and go up on the balconies overlooking the garages. Since pit passes are not sold to the general public, but just to those in suites and hospitality areas, we lowly race fans were out in the cold (figuratively speaking, of course...it was already quite warm at 9am) when it came to peeking into the inside workings of a Cup garage. I was very disappointed, because they line up according to points, so this year Carl’s garage should have been right below the area they used to let us in to. Had we been there at 7am when the gates opened, we would have gotten to be up there for an hour or so before they shut it down, but as we had not known they were changing their practice in this area, we did not head straight there when we got there. Next time we will. Or we’ll mug a couple of over-dressed hospitality goers for their pit passes…LOL (Just joking…I think……….) One track official told us they weren’t even supposed to allow people to line up along Gasoline Alley any more, but he thought that was unfair when you figure how much we had paid for the tickets, so they weren’t shooing people away from there. The would likely have had a riot on their hands had they tried.

We split up because I wanted to watch what I could see of the garage going-ons from the limited angle we had, and my friend wanted to go down and find our seats. It wasn’t long before I figured out I wasn’t going to be able to see much due to the number of people between me and the fence, so I wandered off in search of my friend.

Stopping along pit lane to snap some pics of the 99 car, already sitting on pit lane, ready to roll (those 99 guys are SOOOO efficient!!), I found my friend at the 99 pit stall, which was fortunately in easy sight of our seats. We chatted with the guys a minute, but left them alone to go sit in our seats a while, in the shade (it was going to be a scorcher, we could already tell at 9:30am), as they appeared to be VERY busy…LOL
As Driver introduction time approached, I headed down to where I knew the drivers were brought in by van and dropped off behind the Pagoda to go up the steps for their intros, and staked out a spot on a planter were I would be able to stand with a view above the crowd. Hey, even a tall gal needs help in a crowd situation!!

I chatted with a nice Kasey Kahne fan who joined me when she found out why the officials were gathering in that area, and we waited…

Nancy Sterling (Carl Edwards' Mom) ran by at one point, and I called out “Hi Nancy!” to her, and she greeted me back and waved on the run…she said she’d be back, but I couldn’t see how, as it was getting close to race time, and I imagined she was headed down to pit lane.

Finally the police started dividing the crowds and the first van came through…lots of good pics, but no Carl.

Ditto the second van, and third, and forth….before we knew it, they were all through, and my new KK fan friend and I had neither of us seen our drivers…the sneaky little devils must have snuck in another way!!!

Actually, it occurred to me afterwards that Carl might have had a media interview ahead of time in there, and thus was in the pagoda before I even arrived. Oh well…

As I headed back around beside the pagoda to go down the row to our seats (my friend had stayed there to get the shots of the drivers in their trucks) I realized that drivers were coming off the intro stage at the side, and down the stairs there, so I took up residence…

I spotted Carl up on one of the balconies, so snapped a couple of pics as best I could through the railing…and took shots of drivers coming off the stage and down the stairs.

Then what should happen, but in the process of grabbing a pick of my friend’s beloved Tony for her….

Carl goes bounding down the stairs, in clear view. Of course, too fast for me to swing the camera in that direction...DOH!!

I told her she owed me for what I sacrificed to get her that pic!! She assures me she has a pic of Carl riding by on his truck, but I haven't seen it yet.

I was so disgusted with my lack of good reflexes, I turned and stormed off…only to whip back around when I head the crowd chanting “Mark!! Mark!!!” and see Mark Martin go down the stairs!!! UGH!!!! My reflexes were REALLY shot…I really needed more sleep, I think.

Back in our seats, we settled in for a long race, one that turned out to be eventful. Our neck cooler thingies were properly chilled, and by now our seats were in the direct sunlight, so we needed them…there were frequent trips down to the beverage carts for water and ice to help us keep cool.

Sure. Best laid plans. Several hot and sweaty hours later, the ice had run out, the neck cooler thingies were warm, and we were drenched...thank God there was a bit of a breeze. Eventually we moved down from our high-up perch to more open seats where we could feel the breeze...right behind the 99 pit stall. Pure coincidence, I assure you. LOL

BEFORE the move:

AFTER the move:

As the laps wore done, and it looked more and more like Tony Stewart might pull off his second Brickyard win, of course we headed down to get as close to Victory lane as possible. At the Brickyard, this means bunching up at the fence behind Victory lane, and hoping for a glimpse.

Unfortunately, due to a couple of Nextel officials and some security officers blocking what little view there WAS from back there, we got limited pictures of the Victory Lane activities...the LAST time Tony won there, he came back to the opening and gave the fans on our side a thumbs up, but not this time...oh, well!!

What is generally a pretty good egress from the Lot 2 parking lot found us parked for about an hour...apparently a couple of idiots had gotten into a car accident that blocked off one of the 2 exits, and as such, we were at a standstill...so much so, in the heat, that some good Samaritans came along passing out bottled water to those stranded in their cars.

Eventually, we DID make it back to the hotel. Another enjoyable (albeit sweaty!!) Nascar weekend under our belts!!!

Next stop?? RICHMOND!!!!!!

Saturday at O'Reilly Raceway Park

The Busch race on Saturday was a night race, but we had Turn 4 Club hospitality tickets, which meant we had a tent to relax under, and free pit tours to take. So we headed out early to get good parking near the gate, and were quite successful, as several trips to the car during the day to drop things off became necessary. The gals searching bags became quite familiar with us!

Most of the day was cloudy Saturday, which made for ideal race-going conditions…it wasn’t until the sun came out later that we felt the heat.

Our first pit tour was just 3 of us early comers, so he took us down during a practice, and showed us all sorts of things. It was hard to hear him with cars on the tracks, but I thought he was pretty thorough…as he took us by the 60 pit stall, I scanned the group for any sign of red hair, but none was to be found. If PK was there, he was under wraps, or in hiding.

Later in the afternoon, when practice was done and qualifying had started, I took my second tour. This one was much shorter, BUT the guide took us right in beside the 60 pit stall to the wall at the edge of pit lane…I looked around, but still couldn’t find PK, so I wished the 60 guys a good race (I was wearing my Edhead t-shirt, so they knew it was a message from the fans) as the tour guide lead us back out into the garage area.

As I turned around who should I run into but PK, hat firmly in place. I smiled and told him to have a good race, too, then said “I see you are ‘under cover’!” pointing at his hat….He laughed, and continued on his way about his business…so I called after him “We’re waiting!!” and he turned and grinned at me again as he headed off across the garage…one of those grins with a twinkle in the eye. He knew EXACTLY what I was talking about. Apparently, right up until race time that hat stayed in place, not even the crew saw the new dye-job.

After a good dinner in the Turn 4 Club tent, we headed up to our seats and hung out with our neighbors, a rowdy but fun group who kept plying us with shrimp cocktail and veggies and dip. It was a lot of fun, and before long we were seeing the drivers come around the track on their trucks during driver intros.

After an AWESOME military helicopter flyover where he buzzed the crowd, we settled in to enjoy the race, scanners firmly in place.

For the first time I really enjoyed a Busch race at IRP. It might just be that for the first time in the last 3 years Carl didn’t get wrecked, and was up front, contending for the win, and he and Greg Biffle put on an awesome 10-lap side-by-side display of racing prowess towards the end that had the crowd on its feet cheering, whether they liked these 2 drivers or not.

It might be witnessing Toyota’s first win in the Busch series with Jason Leffler at the helm. It might have been meeting up with 2 Diehard Edheads prior to the race that I hadn’t met yet, a lovely couple that I had chatted with on the boards, but did not know would be at the races this weekend, only discovered on seeing a man wearing the same shirt as me (Edheads 2007!) walking towards me in the crowd. Whatever, it was a fabulous day.

One entertaining race day with no major incidents down, one to go.