(Due to the length, this is a 2-parter...too much happened on Race Day to squeeze it into one!!)
And WELCOME BACK BOBBY!!!!!
Saturday we didn’t crawl out of bed QUITE as early as Carrie Lynn and her Mom, but early enough that the hotel coffee was still fresh, so that’s something…we were meticulous, the meat products and beverages were all packed in ice chests, the cameras and scanners were charged, sunscreen liberally applied to strategic points (Unfortunately, Maureen and I forgot our arms and hands….I now have the worst farmer’s tan/burn possible on those areas!!! But my nose is not beet red…that’s something!!), hats and sunglasses and other important things loaded into the car…or so we thought…I couldn’t figure out why the heck, as we drove down the road, it was so darned bright out there….then realized the sunglasses I had set on TOP of my bag in the hotel room, so as to NOT forget them, did NOT make the transition from room to my face in the car…yup, blonde again….fortunately, we had to stop for a couple of bags of ice down the road, so I grabbed a $7.00 pair, and chatted with the lady behind the counter about how busy she was bound to be that day, being so close to the track…then off to the designated meeting point where those of us where were not intrepid enough to crawl out of our warm beds at 3am where meeting up to go find where our Edfest campsite would be…It was actually easier to find it than we thought, as at 8am when the race is a night race, there really aren’t that many people there yet…Carrie Lynn and her Mom had staked out a spot right at the end of Souvenir Alley, which was very handy for checking out signing times and all that.
At 10am we headed up to see if Carl’s hauler was open yet, and it was JUST opening up…I got to meet Dell, and chatted with him for a while, then we found out it was Mark’s birthday (the “kid” who happens to be my age, but appears very young, who works the hauler with the gals) so we wished him happy birthday…again, and again, and again, all day long, every time we went by to his embarrassment. LOL I know he heard it a lot because the gals posted it on the white board normally used to advertise when Carl’s going to be signing LOL. He apparently used to work in Mark Martin’s hauler, because he said “That was fine when I worked MARK’S hauler, everyone thought they were wishing HIM happy birthday!!!” LOL
So we took food orders from them, as I knew how many of us there were, and how much food we had, so I figured we might as well make sure THEY get a good meal, too… Waste not, want not…as it was, Smitty, being one of the local Edheads, took home lots of extras at the end of the day. They were so pleased…when we delivered the food a while later, we sang Mark Happy Birthday, and gave him some Birthday cookies…LOL
After much visiting and a great feed grilled up by Grillmaster Smitty (who, BTW, was the only MALE Edhead there with us…funny how the ONE guy always ends up being Grillmaster…LOL) it was soon time to start packing up a bit to go actually do more than sit around, talk and eat…LOL…I went to the car to change into my sneakers for on pit lane, and as I was sitting in the back seat, with the door open, doing so, I heard people behind the car (the car was facing the Edfest site, but a row away) started hooting and hollering, so I looked up from trying to remember how to tie my shoes (J/K!) to see this huge cloud of dust and debris swirling right towards me!!
Now, MY momma didn’t raise no fool…I immediately slammed the door and watched from the clean safety of the car LOL…it was impressive, I saw the moment the tent pole went through the tarp, and tables flipping, tents flying around…of course, the camera was off, and by the time I thought to fire it up, it was all over…oh, well!!
Dusting off and putting things back to rights, after making sure we had a few good group pics (minus Brandi and Pam, who were off getting into mischief of their own! LOL) we then headed off to pit lane, myself, Mae97, Paige, Jamie Jo, and her sister KK…Jamie Jo especially seemed impressed, as walking across the track onto pit lane, instead of through the tunnel, was a first for her…it IS kinda cool to be on the same surface that the cars will soon be whizzing by on….
Down on pit lane, we soon found out that the 99 crew was continuing with their recent trend of pitting more towards the ENTRANCE of pit lane, instead of towards the exit as they used to…opposite end of pit lane from where we were sitting, in Ford section, but oh, well…we went down there, said hi to Trent and Tracy and Mike, the guys I know…and just hung out for a while there, because the breeze that had caused such havoc out in the parking lot was now being blocked pretty good by the stands, and it was quite warm down there, but right by the 99 pit stall, there was a nice breeze, so we relaxed for a while, and just took it all in.
While saying Hi to the guys, we saw 2 suspiciously familiar figures going down pit lane BEHIND the pit boxes…but they just didn’t LOOK right….what was it…oh, I know…they were in disguise, not sporting their 99 garb!!!! Hallooing them, we waved, and they indicated they were on some sort of mission, but they’d be back…so off they went…very mysterious, I say, but when an Edhead gets something in her head, it’s best to either get out of her way, or just stand back and watch…LOL
After a while, we crossed over that yellow pit wall (how odd it all looked, the walls yellow…I never noticed before if they did that for the All-Star race each time, but I guess, since they always have to put another coat of paint on after each race anyway, it was no big deal to paint them yellow now…I bet they’re back to white next week!!!) and started strolling down behind the pit stalls, just checking things out, enjoying being there…peering into the garage, just soaking it all in.We met back up with those mysterious, low-key Edheads, a ways down…ONE of them appeared kind of perturbed at the other one…
Turns out the perturbed one had been “forced” by the other to do SOMETHING that went very against the grain for her…she appeared to STILL have the heebie jeebies, despite having liberally applied the antidote… I think she should have repeatedly applied, that might have made her feel better…LOL
While we stood there and chatted, a 99 crewman approached us, in our Edhead finery (well, MOST of us!!) and joined our conversation, introducing himself…this was John, and he seems like a really nice guy, I recognized him from other races I’d been to, but had never had the chance to meet him…in fact, he remembered me from Las Vegas, he was there when I showed up on pit lane to say hi…
…he’s the guy who grabs the tires when Trent and Tracy toss them towards the wall during pit stops, and has the next one ready for them to grab, at least, that’s the part of his job he told us about…mind you, HIS turn of phrase about what he does was MUCH more entertaining than my description…LOL So I said “So, if a tire gets away during a pit stop, it’s usually your fault….” He got all serious looking and said “Yeah” So I said “Well, none of that tonight!!” and he laughed.
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