When I moved to LA back in December, of course, one of the first things I did was sit down with the Nextel Cup schedule and plot what races were in driving distance of my new home. Having done Fontana, Las Vegas, Phoenix so far this season (along with a longer trip for the All Star race, of course) the next race on the agenda was Sears Point. Infineon, whatever, it’ll always be Sears Point to me.
Plans to go to that race fell apart when my NASCAR buddy couldn’t get the time off, and not wanting to do a new track by myself, in a new area, I decided not to go.
June 17, that all changed. Carl FINALLY won, after 52 races. And Tom Giacchi, Carl’s motor coach driver and friend, oh bearded one, the Yeti, who had sworn not to shave until Carl won another race, would finally be shaved.
The deal with Gillette was that they would do it on Trackside the next race weekend, for all the fans to watch. What was the next race???
You guessed it. Sears Point. Only a 6-7 hour drive away.
Plans started boiling through my head. My wish not to do a new track, new type of race experience (road course) without a partner in crime became secondary. That was a minor matter. The major matter was that, to my knowledge, not one of the Edheads had indicated they were going to be at Sears Point.
This momentous event, Tom FINALLY getting shaved, must NOT happen without the Edheads there to support them. Representatives MUST be there!!
I had almost decided I really couldn’t afford it, when a quick text message yielded an enabler.
Anne, who had enabled me to attend my first race in Phoenix, was in California, visiting relatives. A mere couple of hours from me.
AND she was game for a road trip.
I’ve been enabled!!!
Of course, at this late date, there were absolutely NO decent tickets and NO pit passes available through the Infineon website. I’m hooked on pit passes, if they’re available, I have to have one.
A quick browse through a couple of ticket re-sale sites showed that both were available, for a price. Unlike North Carolina, and Florida, other places where I had bought tickets through these brokers, there was no law in California stating that tickets could not be resold for above face value.
These people are making HUGE money, I tell you.
Too bad, right after finalizing the purchase of our non-refundable tickets, we found out that Tom would not be at Sears Point, therefore they were planning to shave him on Trackside NEXT week in New Hampshire.
Darn!!
Thank God for “Undo”….I’m typing this in the truck on the way to the track. Anne’s driving, of course. But one of those bumps that sneak up on you just caught me….my finger slipped and I accidentally deleted everything I had just typed!!!! UGH!!!
Anyway, at least we were reassured that it still would not go unwitnessed by Edheads, as Justine, she the fabulous creator of the “Shave Tom” t-shirts that many Edheads and the crew had sported for many of the previous 52 races, would be there.
Last evening, I received a phone call that made all the money we had spent on tickets for this trip SOOOO worth it…plans had changed.
Tom would be shaved on Trackside Live at Sears Point!!
AWESOME!!
Out came the freshly laundered “Shave Tom” shirt, to honor Carl, Tom, and the 99 team from the crowd at the Speed Stage, and to honor and Justine, the shirts’ creator, who sadly was disappointed that she would not be able to witness the grand event with her own eyes, as it had looked like she would.
I wonder if any of the crew will dig theirs out to wear, also? I mean, after today, they are obsolete!!
Anyway, after a week that saw our tickets, paid for with overnight delivery courtesy of Denny Hamlin’s primary sponsor, arrive without complication, but found our pit passes delayed by a seller who ignored my note that they needed to be delivered by Thursday at the latest (They were ordered Sunday night), because we were leaving early this morning, Friday, (They are now to be delivered to our hotel this morning, priority, at the cost of the seller…hopefully they will be there when we arrive, so as not to delay our trip out to the track to get the lay of the land and nab a prime spot for the 3pm taping of Trackside), we are now en route to Sears Point, with a little detour to the hotel first for the pit passes.
I’m so excited!!!! I want to see what Tom really looks like!!!
More later. I will add pictures as I get through them and find the good ones.
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