Buses, Flyovers, and BOB SMILES!!!!

Infineon Raceway, June 22, 2008

Well, THIS race day was a new one for me. We chose, rather than driving to the track, paying the astronomical gas prices, and getting a hotel room for the night, to bus it…found a local tour group that had a deal for bus trip and tickets, all for about what I’ve paid in the past for tickets at other tracks!! It was AWESOME!!

Well, the 6+ hours each way, making stops to pick up other NASCAR fans, WAS slightly sanity-testing, (I DID get my nails manicured, something I hadn’t gotten around to before leaving! LOL) but it was still great to be able to nap when we could (really hard to nap sitting up, though…the bus was pretty full) and not have to worry about all that. We watched the sun rise over the mountains…and the gas prices rise as we got further north. Thank GOD we didn’t have to worry about that on this day!!

Of course, we went the extra mile and got pit passes/driver intro passes, too. After last year’s fiasco with buying tickets last minute, and thinking we were also purchasing pit passes (through a secondary vendor), only to find out we bought a second set of tickets, I didn’t take any chances this time…got them directly from the track.

Arriving there on a sunny and warm day (a wonderful change from the previous days in Sonoma, which apparently were as hot as they were in Harvickland, where I currently reside, hitting triple-digits…and a remarkable change from the LAST time I was at a race track!! Thank GOD!!) with a nice cool breeze, we wasted no time picking up our pit passes and getting down there.

(I was kicking myself as I looked at this pic....why didn't I look to see who's pit box that was attached to??? WHO IS 'BEAK'??? LOL)

Being on someone else’s schedule to get there, we only had limited pit lane time, but were still able to stroll along, taking in the sights and sounds…ahhh, pit lane on race day morning, there’s nothing like it!! I still wonder, though, how some of these “women” get in there, where supposedly long pants and closed-toe shoes as well as no exposed shoulders is the standard rule, in their mini skirts and bikinis….

After wandering up and down pit lane, getting our fix of the race day aura of controlled chaos as crews set up pit boxes and put their cars through inspection, LeadfootRN and I split up, she to go up to our seats to watch the driver intros from there (her knee was bothering her, and she didn’t feel like hiking back around to the area where they let us in for Driver Intros) and I headed down there, to wait with the rest of the crowd.

While waiting, we were treated to an airshow, which I surprisingly got not one, but 3 good (one particularly surprising) shots of:

Once in, we enjoyed a Rolling Stones cover band (whatever…bring on the drivers!! Let’s go racing!!! LOL) and I chatted with a lady beside me sporting a 99 ticket lanyard, who was new to the driver intros deal, so I told her what to expect…she had a much more professional camera than I did, and was bound and determined to get close up shots of Carl and a few others of her favorites…20/20 hindsight, I should have given her my e-mail, asked if she’d be willing to share some of her pics. Oh well.

Sitting there on the pit wall, well, the track wall, pit wall was actually about 6 feet behind us, beside the 99 car (of course we 99 fans had gravitated to it! LOL)

we just enjoyed the balmy weather and chatted, and that’s when Sandie found me….the “Official Edhead” t-shirt gave me away. Well, that and most Edheads who frequent the RFR boards know what I look like…my pic has been on there a FEW times. LOL

So we chatted for a while, she’s a fellow nurse also, from the San Fran area, and I look forward to looking her up when I finally move up that way…we had a good time, even though it seemed like it was taking forever for intros to get under way!!!

The 99 crew started lining up on pit wall behind us, and we were surprised and pleased to see Bob there with them…

And Edhead teamwork kicked in….Sandie called “Bob!” and got his attention, poised with her camera for a pic…but I thought the soberly curious face he turned our way would just never do, so I called out “Smile Bob!!” and VOILA!! It’s a “Bob Smile”. Success!! :D
Finally Driver intros got under way, and in no time as they reached the top 10, I was split between snapping pics of the drivers as they came down the stage in front of us, and turning around and snapping pics of them as they came around the track on their trucks and dismounted behind us…busy busy!! I LOVED it!! Felt like I was TRULY in the middle of everything!!! (If you want more than Carl pics, you'll have to check out the album linked below...I AM an Edhead, after all!! LOL)

Race time, Sandie and her friend and I separated to head to our seats, and after fending off a guy who thought a gal by herself under the stands was fair game for a pick-up attempt (NOT!!!), I grabbed some burgers and beers and joined LeadfootRN in our seats…

The race itself, from an Edhead standpoint, was AWESOME, listening to Bob encourage Carl as he passed car after car, heading to the front, and they adjusted their strategy because the car was running so good, trying to extend their run to have more fuel for the end….

And then, they got bitten. The caution came out after a bunch of cars had already pitted, and Carl hadn’t. Normally, on regular oval tracks, this would have benefitted Carl and team, putting those cars who had just pitted a lap down, where they would have ended up after they pitted…but not on the long winding road course. As a result of this half a lap too soon caution, Carl went from second place to 10th…GRRR!!

But again, he headed forward, picking off cars, and eventually got those 5 bonus points for leading….only to be bitten yet again by the same thing. THIS time, he went back to 20th. How is a fan supposed to keep her hopes up when her guy has the fastest car out there, but keeps getting put back because strategy bit him????

Disheartened, and knowing that there was little chance Carl could pass 19 cars in the laps remaining (and indeed, he even lost a couple of spots at first), I headed out to the bus…we only had 30 minutes after the finish to get out there, and on the hills at Sonoma, I hate to be rushed, and LeadfootRN, with her sore knee, had already headed out there for the same reason….so, scanner still tuned to the 99 team’s frequency, I trudged out.

You see, having been awake since 1 am, and it now being around 4pm in the afternoon or so, I was wiped…I had hit the wall of exhaustion. Didn’t even see it coming. T-boned me. One minute I’m happily cheering Carl and crew on to what was surely to be a top 5 finish, if not a win, then commiserating with him at the bad luck, the next…UGH…No energy!! I just needed to sit somewhere quiet and listen to the end of the race.

So we did, and heard that Carl managed to claw his way back to a top 10 finish, which alleviated SOME of my disappointment, but when your guy has the car to beat, it never totally helps that he has a great come-back but still doesn’t win.

The rest of the bus group showed up in good time, and we got out before the bulk of the race traffic, so other than extreme stiffness from trying to nap sitting up (basically, losing consciousness…LF maintains I was snoring…I don’t snore!! Wheeze a little, heavy breath a little, maybe, but snore…nope. LOL)

The ride home was uneventful (Of course it was…I was unconscious for at least 50% of it!!). I can see this bus thing being the wave of the future for NASCAR attendees….it really does take a load off, and is much more affordable, with gas prices the way they are today. That being said, for me, it’s only good for same-day races, not entire race weekends. I really do prefer to be in control of when I arrive and leave. The early bird gets the worm!! AND, had Carl actually won…it would have been hard to tear myself away from the Victory Lane scene!!

Diehards, Dukes…and SNOW????

Atlanta Motor Speedway, March 2008

Saturday March 8th

Friday en route to Atlanta was an uneventful travel day from the Left coast for me, and after Jean Marie arrived, I finally ran out of steam and fell asleep before Tracy got there. At least I got my beauty sleep…for what would turn out to be a test of my Canadian blood, thinned from long time spent on the South side of North America.

Saturday morning, we crawled out of our warm beds bright and early and congregated at the hotel’s continental breakfast area, where I finally met Tracy…and we realized simultaneously that despite a long time hanging out on the same Carl Edwards internet message boards but not in “real life”, we had actually MET a couple of times before, on pit lanes of different race tracks! Pit lane is REALLY a small world!

After enjoying a breakfast to help insulate ourselves from the cold weather outside, we headed to the track bright and early to make the most of what time we had on pit lane.

Arriving there, we bundled up in our winter woolies, and headed off through the fan area, where we spotted the General Lee for the first of several times that weekend.











At turn 4, we managed to flag down a golf cart to give us a ride to the infield and pit lane…little did we know that that ride would be an adventure, in that, as we arrived at the gate to pit lane, the heavens suddenly opened up.

Rain? Nope, that would be too mundane. We suddenly found ourselves in a WHITE OUT, so pronounced by the Canadian in the group!!! Couldn’t see our hands in front of our faces. The picture doesn't do it justice, because at it's worst, I was on a golf cart, and my camera was in my jacket, being protected from the snow. On the way to the track, first flurries, which cleared up for a bit:

Hopping off the cart, with my camera safely tucked inside my coat, I helped Tracy cover her babies (cameras) to protect them from what was a wet snow, and we hoofed it through the infield to pit lane…

By the time we got to the Busch garage, the snow was lightening up, and Tracy headed off to her assignment while Jean-Marie and I decided to wander down pit lane.

After a while, we found ourselves at the food stand, and ordering some hot beverages, we ducked around the side of the building to use it as a windbreak for a while…when suddenly

THE SUN CAME OUT! HALLELUJIA!!











Gradually, the weather improved, although it never quite got warm.

Back down on pit lane, another beautiful sight awaited us. The weather had delayed all on-track activities, but the first thing we saw upon returning to pit lane was the Nationwide crews, pushing the pit boxes out onto pit lane, lead by the 60 team! YAY!!











Before to long, pit lane was a beehive of activity, and we soon found Tracy again, snapping pics to her hearts content.

Now I’ve never truly met any NASCAR legends, drivers of the past, but this day would break that trend for me. At the 00 pit box, Jean-Marie and I ended up talking to Buzzy Reutimann, and I shook his hand. Cool meeting someone who raced back in the day, even if it was more non-NASCAR racing than NASCAR. Just wish I had a pic of us, but there were too many people around by this time.

As race time approached, we said good-by to Tracy, and headed up into the stands. Our seats were AWESOME, right up from the start/finish line, and, as luck would have it, straight across from the 60 pit stall.

Or rather, Jean-Marie’s seat. Upon going up there with her, and seeing how much better her view was than mine would be out of turn 1, I chose to occupy an unoccupied seat with her. The stands were far from full, so this was no problem.

By now the sun was out, just some puffy clouds in the sky, and if it weren’t for the cold wind, we’d have been able to totally ditch our winter duds. How windy was it? This flag NEVER drooped:














But we were at the races, so we soldiered on!

The race itself was AWESOME as usual.

After the race, we rendezvoused at the 99 souvenir hauler, instructed to look for an older, balding man….Tracy would join up with us there after her time on pit lane, and Perry was going to meet us.

Standing to the side of the crowds at the 99 hauler (the crowds for all things 99/60 just keep getting bigger and bigger!!) we noticed a man in khakis with a hat on, on the other side of the crowd. Tracy’s description hadn’t taken into account the chilly weather.

After a short time standing on our separate sides of the crowd, waiting for Tracy to show up to make introductions, I finally walked over and asked him if he was Perry. And he was.

We made chit chat for a while, getting to know each other, and Aimee called, so she chatted with Perry, too, and finally, dragging, her arms inches longer and thicker than they had been that morning, after a day of hoisting her cameras on pit lane, Tracy straggled up…

We escorted Perry to his car, and enjoyed some of his pics, then hopped in our vehicles in search of a place to eat something substantial…Tracy admitted she hadn’t had anything all day but a couple of bananas.

We headed for TGIFridays, where Glenn, Tracy’s photographer friend, joined us, and had a great time just talking and sharing photos we had taken and just generally having fun, while filling up on great food.

Back at the hotel, we congregated in Tracy’s room, Perry now off, headed for home, and had a “Photo Party”, sharing our downloaded pics, and generally just relaxed, before it was time to crawl into our respective beds for the night.

Another fabulous (if frigid!) raceday!

More Diehards, Dukes and Disappointment

Sunday March 9th

Hoping for warmer weather, we awoke to a bright sunny day. But sadly, still cold, and the wind whipped up again later that morning. I guess I was doomed to the weirdest farmer’s tan I have ever had…just my face and hands.

As Tracy and Jean-Marie were destined to leave the race early this day, Tracy to catch her flight and Jean-Marie to head back to the warmth of Florida, we took separate cars, and arrived at the crack of “Pit lane just opening”…in time to see the General Lee with his unconventional (or not, considering the surroundings) driver being pulled in, presumably in preparation for the stunt planned for pre-race:

In hot pursuit:

Upon entry, we found that pit lane was as busy as always on Sunday morning. We quickly found the 99 pit stall, where I dropped off a little CCN (Commodore Comedy Network, available through the RoushFenway Racing message boards) special story for the guys…something about the AFLAC Duck riding along with Carl to Victory, only to be spun afterwards on pit lane by Mark Martin, who was just telling them congratulations. Funnily enough, this race would also be the race where the new AFLAC commercial, with the Duck driving the car to victory with Carl in the passenger seat, aired. CCN’s editor in chief, Commodore, is typically closed-mouthed about the coincidence.

Proceeding down a few stalls, we chatted with Cameron, one of the crew guys on the 17 team, formerly of the 60 Nationwide team. He’s a really nice guy, and it was fun hanging out with him, but I suspected we were keeping him from work he had to do, even though he didn’t seem to mind!!

After this, we wandered happily along pit lane, just enjoying the atmosphere, and too soon it was time to head to my seat. Bidding Jean-Marie and Tracy good-bye, as I wouldn’t see them again before they left, and their seats were in another area, I headed up to the stands.

Emerging from the tunnel to the infield, I heard the crowd roar…and walking down to the fence, was able to fire up my trusty Canon just in time to catch the General Lee, Bo Duke (John Schneider) at the wheel, performing the pre-race stunt, resulting in Roscoe P Coltrane (not really, it was a stunt driver) in a Sheriff’s car on it’s side on the tri-oval grass, leaving a huge divet!! Of course, the stunt driver was fine, and my favorite Duke emerged from the General Lee not 50 feet from me!! AWESOME!!

After the Dukes display, I headed down front for Driver Intros…I had known that after the Dukes of Hazzard, John Schneider had had a signing career of sorts, and he was part of the pre-race entertainment musically, also.

Of course, I snapped tons of photos in driver intros:

The race was awesome…right up until Carl’s engine went south. Prior to that, listening in on the scanner, I wondered how many times Carl would call Robbie “Bob” before Robbie made a comment…and I wasn’t disappointed.

Under Caution, Robbie finally addressed this issue, I paraphrase:

“I know you don’t mind if I call you Matt, but if you call me Bob one more time…." Then they made the rounds of radios, each saying “Hi Bob!” pretty much confirming Bob Osborne may not have been at the track, but he was listening. I imagine Trackpass was frustrating him with their 5-7 (or more) second delay.

Once Carl’s car was out of the race (blown engine, with the typical let-down…this was the 3rd time in the past 6 months I had attended a race that Carl blew an engine in…in fact, I think it was only the 3rd time total that Carl had lost an engine in a race…geez, if it weren’t for the fact that Carl had won the race in Las Vegas last week when I was there, I’d be thinking I’m bad luck for Carl!!), I made an “executive decision” and headed for the rental car, which was on the other side of the track from me. It was obvious to me who would win, my gut told me Kyle Busch’s luck would hold this day, and I didn’t feel like facing race traffic by myself after a long race weekend, so it was time to vamoose.

Oh, before you express your disappointment in me as a NASCAR fan, let it be known, the first thing I did (O-kay, SECOND, after firing up the heater!!) when I got into the rental car was find the MRN station on the radio. I listened to the rest of the race as I drove to the hotel, and as I pulled into the parking lot, the Shrub was pulling into Victory Lane. I’m glad I listened to my gut and left…when the other fans leaving the track were fighting the traffic, I was cozy in my (lacking of internet…yup, my SECOND race weekend in a row in digs that had malfunctioning internet!) lovely hotel room, watching the post-race coverage on TV, and checking out my pics. So there!

All in all, this was a fabulous race weekend, meeting wonderful people I had only met on-line before, marred only by Carl’s engine problems (he WOULD have won his third in a row otherwise!!) and the cold, and my Canadian blood rose to the challenge with the latter. Another first time at a track checked off the list…next, Bristol. And not just Bristol…the Bristol night race!! But first, a couple of little pit stops at Infineon and Gateway.

It’s gonna be a LOOONG time until June rolls around, for this gal used to attending around 8 races a year the past couple of years.

Sunshine, Desert Traffic, and Blue Men.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Feb. 29-Mar. 2 2008

Friday, Feb. 29 (LEAP DAY!)

My first race weekend of the year WHOO HOO!!!

This one would be a little different, as it would be en route moving between San Diego and Bakersfield, CA. I would be doing this race weekend with the truck loaded to the tip top with my (not so!) portable belongings, and the cats in tow. It would also be a good test run to see if my good buddy, LeadfootRN, and the cats can get along, as she would be my roommate in another month. Nice to have someone to share the bills with for once!

The trip to Vegas was uneventful, other than a little detour into Miramar Air Force base (Top Gun, anyone????)…the exit to the road that the Time Warner offices were on branched, and, you guessed it, I took the wrong branch. So, I was able to enter Miramar…by 20 feet, to do a u-turn and go back out, following the directions the nice man in uniform at the gate gave me. So I can now say that I have been on a US Airforce base.

Meeting up with LeadfootRN in Barstow, we grabbed a late breakfast and headed off, me in my loaded down truck with 2 complaining cats, she in her little red sports car, to make the last leg of the trip to Vegas. The idea was since I knew where our rented condo was, she would follow me.

Well, as you can well guess from the nickname, that didn’t last long, and before long she was a little red speck in the distant traffic, my poor, loaded down truck taking longer to get up to speed.

I wondered how long it would take her to notice I wasn’t anywhere near behind her…on an open road, once I’m up to speed when my truck is loaded, I can match her speed no problem, (an object in motion or something like that!). BUT in the congested, 18-wheeler-ladden traffic of I-15 heading to Vegas, LeadfootRN was able to dart through…but I was not. THEN one poorly timed big rig decided the 55mph right lane was NOT the place for him, so he upped to 70 (shame shame!!!) and pulled into the left-hand lane, effectively preventing me from going any faster than 70---for about 15 minutes, as we passed a stream of trucks. LF, of course, was NOT doing 70….

Finally she realized I was no-where in the vicinity and pulled over, thinking I was further behind her than I actually was, and waited…and I buzzed past her right after she did that. I guess I made up some time once out of that crowd of trucks, huh?? Funny thing was, if I hadn’t texted her “Buh-bye!! Just passed you!” she would likely STILL be sitting there waiting for me today!!

I’m a good little Leadfoot, I stay wthin 10 mph of the speed limit…most of the time….LFRN had no such compunction, and caught back up quickly at the outskirts of Las Vegas, so we continued with the original plan and she followed me to the condo.

We lucked out, through a pet-friendly hotel site (remember, I had the cats with me) we found a condo for the same price as a room at any of the local one-star hotel chains…found out later that it was still in the process of being renovated, and with it’s proximity as a little apartment/condo complex to the strip, they were keeping rates low to get people to come, get it “on the map”, so to say. I bet that introductory rate will triple by next year.

Brand spanking new condo with 52-inch flat screen TV, for $90/night, and room for the cats to not be confined to a small hotel room all weekend. Not bad!!

One negative. They ignored my request of a first floor condo, due to the fact that I was moving, and aside from certain things I wasn’t going to want to leave in the truck all weekend (TV, computer, 2 17-20lb cats….) it would make life so much simpler just to walk in a door with no stairs leading up to it. I knew from the layout, similar to many an apartment complex I have lived in all over the country, that there would be no elevators.

Can you guess where this is going?

Yup. Third floor. And booked solid, so no way to switch. UGH!!!

After 6 trips up and down those stairs, everything important except the TV was in, (which got covered in blankets in the back of the locked truck in the hopes that no-one would see it there), I was thankful I hadn’t bothered to shower early that morning, because I DEFINITELY needed one before we headed out for the evening.

The only other negative was that, even after having maintenance come up to check it out, it was found that the “High speed internet” advertised did not work. My theory: they had JUST finished the redo on the condo, and had not remembered for whatever reason to have them hook up the internet when they hooked up the cable.

Now we had decided that Friday night, rather than go see the truck race and all the festivities at the track, we would take in a show, so we had tickets to see the full Blue Man Group show. I had seen them at pre-race the year before and loved it, so I knew it would be fun, and it was.

Even when they buried the audience in heavy-duty toilet paper, and my claustrophobia reared for a second until I could get it cleared off me and see again. Truly a fun show, and it was nice to have an excuse to get dressed up for once.

Well, “home” to bed…all race days start early, and the next morning would be no different. Have to take advantage of that one day in the Neon Garage and on pit lane!!

Neon Garage day!! Oh, and the Nationwide race…and Race traffic in Vegas.

Saturday, March 1

Saturday LeadfootRN and I found our way through the tunnel to the Neon Garage, having encountered no problems getting to the track. Once in, we decided to head first down to pit lane to deliver the goodie basket I had brought for the 60 Nationwide crew from the Carl Edwards Diehards, as it was just hefty enough that I knew I didn’t want to be carrying it around all day. Besides, the point of the basket is for the 60 crew to have some snacks to munch on as they work…best to get it to them as close to the beginning of their workday as I could.

Unfortunately, either the security guard at the gate to pit lane forgot how to unlock a lock, or there was an issue with the key, but needless to say, we waited in line until another security guard showed up with a functioning key and got the gate open. YAY!

Once on pit lane, it wasn’t hard to find the 60 box…there was that great big green and yellow Scott’s paint job right in front of us, with a couple of the crew doing a semi-setup. That is, qualifying had not yet happened, so they had not selected a pit box to use during the race, which are selected based on qualifying results, so they were just setting up what they could on the box, to be moved into their chosen stall after qualifying. Got that???

Anyway, I delivered the goodies to them, and LF and I headed on down pit lane to find a spot on the pit wall, watching the drivers walk by while NNS qualifying went on….ultimately we missed Carl, who went out early and was already on the track by the time we got down there, and Tony walked down pit lane on the other side of the cars, disappointing LF, so he didn’t have to acknowledge fans or sign anything (well, except for those with passes to cross that ever present pit wall that kept us lowly pit pass only holders back)…but Morgan Sheppard was signing things, and several of the rookies were more than glad to stop.

After a while, we proceeded down to where the cars came off the track and off pit lane to go back to the garage, and while there, Bobby Labonte signed some autographs, as well as a few others. Me, I’m more of a photo-hound than an autograph-hound, so I just snapped pics.

Tiring of pit lane, and hungry, thirsty and in need of a rest, we headed back into the Neon garage. Obtaining water and hotdogs, we sat in the shade on benches outside the 99 garage window, and, as Cup practice had started, once we were done we went to watch the goings on closer.

20/20 hindsight, I SHOULD have had my “Smile Bob!” t-shirt on that day, as at points I was no more than 2 feet and a sheet of plexiglass away from him.
Eventually we found Anne and her mom on the upstairs level over Carl’s garage, so we joined them to watch the comings and goings as he brought his car in for adjustments, then went back out again. LF of course headed down a few stalls to Tony’s garage to watch the same there.

As the final Cup practice started, we joined the crowds starting to stream out of the Neon Garage down and up the laboring escalators of the fan tunnel under the track, deciding it would be nice to sit and watch from our seats a while. They were pretty awesome seats, if I do say so myself, just to the turn 4 side of the Start/finish line and about 20-25 rows up. We got a steal of a deal on them from a travel company who hadn’t sold all their packages and were just trying to recoup some of their ticket costs.
The Nationwide (dang, I still want to say “Busch”….it will ALWAYS be the Busch Series to me!) race was ALMOST a dream come true. Mark Martin and Carl Edwards fighting for the lead at the end, with Brad Keslowski in the mix….The 2 of them were about to dispatch Brad, when the combination of Carl’s loose car and Mark getting a great run on him from behind resulted in a tap that didn’t even scuff Mark or Carl’s bumpers…but sent the already loose 60 spinning into Brad, effectively ending their days. Mark went on to win, and immediately apologized in victory lane, although I don’t think he had anything to apologize for…it was an accident, and yes, I can say that, because I’ve been a Mark Martin fan longer than I’ve been a Carl fan, and Mark doesn’t purposely take others out.

So I ALMOST got to see them in my dream 1-2 finish…but NOT quite!

And now, I have witnessed, in person, Mark Martin win a Truck race and a Nationwide race…time for that Cup win with me there to cheer you on, Mark!!

That night, traffic got directed out of the track the weirdest way possible, but we ended up doing what I expected we’d end up doing….weaving down city streets back to our condo. We learned one thing. Do NOT drive on Flamingo Road on Saturday night. What SHOULD have taken us less than 10 minutes ended up being more than 30 minutes, thanks to a fender bender and the usual Saturday night “Going to the Strip” crowd, plus 100 000 or so Nascar fans.

Checking the weather channel that night, we found out that the rumors of high wind gusts on Sunday we heard talked about on the scanners at the track were true…it was predicting a high temperature of 65, with wind gusts up to 50mph, making the wind chill feel even colder. Thank GOD the sum total of my portable belongings in my truck included my winter coat…I NEVER would have packed it for a race weekend in Vegas otherwise! I had a feeling I was going to be thankful I had it.

2 weekends in a row, wearing my winter coat at Nascar races? Unheard of…usually I’m melting in 80-100 degree heat!!!

More Blue Men, Driver Intros, and the Cup Race

Sunday, March 2 - Cup race

BRRRR, the weather man was right!! If it weren’t for the sun shining, I’d say I was home in Canada!!!

After another uneventful trip to the track, we bundled up in our layers, and headed to the Speedstage to see what time Raceday was going to be on. Those guys are a hoot to watch!!

Getting there more than an hour before the show was to start, we got a spot right up beside where Steve, Jimmie and Kenny would be sitting…no-one in front of us!!

We saw ourselves several times in the boom camera shots of the crowd, but other than that, short of having a tall sign to stick up behind the guys, we didn’t get on. However, we enjoyed the show for a while, and the warmth of the crowd around us. Body heat helps!!

Rather than pay the almost $300 for a 3-day Neon Garage/pit pass (atrocious) we had opted for Saturday only, and bought tickets for Sunday to be in the crowd down on the track in front of the stage for Driver Intros…and a return engagement by the Blue Men Group. They are such a hoot, worth seeing if you ever get the chance.

So we proceeded down to the start/finish line to stake out our spots on the pavement, the banking allowing us slightly-taller-than-average gals to see easily over the heads of those in front of us, and sat, having a couple of hours to while away now that we had claimed our spots. Added bonus, the pavement was warm enough that my hands quickly felt warm for the first time all day!!

After all the hoopla and Bruton Smith’s “2! 2! 2! We want 2 races” working of the crowd, we got to enjoy the shorter pre-race performance by the Blue Man Group (I find it hilarious they started out as an advertisement for Pentium 3 computers!!) and the driver intros, we climbed back up into the stands to our seats to enjoy the race.

There’s that body heat again! We were so packed in, we immediately took off our coats because that cold wind couldn’t reach us….out of the wind, it HAD to be 70 degrees. But when you went up to the concourse to use the facilities, BRRRRR!!

Finally the Cup race started. It was marred by several wrecks, including LF’s beloved Tony, and the “Anyone but Gordon”’s Jeff took a vicious hit on the backstretch, which we didn’t see until we were back at the condo watching news later.

The trend of the race? Carl Edwards and that STRONG 99 Dish Network/Office Depot car! Front to back to front again, no-one could match him. I think Greg Biffle was closest to Carl speed-wise, but as he had had several incidents and penalties that resulted in his going to the back twice and having to work his way back to the front, he was never able to get far enough forward to catch Carl. 88, 24, 17, all those fast cars, the 99 passed with little difficulty again and again.

Then, that fateful pit stop. If you watched the race, you KNOW which one I am talking about. Tiregate.

Cheering my guys on from our position in the stands directly across from their pit stall, I was snapping away, when I heard “OHHHH!!” and looked up….

To see a tire rolling onto the Trioval grass from the direction of the 99 pit stall.

Oh, no, he’s going to have to go to the tail end of the longest line and work his way back to the front, and no matter how strong that car is, there just AREN’T enough laps for him to be able to do that!!

Crushed, we waited, listening on our scanners tuned to the 99 frequency, for Bob to say those fateful words: “Go to the back of the line, buddy. We got a penalty”

Imagine our surprise when Bob came on and said “We’re clear, no penalty. Go get ‘em!” and explained in brief exactly what had happened…if you watched any of the news shows, you know what happened. A race photographer got too close and got in the way of the crewman who was supposed to catch the tire as it was rolled to the wall…he couldn’t catch it, and away it went.

Knowing that that was going to be the topic of conversation around many a water cooler this coming week, we went back to cheering Carl on to the win…WHOOO HOOO!

My first Cup flip!! AWESOME!!!

As the fans started flowing out of the stands around us, we stood on our seats and videotaped that flip, not so far from us….



(Yup, that's me, "Whoo Hooo"ing in glee!) then waited to hear the interviews before joining the crowds to the parking lots. I mean, as experienced race-goers, we knew we weren’t going to get anywhere quickly in those crowds, so why rush??

This was a slightly faster trip back to the condo, taking any road across town BUT Flamingo Road, we relaxed the rest of the evening. Checking out the 11pm news before turning in, I was disappointed to learn that there had been “an issue” with the oil reservoir cover on Carl’s car, and that they were going to ship the entire car back to North Carolina to take a closer look.

Meaning: gonna see if that lid came off by design, or by accident.

Forget wheelgate, I now knew EXACTLY what those water-cooler discussions where going to be about.

Nothing I could do about it now, not even any internet access to be able to commiserate with my fellow Edheads and Diehards about it…in the morning, it’s 6 trips up and down to the truck, then off to the hometown of Harvick and Mears, my new home for a while.