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.
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.
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.
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.
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