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!!!
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