Fontana Race Report Continued…
First of all…
One thing I forgot to mention yesterday: During the Busch race this drunk came up to me and started name dropping. “My family knows this person and my ex-wife knows that person, etc. etc. yadda yadda yadda.”
Now, I am sitting there with my headset on, scanner in one hand, pair of binoculars in the other. What about this picture says “Please come talk to me. I am desperate to hear (no kiddin’) you dated Ron Hornaday’s cousin…”
People… *rolleyes*
*chuckle*
Sunday
Sunday was the day of the Cup race. There was nothing else happening, but we still needed to get there early in order to secure spots for our Tailgate and theses people are serious tailgaters. Breakfast, lunch and supper, grills, sandwiches, 8 different snacks, bagels, casseroles, salads…a crudités’ plate with little “8”s cut out of raw carrot (welcome to racing in California *chuckle*). A full blown misting system rigged from the raised tailgates of truck caps and a satellite TV set up to watch before and after coverage on the SPEED Channel.
They pretty much camped out for the day, but I hadn’t done all the stuff I wanted to down the line of haulers. Since NASCAR is more marketing oriented than pretty much any other sport, races are an excuse for various companies to set up tents and exhibits and try to tempt people into buys their stuff or at least getting on their mailing list (a national corporate obsession). They use all kind of stuff to get people in. Displays, workshops, pretend pit crew challenges, video games,…simulators. *drool*
So I went down the line with a guy from up north that comes down to visit his relatives who are part of this big group. Now, this guy is…he’s a little slow if you know what I mean. I would guess his “emotional/intellectual age” is about…12, though chronologically he’s tuning 40 next year. Now I had never dealt one on one with someone like that, but he was the only other one who was going wait 40 minutes in line for the simulators at the Nextel Experience, so what the hell.
It was…interesting in a good way. Taught me a lesson or two. The big one being “never make assumptions”. For example he was the one who recommended we try out the “Skoal Experience” hauler/tent, which has a remote control car track and a tire change challenge.
Now, all of you see the tip off right there, right? I didn’t.
So we go in and fill out the little survey and I get his and I run down the to counter first to tell the rep there that my friend is a little slow and please don’t push any tobacco products on him.
Idiot me. He chews, has since he was 14. He had a wad of it under his lip the whole day. He just doesn’t spit.
Turns out this guy actually helps out with a mini-stock (that’s old Pintos and Celicas) team at the local track at home and occasionally works the pits. He drives, he just can’t drive a stick. He doesn’t really need protection, just people to take it slow and explain things sometimes.
What a maroon I was.
Anyway, we had a great time hitting every single booth and games up and down the Haulers. Collected so much free crap, including winning a Boris Said T-Shirt. Came in third at the Nextel experience simulators driving about 5 laps at Daytona. (I was in the #48 car. Sorry Dale, but he was outside the pole, hence out of the way of trouble at the start. Having watched a dozen people wreck the #8 car from the pole, I figured it was the safest bet. *chuckle*) Just had a blast.
We went back for lunch. It’s an interesting crew. The core of the group are Robby Gordon fans, which means you get off road people, but here were a scattering of fans of other drivers like myself; fans of Dale, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and so on, to keep the conversation lively. I dashed out early to go and sign the Start-Finish line which I made it just in time before they started shooing people off the track for the Pre-Race ceremonies. “Go Dale Jr.! Make it great! Make it right!” and “Go Elliott! Make the Chase!”. They opened up the gates straight from the track into the grandstands so I got to skip walking through the tunnel under the track and hauling my but all the way up the stairs. :D So I settled myself in, all the way up against the fence, when two older guys came and sat next to me. “So you’re the one! I wanted to sit up against the fence but they told me that that one seat was filled!” They were great guys (Roush fans), as were the two guy in front of us (Stewart and Jeff Gordon fans), drinking and yellin’ and giving each other crap for what their drivers were doing all through the race. If there is one disadvantage of listening to the scanner is that you don’t get to participate in that mob joy as much, especially when you are bouncing back and forth between two drivers.
Well…hrm.
Dale was…was the car was crap, which meant Dale was very entertaining.
"The fucking shittiest engines I've ever fuckin' drove…Yadda-fuck-Yadda-shit-Yadda-ass-Yadda...I wish it would just blow up already..." After a few more laps of that he calmed down some: "hehe..that was fun."
Be careful what you wish for, because that’s pretty much what you will get. His engine finally blew on lap 211.
(He also did his usual, “I need you to talk to me…Shut up.” Routine to his spotter. *sigh*)
Elliott was very quiet, complaining every time a new set of tire was put on “Ah cain’t do nothing with ‘um.” But then they a few laps would pass and they came in. He cracked the top ten once, but fell back into the teens and stayed there.
Almost all the teams anticipated the track changing waaaay too soon. As the track cools, the tires cool and have more grip which can negate the effectiveness of a suspension set up for a hot track which equals hot/slicker tires. About half an hour after sunset Todd Parrott was bitching about how everyone had to come in a put their set ups back because the track hadn’t changed…”I don’t know what the hell is going on…”
It’s California Todd, that’s what. Less moisture in the air means less/slower heat transfer, hence the reason things cool down slower in the California desert. I thought those boys would have learned that by now? oi!
Carl Edwards took the lead early on, and when he spun out right in front of us, I can’t say there were too many eye welling up with tears over it. “Nice kid, but…”
Actually the job he did keeping that car out of the wall was pretty damn amazing. Can’t deny that. They come out of those turns at 120-130 mph. I can’t imagine the kind of reflexes it takes to take control back of a spinning car at that speed.
Well, Kyle Busch became the youngest driver ever to win a Winston/Nextel Cup race. Bully for him.
No, really. Congrats. I’m excited for him.
woo.
He deserved it, I just can’t get excited about it. :( Nice burn out though. Apparently the tires kept smoking for some time after he turned the car off.
Though While Dale was officially mathematically eliminated in the Chase for the Nextel Cup, Elliott and Mark both retained their standings: 13th and 5th. :)
The seats on turn four over looks underpass and I happened to glance down and saw the motorcycles cops with their lights going. I think it was Dale in the golf cart following them out to the helipad: Baggy jeans, white t-shirt, white and red baseball cap, sitting like a slouch. No Killer though (his Boxer). Though he sure got changed really quick. A big SUV and a limo both got police escorts out shortly after that, so it might not. But it probably was. I wanted to yell out “Next Year Dale Jr.!”, but I was so high up he wouldn’t have heard me over the race anyway.
Next year Dale. You got well over a dozen more chance at the track. You’ll get it eventually. :)
Well after waiting in line to return my scanner and running into and chatting with the folks my Robby Gordon Fan Friend introduced me to on Friday, I headed back to the tailgate. I simply walked up with “I need a beer.” Everyone sympathized. :D Ate some dinner. Watched special NASCAR coverage of the race on the TV, hung out being mellow for a bit swapping points of view since we were scattered from one end of the grandstands to the other each following different drivers. Then packed up and went home.
*yawn*
Passed out for 12 hours.
Even though my drivers didn’t do well I did have a great time, there simply is nothing like it in the whole wide world. :D
And there nothing like the team that finishes 11th place at the end of the year winning a million bucks either, so best of luck this weekend at Richmond Dale! And Best of luck to Elliott at his home track to make it into the Chase and Mark to work his way up there. Have a great weekend all!
One thing I forgot to mention yesterday: During the Busch race this drunk came up to me and started name dropping. “My family knows this person and my ex-wife knows that person, etc. etc. yadda yadda yadda.”
Now, I am sitting there with my headset on, scanner in one hand, pair of binoculars in the other. What about this picture says “Please come talk to me. I am desperate to hear (no kiddin’) you dated Ron Hornaday’s cousin…”
People… *rolleyes*
*chuckle*
Sunday
Sunday was the day of the Cup race. There was nothing else happening, but we still needed to get there early in order to secure spots for our Tailgate and theses people are serious tailgaters. Breakfast, lunch and supper, grills, sandwiches, 8 different snacks, bagels, casseroles, salads…a crudités’ plate with little “8”s cut out of raw carrot (welcome to racing in California *chuckle*). A full blown misting system rigged from the raised tailgates of truck caps and a satellite TV set up to watch before and after coverage on the SPEED Channel.
They pretty much camped out for the day, but I hadn’t done all the stuff I wanted to down the line of haulers. Since NASCAR is more marketing oriented than pretty much any other sport, races are an excuse for various companies to set up tents and exhibits and try to tempt people into buys their stuff or at least getting on their mailing list (a national corporate obsession). They use all kind of stuff to get people in. Displays, workshops, pretend pit crew challenges, video games,…simulators. *drool*
So I went down the line with a guy from up north that comes down to visit his relatives who are part of this big group. Now, this guy is…he’s a little slow if you know what I mean. I would guess his “emotional/intellectual age” is about…12, though chronologically he’s tuning 40 next year. Now I had never dealt one on one with someone like that, but he was the only other one who was going wait 40 minutes in line for the simulators at the Nextel Experience, so what the hell.
It was…interesting in a good way. Taught me a lesson or two. The big one being “never make assumptions”. For example he was the one who recommended we try out the “Skoal Experience” hauler/tent, which has a remote control car track and a tire change challenge.
Now, all of you see the tip off right there, right? I didn’t.
So we go in and fill out the little survey and I get his and I run down the to counter first to tell the rep there that my friend is a little slow and please don’t push any tobacco products on him.
Idiot me. He chews, has since he was 14. He had a wad of it under his lip the whole day. He just doesn’t spit.
Turns out this guy actually helps out with a mini-stock (that’s old Pintos and Celicas) team at the local track at home and occasionally works the pits. He drives, he just can’t drive a stick. He doesn’t really need protection, just people to take it slow and explain things sometimes.
What a maroon I was.
Anyway, we had a great time hitting every single booth and games up and down the Haulers. Collected so much free crap, including winning a Boris Said T-Shirt. Came in third at the Nextel experience simulators driving about 5 laps at Daytona. (I was in the #48 car. Sorry Dale, but he was outside the pole, hence out of the way of trouble at the start. Having watched a dozen people wreck the #8 car from the pole, I figured it was the safest bet. *chuckle*) Just had a blast.
We went back for lunch. It’s an interesting crew. The core of the group are Robby Gordon fans, which means you get off road people, but here were a scattering of fans of other drivers like myself; fans of Dale, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and so on, to keep the conversation lively. I dashed out early to go and sign the Start-Finish line which I made it just in time before they started shooing people off the track for the Pre-Race ceremonies. “Go Dale Jr.! Make it great! Make it right!” and “Go Elliott! Make the Chase!”. They opened up the gates straight from the track into the grandstands so I got to skip walking through the tunnel under the track and hauling my but all the way up the stairs. :D So I settled myself in, all the way up against the fence, when two older guys came and sat next to me. “So you’re the one! I wanted to sit up against the fence but they told me that that one seat was filled!” They were great guys (Roush fans), as were the two guy in front of us (Stewart and Jeff Gordon fans), drinking and yellin’ and giving each other crap for what their drivers were doing all through the race. If there is one disadvantage of listening to the scanner is that you don’t get to participate in that mob joy as much, especially when you are bouncing back and forth between two drivers.
Well…hrm.
Dale was…was the car was crap, which meant Dale was very entertaining.
"The fucking shittiest engines I've ever fuckin' drove…Yadda-fuck-Yadda-shit-Yadda-ass-Yadda...I wish it would just blow up already..." After a few more laps of that he calmed down some: "hehe..that was fun."
Be careful what you wish for, because that’s pretty much what you will get. His engine finally blew on lap 211.
(He also did his usual, “I need you to talk to me…Shut up.” Routine to his spotter. *sigh*)
Elliott was very quiet, complaining every time a new set of tire was put on “Ah cain’t do nothing with ‘um.” But then they a few laps would pass and they came in. He cracked the top ten once, but fell back into the teens and stayed there.
Almost all the teams anticipated the track changing waaaay too soon. As the track cools, the tires cool and have more grip which can negate the effectiveness of a suspension set up for a hot track which equals hot/slicker tires. About half an hour after sunset Todd Parrott was bitching about how everyone had to come in a put their set ups back because the track hadn’t changed…”I don’t know what the hell is going on…”
It’s California Todd, that’s what. Less moisture in the air means less/slower heat transfer, hence the reason things cool down slower in the California desert. I thought those boys would have learned that by now? oi!
Carl Edwards took the lead early on, and when he spun out right in front of us, I can’t say there were too many eye welling up with tears over it. “Nice kid, but…”
Actually the job he did keeping that car out of the wall was pretty damn amazing. Can’t deny that. They come out of those turns at 120-130 mph. I can’t imagine the kind of reflexes it takes to take control back of a spinning car at that speed.
Well, Kyle Busch became the youngest driver ever to win a Winston/Nextel Cup race. Bully for him.
No, really. Congrats. I’m excited for him.
woo.
He deserved it, I just can’t get excited about it. :( Nice burn out though. Apparently the tires kept smoking for some time after he turned the car off.
Though While Dale was officially mathematically eliminated in the Chase for the Nextel Cup, Elliott and Mark both retained their standings: 13th and 5th. :)
The seats on turn four over looks underpass and I happened to glance down and saw the motorcycles cops with their lights going. I think it was Dale in the golf cart following them out to the helipad: Baggy jeans, white t-shirt, white and red baseball cap, sitting like a slouch. No Killer though (his Boxer). Though he sure got changed really quick. A big SUV and a limo both got police escorts out shortly after that, so it might not. But it probably was. I wanted to yell out “Next Year Dale Jr.!”, but I was so high up he wouldn’t have heard me over the race anyway.
Next year Dale. You got well over a dozen more chance at the track. You’ll get it eventually. :)
Well after waiting in line to return my scanner and running into and chatting with the folks my Robby Gordon Fan Friend introduced me to on Friday, I headed back to the tailgate. I simply walked up with “I need a beer.” Everyone sympathized. :D Ate some dinner. Watched special NASCAR coverage of the race on the TV, hung out being mellow for a bit swapping points of view since we were scattered from one end of the grandstands to the other each following different drivers. Then packed up and went home.
*yawn*
Passed out for 12 hours.
Even though my drivers didn’t do well I did have a great time, there simply is nothing like it in the whole wide world. :D
And there nothing like the team that finishes 11th place at the end of the year winning a million bucks either, so best of luck this weekend at Richmond Dale! And Best of luck to Elliott at his home track to make it into the Chase and Mark to work his way up there. Have a great weekend all!
posted by KiplingKat | 8:06 PM
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