Fontana Race Report
Busy, Busy, Busy
I know I should have had my race report up days ago, but I work for a non-profit housing developer here in Los Angeles and we have been coming up with ways to help the victims of Katrina, both here and in the Gulf States, both short term and long term. So in fact, I have actually been very, very busy here at the front desk.
Friday
Friday it was just my Robby-Gordon-Fan-Friend and I. We arrived at the track in time for Busch practice which we spent down on pit road. I love hanging out on Pit Road the Friday and Saturday before a race, but usually only run though there on race day to sign the Start-Finish line. Way too hot, way too crowded, way too much in the way of guys trying to do their jobs, but Friday is a nice mellow day to just hang out and watch.
What’s really fun is watching/listening to the cars as they pull out of the garage onto pit road. It’s the closest you will get the running cars as they take one of the three drives under the Pit Road Suites out from the garages right past you, within like three to five feet or you. It’s freakin’ amazing! It’s the sound, it’s the heat, it’s the smell. It’s just the whole racing experience tightly encapsulated in a moment.
*sigh*
During practices, car will often just pull into pit road and check their tires and plugs rather than going all the way back into the garage. During both Busch practices, Elliott Sadler pulled up right in front of us for a tire check, pulled his helmet off and broke into that big grin of his. Damn me if the first time I didn’t feel the goofiest damn smile come over my face. He actually got out of the car and helped walk it into the garage. We saw some crew members carrying the Jimmie Johnson's tire past...blown inside out. Looked like a giant rubber flower. While we were wandering around behind the suites, we saw Jamie McMurray signing autographs on his way back from the suites into the Garage area. My friend, who has no shame, cried, “He has no butt!” while we were only standing like 6 feet from him. To his credit, he didn’t even react. I tried to ameliorate the situation by pointing out, just as loud, that the jeans were baggy (something her generation doesn’t understand) and that he was a very good looking (if short) young man.
We did a little shopping (Thank you Dale Jr. for 3$ hats!), though I must say that the people who got the most of my money over the weekend were the lemonade stands. We chatted with some friends of hers we met up with and Lunch/Dinner found us with 7$ mini-pizza’s in our laps, our laps being in our seats, to watch Cup practice and then the Grand National race. Practice was interesting. I think Dale Jr. changed just about everything single thing he could on that car. Shocks, springs, tires, camber...paint. Jeezus! They might as well have put the damn thing on the high rise and ripped the entire bottom out of it. The only thing they wouldn’t touch was the track bar, even though Dale kept calling for it. Michigan was the Bible and Steve (Dale’s Crew Chief) wasn’t touching it. He was getting damn irate by Dale's repeated demands by the end of practice.
Elliott Sadler was...quiet. Not happy with his set up either, but they mainly played with air pressure and spring rubbers.
I’m used to Dale Jr. being...expressive on the radio, and even when he is subdued such as he was for this practice, he’s still pretty talkative. But compared to Elliott, Dale is down right a "Catty Cathy". Elliott seems so relaxed and easy going outside the car, it was a bit surprising to hear that sense of humor did not come into the cockpit with him. He is business and nothing but behind the wheel which mean not a lot of radio activity.
My friend is a season ticket holder and so had an extra seat for the Grand National race that evening...under the grandstand suites near the Start-Finish line! Now, I have always been a Turn Four Girl. It’s a very exciting way to see the race because you can really see how the cars are handling, what lines they are running, passing and, I’ll admit it, spins and wrecks (as long as no one gets hurt). But sitting under the shade of the Granstand Suites, being able to watch Pit Road, was pretty damn cool. I don’t follow the Grand National series, though I did recognize a couple names from the Irwindale Speedway, so I simply followed her lead.
Saturday.
Saturday there were 10 of us between two vehicles. Now, I love tailgating and hanging out, but the number of minutes late you will be is exponential to the number of people you have. Not only in getting everyone together in one place, but then they all get out of the cars, they want to chat...or just stand around staring at one another blankly...and God forbid they make a decision about when and where to meet up next. We finally got to the parking lot at the track and I gave them 10 minutes of not-hearing-the-question or “Uh...I dunno, what are you guys doing?” before I announced “LateforpracticeSeeyaafter!” and bolted up to my seat in turn four. I got there half way through Cup practice. Having been in a “hurry up and wait situation”, I had not put on my sunblock (BullFrog, best sunblock ever: One redhead. One coat a day. Three days in the sun. One pale tan.), so I’m sitting all by my lonesome in turn four with my headset on, listening to Dale Jr., watching the cars roar past, slathering on sun screen...reaching behind my shoulders...rubbing my chest...and I suddenly realized “I’m putting on quite a show for these guys”. Hopefully the next lap around when they saw me rubbing it into my face or arms they realized what the heck I was actually doing, but I must have looked like such an ass at first glance.
Dale was not happy, darting in and out of the garage about as constantly as the day prior, still changing every damn thing, though “Michigan” wasn’t said every other sentence. They ended up getting caught in the garage as a caution came out towards the end of practice. Elliott was quiet, same as the day before.
I need to start writing down some of the commentary. When I go to races I get info overload and a lot of detail gets lost.
I returned to the truck for a small tailgate lunch, meeting up with some folks we only see race days. I had to cut that short to go over to Gate 12 to see Elliott Sadler inducted into the Fontana “Walk of Fame” for his victory at the same event last year. Man that was a crowd. I was four people back and they were lining up behind me.
So, while I couldn’t see Elliott actually sign his name and put his feet in the cement, I did get to see his disembodied head making polite speeches over the shoulders of others. Good thing he’s tall. (6’ or 6’1”) But still, nice, polite. He received a commemorative surfboard, actually designed to his size, which he said he was going to take back to his shop museum in Virginia. I was temped to shout out, “Heck with that, have Jamie (McMurray) take you surfing!”…but I didn’t. :D Afterwards he was quite nice, staying to sign autographs for the crowd for about 15-20 minutes despite having Busch qualifying shortly thereafter. I’m not an autograph hound, but I thought it would be nice to shake his hand and wish him luck for the weekend. However, I wasn't the only one with the idea as there was this older woman shouting about how they "had" to let her though to shake his hand. She'd turned a nice thing, a boost for him, into a demand that took something from him. I walked away, I didn’t want any part of that. It sad how so many fans turn "being supportive" into something that is all about themselves rathern than their driver. :(
At first I went to watch the Busch Series Qaulifying up in the stands and then opted for going down on Pit Road because Cup qualifying was right after. Now, that was exciting. LOTS of people. I wandered up and down pit road for a bit just people watching and then ducked into the shade under the suites, striking up a conversation with a couple of other pariah smokers (actually that isn’t true. Racetracks are the one place left in CA where you can light up and not get glared at as if you were throttling baby bunnies), old time fans and we discussed Dale Jr. year and what was happening behind the scenes at DEI. Man ,it’s interesting when you start talking to long time fans who are not “’Net Savy”, sometimes they are waaay ahead of you on something and waaay behind on others. *chuckle* As Cup Qaulifying was about to start I went out to the main drive where they brought a lot of the cars out.
For qualifying they walk the cars out and line them up in their order on pit road. For one thing, it always amazed me how easy these guys guide around 3400 lb car. I mean, talk about engineering in action. The cars move smooth as glass with just a couple guys pushing (once they get going). Then the drivers walk out, which is what the crowd is really there to see, so you can imagine either side of the drive was packed. I stood around and waited, exchanged horror stories of how nuts people go when Dale Jr. comes out. One time the guy got completely mobbed, people grabbing is collar and such while he was coming out to qualify. Can’t imagine how you get your head back in the zone after something like that. The first race I went to, I was with the crowd lined up on either side of the drive while the cars were going out to practice. Lots of pleasant cheering and clapping and “Kick ass man!”, etc. But when the #8 car pulled up, I swear to you I thought people were going to vault over my head to try and get to that car. It was insane!
Most drivers just walk out, but sometimes they will stop and sign autographs. Dale Jarrett did so, which I understand is unusual for him. Tony Stewart came out, as did Robby Gordon (and my friend was in the stands), Bobby Hamilton Jr., Hermie Sadler (Elliott’s older brother). I tried to get picture with the camera my friend loaned me...I have a digital camera that my brother gave me, but when I lost my keys, I was afraid of someone getting into the house and stealing it. So I hid it.
I, of course, can’t find it now…
So anyway, I was trying to use to this 35 mm camera she loaned me but it had one of those damn 3 second delays. Took me forever to get used to. I think I got one of DJ, I hope I did. What I did get was some cool shots from the drive further up pit road. After getting tired of being crushed, I went ahead and walked up towards turn 4 with my head set on, listening to the drivers comments on qualifying. Mark Martin was third out and took the pole. “If that a third place run they can have it. I’m pretty happy with that…” and he held onto the pole through most of qualifying until Cark Edwards, his young buck teammate, knocked him off. The feeling I had at that moment was “Carl. You’re sweet. You’re nice. You’re a good driver. I’m officially sick of you now.” *chuckle*
I was standing near where the Bud car was parked on Pit Road and when it moved up the line to the scoring pylon I followed it, but I was reluctant to navigate the screaming mass of people again, so when it moved up to the middle drive, I went back to the drive towards the beginning of pit road to watch the cars come in. I was standing in the perfect spot to get shots of the cars, just as they turned the corner so that I was looking at them head on. Hopefully, I actually got one. Unfortunately, I think it’s of Ryan Newman.
I was hanging out, playing with the camera and listening to the scanner when I was almost run over by a bright orange Reece’s Peanut Butter Cup pit box setting up for the Busch race. No kidding, one crew member literally grabbed my arm and shoved me forward...totally my fault with my head set on. :) I decided it was time to get out of these guys way and went to the top of the walkover bridge in the infield to watch the qualifying runs from inside Turn Four. A very cool view! I saw Elliott’s run from there. He was running kinda high. Security shooed me off the bridge so I made it up into the stands to watch Dale’s Qualifying run…
“Shit”.
First word swear I heard from him all weekend and sadly applicable. He ended up waaay in the back.
I ran back to the truck for sandwiches and then back up to my seat to listen to Elliott Sadler running a car for Dale Jarrett for the Busch race. Once again pretty quiet, but from what I did hear…I’m worried about that guy. The only word I can apply to his mood was "depressed". It didn’t help matters that yet again, when Elliott has a top five car Todd Parrott (his Crew Chief) goes for the trackbar (a major chasis adjustment) on the first damn stop, causing Elliott to drop like a rock through the top 15. It took them 80 laps just to get the car completely back to what they started the race with and that got up to the lead. If Parrott does that one more time I swear to gawd I will beat him over the head with the trackbar myself. I suspect Dale Jarrett promised to do so as Parrott was getting pretty uptight by the end of that race.
Elliott: “I think we got a rubber hangin’”
Parrott: “I DIDN’T PUT A RUBBER IN!”
Elliott: “Easy man, easy.”
However, once Elliott got up there, then he started complaining. And when he lost the lead it sounded like he seemed to simply give up, just didn’t sound like his heart was in it. I did a performance review of my drivers a couple weeks ago, adding up the total numbers of positions gained (minus those lost) on the track during races a couple weeks ago. Despite his crappy cars, Dale had gained 144 positions over the course of the season. Elliott had gained 3. I don't know enough of what is going on behind the scenes to say, but my guess is Elliott needs to get his head back in the game...and a new crew chief.
Well, Elliott clawed his way back in the top ten, but didn’t challenge for the lead again. Carl Edwards won but then donated all his winnings to Hurricane relief, so I couldn’t even be sick of him. :)
Got home at 11:30 to be up by 6 am for race day, which I will tell you all about tomorrow.
I know I should have had my race report up days ago, but I work for a non-profit housing developer here in Los Angeles and we have been coming up with ways to help the victims of Katrina, both here and in the Gulf States, both short term and long term. So in fact, I have actually been very, very busy here at the front desk.
Friday
Friday it was just my Robby-Gordon-Fan-Friend and I. We arrived at the track in time for Busch practice which we spent down on pit road. I love hanging out on Pit Road the Friday and Saturday before a race, but usually only run though there on race day to sign the Start-Finish line. Way too hot, way too crowded, way too much in the way of guys trying to do their jobs, but Friday is a nice mellow day to just hang out and watch.
What’s really fun is watching/listening to the cars as they pull out of the garage onto pit road. It’s the closest you will get the running cars as they take one of the three drives under the Pit Road Suites out from the garages right past you, within like three to five feet or you. It’s freakin’ amazing! It’s the sound, it’s the heat, it’s the smell. It’s just the whole racing experience tightly encapsulated in a moment.
*sigh*
During practices, car will often just pull into pit road and check their tires and plugs rather than going all the way back into the garage. During both Busch practices, Elliott Sadler pulled up right in front of us for a tire check, pulled his helmet off and broke into that big grin of his. Damn me if the first time I didn’t feel the goofiest damn smile come over my face. He actually got out of the car and helped walk it into the garage. We saw some crew members carrying the Jimmie Johnson's tire past...blown inside out. Looked like a giant rubber flower. While we were wandering around behind the suites, we saw Jamie McMurray signing autographs on his way back from the suites into the Garage area. My friend, who has no shame, cried, “He has no butt!” while we were only standing like 6 feet from him. To his credit, he didn’t even react. I tried to ameliorate the situation by pointing out, just as loud, that the jeans were baggy (something her generation doesn’t understand) and that he was a very good looking (if short) young man.
We did a little shopping (Thank you Dale Jr. for 3$ hats!), though I must say that the people who got the most of my money over the weekend were the lemonade stands. We chatted with some friends of hers we met up with and Lunch/Dinner found us with 7$ mini-pizza’s in our laps, our laps being in our seats, to watch Cup practice and then the Grand National race. Practice was interesting. I think Dale Jr. changed just about everything single thing he could on that car. Shocks, springs, tires, camber...paint. Jeezus! They might as well have put the damn thing on the high rise and ripped the entire bottom out of it. The only thing they wouldn’t touch was the track bar, even though Dale kept calling for it. Michigan was the Bible and Steve (Dale’s Crew Chief) wasn’t touching it. He was getting damn irate by Dale's repeated demands by the end of practice.
Elliott Sadler was...quiet. Not happy with his set up either, but they mainly played with air pressure and spring rubbers.
I’m used to Dale Jr. being...expressive on the radio, and even when he is subdued such as he was for this practice, he’s still pretty talkative. But compared to Elliott, Dale is down right a "Catty Cathy". Elliott seems so relaxed and easy going outside the car, it was a bit surprising to hear that sense of humor did not come into the cockpit with him. He is business and nothing but behind the wheel which mean not a lot of radio activity.
My friend is a season ticket holder and so had an extra seat for the Grand National race that evening...under the grandstand suites near the Start-Finish line! Now, I have always been a Turn Four Girl. It’s a very exciting way to see the race because you can really see how the cars are handling, what lines they are running, passing and, I’ll admit it, spins and wrecks (as long as no one gets hurt). But sitting under the shade of the Granstand Suites, being able to watch Pit Road, was pretty damn cool. I don’t follow the Grand National series, though I did recognize a couple names from the Irwindale Speedway, so I simply followed her lead.
Saturday.
Saturday there were 10 of us between two vehicles. Now, I love tailgating and hanging out, but the number of minutes late you will be is exponential to the number of people you have. Not only in getting everyone together in one place, but then they all get out of the cars, they want to chat...or just stand around staring at one another blankly...and God forbid they make a decision about when and where to meet up next. We finally got to the parking lot at the track and I gave them 10 minutes of not-hearing-the-question or “Uh...I dunno, what are you guys doing?” before I announced “LateforpracticeSeeyaafter!” and bolted up to my seat in turn four. I got there half way through Cup practice. Having been in a “hurry up and wait situation”, I had not put on my sunblock (BullFrog, best sunblock ever: One redhead. One coat a day. Three days in the sun. One pale tan.), so I’m sitting all by my lonesome in turn four with my headset on, listening to Dale Jr., watching the cars roar past, slathering on sun screen...reaching behind my shoulders...rubbing my chest...and I suddenly realized “I’m putting on quite a show for these guys”. Hopefully the next lap around when they saw me rubbing it into my face or arms they realized what the heck I was actually doing, but I must have looked like such an ass at first glance.
Dale was not happy, darting in and out of the garage about as constantly as the day prior, still changing every damn thing, though “Michigan” wasn’t said every other sentence. They ended up getting caught in the garage as a caution came out towards the end of practice. Elliott was quiet, same as the day before.
I need to start writing down some of the commentary. When I go to races I get info overload and a lot of detail gets lost.
I returned to the truck for a small tailgate lunch, meeting up with some folks we only see race days. I had to cut that short to go over to Gate 12 to see Elliott Sadler inducted into the Fontana “Walk of Fame” for his victory at the same event last year. Man that was a crowd. I was four people back and they were lining up behind me.
So, while I couldn’t see Elliott actually sign his name and put his feet in the cement, I did get to see his disembodied head making polite speeches over the shoulders of others. Good thing he’s tall. (6’ or 6’1”) But still, nice, polite. He received a commemorative surfboard, actually designed to his size, which he said he was going to take back to his shop museum in Virginia. I was temped to shout out, “Heck with that, have Jamie (McMurray) take you surfing!”…but I didn’t. :D Afterwards he was quite nice, staying to sign autographs for the crowd for about 15-20 minutes despite having Busch qualifying shortly thereafter. I’m not an autograph hound, but I thought it would be nice to shake his hand and wish him luck for the weekend. However, I wasn't the only one with the idea as there was this older woman shouting about how they "had" to let her though to shake his hand. She'd turned a nice thing, a boost for him, into a demand that took something from him. I walked away, I didn’t want any part of that. It sad how so many fans turn "being supportive" into something that is all about themselves rathern than their driver. :(
At first I went to watch the Busch Series Qaulifying up in the stands and then opted for going down on Pit Road because Cup qualifying was right after. Now, that was exciting. LOTS of people. I wandered up and down pit road for a bit just people watching and then ducked into the shade under the suites, striking up a conversation with a couple of other pariah smokers (actually that isn’t true. Racetracks are the one place left in CA where you can light up and not get glared at as if you were throttling baby bunnies), old time fans and we discussed Dale Jr. year and what was happening behind the scenes at DEI. Man ,it’s interesting when you start talking to long time fans who are not “’Net Savy”, sometimes they are waaay ahead of you on something and waaay behind on others. *chuckle* As Cup Qaulifying was about to start I went out to the main drive where they brought a lot of the cars out.
For qualifying they walk the cars out and line them up in their order on pit road. For one thing, it always amazed me how easy these guys guide around 3400 lb car. I mean, talk about engineering in action. The cars move smooth as glass with just a couple guys pushing (once they get going). Then the drivers walk out, which is what the crowd is really there to see, so you can imagine either side of the drive was packed. I stood around and waited, exchanged horror stories of how nuts people go when Dale Jr. comes out. One time the guy got completely mobbed, people grabbing is collar and such while he was coming out to qualify. Can’t imagine how you get your head back in the zone after something like that. The first race I went to, I was with the crowd lined up on either side of the drive while the cars were going out to practice. Lots of pleasant cheering and clapping and “Kick ass man!”, etc. But when the #8 car pulled up, I swear to you I thought people were going to vault over my head to try and get to that car. It was insane!
Most drivers just walk out, but sometimes they will stop and sign autographs. Dale Jarrett did so, which I understand is unusual for him. Tony Stewart came out, as did Robby Gordon (and my friend was in the stands), Bobby Hamilton Jr., Hermie Sadler (Elliott’s older brother). I tried to get picture with the camera my friend loaned me...I have a digital camera that my brother gave me, but when I lost my keys, I was afraid of someone getting into the house and stealing it. So I hid it.
I, of course, can’t find it now…
So anyway, I was trying to use to this 35 mm camera she loaned me but it had one of those damn 3 second delays. Took me forever to get used to. I think I got one of DJ, I hope I did. What I did get was some cool shots from the drive further up pit road. After getting tired of being crushed, I went ahead and walked up towards turn 4 with my head set on, listening to the drivers comments on qualifying. Mark Martin was third out and took the pole. “If that a third place run they can have it. I’m pretty happy with that…” and he held onto the pole through most of qualifying until Cark Edwards, his young buck teammate, knocked him off. The feeling I had at that moment was “Carl. You’re sweet. You’re nice. You’re a good driver. I’m officially sick of you now.” *chuckle*
I was standing near where the Bud car was parked on Pit Road and when it moved up the line to the scoring pylon I followed it, but I was reluctant to navigate the screaming mass of people again, so when it moved up to the middle drive, I went back to the drive towards the beginning of pit road to watch the cars come in. I was standing in the perfect spot to get shots of the cars, just as they turned the corner so that I was looking at them head on. Hopefully, I actually got one. Unfortunately, I think it’s of Ryan Newman.
I was hanging out, playing with the camera and listening to the scanner when I was almost run over by a bright orange Reece’s Peanut Butter Cup pit box setting up for the Busch race. No kidding, one crew member literally grabbed my arm and shoved me forward...totally my fault with my head set on. :) I decided it was time to get out of these guys way and went to the top of the walkover bridge in the infield to watch the qualifying runs from inside Turn Four. A very cool view! I saw Elliott’s run from there. He was running kinda high. Security shooed me off the bridge so I made it up into the stands to watch Dale’s Qualifying run…
“Shit”.
First word swear I heard from him all weekend and sadly applicable. He ended up waaay in the back.
I ran back to the truck for sandwiches and then back up to my seat to listen to Elliott Sadler running a car for Dale Jarrett for the Busch race. Once again pretty quiet, but from what I did hear…I’m worried about that guy. The only word I can apply to his mood was "depressed". It didn’t help matters that yet again, when Elliott has a top five car Todd Parrott (his Crew Chief) goes for the trackbar (a major chasis adjustment) on the first damn stop, causing Elliott to drop like a rock through the top 15. It took them 80 laps just to get the car completely back to what they started the race with and that got up to the lead. If Parrott does that one more time I swear to gawd I will beat him over the head with the trackbar myself. I suspect Dale Jarrett promised to do so as Parrott was getting pretty uptight by the end of that race.
Elliott: “I think we got a rubber hangin’”
Parrott: “I DIDN’T PUT A RUBBER IN!”
Elliott: “Easy man, easy.”
However, once Elliott got up there, then he started complaining. And when he lost the lead it sounded like he seemed to simply give up, just didn’t sound like his heart was in it. I did a performance review of my drivers a couple weeks ago, adding up the total numbers of positions gained (minus those lost) on the track during races a couple weeks ago. Despite his crappy cars, Dale had gained 144 positions over the course of the season. Elliott had gained 3. I don't know enough of what is going on behind the scenes to say, but my guess is Elliott needs to get his head back in the game...and a new crew chief.
Well, Elliott clawed his way back in the top ten, but didn’t challenge for the lead again. Carl Edwards won but then donated all his winnings to Hurricane relief, so I couldn’t even be sick of him. :)
Got home at 11:30 to be up by 6 am for race day, which I will tell you all about tomorrow.
posted by KiplingKat | 8:15 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home