NASCAR Weekend - Saturday
Cup Day had arrived! The gates were opening at 11 so we planned on leaving at 10. Paula and I headed out to the store to get sandwiches and stuff for after the race. The plan was to not rush out right away after the race but to tailgate with some beers and food and let everyone else stress about traffic. Best laid plans...
We got back to the hotel and I asked Paula if I should park by the ice machine since we needed to load up or by Tom and Janice's Tahoe since we were driving that to the race. She told me, "I am not making decisions today." I asked, "Can I put money on how long that will last?" She had to laugh - it's funny because it's true.
We were off to the track by 10ish and the debate was already on as to our best route and parking strategy. We told Tom to drive to the front without asking permission or making eye contact with anyone official. Paula offered to flash boobage as a bribe if needed. Truth be told, she seemed pretty eager to flash boobage...
Poor Tom! He was getting directions shouted at him from all over the place. "Turn right!" "No, not right here, right after the fence!" "Go back the way we came." "Don't go there!" I really felt for the guy. We ended up with an awesome spot that we probably shouldn't have been in as it was in the motorhome section. As soon as we parked, a guy came up to the window and we told Tom to ignore him but he rolled down the window anyway. The guy said, "Do you have permission to park here?" and Janice was all, "Yes, we do!". He then said, "We don't, we just parked here!" What a prankster.
We made the trek to the tent where we could get our pit passes. Paula had scored us some which was way cool. We went into the track just as they were finishing a SpeedChannel gig that Chad Knause was on (Jimmie's crew chief). Chad stopped to sign stuff so Janice made me go get his autograph. I got it on a picture of Jimmie then decided I wanted my Team Lowes coozie signed so I made Paula go get that. He was trying to get away from the signing spot but she sweet talked him into one more signature. My coozie is so cool now!
Stargazing finished, we grabbed a beer. We then had to walk to the other end of the track to get to the pits and it was already really freaking hot. Once we got there, we found we had to exit the track which meant we had to chug our beers before we left. I felt like it was the start of a very long drinking day...and, oh yeah, everything was in 16 oz. cans.
Those pit passes were awesome! We couldn't get to the garage area (need a more special pass for that) but we actually got to walk on the track itself. It was so cool standing on the start/finish line and looking down the straightaway! The crews were starting to set up their pit boxes and equipment. Janice scared the poor Rusty Wallace crew guy into posing with her and she ended up getting a lug nut from another Rusty guy. Bobby Labonte's crew just put a box of lug nuts out with an on your honor purchase of $1 each. Tom and I each bought one. They were used so they were greasy. That was cool. (Got the idea yet that I thought everything was cool?)
We also talked to the front tire changer for Jeremy Mayfield. He explained a lot about the different tire sizes (right side are bigger) and training schedules and pretty much whatever we asked about. He was pretty hot, too, so that was a bonus. I got all of the Lowes crew that was working to add to Chad's signature on Jimmie's picture.
We spent quite some time in the pits and nearby. Again, it was freaking hot. They had said you needed long pants and closed toe shoes for the area but that was not true. Fortunately, I brought shorts with me and changed.
This is how hot it was: I turned down a beer and got two waters instead! That's just not right. But, this being freaky Arizona, the weather suddenly changed and we were deluged with rain. It poured and poured and poured. We took shelter under a tent and moved in on a nice older man and his son's table for a while to have yet another beer and wait out the storm. It looked like it stopped so we headed out towards our seats only for it to start pouring buckets again. We took refuge under the seats and ran into Tina. She was excited about the Labonte lug nuts so I gave her mine. It was way more important to her than it was to me so I was glad to do it.
Finally, it stopped raining and we got to our seats as they were drying the track. They shortened up the pre-race activities so it didn't start too late. Tom and Janice loaned us headphones and a radio so we could listen in on the cars and the MRN broadcast. That was neat. The headphones muffled the track noise and you could hear the announcers background chatter with each other during the commercials.
I was on one of the end seats of our four and a guy in a leather Budweiser/Junior jacket showed up after the race started and sat down next to me. He looked a little like Jason from Big Brother UK. Work with me on this one - he kept asking me questions. I had on headphones, there was a ton of car noise and he was on my left. I have diminished hearing in that ear so I had to take the headphone off my right ear and turn my head so I was looking backward so he could talk into my good ear to understand anything he said. You'd think after a couple of times, he would have realized it wasn't all that convenient for me and stopped yapping, but no. He did support my rooting for Jimmie so he wasn't all bad. He also spilled a beer which drenched me a bit so he wasn't all good. When he asked me how Kasey Kahne was doing, I said "OK, but he has some right side damage." He responded to that with, "You're a cool chick. Answering a question that way..." If I had a dollar for every beer spilling guy who thought I was a cool chick, I'd have, well, at least lunch money. He went off somewhere and his spot was taken by a buddy of his who proceeded to spill another beer on my leg. I am a magnet for these people.
Anyway, back to the race. The cars were sparkling under the lights - so pretty! Kurt Busch and Gregg Biffle looked to be the fastest for most of the race. Jimmie struggled and was never a factor in the race for the lead. He was a factor in the race since he punted Tony Stewart who then collected a few other drivers, Rusty Wallace (Janice's driver) included. Jimmie later said Tony break checked him and Tony said Jimmie just hit him. I'm sure the truth is somewhere in between. Michael Waltrip (Tom's driver) made a strong effort to take the lead from Busch after Biffle got knocked out by a freak pit road accident.
Gosh, it was exciting! I think 95% of the fans were rooting for Waltrip. He was driving his heart out and even hit the wall twice in trying to pass Busch but to no avail. There were more boos than cheers when Kurt crossed the finish line and our little group was all bummed. Well, except for Paula who has no favorites but was very empathetic about ours.
Remember that whole wait out the traffic plan? Well, Tom didn't as he wanted to bolt as soon as the race was over. We went with him and the Arizona weather acted up again on cue. There was a vicious wind and it started raining heavily. We struggled through a massive dust storm to get to the car. It was so bad, we had sand in our teeth and even our eyelashes were caked. We joked that it was God showing his displeasure over Busch's win. Once we got to the car, Tom was hellbent on leaving so we headed back to the hotel and gathered in Tom and Janice's room for another beer or two.
OK, these people are crazy. We broke into the chips which is about all I wanted. The rest of them were hungry but no one wanted to be the first to say "Let's break into the real food." So, they all went to bed hungry. What was the sense in that?
We got back to the hotel and I asked Paula if I should park by the ice machine since we needed to load up or by Tom and Janice's Tahoe since we were driving that to the race. She told me, "I am not making decisions today." I asked, "Can I put money on how long that will last?" She had to laugh - it's funny because it's true.
We were off to the track by 10ish and the debate was already on as to our best route and parking strategy. We told Tom to drive to the front without asking permission or making eye contact with anyone official. Paula offered to flash boobage as a bribe if needed. Truth be told, she seemed pretty eager to flash boobage...
Poor Tom! He was getting directions shouted at him from all over the place. "Turn right!" "No, not right here, right after the fence!" "Go back the way we came." "Don't go there!" I really felt for the guy. We ended up with an awesome spot that we probably shouldn't have been in as it was in the motorhome section. As soon as we parked, a guy came up to the window and we told Tom to ignore him but he rolled down the window anyway. The guy said, "Do you have permission to park here?" and Janice was all, "Yes, we do!". He then said, "We don't, we just parked here!" What a prankster.
We made the trek to the tent where we could get our pit passes. Paula had scored us some which was way cool. We went into the track just as they were finishing a SpeedChannel gig that Chad Knause was on (Jimmie's crew chief). Chad stopped to sign stuff so Janice made me go get his autograph. I got it on a picture of Jimmie then decided I wanted my Team Lowes coozie signed so I made Paula go get that. He was trying to get away from the signing spot but she sweet talked him into one more signature. My coozie is so cool now!
Stargazing finished, we grabbed a beer. We then had to walk to the other end of the track to get to the pits and it was already really freaking hot. Once we got there, we found we had to exit the track which meant we had to chug our beers before we left. I felt like it was the start of a very long drinking day...and, oh yeah, everything was in 16 oz. cans.
Those pit passes were awesome! We couldn't get to the garage area (need a more special pass for that) but we actually got to walk on the track itself. It was so cool standing on the start/finish line and looking down the straightaway! The crews were starting to set up their pit boxes and equipment. Janice scared the poor Rusty Wallace crew guy into posing with her and she ended up getting a lug nut from another Rusty guy. Bobby Labonte's crew just put a box of lug nuts out with an on your honor purchase of $1 each. Tom and I each bought one. They were used so they were greasy. That was cool. (Got the idea yet that I thought everything was cool?)
We also talked to the front tire changer for Jeremy Mayfield. He explained a lot about the different tire sizes (right side are bigger) and training schedules and pretty much whatever we asked about. He was pretty hot, too, so that was a bonus. I got all of the Lowes crew that was working to add to Chad's signature on Jimmie's picture.
We spent quite some time in the pits and nearby. Again, it was freaking hot. They had said you needed long pants and closed toe shoes for the area but that was not true. Fortunately, I brought shorts with me and changed.
This is how hot it was: I turned down a beer and got two waters instead! That's just not right. But, this being freaky Arizona, the weather suddenly changed and we were deluged with rain. It poured and poured and poured. We took shelter under a tent and moved in on a nice older man and his son's table for a while to have yet another beer and wait out the storm. It looked like it stopped so we headed out towards our seats only for it to start pouring buckets again. We took refuge under the seats and ran into Tina. She was excited about the Labonte lug nuts so I gave her mine. It was way more important to her than it was to me so I was glad to do it.
Finally, it stopped raining and we got to our seats as they were drying the track. They shortened up the pre-race activities so it didn't start too late. Tom and Janice loaned us headphones and a radio so we could listen in on the cars and the MRN broadcast. That was neat. The headphones muffled the track noise and you could hear the announcers background chatter with each other during the commercials.
I was on one of the end seats of our four and a guy in a leather Budweiser/Junior jacket showed up after the race started and sat down next to me. He looked a little like Jason from Big Brother UK. Work with me on this one - he kept asking me questions. I had on headphones, there was a ton of car noise and he was on my left. I have diminished hearing in that ear so I had to take the headphone off my right ear and turn my head so I was looking backward so he could talk into my good ear to understand anything he said. You'd think after a couple of times, he would have realized it wasn't all that convenient for me and stopped yapping, but no. He did support my rooting for Jimmie so he wasn't all bad. He also spilled a beer which drenched me a bit so he wasn't all good. When he asked me how Kasey Kahne was doing, I said "OK, but he has some right side damage." He responded to that with, "You're a cool chick. Answering a question that way..." If I had a dollar for every beer spilling guy who thought I was a cool chick, I'd have, well, at least lunch money. He went off somewhere and his spot was taken by a buddy of his who proceeded to spill another beer on my leg. I am a magnet for these people.
Anyway, back to the race. The cars were sparkling under the lights - so pretty! Kurt Busch and Gregg Biffle looked to be the fastest for most of the race. Jimmie struggled and was never a factor in the race for the lead. He was a factor in the race since he punted Tony Stewart who then collected a few other drivers, Rusty Wallace (Janice's driver) included. Jimmie later said Tony break checked him and Tony said Jimmie just hit him. I'm sure the truth is somewhere in between. Michael Waltrip (Tom's driver) made a strong effort to take the lead from Busch after Biffle got knocked out by a freak pit road accident.
Gosh, it was exciting! I think 95% of the fans were rooting for Waltrip. He was driving his heart out and even hit the wall twice in trying to pass Busch but to no avail. There were more boos than cheers when Kurt crossed the finish line and our little group was all bummed. Well, except for Paula who has no favorites but was very empathetic about ours.
Remember that whole wait out the traffic plan? Well, Tom didn't as he wanted to bolt as soon as the race was over. We went with him and the Arizona weather acted up again on cue. There was a vicious wind and it started raining heavily. We struggled through a massive dust storm to get to the car. It was so bad, we had sand in our teeth and even our eyelashes were caked. We joked that it was God showing his displeasure over Busch's win. Once we got to the car, Tom was hellbent on leaving so we headed back to the hotel and gathered in Tom and Janice's room for another beer or two.
OK, these people are crazy. We broke into the chips which is about all I wanted. The rest of them were hungry but no one wanted to be the first to say "Let's break into the real food." So, they all went to bed hungry. What was the sense in that?
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