NASCAR Weekend
Me in front of Jimmie's merchandise hauler. Isn't he just the cutest?
Gosh, what a fun weekend. I'm still recovering from lack of sleep but it was well worth it!
Grandpa and I got to the track late Thursday afternoon. It was pretty convenient that we already had the RV there and set up. All I had to do was get my suitcase and laptop out of the car and we were good to go. Within minutes of getting there, I had the laptop up and running and looking for a wireless connection of any sort. I was hoping...but, no luck.
It's funny how much Grandpa and I have in common. I told him he was to NASCAR like I am to Parrot Heads. He ran into people he knew right and left which is what usually happens to me. He's also a putzer. On Friday and Saturday mornings, he was gracious enough to offer to go for a bike ride to give me privacy while I showered and got ready. However, he couldn't just leave right away. He had to unlock his bike, then get his hat, then grab his sunglasses...I just had to laugh. It totally reminded me of the mornings when Sugar Daddy and I carpooled. He'd come out of his room and be ready to hit the door. I'd have to grab my book, check that I had my jewelry on, look for my phone and was pretty much distracted by any shiny object in the room. Another quirky thing I do is repeat certain phrases (there's that OCD thing again). An example was from Buffett where I kept telling people I felt like a pinball. For Grandpa, it was about his mountain bike. I can't tell you how many times I heard him say "Having a bike here is the way to go."
He was, despite our mutual quirkiness, a wonderful host for the weekend and I got to meet a lot of nice people because of him.
Having the RV there was awesome! No driving at all and it was nice to have our own food and drink there. Grandpa's bike was also great to have. He rode back and forth multiple times to get more beer, my jacket...he made several trips which worked out well for the Princess.
One of G's friends had a great location for his campsite. Right on a main road and halfway between our site and the track. We ended up hanging out there most of the time. One of the guys had an awesome custom built trailer with multiple grills and coolers. I wish I'd taken a picture but the guys declared it all a no picture zone. That edict may have had something to do with a lot of them not having their wives there. I have to say that I saw no misbehaving on their parts, though.
We went to Thursday's race, the Casino Arizona 150. Grandpa suggested we play a game that he does with his son. We each got to pick two drivers to win and if one went out we got to pick another as long as he wasn't currently in the top 5. I played the girl thing and picked 38 because it's Elliot Sadler's number and he's really cute (there was no 48) and the 29 because the car was pretty. Grandpa said he was picking his cars based on how they look (now, for me that means how pretty they are and for him it's how they're driving on the track). It was very convenient that he picked the number 2 and 3 qualifiers although he pleaded ignorance on that fact. One of them ended up winning so he was happy. The race itself was oh, so bad. One third of it was run under caution for little apparent reason. It was excruciating to get through.
Friday, we watched the Cup qualifying and Jimmie was briefly on the pole. Granpda told me to take a picture since it wouldn't last long. It did last for a while but Jimmie ended up 10th. Kyle Busch won the pole and the crowd was less than enthusiastic. Neither of the Busch boys got a very favorable reception during the weekend.
Jimmie waiting to qualify. His car is the cutest, too!
We made a round of shopping at the merchandise haulers on Friday, too. Being a girlie girl, I wanted to browse every one. Being a guy, Grandpa wanted to just hit the relevant drivers. I got some stuff for our friends and looked at every Jimmie Johnson item at least three times. I got a new hat (only because I forgot mine, doh!), a shirt and socks. Grandpa bought his neighbor some Jimmie stuff (nice lady, I like her a lot!) and his son a Jeff Gordon shirt. When we got to the Mark Martin hauler, Grandpa bought himself a new hat and asked if they had any bags that would hide his Hendrick stuff. I guess it's not cool to visibly carry stuff from the 'other' team. I did notice that there was a lot more Jimmie apparel being worn in the crowd than last year. It was cool.
Friday night was the Busch series race. Grandpa and I tried to program our borrowed radios so we could listen in on the team scanners. We were clearly too stupid for the radios. I tried multiple times to figure it out then gave up. Grandpa was able to get Mark Martin in but that's about it. Fortunately, our friend had programmed in most of the frequencies and they hadn't changed so we got to listen in on the relevant parties. The race was pretty good and we caught a bit of the post-race entertainment which was a Lynyrd Skynyrd appreciation band. There were fairly entertaining.
Saturday was Cup race day. We headed over to G's friend's place and I played a mini Hold'Em Tourney with 4 of the guys. I managed to tick off one of them when I got lucky against him (I didn't care because I really didn't like the guy at all) and came in second. It was then race time and oh, it was so fun!
Grandpa' shirt - he thought he was too cool and lots of folks agreed.
I was not the only one to take his picture.
We bought into a pool which was $5 per driver and paid out the top 3 finishers. G wasn't around when we picked so I got his friend to pull his names because I said I didn't want G to think it was fixed when he got Jimmie. Sure enough, he got Jimmie. He also had the race winner in Kevin Harvick and pulled in $100. Jimmie was running in the top 3 but then faded at the end to finish 7th. I don't know if he had engine issues or was just conserving fuel. G's driver, old man Mark Martin, ran out of gas as did a couple of other drivers. It was an exciting finish and I was happy for Harvick and thrilled that it was anyone else but a Roush guy or Dale, JR.
After the race, 8 of us played another Hold'Em tourney while we watched the constant stream of cars leave for hours. I was pretty much outclassed and went all in on a low pair with a high kicker mostly because I wanted out. There were a couple of guys who just bugged me playing and I was done with them. I guess it proves I don't have a true killer instinct since I was willing to let go of my $10 buy in just to get away.
I give the weekend an A+ and I'm totally looking forward to the fall race now. I also want my own motorhome which is sort of an issue since A) I can't afford one and B) I could never drive it. More reasons I need to win the lottery - so I can get an RV and a chauffer.
