Since I was cultured it was time to culture others. I got tickets to Infineon Raceway which is literally out in the middle of nowhere. In fact they have a herd of 3,000 sheep to keep the grass managed and a couple of Shepard’s to manage it all. Never did I think I'd see prairie maggots on in the hills of northern California. Imagine our surprise.
After the 30 mile hike up the mountain we finally reached the raceway. We did the walking around checking out the sites and then headed over to the speed stage where they were getting the crowd ready for NASCAR Raceday built by the Home Depot. (Had to put the sponsor plug in, it is racing...) The crowd was nuts, the music was loud and then I spotted my first redneck idiot of the day. It was starting to feel like home. This guy was a pain in our ass. Not only did he make his own sign, he managed to hold it up for a solid 2 hours. This guy must have had arms of steel. To top that off, it looked like a 3rd grader had written "Kenny for President." I don't know if he was slightly drunk or if he just naturally stumbled around a bit. This guy was obviously excited.
Now I have to admit. I'm a huge fan, but I'm not a fan that gets crazy. I don't jump around, I don't scream and shout, I don't go weak in the knees apeshit when my favorite driver approaches. I call myself a professional fan. I still have dignity when I walk out of the track.
My first WTF moment came when we noticed a couple walking along in what appeared to be orange shirts, but then the woman didn't look quite right. Then it dawned on us. They had painted their arms and torso's completely orange. Solid. From neck to waist. He had on black shorts that matched hers and she topped her 'outfit' off with a black bikini top. On her stomach was the number 2 on his stomach 0. On her back, above her shoulder blades read TONY and above his in the same local STEWART. Ok, now I'm a loyal Stewart fan, but come on. I'm not that loyal. The second WTF moment was finding our seats. Down the row from us was a woman, a large one, and her scrawny husband sitting in lawn chairs on top of their seats.
The terrace seating is basically solid concrete so there is a lot of comfortable space for your things and your knees aren't in somebody’s back, unless you bring your camping chair, which I may point out was prohibited according to track rules. She was wearing black jeans, a bright orange shirt and black and orange glossy bowling shoes. He had on a white wife beater and bright, bright, blinding bright, orange shorts. Again, my love for smoke doesn't run quite that deep. We did sit in the Gordon section evidently. The guy in front of us shot Robby Gordon the bird as he went by, like he could actually point him out or something.
It does baffle me just how many people yell. "YOU SUCK!" when a driver comes by. Like that's something new to them, or it's going to hurt their feelings or something. Grow up. Can't you just sit like a grown up and enjoy the show. Guess not.
Dale Jr. made his trip around the track and you could tell which truck was his. Like the wave the crowd went apeshit and that truck had to be clipping at least 65 mph. He was waving with one hand and holding on for dear fricking life with the other. I was shocked his hat stayed on his head. That's a way to get in the news. Knock the most popular guy in the sport out of the back of a moving truck as you careened through the esses. He had to be thinking "Hey...Otis...next time drink the sixer AFTER you dump me off at the car."
We sat next to an electrician from Sacramento and his deaf friend, who was clearly a Gordon fan. They were both really great. The deaf kid was so excited and he had so much fun. He could just feel the noise and the excitement, and that made me smile. The guy who brought him had no idea what NASCAR even was. He didn't know how many cars started, he didn't know who anybody even was.
He did ask if that Earnhardt guy was the one who changed teams. That's all he knew. (Brownie points for Mike Davis and the JRM publicity team...even people who don't know what NASCAR is still know our driver. Kudos.) I enjoyed sitting next to him because he asked a lot of questions and I love talking about racing. He was just so shocked I knew so much. The guy has no idea. :)
As the laps started I realized just how much TV fails to do this sport justice. (It does a great job, but every fan should go live.) The colors are so vibrant and everything literally shines under the sun. It was amazing and I was in speed heaven. You could feel the cars coming up toward turn three even though you couldn't see them. It was fun. Well worth the money.
Kyle Busch won and that sucked. But, hey...I may have witnessed the 2008 champion win a race this year. You can't say that very often.
Check back for more bloggin regarding the race. I have a blurb about a bastard.
I'll also post the pictures on their own too.
-MO-
sarah
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