Monday, October 15, 2007

The Non-Conformist Cult Radio Show 12/07/01



Me and the “Reckless Ladies of Racing” made our ways into the Speedway with our coolers in tow. Kristina and I were packing wine instead of the standard drink of choice, beer. The guy that was checking coolers told me that he had never seen anyone bring in a bladder full of wine before.

I picked up a 3 liter box of wine earlier that day. I wasn’t having beer and I had to have something alcoholic. Once you take it out of the box, the bladder full of wine makes a dandy beer substitute.

Once inside the confines of LMS… Catey and I split from the herd to make our way down to pit road. I cannot tell you how excited I was. As you will see from the pictures… I was smiling the whole night like an ether junkie with quite a lung full.

Here’s a bad picture of Catey showing me the way through the tunnel directly under turn 4...



We followed the road all the way into the infield area where the garages are. Here’s another bad picture taken with my cell phone of some car being pushed out onto the pit road area…



We made our way onto the grassy infield of the front stretch for the driver introductions. I called Kristina on her cell phone and told her to look for me behind the semi-truck. She couldn’t see me for some reason, so I move towards the painted writing where she could see me. I gave them a wave from down there.

Here’s the lovely Catey mocking my mental patient smile during the driver’s introductions…



Here’s I am standing in Jeff Burton’s pit before the race… Is it odd that I stood in the race winner’s pit before the race even started?



I couldn’t believe that I could get as close to the cars as I did. I so wanted to touch Robby Gordon’s car, but I thought better of it. Notice the stupid grin on my face…







I even took a picture of Robby Gordon’s “war wagon” that was parked in his garage stall…



And here’s what it looks like if you were standing on the pit wall… Not that I did that because I didn’t want to piss anyone off or get hurt…



Here’s one with my favorite driver, Robby Gordon. As much as I wanted to yell something to pump him up, I figured it was best to leave him alone. He had that serious “business at hand” kind of look…



When I finally arrived to my seat… This was the view that I had…



I broke out my camera phone again to snap a picture to illustrate how fast those cars were whizzing by. The blur near the fence was Robby Gordon’s car going by us at over 160 miles per hour…



And finally, this picture shows how well a view we had of turns 1 and 2...



We left with about 25 laps to go and before we had to leave, Kristina wanted one more rush. Whenever I asked if she was excited before the race, she sarcastically said that she was “thrilled”. Well I’m here to tell you… She was impressed by the speeds the cars were passing by when she stood at the yellow line near the fence. The wind nearly blew her down! And before leaving her new adventure, she had to have her one more windy experience of 35 stocks cars zipping by her at 10 feet away.

She also enjoyed listening to the crew and driver chatter on the scanner. She seemed really tickled by that. I don’t think I have converted her into watching NASCAR races on television, but I think she would love going to the track again for another race. I’m thinking the night race at Bristol or even my favorite track, Talladega.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:30 AM

    Man, I'm mad you went to the race and didn't share such information with me. I was there, too. I was sitting 4 rows from the track in the "D" turn. Right there where they step on the gas to go green. That was EXTRA loud. And cold as all hell. I harassed evrey Jr. fan in sight. It was good times.

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  2. How can I, Charles?

    I no longer have your number and according to your family, it's almost fruitless.

    But I'm glad to hear that you gave the Jr. fans hell!

    You ARE my hero!

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