A REAL HAPPY NASCAR WIFE!

Well, we are back from our weekend at Dover and I just couldn't wait to tell you about this adorable couple we met while we were touring the garages prior to Sunday's race!

As we were walking around, Hubby spotted these two wearing their "Just Married" t-shirts.  I asked if I could take their picture for my blog and they obliged.  We chatted with them for awhile and they were so darned cute!  Melvin and Sara - married on Saturday and the Dover race was their honeymoon!  They were headed back to work on Monday morning.  What a sweet couple!  Melvin is a big Jr. fan and was hoping to score a tire or some other piece of memorabilia from the 88 as a souvenir.  I didn't get to see them after the race, but I'd love to know about their experience at the race!

I wish them many, many happy years together!  "Nascar Wife, Happy Life!!"

PACKING FOR THE TRACK

I'm starting to think about what I want to pack to take to Dover next weekend, and I thought I'd share some pointers on what and how I pack my bag to take along to the race.

First of all, and most importantly, check the track's website to see their restrictions on what you can take in to your seat on race day.  Every track has different rules and there is always that guy who is completely unaware that you can't take certain items inside the track.  As he 'converses' with the security guy the line behind him grows longer and longer and fans become more and more aggravated!  Doing a little research before you go saves all of us a lot of headaches.

I highly recommend packing your personal items in a clear totebag.  If you don't already have one (I actually got one when I purchased a set of sheets!) you can purchase one at the NASCAR trailer in the Fan Zone.  They are relatively inexpensive and well worth the investment for the time it will save you going thru the gates.

Here is a list of items I always pack:

• 2 trash bags - Sounds silly, I know, but they come in really handy if your metal bleacher seat is wet or if it starts to rain during the race.  You can put them over your lap to keep your legs from getting wet or tear a whole in the top and use as a makeshift raincoat.
• Blanket - Makes those metal bleachers a little softer and a little warmer but also helps to define "your space" so that you don't lose valuable inches when your neighbor tries to put his cooler in your seat.  You're welcome! 
• Scanner and headsets - If you don't want to use these, be sure to take something for ear protection.  You can't imagine how loud it is trackside!  A quick trip to the hardware store and you can find inexpensive earplugs.  These are an absolute must.
• Extra batteries for your scanner
• Sunscreen, no matter what the weather is.  Just a little bit of sun bouncing off those shiny aluminum bleachers and you can get a sunburn more quickly than if you were at the beach!
• Snacks - I am not one of those people who can't go for more than an hour without eating.  I also don't really enjoy trying to eat a greasy burger or sloppy sub in my seat.  So I take a bunch of easy-to-eat snacks - things like peanut butter crackers, nuts, carrots, apples, etc.  I also like to bring a bag of hard candy/mints and gum and a bottle of water.
• Aspirin - I can pretty much always count on getting a headache some time during the day, so I always want to be able to catch it before it gets really awful and spoils my fun.
• Hat & Sunglasses - I am not a baseball hat kind of girl, but I always wear one at a race.  Count on the sun being in your eyes at some point during the day.
• TICKETS - Goes without saying, but be sure to double check that someone has them!
• Money - I always throw a couple of dollars in my bag just in case.

Just remember that whatever you take with you needs to fit at your feet!  Please be considerate of the others around you. I see people dragging these huge coolers on wheels and tons of junk for their kids and I feel sorry for the people who sit around them!  There is no way all that stuff fits in the space you are allotted, so that means you are cheating from your neighbors.  Not fair, not considerate, and not a fun way for anyone to spend the day. 

With just a little advance planning and thought you'll have everything you need to spend a great day cheering for your favorite driver!

LESSON LEARNED

No big newsflash here, but NASCAR events are extremely weather dependent.  Practice, qualifying, and races.  None can happen on schedule when Mother Nature decided to flex her muscles.  This weekend's events at Chicagoland Speedway are a prime example.

This happened to us this spring at Martinsville.  Hubby was SO excited about being able to go to an early-season race, God bless him....  He ordered our truck race tickets for Saturday and cup race tickets for Sunday months in advance.  We were going to Virginia in late March - weather there should be nice and springlike at that time of year, right?  Wrong! 

It rained all night Friday night, but ever the optimists we knew it would be okay for the truck race on Saturday.  Wrong again. We woke up Saturday morning and it was still raining.  Bucketfuls.  We tuned in the Sirius Nascar station to see what the report from the track was.  "Chance of clearing" they said so we decided to head out from the campground in the hopes that "chance" meant "100% chance."  Well, as it turned out 'chance' meant more like 'little to no chance'.  When we arrived at the track we got a great parking space!  No one else was crazy enough to think this was anything but a monsoon!  We pulled on our raincoats, popped up our umbrellas, and headed to the Fan Zone.  It was actually a great time to be there.  We had to dodge each others' umbrellas, but everyone was having fun, just like little kids playing in the rain!

We bought the things we went there to buy and as it started to rain even harder, decided to go back to our truck and wait for awhile.  Luckily I thought to throw a couple of snacks and some drinks in the truck before we left so we had a little picnic inside the truck and watch the antics of those who were trying to tailgate in the rain.  It was quite entertaining!  Meanwhile, they kept pushing back the time of the race - an hour, a half hour, and so on and so on.  Soon the discussion turned to "if" it stops raining and how much daylight would be left to get the race in. 

The rain never really stopped, although it got a lot lighter.  So we decided to head over to the track to see what was happening.  This was the first time NASCAR was using the new Air Titans and we thought it would be interesting to see them in action.  Hubby got to talk to one of the guys who drives an Air Titan so that was pretty fascinating (for him - haha!)

We found our seats, put our trashbag down first so that we weren't sitting in puddles, and settled in.  No more than 5 minutes later the announcement came - truck race has been postponed until AFTER tomorrow's cup race.  And here is the Lesson Learned part:  Anyone with a ticket for the truck race could get into the cup race an hour after it started, and anyone with a cup race ticket could stay for the truck race!  We had spent $70 (give or take) that we really did not need to spend.  OUCH!

The same thing just happened to ticket holders in Chicago.

So my advice is this:  If you are planning to spend the weekend at the races, buy your tickets for Sunday only.  If the weather is nice and everything goes off on schedule, buy your tickets for Friday or Saturday at the gate - there are always tons of tickets available and usually these races are general admission so you're not buying a 'seat' anyway - just admission.  If the weather is lousy and races get rescheduled, you will get two for the price of one - kind of like a BOGO in the grocery store!

RACE FOR THE CHASE .... a/k/a THE PLAYOFFS

The NASCAR conversation this week has been all about "the chase".  I'm sure you've heard it.  You probably thought, 'Chase?  What chase? I thought all races were chases!"  Well, yes.  Technically all races are chases, but in this case "chase" refers to the chase for a championship. 

If you think of the Chase in terms of a playoff-type of system it will help you to understand what is at stake.  College sports have their conferences; professional sports have their leagues; Nascar has its chase.  You get the idea.

Let me see if I can summarize it for you ...  You might want to get a little snack ;-)

After tomorrow night's race in Richmond, the top 16 drivers (the ones with the most points - and don't ask me to explain that one to you - that will be for another day) will advance to the Chase for the Championship.  Some drivers already know they are in the Chase because they have won a race in the regular season.  Winning automatically qualifies a driver for the Chase, as long as they are ranked in the top 30 by chase time.  But there are a bunch of drivers who haven't won a race and who want to be in the Chase so the racing should be pretty crazy at Richmond.  I can't wait!

After the Richmond race, the top 16 drivers will all have 2,000 points + 3 extra points for every race they have won this year.  There are five drivers who have each won 3 races (Keselowski, Logano, Gordon, Johnson, and Earnhardt) so they will be going into the Chase with a 9 point advantage over the others.

The next three races will be Chicago, New Hampshire and Dover (yay!!).  The top 16 will have their total points added up after those three races and the bottom 4 will be eliminated, leaving 12 drivers in the Chase.  They are going to be racing for their lives in Dover and it is going to be crrraaaazzzy!!

The same thing will happen after the next three races, taking the field down to top 8, and again after the next three taking it down to the top 4 drivers.

Thennnnn, for the final race of the year at Homestead Miami, those final top 4 drivers will race for the 2014 Championship.  The one of those four who finishes first will win it all! So a flat tire, a blown engine, a bad restart and they are DONE! (All the drivers will be driving in these races; it's just these top guys who have a chance to win the championship.) 

Make sense?  I hope so!  You might want to mark your calendars now for these dates, because you aren't going anywhere ... except maybe to the track if you are lucky!!

TONY STEWART

Even if you've never heard of Nascar (have you been living under a rock or something?!?!), my guess is you have heard about the accident involving Tony Stewart ad nauseum.  It seems as though everyone has an opinion about what most who know about such things consider an unfortunate accident.  A tragedy.  A horrible, horrible tragedy. 

I am not going to comment on what happened at that dirt track in Canadaigua.  If you want to read about it or see video of it, knock yourself out.  There is more commentary out there than anyone could possibly care about.

I feel horrible for the family of Kevin Ward, Jr.  The pain and anguish they are going through is unimaginable.  It isn't fair.  Their hearts are broken and their world will never be the same.

I feel equally horrible for Tony Stewart.  Believe what you want about the accident, but know this.  No athlete ever sets out to intentionally kill a competitor.  No adrenaline rush, no anger management issue, ever drives anyone to want to kill someone over something that happened during a sporting event. You may hate them at the moment.  You may be consumed by a rage that makes you see red and say stupid things.  You may even be driven to physically lash out at them.  But you don't want to kill them.  You just don't.

Tony Stewart has had issues with his anger when he was younger.  He has thrown stuff and said stuff that he should not have. ( I have even heard he is a lousy tipper at the Olive Garden in Charlotte!)  But he did not get so mad at a twenty-year-old kid on an obscure little dirt track in New York that he wished him dead.  Of that I am sure.

If you didn't see Tony's news conference yesterday, let me tell you - this man is broken.  He had a hollow look in his eyes, a haunting emptiness,and he looked like he was going to burst into tears if he didn't get out of there PDQ!  My heart aches for him too.  I have seen soldiers suffering from PTSD.  Tony looked just like them.

Have you ever accidentally hit an animal while you were driving?  I'm talking squirrel or skunk or cat.  I have.  And I hate squirrels.  But when I hit one a while back, I thought about it for a long time. I replayed the 'thud' over and over again in my head.  I avoided driving on that same stretch of road because I didn't want to see it again.  And it was a squirrel.  Just a squirrel!!

I can't imagine what Tony Stewart's private moments are like.  I don't ever want to know what that feels like.  I hope he finds peace, and I hope that young Kevin Ward's family will too.  Maybe together they can heal.  That would be nice for both of them.

I am glad that Tony has decided to get back in his race car.  Sometimes, like Dr. Phil says, you just have to behave yourself out of a situation.  I hope he races well.  But his finish doesn't really matter.  I'm just glad to see that he understands that he needs to be behind the wheel of a race car.  Maybe there - in normalcy - he will find some peace.  I certainly hope so.  Good luck #14, and I'm not talking about Atlanta or any other track for that matter.  Good Luck.

DOVER - PART TWO

Okay .... don't hate me.  But when we "do Dover" we go first class, with tickets for all the track events in the top-of-the-line suite called "Velocity." For three days we live like royalty with cushioned seats in air-conditioned luxury!  The suite, unfortunately for you, is always sold out, but there are rumors that the track will be expanding Velocity in the near future.  Nothing official, but I would recommend you check with the track next year if you are interested.

I will admit that even as wonderful as Velocity is, three days of racing is a little too much for me.  So Hubby often invites a business affiliate to join him on Saturday and I forfeit my ticket and stay in the campground.  I actually really enjoy this day and often I will work on scrapbooks or catch up on my movie watching and nap taking.  The first time I did this I was quite surprised at how many people, mostly women & kids, do the same.  It's a fun, friendly day and I will take some pictures to share with you this year.

If you decide to do something similar, be sure to take the time to visit the "Fan Zone".  Even if you just go to the track for the day, be sure to get there really early and take the time to walk through this area.  If you are bringing the kids, this is a big Must Do!  So many fun things to do, and each driver has his own tractor-trailer-turned-souvenir-shop with everything you could ever want with your favorite guy's number on it!

And speaking of 'your guy', let me offer up this little tidbit of advice .... Pick 'a guy', any 'guy'.  Maybe you like his sponsor, maybe you like him, but for whatever reason you pick him, it will make the racing so much more fun and interesting if you have a 'guy' to cheer for!  My first 'guy' was Tony Stewart because at that time he drove a Pontiac and so did I.  Good enough reason.  And I must admit that I still like to cheer on Tony, although I'm not the most loyal of fans.  Sometimes I pick a different guy at every track we go to for random reasons.  For example, a couple of years ago Brad Keselowski came to visit us in Velocity before the race and I liked him so much that I decided he was going to be my guy for that race.  And guess what .... he won! 

Now back to Dover ....  This is a great track to watch a race!  It is a mile-long oval (hence "The Monster Mile"), and you can see the entire track from every seat.  The grandstands are really large and there always appears to be empty seats, so you could probably get tickets at the gate if you make a last-minute decision to go.

If you can stick around for awhile after the racing is over, it's a fun spot to watch the drivers' and owners' helicopters land in the infield and take off for home.  All the teams' motorhomes park in the infield here too so that's something else for you to check out.

My advice on Dover is this .... "GO!"  You may just become a big fan too!!

DOVER - PART ONE

I've decided to post my thoughts on Dover now, before the fall race, in the hopes that you will think it sounds like so much fun you want to plan your trip now!

Hubby has been going to the Dover races for probably 15 years or more.  He used to go with a couple of buddies, but then his buddies got old.  Actually, they are the same age as us but they act like a bunch of old men.  So when he lost his race partners I said I would go along, just so he wouldn't miss out.  Well, one trip turned into two turned into the whole weekend ....  you get the idea.  Now I actually look forward to our Dover trip as much as he does!!

Dover is a unique track in where it is located.  Most of the tracks we have been to are in the middle of nowhere.  And by nowhere, I mean nowhere!  You drive miles and miles of rural lands and then BOOM, there's the track.  Well, not Dover.  This track is along a four-lane highway adjacent to a mall, across the highway from Delaware State University, and on the same property as Dover Downs racetrack and casino.  It is a few miles from Dover Air Force base where the large cargo planes fly to and from.  It's also about an hour or so from Rehoboth Beach, a quaint little beach town on the Atlantic Ocean.  So this is a great area to visit any time, but race weekend is icing on the cake!!

If you plan to camp, there are plenty of options.  Lots of the stores in the area will rent you a camping space for the weekend - stores like Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.  The Dover Mall, which is adjacent to the track and an easy walk to it, also rents out part of its parking lot for campers.  We have stayed here and it is nice because it is level and paved.  We now camp on track property where it is grass.  I was a little leary of camping at the track just because I was afraid it would be a 24-hour party.  And while there is certainly a lot of partying going on, no one gets out of hand.  Everyone just has a fun time with lots of cornhole tournaments taking place.  Quiet hours begin at 11 p.m. and everyone respects that.  Security patrols on a regular basis and we have had no issues.  There are some lots where we have heard horror stories about the partying so if you call the track to make a camping reservation, be sure to tell them what type of camping you are looking for.  We like the track lot because it is easiest getting out on Sunday night after the race is over. 

We go on Thursday evening for the hauler parade, which is quite entertaining!  This is when all the big shiny tractor trailers that haul the race cars and their mobile garages come to town.  They drive through the streets of town and then down the main road to the racetrack.  Chairs line both sides of the road and little kids (and even some big kids) pump their arms to the get the trucks to blow their horns.  They drive into the track and park for the weekend.  Last year we got to see the entire operation and it was really interesting to see how the weekend unfolds from a logistics standpoint.

 

 

Some of the food concessions outside the track are open so it is a nice walk to get a drink, but I wouldn't plan on eating there.  It's just a little unpredictable on Thursday evening.

Tomorrow I will post about the races and our tickets.  Just a word of warning .... I am a princess at this race ;-)