MARTINSVILLE'S TOP 3!

Hubby and I are getting the RV ready to head to Martinsville at the end of the week and I am SOOOO excited.  Probably too excited because I am neglecting things that ought to get done around here -- you know, like paperwork and cleaning and important stuff like that!

So I've been thinking - what is it about Martinsville that makes us so excited to go there?  Here are my Top Three Reasons:

1.  THE RACING!!  At some tracks I find that I look forward to other things like the camping or the town, but at Martinsville it is all about the racing for me.  Such a great little track with just enough 'old school' touches (like the train that runs right thru the property!) to appeal to the history lover in me.  We've seen tons of rubbin' and racin' here as well as Denny's legendary burnout ...

a wreck or two ...

and of course I will NEVER FORGET the race in the Fall of 2015 when Matt Kenseth took out Joey Logano which resulted in Jeff Gordon's final trip to Victory Lane.  The place went W-I-L-D!! (which is my way of saying I don't have a picture of that one - lol!!)

I can't wait to see what excitement this weekend's race will hold!!

2.  THE "PAPERCLIP" - Short track racing at its finest!  Such a cool place to watch a race!  Short straight aways with little banking in the corners make this track so unique, especially when compared to the super speedways.  

And you may have guessed what my #3 reason is ....

3.  THE FOOD - I have to admit that I am not a big fan of the famous Martinsville hot dog, but there are lots of other goodies that you don't find at any other track I've been to ...

Happy Hubby loves the Martinsville hot dogs!

Fried Bologna Sandwich

And my personal favorite -- the Virginia ham sliders!!

So, how about you?  What would be your Top Three reasons for going (or wanting to go!) to Martinsville?

A REAL CLASS ACT

By now you have probably heard about Jimmie Johnson's hard hit into the wall at Phoenix during the third round of qualifying ... at 200 mph ... with no steering wheel!  Once he was released from the infield care center, the media was there to get his comments about what happened.  And much to Jimmie's credit, he decided to withhold his comments until he was able to talk to his team.

What he knew at that point was that he was coming out of turn one looking into the steering column of his car and he was holding the steering wheel in his hands, but it was not attached to that steering column.

What must have been running through his mind when he was asked what had happened?  What would I have said if I was the one in the same circumstances?  What about you?

It would have been so easy, and so understandable, for him to blame his crew!  "How hard is it to make sure the steering wheel is attached to the steering column?!"  "People on this team need to learn to do their damn job!"  Those are the kinds of comments I expected to hear.  But Jimmie, being the seasoned professional that he is, chose to wait until his crew had the chance to examine the car and determine exactly what had gone wrong before he made any comment.

Good thing, too!  Because what had happened was that Jimmie himself had screwed up!  He was the one who just didn't get the steering wheel on correctly.  What?!?!  This was a mindless, routine little thing that he has done probably tens of thousands of times over the year!  It couldn't be that!  But it was.  And Jimmie said so.  He didn't try to deflect the blame or minimize the seriousness of his screw-up.  He told us all exactly what HE did.  No one else.

And that is the kind of athlete our kids need to look up to - a man who is slow to blame others for things that happen to him, a man who is willing to accept the blame when things go wrong.  A real class act!

HELLOOOOOOOO!!

Thanks for checking back in with me!  I have been absent for a LONG TIME!  No excuses, it's just been a crazy busy time for me.  And honestly, by the time the season is over I feel like everyone else has said just about everything there is to say about our sport .... in a hundred different ways!

I was going to comment after the banquet.  But my comments had nothing to do with racing, and everything to do with how those women were dressed!!  But then I remember my momma telling me that if you don't have anything nice to say you should just keep quiet. ;-)  But seriously ... does anyone on earth believe that some of these women would be with these guys if they were just a bunch of poor schlubs?!?  No.  Gotta give kudos to Joey Logano's wife, though.  Such a sweet young thing, and obviously a little overwhelmed by the red carpet experience.  When the reporter asked her 'who' she was wearing her response was priceless - "I don't know, Nieman Marcus I guess.  I just saw it on the rack and liked the color!"  So genuine and so real.  Unlike Samantha Busch, who needed an entourage (as in, her MOTHER!)  to carry her dress and stage it just-so for when the camera was around -- seriously?!

Okay, enough with the pettiness!!

Hubby and I have started to talk about our racing/camping plans for 2016.  Not sure which ones we will try to get to this year.  When we initially started to go to the races in person, our plan was to go to both Dover races and one other track within driving distance.  Well, the problem with that is every one of those other tracks is so cool that we want to keep going back there too!  So now we want to go to Dover -- although we have decided to give up the fall race there for reasons I'll talk about later maybe -- Martinsville x2, Richmond in the fall because we like the night race, and one new one but we just aren't sure which one.  We'd like to visit New Hampshire and maybe make a week's vacation out of it, or maybe Charlotte during the all-star week.  Anyone have any suggestions for us?

A TEAM'S GOTTA EAT!!

I have a confession!  I am a bit of a foodie.  There, I said it.  It's not that my whole world revolves around food, and I don't enjoy massive quantities of food.  I think what I like is the fun and relationships that happen over food.  Tailgating?  That is probably my idea of ultimate fun!

So naturally, when we are lucky enough to get an early morning tour of the pit/garage area at a track, I want to know -- what and where do all of these people eat?!  I mean, it's an early start of the day for these guys.  And they work hard.  They have to get hungry and it's not like they can just take a lunch break and run out to the local McDonald's!

So this last time at Dover I decided to check out how the teams get their nourishment, and I was not disappointed!  These teams know how to do it right!!  I have been known to be a little bit over the top when I'm in charge of the tailgate, but they put me to shame.  I mean check out this ham ready to bake ...

I know you can almost smell this picture!  I asked this guy what time lunch was served, hoping he would invite me to join them, but he just looked at me and chuckled.  His facial expression was kinda like "Go away Stalker!"  He obviously didn't know who I was - hahahaha!!!

Most of the time the hauler driver also fills the role of chef.  Here the grills are lined up in front of the haulers at Richmond ...

I couldn't find anyone there to talk to so I didn't get invited there either. ;-)

Some teams set up their kitchen right in back of their haulers in the garage area -

And others look for an open space and set up canopies and full kitchens!

(I understand this guy does some amazing things with sweet potatoes.

I LOVE sweet potatoes - HINT, HINT!!)

And just like tailgating at your favorite track or stadium, you can tell that there is a certain kind of "one-ups-man-ship" among the cooks, which makes for an interesting and yummy-smelling infield on race day.

Race day is a very busy time for these teams, and pit crew members don't always have alot of time to sit down to a nice meal.  Food has to be the grab-and-go variety and it has to be healthy because these guys are serious athletes.  This spring I caught this crew member of Alex Bowman's having a bowl of fresh strawberries while they waited to go through inspection.

Maybe I should consider combining my love of tailgating with my love of Nascar and figure out how to become the cook for a team.  Nah!  That's way too much work at this stage of my life.  I guess I'm just gonna figure out how score an invitation to tailgate with a team and not be considered a stalker!!

Stay Happy!!

NASCAR MOM!

Usually when I go to a race I meet some really awesome people, and Dover was no exception! Actually we never met in person, but we connected with each other through the Nascar Wife Happy Life Facebook page.

When I posted about heading to Dover for the Fall 2015 race, this Nascar Mom left a comment telling me how excited she was to be taking her two sons to their VERY FIRST NASCAR RACE!

Now, you Happy Wives (and Hubbies too!) know that your kids reach a stage in their lives where hanging out with Mom just isn't cool.  Everything you do gets you the infamous eye-roll reaction. Sometimes they even deny knowing who you are!!  Trust me, I speak from experience here!

Finding a common ground, something that you both enjoy, is not an easy thing to do.  In fact, at times it feels impossible!

That is why this is such a cool story.  This Nascar Mom's sons are 13 and 17 years old -- even MORE difficult to find something to do and enjoy together.  And can I just tell you - SHE NAILED IT!!

Look at these happy faces!!

Mom even splurged a little and added the Monster Mile Club package to her tickets which just added to the family fun and photo opps!  Here they are in front of the Miles the Monster trophy which little Keelan Harvick now displays in his playroom.

Notice how the smiles are getting bigger?!  ...

It was a long day and a late start of the race made it a late drive home, but something tells me that Nascar has a new generation of fans for life.  And there is a Nascar Mom with memories that she wouldn't trade for anything!  Way to go, Nascar Mom -- YOU ROCK!!

MORE FUN IN THE FAN ZONE!

Okay, in Part I of this post I shared with you where and how to buy your race souvenirs!  Now let's talk about all the other fun things you can do before the race starts!

For those of you who have never been to a track, there is always a large attraction set up outside the track with lots of fun activities for fans of all ages.  Think carnival or boardwalk.  Even if you don't have a race ticket you can take advantage of all the fun here!

Lots of the sponsors put up large tents and entertain the race fans as they head to the track.  There is the Sprint stand where you can get your picture taken with a cardboard likeness of Miss Sprint Cup. (Hey!  Your friends will never know the difference!)  Chevrolet usually has a whole lot of new cars for you to check out - like the new gorgeous Corvette! - and you can score a free tshirt here too. Sometimes Jack Daniels has a great big display where you can start your Christmas shopping!

And, of course, there is food ..... LOTS AND LOTS of food!  Dover has great options for whatever you are in the mood for, but of course you can't leave Delaware without having a Grotto's pizza.

If you prefer to eat more healthy food, how about this?

And you'll need a little sumpin' sumpin' to wash it all down!

So, after you've tickled your tastebuds you'll probably want to work off a few of those calories before you sit to watch the race for a few hours.  How about climbing a rock wall?

Or take your puppy for a walk?

But whatever you decide to do, you want to be sure you get to your seat in time for the pre-race festivities.  In case you don't get to the gate before the National Anthem, you will have to wait and pay your respects to our country during that time.  Everything stops at a race when the Anthem is played.

And that, right there, is the best reason of all to be a NASCAR fan!

FAN ZONE FUN!!

Going to a race is about so much more than watching the race.  Of course, there is always lots of tailgating fun that starts very early in the morning of race day.  And really, all you have to do is walk past a group of tailgaters and it is very likely someone will plop a delicious sandwich or ice cold beer in your hand for that long trek to the track (wink, wink!).

If you've never gone to a race before, let me give you this one little bit of advice -- GO EARLY!  Not because you need to get to your seat hours before the green flag, but because you will want to have lots of time to check out the Fan Zone, or as they call it at Dover, the Fun Zone!

You might have heard some discussions in the last year or two about the changes that are happening in this area.  And for awhile, it was really awesome and then -- well, not so great.  But it has begun to come back to life again, and the changes are AWESOME!

The biggest controversy has been about the elimination of the individual driver souvenir trailers that have been replaced by a super-sized souvenir tent.  I got the opportunity to check it out at Richmond and I'm still not sure how it is going to over with the fans.

As you can see, each driver still has his own individual area within the giant tent.  You can go from one section of the tent to another and gather up all the stuff you want to buy.  There is one very large centralized checkout area, so it is very convenient.  You may even buy something you had no intention of buying, just because you got to check it out up close.  I know what I'm talking about here -- my new granddaughter will have her very own pink #48 bib - I just couldn't resist!!

What I think might be a problem with this setup, though, is that there is not alot of room to move around inside.  We were there on Friday when the crowds are always smaller and it was okay.  But race day?  Wild horses couldn't drag me in there - not even for the aforementioned cute little baby bib!  The other problem I see is that, contrary to what you may have heard, it is NOT air conditioned!!  Just really big fans blowing air around.  I think shoppers will be dropping like flies during the hot summer months.  But, then again, maybe they plan to air condition it for those races. Let's hope so.

In the next few days I will tell you all about the awesome Fan Zone at Richmond, and I will also share what I hear is coming our way at the Monster Mile.  You're gonna love it!!  Be sure to check back here or you can follow me on Facebook at "Nascar Wife Happy Life" so you never miss a new post!!