We had some fun times. We did some camping, and fishing, which is always fun. We went to our first road course race, which also happened to be the first time we camped at a race track. I've never camped anywhere but in the woods before, so that was a whole new experience. Imagine living in the most redneck trailer park ever...yep, that's about what it was like! ;) Nah, it was all good. We actually really did have a great time there. We're going back again this year because, as our luck would have it, the NASCAR Cup Series is having their first race there this year! We didn't get the same awesome camp site as we did last year (which was literally like 100 feet away from the track. Don't need to set no alarm clock when you got Lamborghinis and Porsches screaming past your camper at 0700 in the A.M. to wake ya up!) but that's okay, we'll still have fun!
So yes, in case you didn't know that about me yet, I am a huge NASCAR fan. I'll pause here so you can get all the jokes out of the way...don't worry, I've heard them all before. I've been watching NASCAR for as long as I can remember. Way back when the only races they showed on TV were the Daytona and Talladega. (cue Southern accent) I used to sit up in that ol' living room with my Daddy and watch them ol' races on the tee-vee.... (cut back to plan generic Midwestern accent) Alright, that's all I got. I did, though. One of the first toys I remember having when I was little was a big ol' #11 Darrel Waltrip Mountain Dew car. It's why I still have a soft spot for ol' DW today.
My hubby wasn't into NASCAR when I met him, or even when I married him. I don't remember exactly when he converted, but it was somewhere before 2007 because that's when we went to our first NASCAR race. It was at Chicagoland. I believe that ended up being the last daytime race, because the next season they switched to running under the lights. It was fun, overwhelming, and exhausting -- and took us about 5-6 hours just to get out of the parking lot after the race. Yep, that was longer than the race itself. Madness. Not what you want for your first NASCAR experience.
Anyway... that was fun.
that track is within driving distance of our house. It was a fun trip overall, too. I guess I didn't talk about what else we did on our other trips. We didn't really do much else in Daytona in 2011. We went as part of a tour, so didn't rent a car or anything. We basically took a bus to the track every morning, hung out there all day, and then took the bus back to the hotel at night. There wasn't a lot of time or the resources to do other things. In Chicagoland, we rented a car to drive there. I don't remember what else we did while we were there; I think it was the first time we had been back since moving away (that's a story for another time, but we lived in that area -- about 20 minutes away from the track, but it wasn't the track when we lived there -- when the boy was born) so I'm sure we drove around the old 'hood and everything, but there's not much else to do in that part of Chicagoland. OK, now you're caught up. While in Michigan, we also went to the Henry Ford museum and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. The race itself was fun! A little wet; in fact, the race was delayed due to rain, and we got absolutely soaked at one point. But still had fun! Dale Jr won that race. Yee-haw!
Well, my laptop battery is about to die, so this is a good place to break for now. When I return... Daytona 2018 and Road America 2019!!
...alright. I gotta stop with these blog entries that take multiple days to construct!!
And trust me, I am cutting these race memories down to almost nothing. Not even telling you who won, except at Michigan. I didn't tell you about how pumped I was at our first race, because I had my heart set on getting me a pair of Kevin Harvick crocs, and then we got there and found the Crocs trailer and...the Kevin Harvick crocs were red with yellow straps. And looked like clown shoes. And I wanted to cry because I hate clowns and there was no way on God's green earth I was going to wear clown shoes, not even to show my support for Kevin Harvick. And I left out a whole great story about the drunk dudes getting stuck in the muddy ditch in the parking lot. And there are a literal ton of pictures I could be sharing... in fact, I do have to share this one because it's fricking awesome:
Isn't it beautiful? That is my old 2007 Monte Carlo, at Michigan International Speedway. I miss that car. I'll have to tell that story another time.
And, lucky for you, our last NASCAR trip was to Road America last year. Which was different in so
many ways! We've always wanted to camp at a racetrack, but there aren't many that are close enough, really. Chicagoland, Michigan, Kansas...OK, there's three. And... Road America! Which didn't have Cup races, but in it's favor, is actually in Wisconsin -- so, we decided to give it a try. After all, "in Wisconsin" still could be about 5 hours away, which is about how far away it is. Camping, road courses, racing other than NASCAR (don't get me wrong, there was Xfinity Cup racing there or whatever it is that Busch racing is called now, I can't keep up anymore) and getting out and actually doing something during COVID times...well worth the trip. In fact, we left there wanting to sign up for season tickets. We didn't, but... a few months ago, the hubby found out that his favorite driver, Jimmie Johnson, was going to be driving in the Indy series at Road America this year, so we decided we'd have to go back there again. (It was a really tough decision. Not!!) And then, a short time after that, we found out that the NASCAR Cup series was going to have their very first race there EVER, and we decided we have to go back for that. So! We're going back this year. YAY!
And that, in case you ever wanted to know, is a summary of all of the NASCAR races we have attended.
As you were :)
No comments:
Post a Comment