Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scorned

Well dammit!  I guess you can't have everything.  Here I am in a long vacation/holiday weekend, I've got "you-gotta-know-somebody-to-get-em" pit passes to the Firecracker 400, me and my old bud Punch are going to the races and I've got a date with my old flame, Danni.  What could go wrong?

At first, everything looked like it was going to fall into place perfectly.  I rang Danni up on the cell on the way down to tell her we had run into traffic and would be a little late.  After checking in and getting our credentials, stopping for a quick beer and a hot dog, taking a moment or two to take some photos of all the goings on as we passed by, and taking a few minutes to visit with some folks we bumped into, I headed straight to the driver's motorhome parking area to look her up, but when I got there she was gone.  What the heck is that all about?  

Just because I stopped to spend a little time with some real nice people we met on the way in, and I was two hours late, she gets her dander in an uproar.  WTF?  Wimmen!  Go figure.

I tried to reason with her but she would have none of it.  She wouldn't even look at me.  ...Bitch!   Oh well, I guess I'll just have to settle for fun with the good 'ole boys.

Here's a photo tour of the event.

Our host for the race was Richard Childress Racing.  We were assigned to the #29 car driven by Kevin Harvick.  Dale Earnhardt drove the RCR #3 car and after he died Kevin became the new man on the team.  Can't say he took Dale's place as that's impossible, but he is fourth in the points at the moment.  Here the car is going into NASCAR pre-race inspection.

The inspection is really exacting.  They completely surround the car with these templates and then run a shim between the body and the template to assure exact tolerance.

Or man qualifying.  He didn't qualify too well, can't remember, somewhere back in the pack, but worked his way up to fourth at the finish.  Lap times over 190 mph and over 200 mph on the back stretch.  These things are serious racing machines.  Highest quality materials and machining.

Meanwhile, the fans are whooping it up in the tri-oval where there was lots of entertainment.

Fans sitting at the start-finish line enjoying a concert by Sheryl Crow.  It was a good show and I sat my tired old butt down and enjoyed the music myself.  This shot gives you a good idea of the degree of track banking.  And this is the "low" banking.

Sheryl rocking out.  At one point, someone near the stage fainted from the heat.  Sheryl stopped the show and called the medical squad over the PA all the while asking people to step back and make room.  As soon as they carried the patient off, she cranked back up right where she had left off.

With the crew at the start of the race.  My pit pass allowed me to go anywhere except over the wall (as if I wanted to in the first place).  We stayed until the first pit stop and then cruised on home and watched the finish over martinis and steaks on the barbie.  Life is good.