Monday, July 8, 2013

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.




18 comments:

  1. Cool cars, hot women, AND Sheryl Crow? All on top of four days off? I'd call that a successful weekend!

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    1. I'm getting too old for this stuff no matter how much fun. I can hardly walk two days later.

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  2. Lateness is a big no-no, Mr. C. But I woulda waited for ya.

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  3. dude...what an awesome weekend...wont lie, i am slightly envious...ha, hope you can walk again soon...smiles..

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    1. An awesome weekend indeed. My bro-in-law is an independent marketing agent for several of the teams and I do the graphics for his presentations. ergo... the passes.

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  4. Seems to me no matter the pain in walking it would have been better than going over the wall (unless you were in prison) or sitting on that asphalt. I have an extra cane laying around here somewhere if you need it.

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    1. I'm telling ya. Going over that wall is intense. You had best get with the program or get the hell out of the way.

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  5. I guess she figured y'all would do all that beer drinking hot dog eating friend chatting together. Ah well, easy come, easy go. Looks like she missed some fun though.

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    1. Now, that's exactly the way I looked at it. She's out there driving around in circles and missing all the fun.

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  6. Sounds like you had an absolute blast. What can I say? It was her loss...

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  7. The race and a Sheryl Crow concert -- glad you had a kickass weekend. Hope you're walking again soon :)

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    1. I feel like one of those ape to man renderings... I am again homo-erectus!

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  8. After all that fuss about how you were burning to see her again you made her wait two hours?
    What did you expect?

    Even so, your weekend was good, so you can’t have been too heart-broken.

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    1. Well... I got distracted by my new friends and lost track of time. Besides, If I counted up all the times she's made me wait... oh well.

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  9. So I was standing there as she ended her qualifying run. She walked right up to me and asked where you were, I said "photographing the side boob babe with the go to hell boots". She ask if she could have bite of my hot dog. I darned near dropped my beer giving it to her. The hot dog not the beer. Spilled that on my camera.

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    1. Funny, the same thing happened to me when she took a bite out of my hot dog.

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