NASCAR: a primer
May. 29th, 2006 09:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swingchickieback from north carolina in one piece, although i am sunburnt to high hell and desperate for a shower. the weekend was pretty good, i learned more than i ever wanted to know about NASCAR, including that i don't hate it. hee. i have to say though, if any of you are planning on moving to charlotte, you had better study up on your NASCAR, because it is everywhere. the city basically lives for race day. every restaurant, bar, and store is completely covered in racing-themed signage. every bottle of coke has a driver pic on it, every bag of potato chips is printed with a checkered flag. junk food companies must make a fortune off of race fans, because they totally play to them.
and the sponsorships were completely cracking me up... did you know that there is an official credit card of NASCAR? an official soda? and even:
the official laundry detergent of NASCAR!
and... the offical CORN DOG of NASCAR!
we spent the first evening (saturday) at "speed street", and annual street fair in the heart of charlotte that is, surprise, surprise, NASCAR-themed. there were several stages set up for different bands to play, including REO speedwagon. the stages where the local bands played were a riot... you just knew that these bands thought they'd caught their big break, and went all-out to rehearse a really kick-ass rock show... but when you're performing to a big open parking lot packed solid with about 23 people (no joke), all of the theatrics kind of end up looking sad. like the band who brought some hootchied-up girls a'la zz top to dance on stage:
and i'm not lying, there were MAYBE 20 people standing around looking at them. it was totally cringe-worthy.
pretty much the whole purpose of the fair was food and sponsorships. every possible company with something to sample had a big trailer where they were giving stuff away. luvs diapers, corn flakes, cheerios, hamburger helper, crystal light... ooh, and the weiner-mobile!
and yes, blocks and blocks of fair food... this stand was my favorite:
(yes, i did have a deep-fried twinkie. good, but not as good as deep-fried oreos, IMHO. i had to stay away from the deep-friend candy bars... that just looked like wrong-on-a-stick.)
so, sunday. race day. being a veteran at this, C had a whole strategy going in... we packed several small coolers with sodas, water, beer, sandwiches, and a ton of ice... the weather report said it was going to get up to 90, so we needed to make sure we had enough cold stuff to get us through the day. yes, the whole day... because even though the race didn't start until 5:30, we got there at 10:30am. which was nothing -- some people had been there all week, camping out and going to every race from wednesday through sunday. they make it their big annual vacation, loading up the RVs (or packing coolers and tents in their trucks) and just parking in a field with thousands of other people, spending the days drinking and grilling and their nights at the track. you can tell which driver(s) a person supports by the flags on their campsite:
imagine field after field full of rows and rows of RVs with flags waving high, it really was a crazy sight.
all around the track were dozens and dozens of promotional trailers, just like at the "speed street" fair... companies promoting caulk, lumber, jack daniels, coke, plus all sorts of food vendors. oh, and a big mobile recruiting station for the navy (of course). we spent some time in the sprint/nextel exhibit, because they had air conditioning (it was well over 90 degrees) and one of those race simulation games that was a blast. while you were waiting in line to race, you could text a message to the screens they had hanging up all around the tent... little did i know, C had sent one when i wasn't paying attention:
also, every driver has his (or her) big honkin' souvenir trailer at the track...
anything that you can put a driver's face and/or number on, they've got. beer cozies, dozens of t-shirts, hats, jackets, flags for your trailer, you name it. and then there are the trainers that sell scanners -- if you have a scanner, you can listen to the conversations between each driver and their crew, which turns it into a sort of reality-TV experience as you're sittting there. (C already had one, and 2 sets of headphones. well prepared.)
after walking around the grounds for a few hours, i was sunburt and exhausted. i went back to the car and napped in the A/C for about an hour while C had a beer with the people parked near us... when we headed in to the track at 5pm, it was still well over 90 and the sun was just excruciating. when you're at the track, you sit right out there in the sun, and there is no mercy. no joking, there were a couple of moments before the race started that i almost had to leave, because sitting there in the sun it was getting hard for me to even breathe.
i have to say, i have never seen so many violent sunburns in one place in my life. it's like you're considered a wuss if you don't wear sunscreen, and if you don't get at least one skin graft per summer. people were absolutely purple, they were so fried. and their tattoos? totally gray blobs from overexposure to the sun. one of the exhibits we'd hit earlier in the day was doing a contest, one of those "we'll give a promo item to the first person who can show us X" deals... when they said "a bottle of sunscreen", there was silence as everyone looked at each other. that is, until the irish yank from philly (that would be me) reached into her purse and pulled out a 20-oz. bottle of 45+ coppertone. (i won a beer cozy, and the disdain of the NASCAR fans all around me.)
the race itself was a hoot. the track is just enormous, a mile and a half around, and almost every part of the rim has seating to watch the race. it seats... get ready... 167,000 people. i have a shot of it here:
and this doesn't even adequately convey how enormous this place is. all of those cars and RVs in the middle are the equipment for the crews, as well as some extra-special fans who get to camp out right in the middle of the track. there's even a big building out there (you can see it in the left-middle of the photo), that's a snack bar for everyone who's working and partying there in the center. total riot.
so, there were about 20 minutes of driver introductions, a prayer from a local preacher (yes, this was definitely in the south), the national anthem sang by carrie underwood, and then the cars started their warm-up laps. they went around the track in single-file maybe 6 or 7 times, around 45mph, to get the vehicles ready to go and get a feel for the track conditions... then they got the green flag, and it was like they'd all been shot out of a rocket. it was SO freaking COOL. remember those really old cartoons, where a character would mess with a hornets' nest, and they'd all swarm out... and then they'd all form the shape of an arrow, pause, and then zing at turbo speed towards him, buzzing furiously? that's NASCAR. this line of mosey-ing cars suddenly turns into a buzzing mess of neon-colored hornets whizzing around the track, and it takes your breath away.
bzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!
we saw a number of wrecks right in front of where we were sitting, which was really freaky. every time a driver wrecked, 165,000 spectators turned their scanners to his channel to see what he was saying. except for one driver who aggravated an injury from the day before, every banged-up driver just limped his damaged car to the pit, his crew fixed whatever had been mangled in about 10 seconds, and he zipped off to join the other drivers back on the track. it was really interesting for the first 100 and last 100 laps (out of 400), but those middle ones, #100 to 300, were rather dull (especially considering that the race takes about 5 hours). i'm thinking that they need to spice things up in the middle, make it a little tougher for the drivers and more interesting for the crowd. maybe have a child chase a ball out onto the track... toss some tacks out there... shine the lights really bright in their eyes. it wouldn't cost too much, and would really shake things up. :)
so, the race was fun, i got a lot of interesting cultural knowledge out of it, and the weekend cemented the fact that C and i are not meant to be together (long story, but i'm not devastated about it). honestly, if given the chance, i'd go again... i highly recommend it.
and the sponsorships were completely cracking me up... did you know that there is an official credit card of NASCAR? an official soda? and even:
the official laundry detergent of NASCAR!
and... the offical CORN DOG of NASCAR!
we spent the first evening (saturday) at "speed street", and annual street fair in the heart of charlotte that is, surprise, surprise, NASCAR-themed. there were several stages set up for different bands to play, including REO speedwagon. the stages where the local bands played were a riot... you just knew that these bands thought they'd caught their big break, and went all-out to rehearse a really kick-ass rock show... but when you're performing to a big open parking lot packed solid with about 23 people (no joke), all of the theatrics kind of end up looking sad. like the band who brought some hootchied-up girls a'la zz top to dance on stage:
and i'm not lying, there were MAYBE 20 people standing around looking at them. it was totally cringe-worthy.
pretty much the whole purpose of the fair was food and sponsorships. every possible company with something to sample had a big trailer where they were giving stuff away. luvs diapers, corn flakes, cheerios, hamburger helper, crystal light... ooh, and the weiner-mobile!
and yes, blocks and blocks of fair food... this stand was my favorite:
(yes, i did have a deep-fried twinkie. good, but not as good as deep-fried oreos, IMHO. i had to stay away from the deep-friend candy bars... that just looked like wrong-on-a-stick.)
so, sunday. race day. being a veteran at this, C had a whole strategy going in... we packed several small coolers with sodas, water, beer, sandwiches, and a ton of ice... the weather report said it was going to get up to 90, so we needed to make sure we had enough cold stuff to get us through the day. yes, the whole day... because even though the race didn't start until 5:30, we got there at 10:30am. which was nothing -- some people had been there all week, camping out and going to every race from wednesday through sunday. they make it their big annual vacation, loading up the RVs (or packing coolers and tents in their trucks) and just parking in a field with thousands of other people, spending the days drinking and grilling and their nights at the track. you can tell which driver(s) a person supports by the flags on their campsite:
imagine field after field full of rows and rows of RVs with flags waving high, it really was a crazy sight.
all around the track were dozens and dozens of promotional trailers, just like at the "speed street" fair... companies promoting caulk, lumber, jack daniels, coke, plus all sorts of food vendors. oh, and a big mobile recruiting station for the navy (of course). we spent some time in the sprint/nextel exhibit, because they had air conditioning (it was well over 90 degrees) and one of those race simulation games that was a blast. while you were waiting in line to race, you could text a message to the screens they had hanging up all around the tent... little did i know, C had sent one when i wasn't paying attention:
also, every driver has his (or her) big honkin' souvenir trailer at the track...
anything that you can put a driver's face and/or number on, they've got. beer cozies, dozens of t-shirts, hats, jackets, flags for your trailer, you name it. and then there are the trainers that sell scanners -- if you have a scanner, you can listen to the conversations between each driver and their crew, which turns it into a sort of reality-TV experience as you're sittting there. (C already had one, and 2 sets of headphones. well prepared.)
after walking around the grounds for a few hours, i was sunburt and exhausted. i went back to the car and napped in the A/C for about an hour while C had a beer with the people parked near us... when we headed in to the track at 5pm, it was still well over 90 and the sun was just excruciating. when you're at the track, you sit right out there in the sun, and there is no mercy. no joking, there were a couple of moments before the race started that i almost had to leave, because sitting there in the sun it was getting hard for me to even breathe.
i have to say, i have never seen so many violent sunburns in one place in my life. it's like you're considered a wuss if you don't wear sunscreen, and if you don't get at least one skin graft per summer. people were absolutely purple, they were so fried. and their tattoos? totally gray blobs from overexposure to the sun. one of the exhibits we'd hit earlier in the day was doing a contest, one of those "we'll give a promo item to the first person who can show us X" deals... when they said "a bottle of sunscreen", there was silence as everyone looked at each other. that is, until the irish yank from philly (that would be me) reached into her purse and pulled out a 20-oz. bottle of 45+ coppertone. (i won a beer cozy, and the disdain of the NASCAR fans all around me.)
the race itself was a hoot. the track is just enormous, a mile and a half around, and almost every part of the rim has seating to watch the race. it seats... get ready... 167,000 people. i have a shot of it here:
and this doesn't even adequately convey how enormous this place is. all of those cars and RVs in the middle are the equipment for the crews, as well as some extra-special fans who get to camp out right in the middle of the track. there's even a big building out there (you can see it in the left-middle of the photo), that's a snack bar for everyone who's working and partying there in the center. total riot.
so, there were about 20 minutes of driver introductions, a prayer from a local preacher (yes, this was definitely in the south), the national anthem sang by carrie underwood, and then the cars started their warm-up laps. they went around the track in single-file maybe 6 or 7 times, around 45mph, to get the vehicles ready to go and get a feel for the track conditions... then they got the green flag, and it was like they'd all been shot out of a rocket. it was SO freaking COOL. remember those really old cartoons, where a character would mess with a hornets' nest, and they'd all swarm out... and then they'd all form the shape of an arrow, pause, and then zing at turbo speed towards him, buzzing furiously? that's NASCAR. this line of mosey-ing cars suddenly turns into a buzzing mess of neon-colored hornets whizzing around the track, and it takes your breath away.
bzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!
we saw a number of wrecks right in front of where we were sitting, which was really freaky. every time a driver wrecked, 165,000 spectators turned their scanners to his channel to see what he was saying. except for one driver who aggravated an injury from the day before, every banged-up driver just limped his damaged car to the pit, his crew fixed whatever had been mangled in about 10 seconds, and he zipped off to join the other drivers back on the track. it was really interesting for the first 100 and last 100 laps (out of 400), but those middle ones, #100 to 300, were rather dull (especially considering that the race takes about 5 hours). i'm thinking that they need to spice things up in the middle, make it a little tougher for the drivers and more interesting for the crowd. maybe have a child chase a ball out onto the track... toss some tacks out there... shine the lights really bright in their eyes. it wouldn't cost too much, and would really shake things up. :)
so, the race was fun, i got a lot of interesting cultural knowledge out of it, and the weekend cemented the fact that C and i are not meant to be together (long story, but i'm not devastated about it). honestly, if given the chance, i'd go again... i highly recommend it.
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-30 01:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-30 10:44 am (UTC)Congrats and a confession
Date: 2006-05-30 05:20 pm (UTC)Also wanted to remind you that even though you live in suburban hell, you are not that far from some great tracks. There are two races in the Poconos, and I think 2 races in Dover.
Sorry to hear about C. Is it because he wears shirts with flames on them (see Corn Dog Pic)? ;-P
Re: Congrats and a confession
Date: 2006-05-30 11:56 pm (UTC)most of those races are during the day??? there's no way i could have lasted. i was so completely dehydrated by the time we left, and i'd chugged 3 large bottles of water, a 20-oz. diet pepsi, a slurpie thing, and a couple of wine coolers.
perhaps next summer i'll drag some friends out to a race in the poconos, that might be a hoot...
no subject
And what does the last line of the txt-msg say? It's kind of overlapped on the bottom of that screen!
And... uhhh... innovative ideas to "shake things up" in the middle laps... LOL
no subject
Date: 2006-05-31 09:48 am (UTC)