A Day At The Races

My seat at turn one by the pit row exit

Every night I'm doing something at the house or at church and it gets to be too much some times, really. I know the end is near but sometimes I'm not sure if that end is going to be the end of this house or the end of me. I'm not really sure why but it seems like I can't sustain my drive for this work as long as I used to, I get tired quickly in comparison to last year. I think there are probably a number of reasons for that, but I get tired just thinking of all of the reasons. So instead of doing either activity that gets me tired, I took off the weekend of the 28th and did something I've never done, I went to a NASCAR race in Kansas.

Many people, millions even, attend these races all across America and have every bit of a 'cult' following as any NFL, NBS, MLB or MLS weekend may have. (Sorry for you non-sports junkies, those abbreviations were for the major sports in America.) I don't know a lot about NASCAR and it's never really captured my attention, but I'm open to learning any sport - especially if the tickets are free - which they were. There are other sports that interest me like rugby or polo or even horse racing - the betting is the difficult part, but NASCAR has always been on the outside fringe of that. Anyway, it was a great way to get out of the usual scenery, take in the beautiful fall/summer afternoon and hang with a few guys.
The flyover of helicopters/Across from the pit exit
Last lap before start/AND THEY'RE OFF!!

The last few cars on the start


It was a fantastic time. The two things that 'they' tell you that no other sports that NASCAR has, the cars go by SO freaking fast and it is SO LOUD I can't tell you. As the cars pass by you can actually feel it in your chest (we were 12 rows off the track so I'm sure that helped) and you can feel the heat of the cars and track as the race wears on. Amazingly the 160+ laps went by surprisingly quickly, much faster than any race I had channel surfed on TV. Another thing the TV doesn't catch are the workings of the racetrack, like the trucks that have jet engines - literally jet engines! - attached to their rear ends to help clear the track. Man you talk abou losing your hearing - that'll do it. Another TV miss is the array of people at the races. Talk about the 'everyman's' sport, if you include all the tailgaters that don't even come in to see the race - I think just about every demographic is represented. As the guy I was sitting in the stands with, the greatest thing is that every week, EVERY team is at the race. Whereas in the NFL or MLB it's this team vs that team - only. It took a second to sink in, but that's kind of neat. Could you imagine seeing all the NHL teams playing in one location EVERY week?

My only real hang up was the one thing TV does well was help the uneducated fan know what the heck is going on and what car is where in the lineup. As I said, these cars are going 180 mph and you only see the numbers on the doors as they pass by - did I mention at 180 MPH? They also all have color schemes that to the knowledgeable fan are identifiable (somewhat like when I walk into a bar and glance at the TV, I know it's the Bears vs the Bucs in 2 seconds b/c I know the helmets, colors, etc.). Again, seeing these cars at wierd angles and having them move so fast, it's hard to stay on top of things. Thankfully there are restarts due to crashes, equipment failures and such so the pack gets straightened out.

Back to the good things, we had earphones that allowed us to hear what the racing teams are saying in the cock pits. Interesting concept I think. Could you imagine what would happen if all fans could hear in the headsets at an NFL game? Each team knows what the other is doing and it all comes down to one executing better than the other. Finally, I got to sit next to a guy that knew what was going on and just a great guy to talk to. I don't get to talk with him often, say once every 3-4 months b/c he's from Pella and a friend-of-a-friend kind of thing, but a great person to know and have contact with. God does amazing things in our lives and he puts people in our lives for a reason. I had no idea who I was really going to hang with going into this NASCAR experience, but it was a great experience that I'm glad I took the time to be a part of. Thank you to Russ and Keith for the ticket, thank you Daryl for the knowledgeable track side banter, it was a great escape for a few hours.