To begin with, I never thought I'd attend one, in person. It seemed always out of my reach--whether it was geography, or lack of funds. Both at one point came into play. It was so close, yet so far away. Yet, somehow, suddenly a ticket landed in my lap, thanks to a wonderful person, whom I hope to thank one day.
The weeks building up to the Goody's 500 were surreal at best. Everything seemed to fall into place. I even managed to have enough funds for my friend to have a ticket, and a track pass, to walk around with. I also somehow managed to have enough funds for the Fan Zone, where lo and behold, my favorite driver, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., would be interviewed on stage. That was the most surreal fifteen minutes of my life.
I'll only share this: pictures and the television do not do the man justice. He is incredibly shy and humble. He loves music, among other things. He talked at length about the ebb and flow of how music has played a major part of his life. After that, the fans got into it after we were all but cajoled into shouting "A win!" for that day's race. It was a dream experience that I'm not quite sure I'm awake from, yet.
After that, I was suddenly inside the track, on the very pavement that 43 drivers would be racing. I seemed to have been walking in a fog, around the front stretch of the track, and seeing the cars already lined up, to go. Getting this close to everything was again, surreal. I got within a couple feet of the 88 car, and many others. Everyone seemed to be the most interested in Dale Earnhardt, Jr's car. You had to make your way around people just to get a view of it. There were many of his fans there. I'd say one out of four fans were sporting 88 gear. Also, meeting other fans, who I will say are hardcore to the very least, was great, too. There are many good people in NASCAR Nation. They're friendly to those who are fans of other drivers. It's almost family like, the atmosphere that this nation exudes. No one seems to heckle each other in the stands either. At least they weren't where I was sitting. They're all about their driver when the race starts.
At one point, my friend wanted to go to the tweetup. However I was exhausted from the lack of sleep, mixed with adrenaline from being there. I figured a Martinsville hot dog would help matters, but I took a bite out of it, and it was pretty bad. So, I settled for a cheeseburger instead. I finally found my seat, which had an incredible view of the entire track, along with Dale's pit box.
As the hour lagged on, I got to meet a few of the people sitting around me. Surprisingly there weren't many other Dale Jr fans in my area of the stands. I seemed to be in a bubble by myself. From my point of view, they were down lower, and in other areas of the stands. The atmosphere was mostly quiet, waiting and anticipatory. The track announcer, was doing his business, and some of the feed from SPEED was ending up on the monitor on the scoring tower.
Soon driver introductions started, and it was quite interesting to see who got booed the loudest, and cheered the most. It wasn't any surprise that Dale Earnhardt, Jr got the loudest cheers, and that Driver 18 got the loudest of boos. Jimmie Johnson was a surprise at the same noise level of boos. No one really stood up and saluted any of the drivers, as they went by on the parade lap, like they did in Charlotte. After that, the usual business carried on, like what you see on television. I think NASCAR puts time gaps for the commercials on TV, with all of the prerace festivities. It was a good while between the driver intros, to the prayer and the anthem. I got to watch Dale and Rick Hendrick having laugh with each other, and Jimmie come by to poke at his bosses' ribs.
With the anthem over, and the flyover done, it was time to get those engines started. The roar of 43 cars at full song, is incredibly gripping, and it made for a bone rattling chill up your spine. There is no other feeling like it in the world. I sat for the most part and watched what everyone did. They were pretty upset when NASCAR wouldn't dare bring out a caution, for debris in the marbles of turn one. They did however come pick it up, when the 56 and 4 took a header into the wall of turn four. It seems to me NASCAR is very selective in throwing debris cautions, now.
As the race went on, I sat there, watching the race, tired as hell, and maybe a little bored in some places. Then I started watching Dale Jr's car come up off of the turn into 2, much like he does now. The car just got better and better as the race went on. Steve seems to know how to hook it up into the corners, where it has this incredible drive off. I saw the same thing in Charlotte, into 3 and 4, as well as yesterday. He would catch other cars in the middle of the corner.
The fans went wild when Dale Jr took the lead with 20 to go. No one was in their seat. They were cheering, moving their hands in the direction where he was going to go forward, and get a run and a lead. I was excited to the point where I was jumping up and down, when he took the lead. I was aghast that he was going to win the very first race I attended. I wasn't let down when it didn't happen. But I was elated that he came so close.
From that race on I still hold the belief that Dale Earnhardt, Jr, and Steve Letarte have what it takes to win the championship this year. Both of them are sharp as a tack when it comes to their jobs. I hope the team blisters on.
No comments:
Post a Comment