Wandergliding: NASCAR = Non Athletic Sport Centered Around Rednecks

November 8^th, 2014

My sister Sarah’s friend Roxanne and her husband Blair were visiting from Edmonton the same time that I was there. Blair thought that we should all go and experience a real American pastime, a NASCAR race. NASCAR is huge in the US, only second to American football in terms of the number of spectators that attend. It actually stands for North American Stock Car Racing Association but I like the acronym in the title of this entry more as it’s probably more accurate. Whenever I've seen NASCAR on TV, I've always thought it looked like a silly and boring sport, if it’s worthy of that designation. The souped up cars go around a generally oval track, always turning left. During the race a car either becomes “loose” or “tight”, whether it is veering more to the outside or inside of the course. It just doesn't seem as dynamic or exciting as Formula 1.

Our tickets for that Saturday were for the Nationwide Series (the name of the insurance company that sponsors it) which is the second tier level after the Sprint Series. The big Sprint race was the next day but we would get a glimpse of the big boys (and girl…Danica Patrick races in it) practicing before the Nationwide race at 2pm.

Driving up to the massive grandstands of the Phoenix International Raceway was impressive with its backdrop of some desert mountains. The roaring sound of some race car could already be heard even though we were still a ways away. Blair and Sarah had purchased a certain kind of VIP ticket which gave us access to better parking and more importantly a beer tent inside the grounds where buffet would be served. Well the signage for finding the VIP parking could have been better as we couldn't find it but parked in a relatively close spot to the main grounds, relative being about a kilometre away. I was blown away by the mass of humanity, well actually it was more a mass of motorhomes. They stretched off as far as the eye could see. It reminded me of pictures I've seen of the Burning Man festival in Utah but substitute the artsy hippies with the motor head crazy rednecks.

As we walked towards the main entrance we passed a collection of motorhomes that were on display for purchase. We made the mistake of entering the biggest one first as all of the others afterwards were disappointments. This first behemoth was pimped out complete with marble floors and countertops, a gas fireplace and this was the kicker, TWO bathrooms! And it was yours for a mere $325,000. Another one we saw did have a cool feature of a wet bar on the outside, near the back of the RV. Nice idea.

Roxanne checking out the digs:

Yeah, this is a nice feature:

We got through the gate and headed straight for the VIP tent for a couple of bevvies. We then headed out to check out our seats and it looked like Blair had done well with his research. Located a bit before the start/finish line, we had a great vantage point of the exit of the last corner. Nothing was happening on the track at that moment so we decided to go to the pits, at the inside of the course as our VIP tickets also gave us entrance there. We asked an usher for the directions and she told us to walk under the grandstands to the end. Arriving at the end we didn’t see any signs and weren’t sure where to go so we continued to walk along the outside of the track, on the other side of a serious fence meant to contain any collisions between cars. An alarm in our heads should have gone off before we were half way around the mile long track and we were the only ones walking along the perimeter. I asked Sarah to see the map she had and noticed that we had missed the tunnel way back where the grandstands had ended. Oh well, at least we saw a different vantage point of the track.

The view of the grandstands from the far end of the track:

Backtracking we passed through the tunnel just in time to see some of the big boys (and remember a big girl) getting ready for their practice session. The fronts of the garage areas for each racing team were lined with stacks of tires and tools. The amount of money we were staring at, even before adding the stock cars was staggering. Then there were the lines of semi-trucks with the NASCAR logo and/or team number on the side. I couldn’t help but think that this must be the ultimate for a truck driver in the US. To drive the car or equipment from coast to coast and watch the races…wow.

The pits:

Tires, tires, tires:

We walked by the pit areas for the teams and snapped a few pics of our group. A young woman fully dressed up in racing gear offered to take a picture for us so we could all be in the shot. Afterwards I asked her what her job was and she was in charge of a fire extinguisher in pit lane. It was her first time working at a race and I joked that I hoped she wasn’t going to be busy. Well sure enough, during the race there were a couple of incidents with cars hitting the guardrail and one of them occurred near us and turned into a major engine fire. A fire truck came out to deal with it and we’re pretty sure that we saw this woman in action as we noticed another firefighter pointing to where she should spray her extinguisher. I thought it a bit odd that they’d have a “newbie” performing this kind of task.

Near the first corner there was an empty pit crew area which allowed us to get very close to the track and by luck at that moment, Danica Patrick in her fluorescent green and pink GoDaddy sponsored car happened to be there, stopped in a line-up of cars waiting to get out on the track for their practice session. The rumble that erupted as the vehicles revved up and headed out on the speedway could be felt in your lower belly and you couldn’t help but feel goose bumps. It was about this time that I was glad that I had brought some earplugs too, it was deafeningly loud.

Danica Patrick:

The big boys (and girl) practicing:

The action from the infield:

The action from the corner:

Vroom vroom:

We returned to the VIP Budweiser tent for some buffet lunch and a few more drinks. On the big screen they began to introduce the drivers for the Nationwide race and I suggested that we each pick a driver and make a small $5 wager to make the race more interesting. There are many funny names amongst the drivers in NASCAR, from Mike Bliss, Dakoda Armstrong, Jamie Dick, Chad Boat, and Scott Speed. One older guy exited the trailer and he had something to the effect that he was “Driving for Jesus” on his back. Okay, this is my guy who is aptly named Morgan Shepherd. After many other driver introductions (there are about 40 in the race), Blair suggested that we change our strategy and pick one each from the top 4 ranked racers. That would make it more exciting as they had a better likelihood of finishing the race. Blair was being a part martyr and took the #4 guy. Sarah went with #3 as his name was Brad Keselowski and her hubby is a Brad so she had to run with “Team Brad”. I didn’t really like #2 and Roxanne took the pole position guy, Kyle Busch. I decided to go out on a bit of a limb and take the young eighteen year old Chase Elliott who was starting in ninth but if he placed in the top five, he would win the season, so I figured he must have some talent…and with a name of “Chase”… Later I researched about Chase and the older guy, Morgan Shepherd…one is 18 and the other is 73 years old! That’s grandpa racing grandson!

As we returned to our seats we could hear the Star Spangled Banner playing. Many people behind the grandstands stopped in their tracks and placed their hats over their hearts. At the conclusion of the anthem a WWII fighter and bomber flew overhead followed by some fireworks. Too bad we just got a glimpse of it but at least we made it back for the start…and what an immense display of horsepower it was. Forty cars of about 750 horsepower each…that’s a total of 30,000 horsepower or the equivalent of two F-15 jet fighters.

The start:

Roxanne’s guy, Kyle Busch led from the get go and would continue to extend his lead until a caution reigned him back in to the rest of the pack. Once or twice after a yellow flag he would fall back a few places as his pit crew must have messed up but his car just seemed to have that 1/2 mile per hour advantage that would get him back in the lead, oh yeah, and he’s probably a good driver!

Blair, Sarah and Roxanne ready for the race:

A restart:

Love the Danica Patrick hat:

I was shocked to see fans, especially some kids around 10 and older but with their parents without any ear protection. To sit there for 2 hours with that kind of noise is just not good for you. Even with my good earplugs I could feel the intensity of the sound. It’s a funny sport in that way in that I looked back at the fans in the grandstand and almost nobody was talking to the person beside them…you just couldn’t. Unless of course you were an experienced NASCAR aficionado and had the pair of headset with a microphone hooked up to a little radio so you could speak to your buddy or child.

A car fire near our location:

From about lap 120 to lap 160 I could tell that everyone in our group, including me, were lulling into a bit of a race coma. Not much was happening. The top racers were not changing their positions and perhaps the sun and the sound had just taken their toll on these virgin NASCAR racers. But things picked up again and the excitement built towards the end, although it seemed that Roxanne’s horse would be a sure thing. But, wouldn’t you know it, and this is why many love sports, at lap 199, with one to go and Busch with a comfortable lead some other car ran out of gas and the yellow caution flag came out. We weren’t sure what was going to happen as earlier when the caution came out and the field would follow behind a pace car the lap counter still clicked away. Surely they couldn’t end all this with the drivers following the pace car at only 60 mph?!?

Another restart:

The fanatic fans:

Thankfully they didn’t and the yellow disappeared at lap 201 and off they went for the final run. They raced two more laps and on the final lap somehow Sarah’s guy, Brad Keselowski, passed Kyle Busch and held on for the win. Incredible! Busch had probably led 195 out of 203 laps but in the end, ummm, it only matters about the end.

My guy, Chase, had put up a good fight and ended up in fifth position. He had made more position changes than the other driver’s we picked so at least he was exciting. This also meant that he had secured his victory of the series even though there was still one more race left. No one could catch him in points. So both Brad and Chase proceeded to please the crowd with some serious rubber burning doughnuts on the track.

That haze in the middle of the pic is due to the burnout by Keselowski in celebration:

After the race we finished off with a last drink and snacks at our VIP tent and then walked back to the car, all desperately in need of a shower thanks to the hot sun, burning rubber and high test exhaust.

Leaving the grandstands: