While we were on line to rent a FanView, I noticed with growing dismay that raindrops were becoming more frequent. We had just gotten our FanView when the skies opened up and absolutely downpoured. I couldn’t believe it. It was supposed to be sunny!
Of course, I was wearing a tank top and there was a stampede for one of the gates connecting the souvenir rig lot to the grandstands. While trying to get through I got a good soaking. Our goal was to get under the grandstands but everyone stopped under the gate so we didn’t have much of a choice but stay there. I stood, shivering and miserable and watched the rain create huge rivers on the pavement. Jess and I had just paid $50 for the FanView and I wondered if we would get a refund if the race was cancelled. It was a pretty bitter time under the gate listening to other fans declare that the race would be pushed to Monday, but that FanView turned out to be the best thing we ever did. Why? Because you can listen to the Officials’ radio.
Eventually the rain stopped and the jet driers came out to burn away the moisture on the 2.5 mile track. We sat around and waited. At long length they did driver intros, but I was devastated when there were no drive-bys. We sat around some more and finally the track started looking good. But the long wait gave plenty of time for the people around us to get drunk. A younger guy wearing a bandana on his head sitting near Jessi started taking a great interest in us. He was friendly, not too obnoxious and harmless, but he reeked of beer! Still, he was quite amusing, especially when attempting to explain where he lived: “I live about a mile from the track – oh wait, about an hour. Huh huh, I’ve been drinking!” He occasionally would stagger off to buy more beer (he needed that like a hole in his head) but would always find his way back. In time people filled in the seats between us. That didn’t stop him from crawling over them to come back and talk to us!
Just as things seemed to be looking up, it started raining again. Then it started pouring. I sat there in wretched disbelief. If the race was postponed, we would have to go home and all the money and preparation and excitement would be wasted. When the rain started to really come down we retreated under the stands. I stood and shivered some more in total defeat (and wished that I had bought a sweater or something). We almost left. But then came the next shocker – over the officials’ radio came the most heavenly news: the rain was stopping and they were drying the track again! I was floored. Never in my four years of watching NASCAR have I ever seen such a dedicated effort to beat the weather.
We meandered back to our seats and even had the pleasure of discovering that the chairs we had rented weren’t even really wet. Then there was more waiting and more time to meet the people around us. Behind us was a group of Canadians who had come to Pennsylvania to watch a soccer game but ended up at a NASCAR race instead! They were also pretty tipsy and kept offering us beer. They would come into play more later.
The track was dried by 4:15 and when the drivers were called to their cars the crowd went absolutely crazy. There was a deafeningly quiet moment of silence for Bill France Jr. and a decent rendition of the National Anthem (though it sounded a lot worse on TV, which was weird). When the drivers started those engines, the roar of the eager crowd nearly drowned them out.
I took a few videos with the camera, though when the green flag was thrown some guy decided to walk right in front of me. Unfortunately, as I had feared, the racing wasn’t particularly good and had a desperate air to it. Jessi listened to David’s radio. For a while he remained near his starting position in the lower 20s, but all of a sudden he began free-falling all the way to 40th when the car became extremely tight. Apparently most of the ductwork in the front of the car just disappeared. The crew couldn’t replace it unless David got the free pass. That, of course, never happened, so it was a long 106 laps for the #00 Burger King team.
It was great to see Casey and Junior run up front and Kurt improve his lousy starting spot. Brian ran well but ironically had problems with the new Toyota engine setup and still didn’t get much bottom-end power. He also did some short-pitting, which didn’t help.
There were only three major incidents – Robby Gordon blew a tire, Greg Biffle wiped out Dave Blaney (yep, another Roush car wrecking a Toyota) and Jimmie Johnson cut a tire. I would have taken more – and better – pictures, but there was a line of people in the first row that continually stood and blocked everyone behind them. I was pretty irritated because they could see everything anyway! There was some room on the bottom row for me to go down, but those same people were also drinking and I wasn’t in the mood to get hit on. There was a TNT cameraman in the flagstand that they constantly bellowed at. He would turn around occasionally and film, but when I watched the broadcast I never saw anything so maybe he was just messing with us.
With clouds reforming and blocking out the sun, I had a feeling the race wouldn’t get much past the halfway point. The drivers had the same thoughts and eventual winner Jeff Gordon suddenly appeared out front, much to some of the crowd’s displeasure. Casey used pit strategy to get behind him teammate as well, but despite Jeff’s growing brake problems he never could get by him.
A couple laps past the halfway point it started raining on the opposite end of the track. Just as Ryan Newman was making a run at Jeff, NASCAR threw the caution and eventually the red flag. The cars came down pit road and the driers returned, but I figured the race was over because many of the crew members were packing things up around their stalls. Several crew members from the #01 started throwing a football back and forth. After probably ten or twenty minutes, NASCAR called the race and Jeff Gordon was declared the winner. People had a fit, of course, but I was more disappointed that we got no burnout, no Victory Circle celebration, nothing. But the entertainment wasn’t over.
The Canadians had gotten into the racing atmosphere and were constantly talking to us in the closing laps. The two I saw the most were a guy in a cowboy hat and another in a red Senators (soccer team?) shirt. We showed off our FanView to them and chatted for a while. When the race was called they were also upset that we didn’t get a “burnoot” so they made their own fun. Senator Boy jumped down next to me while I was sitting in the front row (most everyone had left at this point) and started hinting that he was going to jump the fence. And he did. What’s more, he walked up the ramp to the flagstand and stood there like an official. It was hysterical, but I kept waiting for someone to come and arrest him! Watching him try to get back into the grandstands was funny too – he needed help. Then another one of them decided to do it too, but by then we figured it would be a good idea and leave. If they had gotten in trouble, I was afraid that we might have been close enough to them to be associated with their mischief.
We walked around the souvenir rigs with Mom. Jessi bought a Mikey bear keychain and talked with his rig woman, Phyllis, for quite some time about RaceWorld. She even gave us a pamphlet! I got a nice Team Red Bull tank top and was pleased to see that they make shirts small enough to fit me. Somehow I forgot to buy a hat too. Jessi then purchased two Casey shirts.
Hamburgers were already grilled by the time we got back to the truck. I was exhausted and didn’t have the energy to run across the field to watch the haulers leave like last year. People started shooting off fireworks. Around nine it began raining again so we were forced into the truck and left soon afterwards.
We had a good time, but the rain made the day rather stressful and downright horrible at times. It was only half a race too. I really want to go back in August and am currently trying to convince my mom (I think it might be working). But in general, it was great seeing so many drivers and feeling the cars thundering around the track!