Track walk at Charlotte Motor Speedway Coca-Cola 600

Track walk at Charlotte Motor Speedway Coca-Cola 600
Track walk at Charlotte Motor Speedway Coca-Cola 600

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

My first true Nascar SWAG! (I need help identifying a signature!)

          I got an interesting email about a month ago by a person who does marketing in Nascar (well, actually for Walmart). She said she'd found my blog online and asked if I'd be willing to promote Walmart's and the fan's involvement in the Pocono race (seen here). Heck, I'm never been to any of the Pocono races, but I am always willing to help the Nascar machine keep running, so I obliged. A few days after I posted this, they asked for my address, then today I got this from UPS. How cool is that? My first true NASCAR swag!!!    
       A #48 Jimmie Johnson calendar and magnet, a Denny Hamlin Hot/Cold mug (I really needed one of these!), and a note reading, "Thanks for your support. Drive fast, Take Chances!" from Doerl Kiergy - at least, that what it looks like to me. Do any of you have any idea what Nascar brass- or intern- this could be written by? It's on NASCAR letterhead, so I thought it'd be cool to figure it out! Any ideas???


Saturday, February 16, 2013

Heck with Danica and Stenhouse, I'm looking forward to the Gyrocam!

A few months back I had a life changing experience. Ok, it wasn't that influential, but it did forever change my view of Nascar and the driver's experience. My family and drove our Astrovan around Charlotte Motor Speedway. I dedicated a blog and a video here: CLICK HERE!

So, what does that have to do with this year's racing? Fox has included a new weapon in it's arsenal against monotonous NASCAR races: the Gyrocam. It's been used for some time in the motorsports world (mostly on motorcycles), but now they've mounted a few inside our favorite Nascar driver's cars.
Take a peek at this simulation here:


Immediately when I saw this I remembered how it felt to drive our own vehicle around the speedway. The tilt helps me to have a better understanding of the relationship between car, driver, and road. Now the viewer can see how difficult it must be to pass and turn on such a high degree turn. What the video doesn't show, which I explain in more detail on the blog I mentioned above, is that the banking actually forces you down the track, so you have to steer somewhat toward the wall to keep from falling down on the apron. Whatever you are thinking, just know that it's not a simple U-turn.

 For our NASCAR Newbs out there, the degree of banking (what Nascar calls the angle and tilt of the turns) has a proportional affect on the speed at which the drivers can travel. So, the more banking, the higher the potential speed.  Here's a great article on that nascar fact, as well as the difference between dirt and track racing: HERE.

Once we have some actual racing with these cameras, I'll post a video below, and while it's against what's socially acceptable in NASCAR to want to see a wreck, I can't wait to see the result of a gyrocam in a flipped car.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Pit Passes: Pay or Pass? A Newb's look at buying tickets to the Pits.

       We'd been going to races faithfully at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the past two years and wanted to try something different. After briefly visiting the pits for last year's Coca-Cola 600 (see here), I thought it would be interesting to get pit passes for the Bank of America 500 in October. I obviously wanted to return to the pits, but even more so, I wanted my 3 and 6 year old boys to get close to the racing action.
        Honestly, I was completely clueless (a true nascar newb) when it came to the pits. Most of our time we spent wondering around, eating all of the free Cargill Hamburgers we could handle, and simply soaking in the sights of pit road. While we did not have a hot-pass (the pass that gets your right next to the drivers' garages) but the basic pit pass still gave us some serious access to the cars, pit boxes and even the drivers themselves.  
Joey Logano about to do practice laps
       There were many favorite moments with these pit passes over the weekend, I don't know how to pick, so I will mention more than a few! Two of these moments were on the day before the "big" race. During practice and qualifying, there was around 50 people lining pit road with my son and I as we hung out and and watched the big dogs line up on pit road and make their way onto the track. They came out in segments and we watched our favorite drivers as they slowly went by. It was almost like a mini-personal parade of NASCAR.
Thaddeus is in Nascar Heaven: Snow Cone
and the Biggest LCD screen!
       Secondly, an hour or so later, my son and I noticed a bunch of people over by the main building in the infield at Charlotte Motor Speedway, like bugs to a zapper we were attracted. After standing in the midst of 40 people, the doors on the side of the building flung open and a bunch of drivers walked out in their fire suits. We had unknowingly camped right outside of the pre-race meeting for the Nationwide  drivers. I lifted my son up and he watched as Ricky Stenhouse, Austin Dillon, Danica Patrick, Elliot Sadler, and Sam Hornish Jr. walked right by us. I don't mean that they were a few feet in front of us; they literally squeezed through the crowd (like the freshman do in the hallways of a highschool.) The best part was the surprise of it all. We went from hanging out with random Nascar fans, to being surrounded by Nationwide drivers in a matter of seconds.
       On the day of the Bank of America 500, things got much more chaotic on pit road, so we took a few minutes to wander to other areas of the pits. Another one of our favorite memories was having an Italian Ice and watching the largest big screen LCD screen in the world. It was one of those relaxing moments, where you enjoyed a treat and just soaked in where you were.
Nick Wallenda walks the tight rope across
to the infield at Charlotte Motor Speedway
     
A few hours before the start of the race, the family and I were hanging out by the camper. I realized that we only had an hour before the race started, and had forgotten that there was supposed to be some pretty impressive events before the race. One of those events was that Nik Wallenda was going tight rope walk from the roof of the upper deck to the infield. My son and I decided that we wanted to get as close to Nik's performance as possible. We went down to pit road and noticed that he was about to start! While we rushed to see Nik's performance, I noticed that golf carts passed us with passengers in firesuits. Suddenly, the golf carts got clogged and I looked over at the golf cart next to us. Who was sitting there in his jump suit with water bottle in hand? Mark Martin. I am usually the type that does pretty well with famous people. This time was not one of those times. I honestly can't remember what I said, but it was probably something silly like "Have a good race." He was very cordial, but I think I'd like a redo.
Clint Bowyer over my son's shoulder!
          We followed Mark Martin's golf cart and it led right under the crane holding Nik Wallenda's tightrope. We were apparently, again, at the right place at the right moment. Not only did we get to watch Nik's descent from the top of that crane, my son and I also watched over half of the drivers getting dropped off right at the gate to go out to driver introductions.   I have a bunch of pictures of my son and drivers walking (or driving) by, but I chose this one of Clint Bowyer in his 5 hour energy fire suit because he ended up winning the race that night.  As a fan, I don't know how much closer to the action I could have been without actually sitting on a pit box for the race.
        Obviously, in my opinion, if you've been to the races before and are interested in checking out the pits; the pit passes are definitely worth the investment!