Coca Cola 600 weekend highlights 2015

This year's Coca Cola 600 weekend was another chance to make some great memories with the boys! The first highlight is our camping spot. Every year I work with our ticket consultant at Charlotte Motor Speedway to get closer and closer to the track, and we have finally found our sweet spot and I think we will be here for years to come. We are literally right next to turn four and close proximity to the bathhouse.  There was a little side road which had been blocked off and my oldest enjoyed using it for his "scooter races." Our neighbors were family friendly and were extremely hospitable and helped in times of need (my camper's battery died and they kindly jumped it). 

Our camper is right above my son's wrist

Ironically, this year a friend of mine randomly showed up with his family to the 600 race and, had I known, I would have sent this blog to help him prepare. One of the main things I stressed after the fact, beyond better ear protection, was that the kids LOVE the pre-race activities as much as they love the actual race. By far, my youngest son's favorite part of the weekend is waking up and wandering down to the vendors, grabbing a Krispy Kreme donut, and getting free stuff right when the vendors open. They got coke cans with their own names emblazoned on the side, Dippin' Dots at the Toyota tent (you need your Toyota key), and all the coozies and lanyards you can carry.  The people at the speedway  realize the importance of impressing kids, since they are the next generation of race fans, and my boys always get "extra attention." For instance, this time a random employee walked up to the boys and handed them awesome Kevin Harvick "rheem" cars. These are valued around $40 each (at least). Now we have to figure out how to get Kevin to sign them. He's actually one of the drivers we've never had the opportunity to meet, so this will have to be a future adventure and subsequent blog posting.

Boys and I with Sam Hornish Jr.

This year's "surprise" encounter was in the infield. I had always known that there was a Kangaroo convenience store toward the Northern section of the infield, but we never made it up that direction on race weekend, so, I lured the boys that direction with a promise of a cherry frozen drink. We made it to the store and noticed a line of 25 or so campers. I thought that it was a line to get into the convenience store due to overcrowding. After a few minutes I noticed that a guy toward the front was handing out t-shirts, and the girl in front of me was holding a "hero card" with a racer's image and name. I took a closer look, it was Sam Hornish Jr. Just when I noticed that, Sam Hornish walked around the corner. Within 5 minutes we were warmly greeted by Sam and had our hats and shirts signed. He even chuckled when I encouraged him to bring back the "chops." It was the highlight of our trip for sure!
NEWBS SUGGESTION: Always carry a sharpie and a plain hat or even a diecast car that does not have a racer's name on it. Obviously, if I had known we were going to bump into Sam I would have bought one of his cars to get him to sign it, but one of boys wore a plain "sprint" cap just for this purpose.

The Joe Gibbs pit crew for Kyle Busch

We were again blessed with "Hot" and "Cold Passes" and enjoyed the garage on raceday. The boy's highlight was literally walking along side Kyle Busch's pit crew, asking them questions, and getting their hats signed. They were super kind to my boys and I was humbled by their hospitality. My favorite garage moment was observing, in very close proximity, Tony Stewart's car as it was being initially inspected. I didn't realize all of the steps that needed to happen for each car to be cleared. The table behind the boys is where the inspectors placed all of their tools and slats for the inspection template.


Overall it was another successful weekend of intentional memory making, and again, isn't that what it's all about?

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