Daytona 500 Virgin

He'd be more in favor of Wade Boggs defenestration.

 

Mr. Boggs hasn't tweeted about any sponsorship deal in place, but there is a picture of Mr. Boggs and what appears to be Bill Murray posted February 1:

https://twitter.com/ChickenMan3010

I can't get the pic to link, but Mr. Murray appears to be a satisfied customer of the facial hair division of WBHRCA.

 

As I said before I had a fucking awesome time!

I stayed at a bed and breakfast in New Smyrna - the Night Swan - that was tremendous. I'm a big fan of B&B's and this was one of the better ones. Right on the Intercoastal - they had a very nice dock where you could have a coffee and watch dolphins swimming up the Intercoastal in the morning then have a few drinks late night before heading off to your king sized playground of a bed.

The good folks at the Night Swan gave us directions for the back way to the track so we avoided the traffic on 95 and Route 1. We stopped at Subway for sandwiches and chips to snack on later in the day and got to the track without any delays. Parking was found right across from the stadium and we headed right in (no tailgating because we had Sprint Fanzone passes).

Once inside we dropped off our coolers and sandwiches (how pisser is it that you can bring in your own beers?) and headed down to the track for the Fanzone experience. We got to walk on the track and touch the start/finish line. We walked past all the cars lined up for the start and took a few pictures of our favorites (Junior is her guy - I don't have a guy). We also were able to look inside the various garages - the highlight being watching Jeff Gordon's crew doing team stretching in a seated circle. Once I couldn't stand being separated from my beer any longer we returned to our seats.

I should mention that our seats were in the Weatherly Box right at the start of pit row - so we had a great view of everything. I should also point out that I wore a white under armor t-shirt because I was told I had to as I was a NASCAR virgin. I turned this to my advantage by mentioning my choice of shirt to every girl I saw with nice boobs and a white shirt. I got lots of hugs and high fives this way.

You could hear a pin drop during the National Anthem but there were more than a few grumbles about the lack of a fly-by. My guess is the cloud ceiling was too low - the blimps didn't show up until about an hour into the race. We watched the first few laps, had a beer or two and then the real NASCAR experience began.

We took a couple of beers and walked down to the fence. You can't stand at the fence but if you just keep walking - the guards don't bother you. We started walking towards the action and the first time the pack drove past us - it blew my hat and sunglasses right off my head. But it couldn't do anything to wipe the smile off my face. I had never experienced anything like it. I became an instant NASCAR fan at that point. We continued to walk all the way down to the Oldfield seats and then turned around. Lap after lap of the pack zooming past - either coming towards us or at our back as we made our way back to the Weatherly Box.

After a few beers at our seats - we decided to do another walk - this time on the other side of the track. You can't walk along the fence in Collins because that's where the finish line is (everyone and their brother would hang out there at the end if you didn't restrict access). We entered at Roberts and continued to Lockhart and then turned around. Again - all the while cars zooming by just feet away. By the time we finished our second walk and returned to our seats - there were just 50 laps remaining. We stayed there for the finish.

A few random observations.

1. The crowd overall was pretty subdued. Much less noise and cheering than at an average NFL game. I understand that this is not the norm and attribute this to both the fans probably being a little more mature and upscale than the average race and the track spreading people out over the 2.5 miles. I'm sure I'll experience something much different in NH, Dover or the Poconos.

2. The noise wasn't bad. We got the headset to hear the race announcer and the various teams but found we didn't even use it as we could hear the track announcer just fine. I had ear plugs but didn't use them. My hearing was just fine the next day.

3. Danica was very popular among the ladies. Lots of grumbling when James Franco said "drivers and Danica".

4. Sorry to disappoint but I never made it to the infield and nobody flashed me their tits.

5. A big highlight was driving on the beach on Daytona the next day. Best $5 I ever spent.

Can't wait for the next race.

PS - here's the seating chart in case you want points of reference

http://test.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/Seating-Maps/Seating-Chart.aspx

 

Awesome. So happy for you. I try to tell people that going to a race is totally different than watching it on TV.

Re: the fans: It's not really raucous except if Junior's leading. when he takes the lead, they go crazy. If he's leading coming to the line on any lap, everyone stands up. They stand for every green flag and cheer. Aside from that, it's lots of beer drinking, talking, and watching it on the big screen.

 

Glad you enjoyed it. Second what IJAG said about the in-person experience.

Sad that the sponsorhip deal appears to have fallen through. I would've set up a helluva merch program for the AMC Gremlin team.

 

But if a sponsorship deal is done, I've already trademarked "Show Us Your Gremlins!" so I'm ready to roll.

 

Almost had a sponsor opportunity with Cheez-Its but it just didn't have same ring. Chris Lynch would eat that like a Cheez-It.

You really don't understand what people mean when they say NASCAR races are a five sense experience until you've been to a race.

 

The next race? You touring the Sprint Cup circuit, midlife crisis style?

 

Glad you had fun, Chris.

My first experience was at the former North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham (in fact, funny I write this now as this was the approximate weekend of the season we went ... it was the second race after Daytona for many, many years).

The power is addictive. I also recall it being kinda chilly as my stepfather had to go pay up for a sweatshirt (Bill Elliott ... probably because it was Ford). I was fine in a hoodie with a couple of shirts underneath. It was the then-Sportsman Series (now Buschwide). Dale Earnhardt was leading, but the biggest cheer when when something broke as indicated when he pitted out of sequence (while Earnhardt had his passionate fans, the number who despised him would shock a lot of casual fans).

It helped shape my experience when we went to Darlington on my 16th birthday after my stepfather won a pair of tickets in a promotion. Easy to justify as a bucket-list thing to do if you're not a motorsports fan.