Sunday, September 18, 2011
We get up and see that is has been raining out the window. We prepare to wear warmer clothes, which didn’t really help. We leave early so that we’re not late because of traffic. We’re there like a half hour ahead of schedule. Traffic was not an issue. At the credential office we get the passes and go park our car then walk back to meet Todd and Jodi. While we wait we meet some of the other guests that had come as well. Then we rode through the tunnel and to the motor coach. We hung out there for about 15ish minutes then some of us headed out on tour with David.
We get up and see that is has been raining out the window. We prepare to wear warmer clothes, which didn’t really help. We leave early so that we’re not late because of traffic. We’re there like a half hour ahead of schedule. Traffic was not an issue. At the credential office we get the passes and go park our car then walk back to meet Todd and Jodi. While we wait we meet some of the other guests that had come as well. Then we rode through the tunnel and to the motor coach. We hung out there for about 15ish minutes then some of us headed out on tour with David.
Missed most of his stories, because we were lagging and he doesn’t talk very long. At one point, one of the other guests was asking me bout how I got tickets, because clearly I wasn’t from Kimberly-Clark. So, I gave him a short description of the chat and the log thing. He seemed uninterested and went to tell me why he was there. We went to Bobby’s garage stall to look at the car and because the 00 wasn’t in there we stood in his stall to watch. However it wasn’t long before they brought it back and we had to quickly jump out of the way. Then we walked over to the racing hauler and hung around outside for awhile chatting and waiting for Bobby. Then we went inside and David kind of showed us around. Then I guess he got tired of waiting so we went to check out pit road. We climbed over the wall to talk about the tires. The wall is much taller than I imagined. There’s definitely great respect for the crew jumping over that with such ease. Then we headed back to racing hauler to wait again. We stood outside for awhile again and kept asking Jenn when Bobby was going to get there. At this point, mom had said something about Kasey Kahne and I backed-up and went to turn around and almost ran into him and the girls that were with him. It was like oops, and then wait, where’s my camera? Then we got clearance to go into the racing hauler to wait. Some of the questions the other guests were asking were like, have you ever watched a race. You should know the answers. It was getting kind of annoying. As we waited, Jodi joined us again. Then Todd called me down to where most of the crew was and the crew seemed excited, wasn’t paying attention to the reactions of the other guests, but from what mom said they seemed a little jealous. And then no one was on the chat or asking questions for the impromptu question and answer session so nothing really was happening. And then like 5 minutes later David comes down and tells me that Bobby was there. I kept glancing back and forth, Bobby, crew, Bobby, crew, Bobby, crew. So I moved so that I was halfway between Bobby and the crew. So I could still not really hear Bobby and I couldn’t really hear the crew even though nothing was going on with the Q &A thing. Then Bobby left and a few minutes later Jodi was taking our group back to the motor coach for lunch. It was like stay with the crew or eat? So, unhappily I went back to eat, because I hadn’t really eaten anything yet and it was getting close to noon. On the way back, the same guy who asked earlier asked me, “so, what’s this shat thing again? Where can I find it?” It was like ha, now we see who the cool person here is. I think mom and I were the only Bobby fans, the others were mostly just business people, Kimberly-Clark, Little Debbie, and a couple who had won some sort of bid thing. Anyway we ate and we sat down to eat and the guy asking about the chat sat and ate with us versus his family and Jodi also joined us and we talked about her dog and pet pigs. Then we ate some birthday cake and headed out for the end of driver introductions. Along the way Todd pointed out Kahne and we also saw Bowyer and Montoya. We got out there in time for the last like 9 of the drivers in the Chase. After the end of introductions, we saw Edwards heading back to the garage area. Then casually we regrouped and went back to the motor coach. Then Todd and I got into the chat and Todd had fun making up all kinds of stories about me, which none of were true. Though the almost running into Kahne kind of got me, I didn’t think we was around for that, but I assume he was referring to going to driver introductions. Anyway, we sat around and did pretty much nothing. Of course, Todd saved my phone twice and let me use his iPad, so thank you Todd. And we had Jimmy come join us for a while, that was pretty cool. Bobby had decided not to join us. *sigh* We ate some pizza, watched random football games, listened to the rain, listened to the jet dryers, and pretty much had a good time even though it was rainy and a little crowded. Mom wasn’t having much fun, because I was on my phone and she didn’t bring anything to do. Then they postponed the race and we had to leave. Ted is a crazy driver, just in case he wants to know. We did appreciate the ride out though, didn’t really want to walk in the rain that much anymore. Then after beating traffic out we made it safely back to Brandy’s where we finally got to take off our shoes and stinky socks. Then shortly after, we headed to bed to get ready for the next attempt at race day.
Monday September 19, 2011
We got up a little later, because we didn’t figure traffic would be worse than yesterday, so we left and got to the track around 9. Todd said not till 10 so we were a little early so we walked to the garage on our own. We wandered around taking pictures of the cars and whatnot. We walked to pit road to get pictures of each of the stalls. Then about 10 we watched for drivers to come out of the haulers and watched them push the cars to pit road. Then about a quarter to 11 I finally convinced mom to go to the pits and join the crew. About 2 minutes later Jodi came by and asked if we wanted to go see the car on pit road. So we walked, paused for the prayer, walked 5ish more stalls and paused for the anthem. Then we quickly got to the car took a couple quick pictures then walked back to “our” pit stall. We got our radios and of course mine didn’t seem to be working so Todd gave me his so once again Todd to the rescue. I do envy Todd’s job though. He gets to hang out with a bunch of great people every weekend. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Still didn’t hear much though; how he does it I’m not sure. Kulak gave mom and I a fist bump before the race started so that was fun. So I tried to keep up with the chat and listen and watch and it’s just as hard to do there as it is at home. Kulak also gave me one of the lug nuts they used after one of the stops so that was very nice. Watching a pit stop live like that is very, very awesome. I mean every one of them was like flawless. They are definitely the best in the business. Klein kept me entertained. Squirted his powerade at me and flung water off a bottle of water. I threatened to take a picture of him and he turned his head and covered is head with his hand. However I got a picture first, which I did not share simply because he didn’t want it taken. It was a really good picture though. So then my phone decided to lose most of its battery so I left that chat and the one real clear thing I heard all day was “take it to the garage stall.” It was like no, I only left the chat, sadness. So at this point two of the guests who had been on the pit box came down and I believe they left. Then mom and I went up and it was really, really cold and windy. I felt kind of out of place up there. I kept looking at the screen to see Bobby’s name say out even though he was only off. Finally, Kerr came back and Bobby was back on the track. I was just kind of staring at the track wondering if it was my fault. I knew someone in the chat would say that it was and I couldn’t help but think it was as well. I wanted to help, but I knew there was nothing just needed to stay out of the way. Eventually, Stewart won the race. It was the second time we had been to a race and he won, so I don’t what that is about haha. So we got a ride, out to the parking area, from Jodi and Tad. That was very nice of them. Then we walked to my car and drove home.
Monday September 19, 2011
We got up a little later, because we didn’t figure traffic would be worse than yesterday, so we left and got to the track around 9. Todd said not till 10 so we were a little early so we walked to the garage on our own. We wandered around taking pictures of the cars and whatnot. We walked to pit road to get pictures of each of the stalls. Then about 10 we watched for drivers to come out of the haulers and watched them push the cars to pit road. Then about a quarter to 11 I finally convinced mom to go to the pits and join the crew. About 2 minutes later Jodi came by and asked if we wanted to go see the car on pit road. So we walked, paused for the prayer, walked 5ish more stalls and paused for the anthem. Then we quickly got to the car took a couple quick pictures then walked back to “our” pit stall. We got our radios and of course mine didn’t seem to be working so Todd gave me his so once again Todd to the rescue. I do envy Todd’s job though. He gets to hang out with a bunch of great people every weekend. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Still didn’t hear much though; how he does it I’m not sure. Kulak gave mom and I a fist bump before the race started so that was fun. So I tried to keep up with the chat and listen and watch and it’s just as hard to do there as it is at home. Kulak also gave me one of the lug nuts they used after one of the stops so that was very nice. Watching a pit stop live like that is very, very awesome. I mean every one of them was like flawless. They are definitely the best in the business. Klein kept me entertained. Squirted his powerade at me and flung water off a bottle of water. I threatened to take a picture of him and he turned his head and covered is head with his hand. However I got a picture first, which I did not share simply because he didn’t want it taken. It was a really good picture though. So then my phone decided to lose most of its battery so I left that chat and the one real clear thing I heard all day was “take it to the garage stall.” It was like no, I only left the chat, sadness. So at this point two of the guests who had been on the pit box came down and I believe they left. Then mom and I went up and it was really, really cold and windy. I felt kind of out of place up there. I kept looking at the screen to see Bobby’s name say out even though he was only off. Finally, Kerr came back and Bobby was back on the track. I was just kind of staring at the track wondering if it was my fault. I knew someone in the chat would say that it was and I couldn’t help but think it was as well. I wanted to help, but I knew there was nothing just needed to stay out of the way. Eventually, Stewart won the race. It was the second time we had been to a race and he won, so I don’t what that is about haha. So we got a ride, out to the parking area, from Jodi and Tad. That was very nice of them. Then we walked to my car and drove home.