Father's Day

So, for Father's Day, I bought my dad & I tickets to the Nascar MIS (Michigan International Speedway) Race. I called him in April, one day before I left school, and said "Happy Father's Day! Where do you want to sit?" After repeating this a couple of times, he figured out that I meant MIS, and he was excited. So, I told him all of the possible seats I could get and he said that the Pit Terrace sounded good. The Pit Terrace is the small grandstand behind the pits. Well, I was able to get row 14, which we thought would be in the middle, but it is actually the 3rd row from the top. This means, that our seats were terrific!!!! My whole family is into racing - my dad used to race and then worked on a dirt track team - so we grew up with it. During the summer, after coming home from church, my dad would have the race on, so if I was going to watch tv, I would have to watch the race. So, inevitably I learned what was going on and what was happening and I seemed to always be asking why they were doing something and my dad always had the answer. A few years ago, my Shawn made me pick a rookie to cheer for, and so I did and he has become my driver. Everyone in my family has a different driver to cheer for, this goes from my dad down to my niece, I think my mom even has a driver to cheer.

So, yesterday my dad and I headed out early and started driving out to MIS. Dad had mapped out the way he wanted to go and so we went through some of the back roads of MI and found the entrance we wanted, or at least it was better than a few years ago. We arrived at the track about 10:30am and had some time to spare. So, we sat in the back of dad's new car and "tailgated". There was a group of fathers & sons parked next to us from OH, and continually offered us their snacks. It was quite comical. After a while, we went into the track and found our seats in the Pit Terrace. And it was SO cool!!!

Now, I would have thought it was neat no matter what drivers were in front of us, but it happens that we were only a few feet from the first pit box and directly behind the second and third pit boxes. Now, this was so great, because... my driver won the pole during qualifying and therefore had the first pit stall, and then the next few drivers were ones that we liked. So, we had Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle, Scott Riggs, and Carl Edwards right in front of us. We also had a pretty good view of Yeley, McMurray, and Petty. We could also walk down further and see more. It was just pretty neat... I enjoyed it thoroughly!

I enjoy watching racing, but in these seats, you had other funny things to watch and look at and it was really neat to watch the stops and just how fast they really are. We also were able to see them get everything ready. What was the most interesting was the interaction between the pit crews and with the officals. I was watching as we were on caution laps, and the cars were on the backstrech(sp?) and infront of us there were some of the crew from the #99 team sitting on th wall talking. One of them must have dropped his helmet onto the other side of the wall and offical comes "running" at him as he reaches for it and semi-tackles him...now not really, and after reaching the helmet, they continue to laugh and joke around and well... be boys... (i don't have another way to describe it). Now, this was just interesting to me. So often you see/hear that the "Nascar offical ruled..." and well I just think they have a lot of fun. And that is what I saw. It was cool...

Now the race was cut short because of rain, we sat through several showers...I stood under the stands for one of the harder rains that delayed the race. Now, this wouldn't have been so bad, I had brought my jacket with me....BUT I left it in the car... I asked dad if I should bring it...and at the time it was sunny and warm...and he told me I could, but then he said I should be okay without it....so I left it! And then...IT POURED!!! And we walked back to the car in this rain and I was drenched. However, even being wet...It was absolutely a great time! I really enjoyed it!!! I don't know if I can really describe how fun the day was...

Well, here are some pictures from the day.... Here are my dad and I before we left and as we were "tailgating". It was a bit windy, if you can't tell.

Before the race we walked around a bit, and here is the first pit stall...and then peeking over dad's shoulder.

This is the view from our seats.... It was sweet!

And the start of the race!!

The red crew and the offical are the ones my earlier story is about. Here they are getting ready for a pit stop.

It was pretty neat to see the pit stops so close...oh...and I figured out what a "catch can man" does... it was one of those questions I wondered, but I never asked.

At last the race was called for a rain delay, and then finally called...and here is the WINNER!!! Wohoo!!!

Now...it was raining and we couldn't stand under the grandstand forever...so...we walked...and walked a bit more and this was when we finally got back to the car...the spots on my shoulder...that is rain...I was DRENCHED!!! Really, WE were DRENCHED!!! But it was quite fun...I just need to take the jacket next time, if there is high chance of rain... lesson learned!