Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Thursday Thirteen #57 - A Little Bit of Nascar

I haven't done a Thursday Thirteen in a bit, but then again, I haven't done a whole lot of blogging lately either. But I wanted to participate this week, and share some of my adventure at Nascar this past weekend. So, here are 13 things I learned at Nascar:


1. Having connections (or friends who have connections) ROCKS. My friend Traveller managed to get us not only Pit Passes, but also Suite Passes for the races thist past weekend in New Hampshire.





Yeah, we sat in the same suite as the guy who runs all of Nascar (or so Traveller told me, I wouldn't know him from Adam, she's the Nascar fan).


2. Hanging out in the Garage/Pit area, getting up close and personal with the drivers and the pit crews? That was so much fun.


3. Let's talk about the pit crews for a minute shall we? HOLY EYE CANDY. Ladies, forget the drivers, it's the crew guys that are delicious to look at.


4. Moving on to the actual racing...I had no idea it could actually be that much fun to watch a bunch of cars go round and round in a circle. Who knew? Turns out there's a whole lot more to it than just racing around in a circle, and it's those little intricacies that make it such a fun sport to watch.


5. Who knew also how freakin' loud it would be? I mean, I was forewarned, but it was still louder than I thought it would be.


6. And do you have any idea how hard it is to photograph a car going 180 mph?

Not quite...
Almost... AHA! Gotcha!
7. Race cars are REALLY low to the ground...which makes getting in and out of the cars pretty hard. But oh so fun!8. I'd never really watched a race before this, so I'd never really understood the significance of the phrase "quick pit stop". When they say "quick"...they're not kidding around. It takes them all of 8 seconds to change four tires, gas up the car and perform whatever other necessary "fix us" may need to be done.
Even more props to those hot crew guys.
9. Speaking of hot guys...David Stremme:
Kinda hot, don't'cha think?
10. Also hot? Clint Bowyer, who never met a good pose he didn't like:
11. I learned that you must wear comfortable shoes when you go to a Nascar event, especially if you've got pit passes, because you will do A LOT of walking around. We saw every square inch of that place, I'll tell you! But it was great fun.
12. Nascar fans don't mess around. Talk about a wide variety of fan...we're not just cheering for two teams here, so you get all walks of life, all different support teams in the stands. With their wagons and coolers full of beer, and they're trailers and grills and bbq pits, these are some real fans. And if they don't like you (Kyle Busch), they'll let you know, loud and clear.
13. Traveller and I? We are total Rock Stars. This:

The view from our VIP Suite...free tickets, free food, free alcohol...what a fantastic time we had. And you know what? On Sunday, while at home recovering from my wild weekend...I watched the race on television...I think Nascar has gained a fan.

Thanks for stopping in!
And I know I owe some posts, some memes, a story about bacon lollipops and so much more...they're in the works, I promise. In the meantime, I've got Fun Monday, the Bachelorette, The Two Coreys and So You Think You Can Dance to tide you over...








9 comments:

Maisie said...

Wow. You got to go to Nascar. I've never been to a car race - just a demolition derby.

Carol said...

Felt like I was there, too. Fun 13!

Dawn said...

I have only been to one race, and you are right when you say they are loud. I sat in a suite too, and all I kept thinking was those poor people sitting down below had better have ear plugs. It is horrible! This was a great 13! Sounds like you had an absolutely wonderful time! :-)

Rebecca said...

WOW! That's just sooo incredibly cool!!! Yes, you have some awesome friends!!! :)

Bellezza said...

That must be exciting to be at Nascar...I've never been, so it was fun to see your pictures.

qualcosa di bello said...

how sweet is that! i'm not even a nascar fan, but this list makes it look so cool (sshhh...don't tell my NC neighbors about that...nascar is the bomb around here!) my husband was on a medical team that was in the pit for the poconos races some years back...lucky him!

Julia Phillips Smith said...

Completely cool, Karina. I love your attempts to get a picture of the cars as they flew by! And of course, love the one of you behind the wheel. Happy 4th of July!

Unknown said...

That looks like a FUN weekend!

Michelle | Bleeding Espresso said...

I went to my first and only Nascar race when there happened to be one in Charlotte, NC on the weekend of my college graduation--my dad is a *huge* fan so I thought it'd be fun to go. It was! And you've captured that here :)