Race pics and experiences

[Magicmiler]

The boss and I during Thanksiving 2017. Bought August night race tix for 2018. Can't wait.

 

[Ashstrodamus]

I forget which year it was, but the last race Ricky Rudd won(at Martinsville), it was one hot day....like around 100 degrees. On the scanner all the drivers were hollering, "I need water, I need water". Dick Trickle gets on his scanner and says, "I'm out of cigarettes.....I'm out of cigarettes". We spotted a Helig Meyers crew member with the binoculars running down pit late with a pack of Marlboro Lights.

 

[sdj]

Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City for lunch, then,we went to our first full blown "Monster Jam" Saturday in Tampa, Fl. The event was at the Raymond James Stadium. We went to the Pit party in the afternoon and I was very interested in the engineering of the suspension on these monsters. Way cool how they are put together and they still break stuff like no tomorrow LOL. We had great seats, (they should be), we were on the 50 yard line and the views were great. The stadium was packed and we all had a great time. The racing and the freestyle was the best of the event. The two wheel competition was very lame, with only a couple of the trucks able to pull it off. Lots and lots of crazy air! They tore up a bunch of trucks, fixed them and came back for more.

Racing:

Freestyle:

Freestyle:

The FS1(Fox Sports 1) truck won the night. These guys are nuts! Just a fun no problem night. Zombie did not disappoint either.

PS: Where we parked, by luck of the draw, from the time we got to our Jeep, we were out and gone in less than 5 minutes. I was as excited about that as anything.

 

[Johali]

I put these in the vacation thread but I'll put'em over here also since they're relevant to the thread.

I just finalized the route for our main vacation trip this summer. Each spot from E to J is a hub that we'll use to wander out into the unknown. Actually I've made a list of the must see places and things to do. We also plan to attend 7 races this year with Chicago being the one on this trip. And yes we'll be pulling the beast to the campgrounds as usual.

 

[Johali]

Itinerary subject to change without advance notice.

Martinsville March 25th
Richmond April 21st
Chicagoland July 1st
Daytona 2 July 7th
Darlington September 2nd
Kansas October 21st
Homestead November 18

We also wanted to make the Charlotte Roval but It's looking doubtful that she can get that week off. We almost always make the Daytona July and Homestead races and the other 5 are races that my wife hasn't been to. She's trying to take time off this year to check them off of her bucket list. We get back home from our "big" vacation the morning of July 5th and leave that afternoon after unloading and restocking the beast for Daytona. A tight schedule but that's part of the fun.

 

[Pat]

Itinerary subject to change without advance notice.

Martinsville March 25th
Richmond April 21st
Chicagoland July 1st
Daytona 2 July 7th
Darlington September 2nd
Kansas October 21st
Homestead November 18

We also wanted to make the Charlotte Roval but It's looking doubtful that she can get that week off. We almost always make the Daytona July and Homestead races and the other 5 are races that my wife hasn't been to. She's trying to take time off this year to check them off of her bucket list. We get back home from our "big" vacation the morning of July 5th and leave that afternoon after unloading and restocking the beast for Daytona. A tight schedule but that's part of the fun.

You sure do get a lot more vacation time than I got.

 

[Johali]

You sure do get a lot more vacation time than I got.

I've been retired since 10/16/09 but the bride loves her job as an ESE facilitator at a middle school helping out challenged kids. Hopefully I'll talk her into retiring one of these days. She has a Masters degree in education and ESE is one of her specialities. Below is a link to what she does.

http://www.fldoe.org/academics/exceptional-student-edu/ese-eligibility/

 

[Pat]

I've been retired since 10/16/09 but the bride loves her job as an ESE facilitator at a middle school helping out challenged kids. Hopefully I'll talk her into retiring one of these days. She has a Masters degree in education and ESE is one of her specialities. Below is a link to what she does.

http://www.fldoe.org/academics/exceptional-student-edu/ese-eligibility/

Congrats on being retired. I didn't think of that.

I'm sure the kids are grateful your wife keeps working. She is filling a great need. Bless her.

 

[sdj]

Finally made it to The New Smyna Speedway last night. That is one fast track, 1/2 mile paved with banking, SLM's turning high 17's.
Saw one hell of a good SLM race. Harrison Burton won the pole and then on the pill toss inverted him to 8th place. In the 35 lap event, it was one of the absolute best caution free SLM races I have ever seen. Steven Wallace and Harrison Burton put on one more lesson on handling traffic. Burton won.
Then there was a 76 lap Open wheel event with 27 top tier cars, Ryan Priece was strong and very good at this, but, his handling went away at about lap 60 and relegated him from first to 4th at the end. Lots of good close clean racing, only three cautions, none bad.
After the Saturday Exfinity race at Daytona, we are going back to Smyna to see the 100 lap finale.

 

[Pat]

Finally made it to The New Smyna Speedway last night. That is one fast track, 1/2 mile paved with banking, SLM's turning high 17's.
Saw one hell of a good SLM race. Harrison Burton won the pole and then on the pill toss inverted him to 8th place. In the 35 lap event, it was one of the absolute best caution free SLM races I have ever seen. Steven Wallace and Harrison Burton put on one more lesson on handling traffic. Burton won.
Then there was a 76 lap Open wheel event with 27 top tier cars, Ryan Priece was strong and very good at this, but, his handling went away at about lap 60 and relegated him from first to 4th at the end. Lots of good close clean racing, only three cautions, none bad.
After the Saturday Exfinity race at Daytona, we are going back to Smyna to see the 100 lap finale.

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Kewl pictures!

 

[sdj]

We had a really good time at the Track yesterday afternoon and night. Security to get in the gate was off the rails, guess it's the world we live in. But aside from that, there was a very large crowd from what I saw. Ford had a large display of vehicles, Mustang Cobra 350, drool, plus a Ford GT, picture below.
Race was what I expected, I always give the race a 10 if I am there live, TV just does not give you the details of all that is going on and the sound is AWESOME!
I will have my Nascar racing start up fix by the time we are through.

 

[sdj]

The Truck race was great! Two wide damn near all the race sometimes three wide, racing from start to finish. My wife and I both enjoy the young guns in the Truck series as much as any series we watch. John Hunter needs to work on his blocking abilities, LOL. Crafton's scanner was a hoot, they were like a cluster well you know what I mean. Clay Greenfeld # 68, 4 man team first time at a Super Speedway and first Truck race, qualified 3rd stayed up in the front 4 till the 20 lap BS caution and had a very slow pit stop, ran in the back of the pack from there to 10 to go and was on a run that would have got him a top 10 and he got caught up in the last wreck. He was as good as anyone on the track. His truck was painted (maybe wrapped) in the US Flag and had "Please Stand" on the quarter panels.
Oh, one more thing, we went through our first Bag scan and wand check, at a Nascar race, by the USA HOMELAND security last night. The whole stadium was full of cops of all kinds. Most security I have ever seen at a race, which is cool by me.
We had a blast and the weather was great.

 

[Johali]

The Truck race was great! Two wide damn near all the race sometimes three wide, racing from start to finish. My wife and I both enjoy the young guns in the Truck series as much as any series we watch. John Hunter needs to work on his blocking abilities, LOL. Crafton's scanner was a hoot, they were like a cluster well you know what I mean. Clay Greenfeld # 68, 4 man team first time at a Super Speedway and first Truck race, qualified 3rd stayed up in the front 4 till the 20 lap BS caution and had a very slow pit stop, ran in the back of the pack from there to 10 to go and was on a run that would have got him a top 10 and he got caught up in the last wreck. He was as good as anyone on the track. His truck was painted (maybe wrapped) in the US Flag and had "Please Stand" on the quarter panels.
Oh, one more thing, we went through our first Bag scan and wand check, at a Nascar race, by the USA HOMELAND security last night. The whole stadium was full of cops of all kinds. Most security I have ever seen at a race, which is cool by me.
We had a blast and the weather was great.

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Glad ya'll had a good time bud.

 

[sdj]

The Exfinity race was exciting for sure. Kyle Larson was as aggressive as I have ever seen. Chase was after it as well. Hated to see the carnage at times, but, such is this type of racing. They were aggressive from the git go. Jr motorsports had a good and bad day. Tyler Reddick did a hell of a job and won the race by 1 thousandth of a second .
Between great seats and a Jumbo Tron TV right across from our seats, you couldn't beat being there live. We are ready for the 500 today from our easy chairs in the AC, 85 today (I'm guessing on mute a lot of the time). At the track we listen through our headsets to MRN and scan the drivers occasionally, plus our headsets have the push to talk to someone, in my case, my wife, during the race. As I mentioned before I have never seen security at a race track like was at this event, all good.
Thank you Daytona International Speedway for putting in Escalators . (my hips and knees thank you also)

Pre race

To The Green

Winner winner Chicken Dinner

 

[sdj]

After the Exfinity race got back to the Hotel and took off to New Smyrna Speedway 1/2 mile hi banked asphalt for the 100 Lap SLM race.
Great Race, Harrison Burton had the pole, after pill toss started 6th, was leading by lap 30 and never looked back. Had a challenge on a couple of restarts but he was in a different zip code most of the time. Steven Wallace, due to the pill toss, started outside front row and took off to a lead, but, he is very inconsistent in his cornering abilities and it was not long before several drivers passed him. He was bad to overdrive entry into turn 3. Harrison is going to be headed to Nascar in the future, JMHO.
If any of you all get to Daytona for Speedweeks, you need to check out New Smyna Speedway, they have 9 nights of racing leading up to the Daytona 500.

Driver intros, 23 car field SLM's 100 lap finally 2-17-18

 

[sdj]

Well, I hung out at the hotel till I couldn't stand it any more and took off to Atlanta speedway at 12 noon, got to the, buy a ticket booth, at 1:30. While I was working with the ticket lady to find a seat in an area I wanted to sit, someone behind me say's, I got a free ticket anybody want it, I said yes sir sign my a** up, LOL. Great seat, as you can see from the photos below. I spent a total of $10.00 at the track and saw a great race live in great weather, good as it gets.
I am amazed the race got ran, but, the good lord helped us out and we got it in. I have always liked the Atlanta track.
A funny note, I went to put my backpack up on the table to check and the young lady says, don't worry about it sir, come on in and I had my pocket knife in my pocket LOL. Bruton Smith tracks are the friendliest on the circuit, IMHO.

 

[KodiakRusty89]

Well, I hung out at the hotel till I couldn't stand it any more and took off to Atlanta speedway at 12 noon, got to the, buy a ticket booth, at 1:30. While I was working with the ticket lady to find a seat in an area I wanted to sit, someone behind me say's, I got a free ticket anybody want it, I said yes sir sign my a** up, LOL. Great seat, as you can see from the photos below. I spent a total of $10.00 at the track and saw a great race live in great weather, good as it gets.
I am amazed the race got ran, but, the good lord helped us out and we got it in. I have always liked the Atlanta track.
A funny note, I went to put my backpack up on the table to check and the young lady says, don't worry about it sir, come on in and I had my pocket knife in my pocket LOL. Bruton Smith tracks are the friendliest on the circuit, IMHO.

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Awesome pics!! Great view for having a relatively low (row 15-20?) seat at a 1.5 miler!

 

[sdj]

Awesome pics!! Great view for having a relatively low (row 15-20?) seat at a 1.5 miler!

Winners section 165 row 21. Could see the whole track, great seat.

 

[Thegeneral23]

Had an amazing time!!

 

[Thegeneral23]

My seats at the DAYTONA 500

 

[AdoubleU24]

View attachment 33705 My seats at the DAYTONA 500

How did you like the facilities? Pretty impressive right? Place is A1.

 

[Thegeneral23]

How did you like the facilities? Pretty impressive right? Place is A1.

Yea I love it there!!

 

[Brentford]

Should be figuring out here in a week whether I'll be going to either Daytona or Kentucky in July. Obviously I'd choose Daytona if it were up to me, but circumstances may make Kentucky the better option. Regardless, I've never been to either track, so it'll be a new experience either way. Due to the distance to Daytona, Kentucky would definitely be the cheaper option. I'll also be attending Kansas in May, though I've been there several times. I didn't go last year and it's just a short 2 1/2 hour drive, so I feel I need to go this year.

 

[KodiakRusty89]

Played Brickyard Crossings Golf Course the end of September last fall. What was super cool was the fact IMS was holding a week long road racing event. So I got to watch some racing while I played golf! Great course and great environmnet!!

 

[aunty dive]

Played Brickyard Crossings Golf Course the end of September last fall.
View attachment 33919

Score, please.

 

[2 Sweet]

Go to Martinsville. Eat the hot dogs. Enjoy the racing.

 

[sdj]

Looks like you could sit where ever you wanted to, sweet! Glad ya'll had a great time.

 

[Bob]

Got a chance to tour Daytona back the first week of March. Tremendous experience. Now I have to see a race there. Never been to FL before...

From top of the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. You can just make out the top of the grandstands on the horizon above the bend in the river.

Not as wide as I thought!

Great museum.

My boy Terry...

Place is massive. Take the tour if you get the chance.

 

[dpkimmel2001]

Got a chance to tour Daytona back the first week of March. Tremendous experience. Now I have to see a race there. Never been to FL before...

From top of the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. You can just make out the top of the grandstands on the horizon above the bend in the river.

Not as wide as I thought!

Great museum.

My boy Terry...

Place is massive. Take the tour if you get the chance.

Not sure if it's just me or not but your pics aren't displaying. Can everyone else see them?

 

[Pat]

Not sure if it's just me or not but your pics aren't displaying. Can everyone else see them?

I did see them earlier. Now they are gone. A big minus sign shows instead.

 

[dpkimmel2001]

I did see them earlier. Now they are gone. A big minus sign shows instead.

Okay, not just me then. Thanks,

 

[Bob]

Sorry, don't know how to fix.

 

[kriebel17]

For people who have have been to numerous tracks, what's your favorite track to attend live. Tell me about your camping experiences and whats going on around the grounds/track after and before races if you've stayed the weekend. Thanks in advance.

 

[kriebel17]

Pics from both MIS speedway and Richmond Speedway.

 

[kriebel17]

 

[sdj]

For people who have have been to numerous tracks, what's your favorite track to attend live. Tell me about your camping experiences and whats going on around the grounds/track after and before races if you've stayed the weekend. Thanks in advance.

"BRISTOL", Whites Camp Ground.

It's all good.

 

[kriebel17]

"BRISTOL", Whites Camp Ground.

It's all good.

Actually thinking about going in August , we choose 1 race a year and debating between Bristol, Dover, Talladega, Richmond again , or Charlotte . Have you ever went for all 4 days? like starting on Wednesday truck race? if so what do they have going on Thursday?

 

[sdj]

Actually thinking about going in August , we choose 1 race a year and debating between Bristol, Dover, Talladega, Richmond again , or Charlotte . Have you ever went for all 4 days? like starting on Wednesday truck race? if so what do they have going on Thursday?

I have been to (6) Night races over the years, I always did the Bush race and the Cup race, was not able to get there early for the Late Models or Trucks. Check with BMS and see what the week holds this August and have a ball.

 

[PeopleAreStrange]

Here is my dad and I at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend:

Just after my dad bought tickets for the two of us to sit in the grandstands, one of his friends said he got several tickets for a suite. Oops.

We watched a couple of races in a private suite many years ago and enjoyed it. Unfortunately, this speedway-run suite was a bit of a letdown.

The suite we stayed at many years ago had a large buffet with food throughout the race. This weekend's suite started putting away the food (mostly burgers) at the end of stage one.

My dad had to throw away the beer in his cooler, and had to pay $7 a beer. He says drinks were free in the private suite years ago.



Overall, we both enjoyed the race itself. It had a lot of action and incidents. My dad is a Byron fan now (since early last year; he watches Xfinity), and is happy he got to witness Byron's first top 10 Cup finish.

.

 

[Head423]