Race pics and experiences

Another couple photos
 

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Was the race fun in person? I never been to a road course before, anything exciting happen in the area you was in?

We were up in Turn 1 all weekend, but did a fair share of walking. My watch showed basically 10,000 steps per day for Saturday and Sunday.

The whole weekend was fun. I hadn't been to a NASCAR road course before. I went to COTA a couple years after it opened for a sports car race, and I went to TMS for many years.

Today we watched a Duluth/Stihl sponsored lumberjack competition and went on the Ferris Wheel.

COTA has a fairly "relaxed" ruleset compared to events we have been to at AT&T Stadium, Globe Life Park, and similar venues. We could bring in sealed food and drinks plus an empty liquid container. The official concession stands have unlimited refills after you empty your wallets for $5.99 each. Lots of food trucks and independent vendors booths as well.

The action is good, lots of door banging and dive bombs. We had a video screen in front of us, so we could keep tabs on the very few areas we couldn't see.

The hike up to turn one is no joke at all.

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No idea how this is the only picture that has survived over the years, but after looking through each and every flash drive and memory card I have, this is the only remaining photo I have from my 2008 Bristol visit. I guess if there's one picture I'd choose to have kept, this would be it.
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Sorry for the delay but my mom lied about her health so I could spend 1 last seeking without worrying about her. She died from cancer a few days later. I won 2 garage passes and 2 paddock tickets for Sunday. I saw most of the drivers and met Skeet Ulrich from scream. I saw Steve Sarkisian and wow he loves his louis vuitton. He was decked out from head to toe in lv. I did the tower for the first time and you can see the whole track from there. Great view but since you're 250 ft in the air it was very windy. Highly recommend it. The food in the paddock lounge was a major upgrade. Ribs, short ends, mac and cheese, beans and banana pudding. A company from Dallas that sells churros was there and they were excellent. The racing was good and enjoy watching the crews up close and all of the texting and different views that the crew chief has.
 

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Went to my first F1 race last weekend when they were in Miami. I took the brightline from Orlando to Aventura which was a breeze. Kinda expensive and next year I'll just parking at the Aventura parking lot and take the bus. At the train station they had sponsor activations and Heineken, Jack Daniels, High noon and a craft beer were giving out free samples. The bus trip from the station to the track was 20 minutes. From the parking lot to the gate was a 10 minute walk. I sat in the yacht club and that section had sand to make you feel like you were at the beach. Lots of sponsor activations from Mercedes, Ferrari, Google, Dolphins, High noon, Coke and many more. Reminded me of the early 00's in Nascar. Multiple tents to buy merchandise from but hats were $110 and tees $135. The stadium was open and lots of people were in the stands watching the teams and drivers have meetings in their tents. At the yacht club I had grilled short ribs which were amazing, grilled shrimp, rigatoni, salmon, cookies, cheesecake and fruit. The star of the show was the caviar which was amazing! The race was great and lots of passing in the back of the field. Only negative was for $1500 there were no chairs to watch the race on the 2nd floor. They had tables but no chairs.
 

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Enjoyed the race at Portland yesterday but wanted to share something about the autograph line and the Xfinity drivers. Every one of them were friendly and their comments to me ranged from "how are you today" and "thanks for coming" and other various pleasantries. I was wearing an Indycar hat and one driver asked when they were coming to Portland. Every driver looked at me when handing me their signed picture and I made sure to look at them and smile and thank them. All but one driver. Hailee Deegan. She was looking at her phone and when I thanked her for the picture she never looked up and I doubt she heard me.
 
Sorry for the delay but my mom lied about her health so I could spend 1 last seeking without worrying about her. She died from cancer a few days later. I won 2 garage passes and 2 paddock tickets for Sunday. I saw most of the drivers and met Skeet Ulrich from scream. I saw Steve Sarkisian and wow he loves his louis vuitton. He was decked out from head to toe in lv. I did the tower for the first time and you can see the whole track from there. Great view but since you're 250 ft in the air it was very windy. Highly recommend it. The food in the paddock lounge was a major upgrade. Ribs, short ends, mac and cheese, beans and banana pudding. A company from Dallas that sells churros was there and they were excellent. The racing was good and enjoy watching the crews up close and all of the texting and different views that the crew chief has.
Sorry to hear about your Mom dude. Condolences.
 
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Had a great time at WWTR this weekend! It’s an interesting facility. As stated, it doesn’t look like they have any permanent food or merch stands. Most or all were trailers or tent stands. They also brought in additional porta-John’s for under the bleachers as I guess their normal restrooms aren’t sufficient for such large crowds. There was a ton of stuff and entertainment going on on the midway though, which is different from Kansas. They even had a wrestling event going on, which I must say was the first time I've ever watched a wrestling event in the rain. I don’t know if these straightaways are longer, but sitting in turn 1, turn four seemed further away than it does at Kansas. While we could technically see turn 3 and 4 from where we were at the entrance to turn 1, you couldn’t really tell what was happening. I was having to watch the big screen. I reference Kansas just cuz it’s my home track. I will say that parking was easier today, but that could be because we were parked in a different lot that didn’t have a parade of people blocking the exits. We were able to quickly exit today. All in all, it was a fun time. Not sure I’d make a return trip though.
 

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I don't know if this is normal for all tracks or not but the Xfinity races at Portland each year don't have any souvenir trailers. Nothing. I get it's a long haul over here but you combine the Sonoma race also and you have an opportunity to promote the series and the individual teams sponsors merchandise. Do they not do this anymore? Maybe it's all online now which is a shame.
 
I don't know if this is normal for all tracks or not but the Xfinity races at Portland each year don't have any souvenir trailers. Nothing. I get it's a long haul over here but you combine the Sonoma race also and you have an opportunity to promote the series and the individual teams sponsors merchandise. Do they not do this anymore? Maybe it's all online now which is a shame.
It's been quite a while since I attended an Xfinity only race, but at most Cup races I don't recall seeing any trailers dedicated to Xfinity drivers. I am pretty sure some of the Xfinity drivers affiliated with Cup teams have some limited merchandise at the Cup trailer. Also years ago some of those trailers were run by individuals that were not part of the team but were basically licensed private contractors whose income was based on sales. That would most likely make traveling across country cost prohibitive unless contractually obligated.
Please note, this information is based on what I remember from more than 10 years ago, so it could be quite different now.
 
Yeah, I very rarely see any Xfinity trailers, but definitely don't see any truck series trailers. But yeah, as far as Xfinity goes, I only ever recall seeing Jr Motorsports, but I do see them at almost every Cup races I attend. But I've never attended an standalone Xfinity race, so I can't speak to that.
 
Thanks for the replies. It makes sense and I know I'm not missing anything. Thinking about it, I realize the Indycar series have way less souvenir trailers now than they used to. I'd say the best turnout is the World of Outlaws. Many times it's the family or the driver themself selling the goods.
 
Parked the bus at Iowa Speedway an hour or so ago. Last time I was here was when Larson raced the 32 in the K&N series here.
This looks like its going to be a great race!

Heading to Eagle Neb for High Limit Sprint cars tomorrow.
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