So...I went to the NASCAR races...

[legion]

I went to both of the races at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday (Busch and Nextel Cups).

Before going, my coworkers asked me to take pictures of "people in tank tops who shouldn't be wearing tank tops". I failed miserably. I saw maybe two of these all weekend. The majority of people were my age (26) or younger, and appeared to be well off. Considering the tickets cost $155 (I got mine at a discount--I think the scalpers were selling for double that) for the weekend, it makes sense.

I've never seen so many Nextel phones in one place. EVERYONE at NASCAR has a Nextel phone. You'd hear that special beep and a dozen people would reach for their pockets.

I've been to 8 or so Jimmy Buffett concerts. I was expecting a similar crowd. Unabashed drunkeness, party atmosphere, etc. Nothing could have been further from the truth. This was probably the best behaved large crowd I've ever seen. I didn't see anyone drunk; no one was rowdy. People were generally well behaved and polite.

I'm used to the types of crowds you get at Bears or Cubs games. And I don't go to those anymore because of it. With those sports, you are less of a person if you are not a die-hard, raving fan. You might find yourself punched (or worse) if you show up with a Green Bay shirt. At the races, everyone respected the right to root for whatever driver....except Jeff Gordon. Maybe it helps that there is no "home" team.

The races themselves...were just as boring as watching them on TV. At least I had a radio scanner and could listen to the drivers go back and forth with their crew chief. Every once and a while there would be a spectacular crash, but the rest of the time it was just loud.

You could try to follow a car, but if you blinked, sneezed, or farted, you would lose track of it. You could try to scan the track, but I never seemed to be looking in the right place when something happened. Usually my first signal that there was a caution was that all of the sudden the cars engines slowed down, then I'd try to find where the accident was.

I'm 50/50 on whether I will go back next year. NASCAR isn't my thing. I'm hoping the IRL races in September will be better. I've been told it will be the same crowd as you are required to buy tickets at this track for all of the races in a season, lest you loose your seats next year.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow hopefully.

[targa911S]

yep I went to the Daytona 500 this year as my first NASCAR experience. Man I could not believe the amount of money that was changing hands there. The race was great, the guys in front of us shared fried chicken, everybody had ALL their teeth, and a great time was had by all. I'm going back.

[IROC]

I used to go to Bristol all the time (I grew up in East Tennessee). The last time I went, tickets were $17.50 and easy to get if that is any indication of how long ago that was...

The guy sitting in front of me threw a full beer on the track.

Mike

[targa911S]

Ahh Bristol..nobody leaves there with a complete car!

[Westy]

Phoenix is still a great deal, and the November races have all four,,,,Featherlites, trucks, Busch and Cup. We go every year. We sit in a nice area, but there are definitely bubbas and bubbettes that go to these races. Never a problem though.

NASCAR is like left vs right, shorthood/longhood, chocolate or vanilla. Some love them, some don't. I am amazed at ther sheer power you can feel as the cars goes by. I pull my video out every now and then just to remember it. Oh, and the smell. Nothing like 110 or 112 octane gas.

If I were king, this is rthe racing I'd do. Oh, and did I medntion the women. Oh my, yes there are scantily clad women everywhere. I never look though,,,,jst ask my wife.

[legion]

I was just thinking: 100,000 people and $155 a pop for tickets. That's $15,500,000 before concessions and merchandise...not to mention advertising.

Also, they had more than adequate porta-potties...and they had people cleaning them during the day!

Security was tight, but not strangling. I could stand anywhere on the grounds and turn around and see at least one cop--not security, but a real police officer. In the same turn I'd see at least a dozen security people. Seating was set back from the track by about a dozen feet, and you couldn't get close without being tackled by security (no one tried). I also noticed that during the race, there was a helicopter hovering over the track very high. There was another helicopter hovering lower with a camera pod.

[targa911S]

at Daytona all the local stores, even HD were closed for the weekend so they could sell their parking spaces at $50.00 a spot. Between The 500, spring break, bike week and the 400 in July Daytona makes a pile of cash. I think they just take the rest of the year off after that. Everybody makes money on those days.

[Jims5543]

Wow! I had a completely different experience. I went to the inaugural Homestead 500 in Miami I think it was in 2001. The crowd was drunk and rowdy. The start of the race was the best all Thirty something cars roaring past the start/finish on a flying start. From there it was progressively boring. I predicted Tony Stewart would win half way through the race.

The funniest part had to be the fans that would cup their hands over their mouths and yell to the cars as they went by. I never laughed so hard.

I also attended the Indy race there the next year. The crowd was a LOT smaller the stands were basically empty. I noticed the Indy crowd to be a lot more refined. Men in slacks much prettier women as well. The crowd appeared to be more European and Latin than your typical Bud drinking good ‘ol boys at the NASCAR race.

One incident at the Indy race that stays in my mind. There were 2 guys in the stands that were pretty drunk and wearing NASCAR T-shirts. They were pretty obnoxious in general obviously there because they held season tickets. There was a very attractive women sitting about 3 rows in front of them with her boyfriend / Husband. Her thong would peak out of her slacks when she sat. These guys must have taken 30 pictures of her. They were yelling at her and carrying on like fools. It got so bad the couple got up and moved. Most everyone around these guys were flashing dirty looks at them which seemed to tickle them.

One piece of advise if you attend the Indy race. Bring earplugs. Your day will be ruined if you do not. The Indy cars are so loud they hurt.

We were lucky when we attended there was a Rolex race right after the Indy one. We had Pit passes and got to speak with some of the Indy techs after the race. One Magnetti Marrelli tech was really cool and explained to us what he was doing. He was analyzing a car that had blown its tranny. The Rolex crews were cool too. We had 10x more fun watching the Rolex race than the Indy and NASCAR combined. Roundy round doesn’t do it for me.

[kang]

I went to a Nascar race too. Oh wait, sorry, that was just a dog chasing its tail.

[legion]

Some of the better pictures:

Our parking area:



Junior takes the flag:



Junior's burnout: