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| Me waking up in the back of my truck on Race day |
WOW! The things we do for the things we love and in my case
it is NASCAR. I have been a race fan for as long as I can remember. I remember
watching the 1979 Daytona 500 on TV which was the first time a NASCAR race was
shown live from start to finish. I remember going to local tracks to watch the
local race heroes battle it out on asphalt and often times on dirt with the occasional
battle outside the cars. Everyone that is a fan has their favorite driver and
will passionately defend why they should be the winner in Sunday’s race only to
be disappointed when they don’t. Their driver is rarely the reason why a crash
happened even when that driver admits to being the reason. I just sit back and
laugh because I am the same way, Dale Jr has never caused a crash. Ha-ha.
This past weekend was the Daytona 500 and I was without a
ticket. How could this be? A fan of my magnitude missing out on the Great
American Race. But that is where I found myself, ticket-less and depressed. I
moped around the house all day Saturday. If I had some sackcloth and ashes I probably
would have been wearing them to display my state of despair. I couldn't do
anything to get myself out of this rut even though I had a show that night. It
was imperative I walk out of the room of gloom and get ready for the show.
Which I did. I simply decided, as much as I wanted to be at the race I still
had a lot of stuff to be happy about. This makes all the difference in the
world.
I cleaned up got ready, still not quite myself but getting
there. About 7 miles into my trip to the show I got the call, rather, the
Facebook message, a ticket has become available. I of course was overjoyed, I
will not miss this race after all. Now what? Well I will make phone calls, turn
the truck around grab some provisions and head to my show. The show that night
was a great success and I even saw a shooting star that night as I made the
drive to Daytona. Then came the task of finding a place to sleep. Yep, I slept
in the back of my truck in a huge field used for parking. I didn't want to miss
a moment of the race experience and of course get ahead of all the traffic
coming into Daytona from all directions on Sunday morning.
The cool thing about race weekend is the experience of race
weekend. It is unique to NASCAR. Everything from the family aspect to the party
to a weekend get-a-way. People in motor-homes and tents and even in the back of their
trucks just so they can be here on this weekend to experience this race. Some
may not find it appealing, some may even not have a good time but they are in
the minority. By and large race weekend is the most fun a fan can have at a
sporting event.
Thanks NASCAR and Daytona International Speedway for a great
Sunday of fun.
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