racin'

mlmpetert · 05-02-2011, 06:28 PM

Initially I was planning on just going to the tailgate and then after a friend forced some really cheap good tickets on me I ended up going to my first NASCAR race on Saturday……..

I have always maintained the position that NASCAR is the dumbest thing in the world. I have never felt the urge to sit in a bleacher and watch loud ass cars go around in circles for several hours. Im borderline upset when I want to watch something on TV and NASCAR is on. But after Saturday’s race im taking most of that back.

For the frist 15-20 minutes I hated it, then when I really started watching and paying attention (because it was way too loud to do anything but drink beer and watch the cars drive) I started to appreciate what was going on. Its actually pretty amazing to watch these cars and start admiring the skill and tactics of the drivers. I was rooting for Mark Martin (solely based off his car’s resemblance to Rowdy Burns’ Mellow Yellow car in Days of Thunder, in which Cole Trickle raced in the Daytona 500 as a tribute to Rowdy after he had to have “minor brain surgery” due to a accident Rowdy himself is alluded to have caused in order to take the brash young rookie Cole Trickle out of racin’) and after being in as high as 4th or 3rd place he started having car trouble and did a series of at least 5 pit stops in order to get his car fixed. He got real lucky because they were all during cautions (I think he caused the initial one) and was able to beat the pace car each time, so as not to go down a lap. It was really pretty skillful. He ended up finishing the race 14th. Pretty badass.

Either way I wouldn’t label myself a fan of NASCAR now but I ended up enjoying something that I really really disliked before and will definitely go to another race. I will also likely watch a good portion of a race the next time theres one on tv. I guess if anyone ever has the chance to go I would suggest checking it out even if your initial thoughts are the dumbest thing in the world.

mlmpetert · 05-02-2011, 06:36 PM

I think this the accident that caused Martin to do his pitting sequence (Martin is the number 5 car):

Three-wide at RIR leaves Gordon nowhere to hide - May 02, 2011 - NASCAR.COM

Here's Rowdy's car:
eBay Find of the Day: Days of Thunder Mellow Yellow #51 — Autoblog

mlmdub130 · 05-02-2011, 07:17 PM

were you on the side of the track with the pit? i wasn't and i was two rows back and it f-ing sucked. i ventured up for a bit to be able to actually see a lap, but by that time it was chilling off a bit and my sleeves were in the parking lot some where. if i could have seen the pit i think it might have been alot more tollerable, but after about 50 laps i was done from where i was sitting. my view was literally a blurry car every 5 seconds it was pretty weak.

that said i'm definitly going again since the tailgate is so awesome, you can park for free, (crazy concept), you can wear whatever the hell you want (preferablly something altered with scissors) and you can drink in public at 9 am and not be frowned upon. and who doesn't wanna see nasty ass hookers dancing on a make shift stripper pole next to the really creepy over weight guy chillin in the sweet ass inflatable hot tub he brought with him while your waiting inline at the pisser

hooskins · 05-02-2011, 09:00 PM

One of the main reasons I shy away from NASCAR is the perception of the fans. Did you find them to be dumb "rednecks"? Also, were there any minorities at the race?

mlmdub130 · 05-03-2011, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hooskins

One of the main reasons I shy away from NASCAR is the perception of the fans. Did you find them to be dumb "rednecks"? Also, were there any minorities at the race?

i wouldn't call them dumb, simple maybe, but not dumb, and yes there are a s ton of them. if anything though that what attracted me to it, if you haven't tailgated with freshly killed meat you haven't tailgated imo.

as for minorites there were a few scattered through out, but few and far between for sure, and most of them were in camo and had dip in.

mlmpetert · 05-03-2011, 10:32 AM

We were at the outside edge of the pit near I think turn 1. They were actually really good seats. The cars got blurry when they were closest to you and if you tried to look at a group of cars but if there was a standalone car you could make out the number and logos and stuff. Pitting wasn’t really as cool as I thought it would be. I really like the “restarts” after the pace car dipped out after a caution was over. I thought there were way to many cautions especially for seemingly minor things. I doubt they took those precautions back in the day. Something I really enjoyed was walking around the track during the race. That was really cool.

Obviously the tailgating experience was better then what youre used to at Fedex, but how the whole sport caters to the fan as opposed to the other way around. Free parking. Free shuttles from downtown Richmond or Mechanicsville to the race and back. Tailgating for many hours if not DAYS longer then whats allowed at a football game. Bring your own cooler of beer/food/sports drinks into the race. Drivers HAVE TO sign free autographs for kids and stuff. You can walk around the inside of the track and see the drivers, pits, cars, trailers/RVs, sponsers/tons of free stuff. Imagine if they let you walk around the football field before a game at Fedex????? Its just a fan appreciation type sport. They don’t gouge you.

mlmpetert · 05-03-2011, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hooskins

One of the main reasons I shy away from NASCAR is the perception of the fans. Did you find them to be dumb "rednecks"? Also, were there any minorities at the race?

Yeah definitely a lot of rednecks, probably the most ive ever seen in 1 day before. But I wouldn’t nescearlly label them as “dumb rednecks” either. Everyone was super nice. I tried to go to the bathroom once and ended up getting forced into playing a beer pong game with some serious rednecks, one of which is a doctor and a another guy has a daughter going to uva. Their wives though (the ones I thought I was going to play beer pong with at first) did end up “kissing” or eating a cherry out of the others mouth, which I thought was pretty sweet/redneck like.

As mlmdub mentioned there was a hot tub some guy brought and a stripper pole, all right next to the row of port-a-johns. The way people dressed was absolutely ridiculous/really sweet. I thought maybe I went too far with my getup but I could have rednedcked it out a little more.

There was a guy that looked VERY similar to Kenny Powers a few seats down from me; black jeans, red cutoff, oakley style sunglasses, no ear plugs, jerry curl type mullet, “sat” leaning up against the wall one leg perched up arms crossed, all by himself. This guy was totally sweet. I honestly don’t know about how many minorities were there, I wasnt paying attention to that at all. We had a asian friend with us who loves nascar and goes all the time though. I feel like there were some there but I didn’t notice one way or another.

mredskins · 05-03-2011, 11:09 AM

I really really tired to like NASCAR for awhile I rooted for Dale Jarret and went to at least 30 or so races. Still I never got a passion for it. Yes it was fun on race day when you were there but I never got t othe point where I had to watch a race at home or anything like that.

If you live anywhere near PA, you owe it to yourself to go watch some Sprint cars, now that is racing! 800 hp on a dirt track!

PA Sprint Series

Williams Grove and Lincoln are two of the best tracks! You must see the 410's!

Monkeydad · 05-03-2011, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mredskins

PA Sprint Series

Williams Grove and Lincoln are two of the best tracks! You must see the 410's!

Now yer talkin.

I grew up by a dirt track in PA, Trailway Speedway. It was cool to see all of the cars being transported in, right in front of my house. I'd watch for cars passing by when I was out playing as a kid. Then, every Saturday night, my bedroom window would be roaring until about midnight, but...you actually get so used to the noise that you can fall asleep like normal. I guess people living near an airport or railroad know what I mean.

I was a huge Bill Elliott fan growing up, but since he's "retired" I've started rooting for Joe Gibbs' cars. Any of them. I still root for Mark Martin too. The guy's workout regime would rival any NFL players...he's a monster in the weightroom.

I miss when IndyCars were big, when the CART series had Al Unser Jr., Mario Andretti, Arie Luyendyk, Bobby Rahal, Rick Mears, Emerson Fittipaldi, Danny Sullivan.

The birth of the Indy Racing League ruined it.

My son got me big into monster trucks last year...Monster Jam specifically.

We went to a show at the Buck in Lancaster and going to a big Speed Channel-televised show in Philly in June. They're really amazing in person, most have in the range of 1600 HP and sound as good or better than any muscle car you'll hear. The kids love the trucks because there are a lot of cool designs, even a Superman and Batman truck...and Taz!

Now we're obsessed with collecting the Hot Wheels monster trucks...he has 100 of them. I also made him a Power Wheels Monster Jam truck (converted from a regular F150 into "Blue Thunder"). I've since boosted the power, he can fly around the yard at 7 MPH at age 3.

Monkeydad · 05-03-2011, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hooskins

One of the main reasons I shy away from NASCAR is the perception of the fans. Did you find them to be dumb "rednecks"? Also, were there any minorities at the race?

Who cares what other people are like that are watching it...if you like it, watch it. Give the sport a real chance, don't let the stereotypes ruin it for you.

Anyways...

Chico23231 · 05-03-2011, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hooskins

One of the main reasons I shy away from NASCAR is the perception of the fans. Did you find them to be dumb "rednecks"? Also, were there any minorities at the race?

WTF? This fine black chick i knew went to the race this weekend...The Richmond races was the father and son bonding thing we did from like 86-90. I have great memories and yeah Nascar back then was kinda redneck but its done a complete 360 in 20+ years. I talk racing with a black dude all the time at work, he is a huge fan. Ive been to a couple UVA yawnfest Football games and I much rather be at a race or up at Lane Stadium watching a real football team.

cpayne5 · 05-03-2011, 09:31 PM

Hey, Buster, Bigfoot is a Chevy these days.

Also, what's up with you rooting for Toyotas?!

mredskins · 05-03-2011, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monkeydad

Now yer talkin.

I grew up by a dirt track in PA, Trailway Speedway. It was cool to see all of the cars being transported in, right in front of my house. I'd watch for cars passing by when I was out playing as a kid. Then, every Saturday night, my bedroom window would be roaring until about midnight, but...you actually get so used to the noise that you can fall asleep like normal. I guess people living near an airport or railroad know what I mean.

I was a huge Bill Elliott fan growing up, but since he's "retired" I've started rooting for Joe Gibbs' cars. Any of them. I still root for Mark Martin too. The guy's workout regime would rival any NFL players...he's a monster in the weightroom.

I miss when IndyCars were big, when the CART series had Al Unser Jr., Mario Andretti, Arie Luyendyk, Bobby Rahal, Rick Mears, Emerson Fittipaldi, Danny Sullivan.

The birth of the Indy Racing League ruined it.

My son got me big into monster trucks last year...Monster Jam specifically.

We went to a show at the Buck in Lancaster and going to a big Speed Channel-televised show in Philly in June. They're really amazing in person, most have in the range of 1600 HP and sound as good or better than any muscle car you'll hear. The kids love the trucks because there are a lot of cool designs, even a Superman and Batman truck...and Taz!

Now we're obsessed with collecting the Hot Wheels monster trucks...he has 100 of them. I also made him a Power Wheels Monster Jam truck (converted from a regular F150 into "Blue Thunder"). I've since boosted the power, he can fly around the yard at 7 MPH at age 3.

I go pretty much every Sat night in the summer my 3 year old will be going for the first time this summer he is excited!

I even started my bachelor party at the Buck!

I always say go for the cars/trucks stay for the people watching! LOL!

mlmdub130 · 05-04-2011, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mredskins

I really really tired to like NASCAR for awhile I rooted for Dale Jarret and went to at least 30 or so races. Still I never got a passion for it. Yes it was fun on race day when you were there but I never got t othe point where I had to watch a race at home or anything like that.

If you live anywhere near PA, you owe it to yourself to go watch some Sprint cars, now that is racing! 800 hp on a dirt track!

PA Sprint Series

Williams Grove and Lincoln are two of the best tracks! You must see the 410's!

right there with you, i think thats part of the reason nascar didn't really have the "cool" factor everyone else thought it did. i had a good family friend that ran a chevy lumina at maple grove and we'd make it up there to watch him run atleast once or twice a year. if you think nascars have power, try watching a car doing a 1/4 mile in under 5 seconds at 300+mph

YouTube - John Force Testing at Maple Grove...

mredskins · 05-04-2011, 05:29 PM

^ I went to Maple Grove last year or the year before for Pinks All Out. Very nice track but holly hell it is in the middle of no where.

05-02-2011, 06:28 PM	#1
mlmpetert Playmaker Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Richmond Posts: 3,261	racin' Initially I was planning on just going to the tailgate and then after a friend forced some really cheap good tickets on me I ended up going to my first NASCAR race on Saturday…….. I have always maintained the position that NASCAR is the dumbest thing in the world. I have never felt the urge to sit in a bleacher and watch loud ass cars go around in circles for several hours. Im borderline upset when I want to watch something on TV and NASCAR is on. But after Saturday’s race im taking most of that back. For the frist 15-20 minutes I hated it, then when I really started watching and paying attention (because it was way too loud to do anything but drink beer and watch the cars drive) I started to appreciate what was going on. Its actually pretty amazing to watch these cars and start admiring the skill and tactics of the drivers. I was rooting for Mark Martin (solely based off his car’s resemblance to Rowdy Burns’ Mellow Yellow car in Days of Thunder, in which Cole Trickle raced in the Daytona 500 as a tribute to Rowdy after he had to have “minor brain surgery” due to a accident Rowdy himself is alluded to have caused in order to take the brash young rookie Cole Trickle out of racin’) and after being in as high as 4th or 3rd place he started having car trouble and did a series of at least 5 pit stops in order to get his car fixed. He got real lucky because they were all during cautions (I think he caused the initial one) and was able to beat the pace car each time, so as not to go down a lap. It was really pretty skillful. He ended up finishing the race 14th. Pretty badass. Either way I wouldn’t label myself a fan of NASCAR now but I ended up enjoying something that I really really disliked before and will definitely go to another race. I will also likely watch a good portion of a race the next time theres one on tv. I guess if anyone ever has the chance to go I would suggest checking it out even if your initial thoughts are the dumbest thing in the world. __________________ www.NRABannedGunsRaffle.org

05-02-2011, 06:36 PM	#2
mlmpetert Playmaker Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Richmond Posts: 3,261	Re: racin' I think this the accident that caused Martin to do his pitting sequence (Martin is the number 5 car): Three-wide at RIR leaves Gordon nowhere to hide - May 02, 2011 - NASCAR.COM Here's Rowdy's car: eBay Find of the Day: Days of Thunder Mellow Yellow #51 — Autoblog __________________ www.NRABannedGunsRaffle.org

05-02-2011, 07:17 PM	#3
mlmdub130 Playmaker Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Woodbridge, VA Age: 41 Posts: 3,238	Re: racin' were you on the side of the track with the pit? i wasn't and i was two rows back and it f-ing sucked. i ventured up for a bit to be able to actually see a lap, but by that time it was chilling off a bit and my sleeves were in the parking lot some where. if i could have seen the pit i think it might have been alot more tollerable, but after about 50 laps i was done from where i was sitting. my view was literally a blurry car every 5 seconds it was pretty weak. that said i'm definitly going again since the tailgate is so awesome, you can park for free, (crazy concept), you can wear whatever the hell you want (preferablly something altered with scissors) and you can drink in public at 9 am and not be frowned upon. and who doesn't wanna see nasty ass hookers dancing on a make shift stripper pole next to the really creepy over weight guy chillin in the sweet ass inflatable hot tub he brought with him while your waiting inline at the pisser __________________ "I don't think anybody should have regrets, especially me, ... You don't regret what you do in your life. If you do it, you do it for a reason." ST21

05-02-2011, 09:00 PM	#4
hooskins Most Interesting Man in the World Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Chantilly, VA Age: 37 Posts: 8,606	Re: racin' One of the main reasons I shy away from NASCAR is the perception of the fans. Did you find them to be dumb "rednecks"? Also, were there any minorities at the race? __________________ Vacancy

05-03-2011, 10:32 AM	#6
mlmpetert Playmaker Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Richmond Posts: 3,261	Re: racin' We were at the outside edge of the pit near I think turn 1. They were actually really good seats. The cars got blurry when they were closest to you and if you tried to look at a group of cars but if there was a standalone car you could make out the number and logos and stuff. Pitting wasn’t really as cool as I thought it would be. I really like the “restarts” after the pace car dipped out after a caution was over. I thought there were way to many cautions especially for seemingly minor things. I doubt they took those precautions back in the day. Something I really enjoyed was walking around the track during the race. That was really cool. Obviously the tailgating experience was better then what youre used to at Fedex, but how the whole sport caters to the fan as opposed to the other way around. Free parking. Free shuttles from downtown Richmond or Mechanicsville to the race and back. Tailgating for many hours if not DAYS longer then whats allowed at a football game. Bring your own cooler of beer/food/sports drinks into the race. Drivers HAVE TO sign free autographs for kids and stuff. You can walk around the inside of the track and see the drivers, pits, cars, trailers/RVs, sponsers/tons of free stuff. Imagine if they let you walk around the football field before a game at Fedex????? Its just a fan appreciation type sport. They don’t gouge you. __________________ www.NRABannedGunsRaffle.org

05-03-2011, 11:09 AM	#8
mredskins Gamebreaker Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 12,867	Re: racin' I really really tired to like NASCAR for awhile I rooted for Dale Jarret and went to at least 30 or so races. Still I never got a passion for it. Yes it was fun on race day when you were there but I never got t othe point where I had to watch a race at home or anything like that. If you live anywhere near PA, you owe it to yourself to go watch some Sprint cars, now that is racing! 800 hp on a dirt track! PA Sprint Series Williams Grove and Lincoln are two of the best tracks! You must see the 410's! __________________ When life gives you paper jams, turn them into paper footballs!

05-03-2011, 09:31 PM	#12
cpayne5 Playmaker Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 3,807	Re: racin' Hey, Buster, Bigfoot is a Chevy these days. Also, what's up with you rooting for Toyotas?! __________________ "It's not about what you've done, but what's been done for you."

05-04-2011, 05:29 PM	#15
mredskins Gamebreaker Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 12,867	Re: racin' ^ I went to Maple Grove last year or the year before for Pinks All Out. Very nice track but holly hell it is in the middle of no where. __________________ When life gives you paper jams, turn them into paper footballs!

racin'

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