Project 46-365: 190 - My Roots Are Showing

My blog site address is ManySidesOfMeee, and it's that for a reason - there are many sides of me. Theatre, music, technology and gadgets, motorcycling and sports to name a few. Yesterday found Dad and I (and a couple of Dad's friends) heading south to Daytona to watch the ARCA race and the Bud Shootout. I asked him when we were waiting for the race to start when we first came to a race at Daytona. 1973 Firecracker 400 is what we think was the first race we saw there. 37 years ago ... holy shit!

Following stock car racing and some motorcycle racing has just been a part of my life, all of my life. When I was young, Dad raced off-road cars. Mother and I were in the pits to help out. There was one course he raced, in Tallahassee I think (could be wrong, I was under 9 years old), where my job was to shimmy up the tree and yell down at Mother when Dad was coming into the pits. I've had the opportunity to attend races in Daytona, Atlanta and Talledaga (18th birthday). I was there the day Dale Earnhardt was killed; and I was there when Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Daytona 500.

It was great fun to be back at the track, if cold. There's nothing else like hearing the roar of the engines and feeling the power of their speed as they pass the grandstands. I had fun working with the digital video camera I got during the Black Friday sales, and talking with the people sitting next to us.

The ARCA race had 6, yes SIX, women drivers, the most famous being Danika Patrick who is the first woman to win an open-wheel race. The father and daughter sitting next to me had never been to a stock car race - they were open-wheel fans who came to see Danika. We talked a lot as I 'educated' them on the difference between the two kinds of racing. Ali Owens, a woman racer from Daytona, looked like she was going to have a very good showing, running 3rd late in the race, but she lost the draft, was shuffled back and then got caught up in a wreck. Danika drove one hell of a race, IMO. She was pushed below the double-yellow coming out of Turn 4 and shot through the tri-oval grass (right in front of us). She hung on and kept that car from flipping or then hitting the wall. In the late laps, she was able to move up through the field, finishing 6th.

She wanted to see how ARCA went before deciding if she was going to race next Saturday in the Nationwide series. (ARCA feeds Nationwide, which then feeds the Sprint Cup series, the big racers.) I haven't seen or heard yet, but really am hoping she does race next Saturday.

We had an hour or so break before the Bud Shootout, the night race. The Bud Shootout is pretty much like an all-star race. It's not for points, and features winners from the previous season, previous Shootout winners and previous champions. Lots of pre-race activities, including the Zac Brown Band, the Budwiser Clydesdales, and pyrotechnics shooting up during driver introductions.

Unfortunately, I didn't find the Shootout that exciting. Jr. (my favorite driver) said his car was loose all night, so he couldn't get near the front. It didn't seem the drivers were able to pass easily, so while there was a lot of 2 by 2 racing, there weren't a lot of lead changes. Will see how the Duals are on Thursday. The awesome thing - Mark Martin and Jr. are on the front row for the Daytona 500 next Sunday. They'll race on Thursday, but they don't have to race for position.

Boogity, boogity, boogity!!!

Some more pics ....

Jimmy Johnson's car. He has won the last 4 Sprint Cup championships. This pic was zoomed from our seats at the top of the grandstands down behind the pits where they do the vehicle inspections.