Drivers, Start Your Engines! (Part Two)

Last Sunday I went to the Phoenix International Raceway (PIR)  to watch the Subway Fresh Fit 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. You can read Part One here.


This is the pit station for #17, Matt Kenseth.

This is Head Crew Chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Dale Earnhardt's car.

I caught this NASCAR official goofing around for the camera - flexing his muscles!

Jeff Gordon's car.

Mark Martin's car.

It's a beautiful setting at the raceway, with mountains lining one half of the track.

As the crowd sang the Star Spangled Banner, parasailers soared onto the track, with patriotic chutes.

"And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air"




Four fighter jets flew over from nearby  Luke AFB. It really was quite exciting!

The bleachers were wall to wall people!

A person could rent headphones like these and tune in to the announcer who was calling the race.

Here they come!

A short video that I managed to take. Don't turn down the volume to experience (somewhat) how LOUD it is at the race!




I believe that people pay to sit on the hill to watch the race. Not sure how MUCH the tickets are, though!

The next 10 photos are what I call, "An Anatomy of a Crash". Unbelievably, the driver was able to get his car under control, and drive off. He completed another lap before exiting!

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Number 11, Denny Hamlin, the WINNER!!

I guess this is common. The winner chooses to do some "hot-dogging" for the crowd. Denny burns his tires across the racetrack.

Finally, he turns the car around and drives back through the smoke.

All in all, I had a great time. It was very hot, very loud (even with ear plugs), but exciting. My son had a GREAT time!

Drivers, Start Your Engines!

My son, Jason, has been in town for the last week and a half, so I've been busy, busy, busy! This past Sunday he and I went to Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) to watch the Subway Fresh Fit 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

We went with a tour group from our park. The bus picked us up right at the club house, 8:20 am sharp.

It was about an hour ride to Glendale where the track is located. There was already bumper-to-bumper traffic when we arrived a little after 10:00!










Here is one of the main entrances.

Our tour included the bus ride, admission ticket,

and pre-pit passes. (Try saying THAT 3 times!)

We didn't notice till we arrived that the pit pass was only good till 11:00 am. By the time we got off the bus, it was already 10:15 am. Many people chose to skip going to the pit. You see, we had to REDEEM the coupon to GET a pass to go to the pit. This meant that we had to stand in a long, long line. Jason and I decided, "What the heck?"

I'm glad we did. The line moved very quickly, surprisingly, and within 15 minutes we were making our way to the pit.

We just followed the tons of other people through the tunnel under the track and over to where the action was at.

I was actually feeling kind of special.....until I saw all the other "special" people just like me! Ha ha!










We had to go up and over walkways where the cars were pushed from the "garage" area. These people are standing on the walkway looking down at the garage area.

And this is what they are looking at.....all the semi-trucks that carried the cars and the work area for the cars. Pretty cool!

Just ONE of the many semi's that I saw.

Viewing booth where the announcers sit.

Crew pushing race car out onto the track.

Jason standing on the race track with the cars in the background.

Bringing another car out to the track.

Jason signed both our names on the wall. Here's a close up.

And here's a long shot.

Jason signed his name on the racetrack, too, along with hundreds of other people.

There was a couple kneeling to my left, signing their names. All of a sudden the guy whipped out an engagement ring. I immediately snapped a photo. What I didn't understand is that she already had a ring on her finger. He said something about "upgrading". The first one seemed nice. The second one? Yowzer!

I'm not sure what this person does, but I'm assuming that's a flame retardant suit. And I bet that it was pretty warm - especially in the 85 degree heat that day!

























 TO BE CONTINUED ON FRIDAY ( Wednesday - Signs, Thursday - Things in a row)