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Welcome to The Fast and the Fabulous! This is a blog based on one woman's thoughts, opinions and experiences involving NASCAR and IndyCar.
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Yesterday a group of us from ANG Newspapers had the opportunity to take two Hot Laps around Infineon Raceway. The cars were Dodge Neon SRT-4s and were driven by professional drivers from the Jim Russell Racing School.
I knew that I was going to be taking this “lap” a couple days ago but I never stopped to think about what it would actually be like. For some reason I had this ridiculous thought that it would just be a little tour around the track, with our driver pointing out fun little factoids about each turn. Oh how wrong I was.
Earlier in the day I picked a random racing fan to join us for the Hot Lap. Steve Martini from Napa was very happy to be selected and made a great addition to our group.
So finally the time came to get into a car. After I signed a waiver and put on the helmet it dawned on me that this wasn’t going to be a leisurely drive around the track. They really meant this whole Hot Lap thing.
Check out the photo below. This is me before getting into the car, that’s Steve on the right; he sat up front with our driver Tony. Steve asked if I wanted the front seat or the back, to which I asked which was less scary. He just chuckled, and I picked the back. I figured that if I couldn’t see what was coming up next I wouldn’t freak out as much. See how my eyes are closed? That’s how I spent a big part of the laps around the track! We went 100 mph, with the other car racing us through corners.
While the experience was a little scary, okay, very scary, it was a lot of fun. It was great to see exactly what the NASCAR drivers see when they’re blazing around the track come race day.
Kurt Busch is one of my least favorite drivers, second only to his brother Kyle. So I was just a little miffed that he won the pole yesterday at Infineon. I don’t like the brothers Busch because while they say all the right things in front of the media before the races they act like big babies on the track. If someone accidentally hits them they whine and sometimes, in Kyle’s case, they overreact and get fined by NASCAR.
I was standing near the winners circle watching as Kyle Busch was officially given the Bud Pole Award and there was a young woman next to me. She was on her cell phone telling someone that Kurt had won the pole. She was very, very excited about this fact. So much so that she called another person to let them know that Kurt won the pole, saying things like “I’m so happy!, Kurt won the pole!” I can’t fathom that kind of devotion, especially for Kurt Busch, but to each his own right?
After that it seemed that everyone loved Kurt too, but I was starting to see a pattern. A lot of guys were saying that Kurt was their driver, but it was because he’s taken over Rusty Wallace’s old ride, the #2 Miller Lite car, not necessarily because of Kurt himself. I’m not sure that I agree with this logic, I’m not sure that I could easily transfer my love for one driver to another just because they’re driving the same car. Take Dale Earnhardt Jr., one day he’s going to stop racing, but will I be able to root for some new guy taking over his car? For me it really depends on who that person is, if I don’t like your attitude on or off the track you’re not getting my admiration.
I missed out on the rookies so I ventured out to the garage area instead.
Oh wait, before I get to the garage area I have to talk about digital cameras. After I missed out on the rookies and took a quick look at the garage area, I wandered up to the Save Mart Family Area near turn 1. I waited until the Nextel Cup practice session started and then attempted to take photos of cars as they whizzed by. What I ended up with was a lot of blurry, whizzy (yes, that’s not a word) photos. Once I couldn’t stand the heat (and the bugs) any longer, I came back to the Media Center. On my way back I couldn’t help but notice all of the fans with digital cameras, literally everybody and their mothers have one. Who cares about professional photographs when you can take your own?
So back to the garage, it�s a total mob scene. If I were apart of a race team I would be kind of irked about all these random people milling about. It is one of the things that makes NASCAR unique, the ability for fans to get up close and personal with their favorite drivers pretty much whenever, but then that means that people are always around. I seriously could of picked up a tire, ok, ok, I could of tried to pick up a tire if I wanted to.
Earlier this morning Larry McReynolds was in the Media Center talking to someone about a press conference scheduled for later in the day. I was so stoked to see him in person. I think he’s great. For those of you who don’t know who Larry Mac is he’s one of the commentators on FOX’s NASCAR broadcasts. He’s a former crew chief. The opportunity didn’t present itself for me to say hello, he was on his cell phone when I passed by, but I’m sure I’ll run into him again this weekend.
The days leading up to today have been the most insane for me. I have never been this nervous about anything before. I’ve gone on hot dates, had major surgery, spoken in front of hundreds of people but I have never, ever been this nervous. The anxiety I feel all stems from the fact that this is my first time at a race as a member of the press. I have no idea what the protocol is and I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb. I take solace in the fact that there are so many friggin people here, hopefully I’ll go unnoticed and I won’t get run over by a race car.
So here I sit in the media center, staring out at turn 11 watching as cars racing in the SPEED World Challenge GT practice. FYI: I have no idea what the heck the SPEED World Challenge GT is, although after googling it I’ve pieced together that it’s people racing sports cars like Corvettes, Porsches, etc.
That’s really not what I’m interested in, I’m here for NASCAR and to see as many of the drivers as I can in person. Like right now, there’s a press conference going on for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year Candidates, I think I’m going to go try to catch them.
In the meantime here is the schedule for the Infineon Raceway/NASCAR race weekend:
Friday, June 23
8:10 a.m.-9:20 a.m. Practice
The minute I tell someone that I’m a NASCAR fan they usually ask why. Followed by some variation of the question, Don’t they just go around in circles all day?, to which I usually say, “There’s so much more to it than what you think.”
The “so much more” is all of the engineering that happens before the races — fine tuning the cars, setting them up differently for each race track. There’s also the strategy involved during the races — when to pit, how many tires to take and when. Then there’s just the drivers themselves — can they handle all the pressure that’s on them to win?
I do agree that watching someone driving around in circles is boring, but when you add in the possibility that something could go wrong (a five car pile-up), or that something could go so right (an underdog winning for the first time), for me that’s must-see TV.
I love NASCAR because of the personalities, the speed, the crashes, and all of the preparation these race teams put into their cars all year long (and knowing that in one second all that preparation could go down the drain if they run over an itty bitty piece of debris). I love the fact that drivers can say the name of their sponsor, the number of their car and thank their team in 5 seconds flat.
Now, I am a woman after all and the fact that I find certain drivers pretty cute doesn’t hurt my appreciation of the sport at all; it only serves to enhance my experience. I promise to not make this blog about who’s hot and who’s not, at least not ALL the time. 
The purpose and goal of the blog is to talk about the latest motor sports news and to give my spin on it. Feel free to chime in.
