Just one more weekend trip to cover and I'm all caught up.
Lucky for you, I'll be attending the Daytona 500 this weekend so we'll have some fresh, up-to-date, material.
If you're a Nascar fan you understand just how long the off-season lasts.
If you're not a fan, in reality, it's only about 3 months, but if you're entire weekend is based upon a stock car race, that IS forever.
In anticipation of the 2013 racing season, we loaded up the RV and headed to the Rolex 24 hour race. I got into that series a few years back when my beloved Jimmie Johnson, participated in that race. The cars race from Saturday at 3:30 pm until Sunday at 3:30 pm. Each team has 4-5 drivers, as each driver may only drive for 3 hours before a mandatory break. Not too bad on the drivers...but that car has to be built to handle those speeds (and crashes) for 24 hours straight!
We left on Friday morning, January 25th.
We stayed at the Daytona Speedway KOA, right on International Speedway Blvd, two miles from the track.
It's not fancy, by any stretch of the imagination, but it's clean and in a great location.
After we checked in and got the RV hooked up, I got a surprise visitor....my dear friend Donnie.
He was on his way to The Fort and stopped to surprise me. I have great friends :)
Speaking of great friends, Alice also joined us for the weekend.
Alice works out with me in the wee hours of the mornings, Monday through Friday. There just happened to be a 5K at the track the morning of the race, so I suckered Alice (and Nate) to do the fun walk, while I did the 5K run. How could anyone refuse being on the same asphalt as so many great drivers of the last 50 years?
Friday afternoon, after Donnie left, Nate, Alice and I headed to the track to pick up our race packets.
I received a quick-dry shirt and my bib.
Mason stayed back at camp with Trevor.
Since it was Friday night, in Daytona Beach, Trevor and Nate headed to the go-kart track while Alice & I opted to stay in. We set the alarm for 3:45 am so we could be certain to make it to the track by 5:00.
Saturday, 5:00 am.
I wake up and walk outside. It is COLD! Like 52 degrees cold. That's cold for Florida folks!
We layered on the clothes, while I pondered whether what I had on would be too warm or not warm enough. Would my nose run? Would my lips chap? Would my lungs burn?
I hate cold weather!
The Motley crew.
We arrived to an eerily empty track and picked up the shuttle to the infield.
As race time neared, we headed out to pit lane, did some stretching, walking, jogging and jumping up & down. Really, anything that would keep us warm.
Yes, we are rocking the camo! :)
Finally at 7:00, the runners were off. The walkers started at 7:05.
Trevor stayed on pit lane and took some pics.
The runners were taken through the chicane in the infield, so by the time I made it into turn one, Nate had climbed the steep embankment to snap my photo.
Trevor took the rest as I came in.
We waited for Alice and Nate to finish so we could head back to camp and shower before the auto race festivities started.
Here they come!
It was a great experience and will become a yearly event for us.
After getting back to camp and cleaning up, we had what any good athlete would have after a race...
WHAT? We were replenishing our carbs :)
Around 11:00 we headed back to the track for some infield fun and driver autograph sessions.
Trevor and Nate competed in a lug nut challenge. The "old man's" still got it :)
Ahhh, the smell of rubber and gas just can't be beat!
We caught all the drivers coming out of a drivers meeting, which was an added bonus.
It's always easier to snap some photos this way than when they are at a table with a line of fans surrounding them.
Clint Bowyer, from Nascar series.
And Micheal Waltrip, which I couldn't resist running up on and asking for a photo.
Some other drivers at their tables.
Dario Franchetti
Jamie McMurray
Juan Pablo Montoya (whose team won the whole shebang!)
AJ Allmendinger
Max Papis
After some "driver stalking" we ate some lunch.
When lunch was over we hopped on the tram to get back to the grandstands for driver introductions.
Some of our friends from home showed up so we hung with them for a bit before heading back to the KOA for doggie duties.
Our plan was to let Mason out, relax for a while, go have dinner and head back to the speedway for some racing under the lights.
Relaxing with Mason.
For dinner, we headed to our nearby favorite.
Where we could still see the race on TV.
A pitcher of beer and some delicious food and we're ready for some more racing.
We were all exhausted around 9:00, so we called it a night.
The best part of the KOA campground? They offer SPEED channel, so we could watch the race from our warm beds.
Before I hit the bed though, Donnie stopped back by on his way back to Jax.
When I did finally hit the bed, it wasn't long before I was fast asleep.
The next morning, I woke up to the roar of the cars that were still going strong.
Here is a short video I shot FROM MY BED on Sunday morning at 5:00 am.
If you're not a race fan, you probably don't understand.
If you are a race fan, you know that's one of the greatest sounds ever.
Outside the RV was even louder, and the glow of the track, over the trees, was unforgettable.
My fellow campers finally rose out of bed, we enjoyed some coffee and packed up to head home.
Thanks for reading.....let the real racing begin!!
