My friend Kevin (NASCAR fan) came to stay with us last weekend, so that we could take Finnigan, a huge fan of the movie "CARS" and anything that resembles a race car, to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series - Subway Fresh Fit 500 @ the Phoenix International Raceway!
During the 45 minute journey from our parking spot to our seats (through the many RV camping lots), I started to wonder if we were going to be the only ones with shirts on, no beer in hand, and no cloud of profanity hovering overhead. This and much of the evening felt more like a cultural experience than a sports event - many were in town for the week to enjoy all of the pre-race festivities and excitement. I soon came to find out that the demographic was much more diverse than I anticipated. Once we got to our seats, the crowd seemed to be more typical of any sporting event (this may be partially due to the fact that once the race started, most cheering was drowned out by the thunder of the race cars). It was a 1st for all of us, and we thoroughly enjoyed the race. Here are some photos of the experience (a few videos will be included in a future post).
During the 45 minute journey from our parking spot to our seats (through the many RV camping lots), I started to wonder if we were going to be the only ones with shirts on, no beer in hand, and no cloud of profanity hovering overhead. This and much of the evening felt more like a cultural experience than a sports event - many were in town for the week to enjoy all of the pre-race festivities and excitement. I soon came to find out that the demographic was much more diverse than I anticipated. Once we got to our seats, the crowd seemed to be more typical of any sporting event (this may be partially due to the fact that once the race started, most cheering was drowned out by the thunder of the race cars). It was a 1st for all of us, and we thoroughly enjoyed the race. Here are some photos of the experience (a few videos will be included in a future post).
This is where we caught all of the action.
Finn really enjoyed the pre-race show, which included military parachuters, jets, attack helicopters...
...and humvees.
Ever since he watched the movie "CARS", Finn has been of fan of blimps - as you can imagine, experiencing his 1st Goodyear Blimp was exciting.
Finn and Kevin are eager for the race to begin after hearing "START YOUR ENGINES!"
Boogity, boogity, boogity...Let's go racing boys! Wow...what a core-shaking thunder...we could feel and hear the great power of the engines, especially at the start, when the cars are packed together and accelerating.
You can see it on his face... "Why have you turned me around so I can't see the race cars?"
"What's with all the picture-taking? Can we get back to the race now? I can't believe I came with these boneheads."
Finn quickly picked out the "Target" car and pointed it out every once and a while...then, it crashed into the wall in front of us - a few flames included, to Finn's delight.
And the winner is...Jimmie Johnson...in an exciting ending!
Jimmie's celebratory burnout.
Finn and Kevin with post-race smiles.
Watching the fireworks.
Good times had by all!
5 comments:
A most excellent first post, Gavin.
Sounds like quite an adventure for the little Finnster!
I love that you did something that Finn would be so into, what a great dad!
Nice post dude. Finn looks like he's in heaven, despite any tiredness.
Great post, Gavin. And it looks like a really good time, too. Finn must have been in Lightning-McQueen heaven. How long does the race last?
D.
The race is 312 miles and about 3 1/2 hrs.
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