Ultimate Race Day

Guest Blogger: Katey Dietz

I had hoped to write this sooner, but my fingers just thawed from last week’s race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

NASCAR Tour

Since my last post, I’ve visited a whopping 1 NASCAR site (LMS). Between work & a swine flu outbreak in the family, there hasn’t been much free time or energy the past few weeks. At this point, I’m really going to have to leave some rubber on the road to get a respectable tour completed in the next 5 weeks. Clearly, I’m going to have to ink in my stops.

Homecoming

Just like race week here in May, it was rainy. Rainy & cold to be exact, all week long. I was born and raised in Rochester, NY, so it takes a lot for me to be bothered by the cold, but I’d hazard to guess that the NASCAR Banking 500 was cold even by Alaskan standards. Though temps didn’t drop below the 40s during the race, the wind chill was not to be trifled with. I thought I was prepared; wool socks, corduroys, 2 shirts, a sweater, hooded fleece-lined jacket, ball cap, scarf & gloves. I was so very very wrong. The wind penetrated every layer I had packed on. By the time race was over my feet were leaden, hands arthritic, and my belief I could ever be warm again was nearly extinguished. The one thing that kept me going was the knowledge that a crockpot full of homemade chicken soup was waiting for me when I got home.

I had planned to tweet during the race. I even warned folks earlier in the day that from 3pm on, unless they were interested in NASCAR, they might want to tune me out, but it was too cold to tweet! I wanted to tweet. I was tweeting non-stop in my mind, but the idea for pulling off a glove for even a moment was more than I could handle. I even stopped at one funnel cake (normally I have 2 or 3) for fear that further exposure would prevent me from ever tweeting again. Needless to say, no one complained about the volume of my NASCAR tweets that night.

After every race, we all talk about those 1 or 2 drivers that just fell apart during the race (psychologically, mechanically, intellectually). Contrary to popular belief, the biggest mistake of the race was not Sam Hornish, Jr. spinning out in Lap 3, or even Juan Pablo Montoya losing his “grip”. It was me deciding that taking the stairs back up to the Jewel Box after getting the funnel cake was a better plan then the elevator. My thought was that the effort would warm my muscles up. I was warmed up a bit when I reached the top, but was out of breath and a bit, no a lot fatigued.

Sure it was “brrr brrr cold outside”, and Hamlin & Gilliland didn’t have the races I’d hoped, but I loved every bone chilling moment of the day!

Pro Tailgating Tip

Invest in an AC converter and a decent crockpot. Great for chili during the tailgate. Added bonus: Even unplugged, the crockpot will keep things warm until after the race allowing for a nice post-race snack while waiting for the traffic to clear out.