Charlotte race day

Tis is the first day we have been in the same place for two days in a row. Couldn't have picked a better plan than to share space with kiwi's good mate Wally brown and his wife regan. Wally works for joe Gibbs racing and was able to hook us up with pit passes for the all american sprint car championship yesterday. I have never been a NASCAR fan and never been to a race. We had Friday nit stock car races but not this kind of gig. Unless you have been to one of these races you simply can not imagine the size and scope of the cars,teams,stands,track and people. Just the physicall act of getting all of the people and equipment in place is unbelievable. Of course the setting with a gentle breeze to keep you cool and the action of the pits enhanced the experience. We got there plenty early to avoid as much traffic as possible. We were fortunate that Wally has been in the industry for many years and is well respected by all. As we walked around we were introduced to the inner circle of NASCAR elite. Pretty sure kiwi was on sensor overload for most of the day. At one point someone yelled at Wally from inside one of the 2 million dollar driver buses. Did not know it at the time but we were about to be introduced to NASCAR royalty. As we entered the bus we were shaking hands with Carl Edwards. Sat down and yakked about the race and the vintage scooters we were riding. Pretty soon his beautiful wife and kids rolled in and we spent time meeting them. Carl needed to talk with Wally privately so off kiwi and I went to work on some rolling thunder stuff. Found out later how big Carl Edwards is in the NASCAR circuit. One of the top 5 drivers in the whole shootin' match. Holy crap! Super nice guy and too bad his car blew up during during the race. Your my boy number 99! We continued bumming around the pit with Wally explaining in intimate detail about how the whole process works. It is intricate and fascinating from an insiders perspective. Every team has many many parts. Each part has it's own job that must be done at precisely the correct time to try and propel the car to victory. In last nights case the winner took home $1,000,000. WOW! Let me tell you they were concentrating. Watching them prepare a care and do the pit stops is like watching a bunch of ants performing a highly intricate dance and symphony at the same time. They never talk but just go about their work efficiently and productively. We watched a lot of the race from pit row next to the cars. My first pit stop was one I will never forget. Wally said watch closely as they do not last long. I was concentrating as hard as I could with the roar of the engines going on around me. The car skidded to a stop. Before it even stopped moving this team of ants was enveloping the car changing two tires and filling with fuel. Total elapsed time--- 4.2 seconds. Probably would have been 5 seconds if they had washed the windshield. Never seen anything like it. The longest any car was pitted to change all of the tires and fuel was 12 seconds. My camera does not work that fast. Kiwi was going to take a video but it was so short it wouldn't play back. Dawg this is another world. This race was a different format than they usually run. It was split in to 4 quarters with a two minute drill at the end for the cash. The winner of each quarter got to start In that position for the last sprint. It was very key to win the first segment. The 48 car did just that and coasted the rest of the other three segments knowing he had the pole for the finale. Once the last run started he just pounded the gas and easily won the race. Truly exciting and enjoyable. Thanks Wally for an unbelievable first NASCAR experience. We waited an hour before trying to get out of the lot. Still took us two more hours to get home so the clock said 1 a.m. By the time we opened the door to the house. Well past my bewitching hour so no blog last night. We are on the road agin richer for having been here and swathed in clean clothes. We will see what the day brings and take it with pleasure.