Texas NASCAR - November 2008

We went down to Dallas for the fall NASCAR race. We got a great time, and you can check out a slideshow right here.

Our first stop was the credentials trailer, where we presented our drivers licenses and picked up our pit passes, and were delighted when we saw that we had Hot Passes! These are about the best passes you can get, because they let you stay in the pits while the the cars are running - for practice, qualifying or race. They would be the key to an amazing weekend up close in the garages.

The folks at the track were very nice all weekend, and it started with a friendly parking security guard and track worker who gave us a golf cart ride to the pits - which was nice because it is a very long walk around this complex.

We arrived at the Cup pits about an hour and a half before the Cup practice, and checked out the various garage stalls as the teams prepped their cars. We were able to get an up close view of the inspection process as the officials checked out the bodywork with the templates at two stations, and inspected the rest of the car, including the engine at a third station. The teams were lined up in the garages by points, which meant that all the drivers at the top of the points were garaged right next to each other, which was very handy for watching the top teams.

As the practice time neared, cars were pulled out of the garages and cranked up for the final tuneup. You can think whatever you'd like about the technology of NASCAR, but there is nothing like standing next to a big V8 when it fires up and they start revving the engine. Besides the wall of noise, you can feel the vibration go right through you - what a rush.

Before practice started, the drivers made their way from the haulers to the pits, and we were able to get good views of nearly all the drivers, although we didn't bother them at this point for autographs as they had work to do. The practice proceeded as practices do in most forms of racing, with cars cycling out for runs and then back to the garage for adjustments. Standing next to the haulers, we watched Chad Knaus and the other crew chiefs shuttle between watching the runs from the top of the haulers and getting to the garage to supervise changes. The drivers stayed in the cars during nearly all of the changes. Car owners Jack Roush and Richard Childress walked by us several times.

About halfway through the 90 minute practice, Jeff, the most courageous of all of us, found that we were allowed INTO the garages. This was truly a highlight - walking between the tool chests and standing only feet away as the crews tweaked the cars. Robbie Gordon, who had scraped the wall (he had that problem quite a bit all weekend) was out of the car helping his team get the bodywork back in shape. Mechanics, and even a few drivers, walked by us on their way around the garage.

As practice ended, we were able to catch a few drivers for autographs. However, qualifying was the time when we got the closest, as we caught drivers on the way out to their cars which were parked on pit row. Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Bill Elliott were among the names on our hats. As qualifying proceeded, Scott worked the scanner and let us know which car would be the next to pull into the garage after their lap - this let us know where to do, and we got quite a few autographs this way, although some of the guys who had poor attempts were not exactly enthused.

We hung around post-qualifying for a while, until the drivers had been gone for a while, and then went out of the pits, thanking our lucky stars, and especially Bell Helmets, for the Hot Passes. The Truck race was entertaining - relatively close racing with quite a bit of passing, and an impressive win by Ron Hornaday.

On Sunday we visited the pits once more. Although we got there 4 hours before race times, most of the cars were already out and parked on pit road or going through final inspection. The exceptions were some of the top teams, including Tony Stewart whose team was readying his backup car. The pits were quite a bit more crowded with tour groups from various companies walking through the pits (the participants of which looked for the most part very bored). We took this time to ask some questions of officials, when they were kind enough to answer very thouroughly and informatively. We got a chance to watch them tearing down Brian Vickers engine, which had expired the day before - when engines fail, they are torn down under the eyes and measurement devices of NASCAR officials. Some of the drivers made appearances to sign autographs.

The race itself was relatively uneventful, with lots of long green flags runs. The biggest incident was when David Gilliland intentional turned Juan Montoya into the back stretch wall in retaliation for some bumps Montoya had given him a few laps earlier. With some amazing fuel mileage, Carl Edwards complete a Texas sweep for the year.

The weekend was made because of the Hot Passes. As we talked amongst ourselves, it probably won't be worth getting any other kind of special passes after having those - it would only feel like going backward. A very cool weekend.