Okay, with the San Francisco experience already written down, the next biggest thing to happen in the last couple months was my experience at Talladega.
Michelle had tickets to the Aarons 499 (which is actually 500.1 miles), so I was able to go to my first NASCAR event ever on April 26th. Now, I realize it’s now a month later and not really newsworthy, but you know that blind-woman sucker punch thing I commented on the other day? Well, that actually had happened a year earlier and CNN had just gotten around to putting it as one of the top stories. So if CNN can cover something a year later, I should be allowed a month delay to report on a NASCAR race.
But here’s the thing. Had I written this right after I’d gone to Talladega, I would’ve had all these stories about the experience. Instead, I’m just hitting on general thoughts I had about the race.
You know all the stereotypes you have about a NASCAR race? Well, most of them were true as far as I could tell. It was a lot of clichéd rednecks (not that there weren’t some non-rednecks but the majority…) yelling things like ‘Git r done’ and one guy shaking his cane at the drivers as they passed by. And then there were women walking around with tramp stamps (including one that read: ‘Git r done’) and one who took off her shirt so she could wave it around and spent a good portion of the race sitting there in her bra.
The rows of seats were very close together, making it nearly impossible to exit out the row. When we first sat down, I noticed the fence blocking my view, which I didn’t figure was a huge big deal except it was going to obscure all my pictures. I was trying to be able to shoot through the fence like I’ve done at Turner Field through the netting but it never came out very well and nearly all the pictures I got from the day were crap.
We were three rows back from the fence, so we were really close but it turns out that being close isn’t a good thing. See, the track is an oval. From where I was sitting, I couldn’t see the other side of the track at all and I could just barely see the top and bottom of the oval. And when the cars passed in front of me, they were just a blur. At no point could I really tell who was winning just by looking at the track. Instead, I had to look up at the leader board.
So, I can only see what amounts to a quarter of what’s going on, which is like watching a baseball game but only being able to see the pitcher and the catcher.
But the fans there were totally into it. Each time the drivers passed by, they would yell cheers and taunts at different drivers. The PA announcer implored the crowd at the beginning of the race to get as loud as possible because the drivers can hear them. Trust me on this, I could barely hear anything when those cars were anywhere near, there’s no way in the world those drivers can hear the crowd. The fans don’t seem to get that.
Of course, that’s not to say all fans are like that. There are those who have headsets that can listen into what the drivers are saying and they’re into the technical aspect of what’s going on and I admire them. They weren’t the ones screaming for the number 88 car to ‘Git r done.’ I think some fans are into the strategy (such as it is) of when to pass, when to hold back, when to pit etc. But I can’t believe that most of those fans there viewed the race that way. It was like an exposition to scream in a crowd, drink beer and hope for the big crash.
In an effort to make Michelle laugh, I hollered a few times, including ‘Git r done,’ ‘whoo-hoo’ and whenever David Reutimann’s name was mentioned, I’d yell ‘Who’s the man?! Reutimann!’ And it was fun…four or five times.
But the race was nearly four hours long and consisted of 188 laps. That’s 188 trips around an oval. I’ve never really understood the appeal of racing. I’ve been able to watch a little racing on television and certainly the ends of these races can be exciting, generally the last 20 laps (30 at most) but I figured this might be a sport where you kinda have to be there to ‘get it.’ Since I could only see a quarter of what was going on, it seems like it’d be a sport more suited for television.
I was okay for the first 15 laps and for the last 15-20 laps but I really struggled during the middle 150 or so. Baseball might be slow moving but at least different things are happening. With the exception of crashes, what happens in lap 110 isn’t that much different than lap 52 or lap 141. A bunch of cars go in an oval.
Each time the drivers passed by, I was hit by a huge breeze that was mixed with all sorts of dirt and debris so that by the end, I was covered in a filthy second skin. I can’t think of a time I felt dirtier than after the race.
Adding to that: Smoking is permitted in the stands. I don’t think about smoking much because it’s been banned in most stadiums for some time but it’s really annoying when everyone around you is smoking and their ash is falling on you. I must’ve sat in the chain smoking section because nearly each person was downing cigarette after cigarette for the entire race and I was their ash tray.
Because the fence was in my way, I couldn’t get the pictures I wanted, so I put my camera away after about 10-15 laps. But when I heard Carl Edwards was making a move to the front, I got my camera back out because I was pretty sure he was the one who did the backflip off his car if he won and I wanted to get the picture.
Carl Edwards had been in 20th place or so for most of the race, never threatening to win it, while Aarons’ driver, David Reutimann had been flirting with the top spot for a good portion of the day. Reutimann would finish 26th and Edwards was seconds away from winning it. This says to me that the first 150 laps don’t matter all that much. I mean, you don’t have to really lead any of those laps to win, you’re just trying to avoid getting into an accident. But with all the caution resets, it’s perfectly okay to hang around in 20th place and then make a move with 30 laps left.
But Carl Edwards didn’t win and that he didn’t win (and how he didn’t win) is what makes this race notable.
Edwards took the lead with a half lap left. Directly behind Edwards was Brad Keselowski and looking back on it (because I couldn’t see this at the time), Keselowski tried to pass low and Edwards blocked him, which caused Edwards’ car to spin and come off the ground a little. Then Ryan Newman’s struck Edwards, causing the car to go fully airborne, spinning into the catch fence that protects the fans from incoming cars.
The fence gave in a little but stayed largely intact, prevent the car and it’s debris from entering the stands. The debris that did enter appear to come from the fence itself, including the PA speakers. Seven people were injured, two were air lifted to a hospital (as a result of traffic concerns, not because of the severity of their injuries. The most serious injury was a broken jaw suffered by a 17 year old girl sitting one section to my left.
And what did I see? Well, I could see Edwards coming around and I saw he was spun out and hit by another car (though it appeared to me at the time to be Dale Earnhardt Jr., not Ryan Newman, that sent him fully airborne). I had the camera in my hand as the car hit the fence but I was completely frozen. Not scared. It was extremely surreal. The car flips around and so I was looking straight ahead (remember, I was three rows back) and seeing the top of the 99 car before it landed back on the track.
The pictures I got were after the car had already landed and none of them especially impressive. In the video that I included below, you can see that the front end hits the fence and then it flips around and at one point, the 99 painted on the top of the car is pointed at the fans, and that was my view looking straight ahead.
My first thought: I wasn’t sure if Edwards was dead or not. Looking at the video, he gets out quickly and easily and trots to the finish line but from my view, I never saw that. Instead I was my view was being blocked by a group of dumb-ass rednecks giving each other high fives and cheering. On the projector screen in the middle of the infield, that I could barely see, it looked like Edwards was being interviewed. But again, I couldn’t really see the screen and the PA speaker for my section was broken.
(if you can't view this video from this page, you can also click to view it here)
After the race, we hung around and waited for it to clear out and then we went to the car, where we waited a couple more hours for traffic to clear out before leaving.
I’m certainly glad that I went but I’m not sure I would go again. Maybe if I had suite tickets so I could be inside because it was really hot out there and I was right in the sun. Michelle said that if you sit higher up, you can see more of the track and then the pictures wouldn’t be blocked by the fence. But I don’t know. It’s still 188 trips around an oval.
Alls I Wanted Was a Meatball Sandwich
Clearing out some more old news: The weekend before last, Michelle and I were going to go to dinner but neither of us really knew what we wanted. She wanted something to take back to my place and I only knew that I didn’t want anything too heavy. After eliminating pretty much every fast food place in the area, she decided on Nathan’s Hot Dogs.
On the way there though, I decided that I wanted a meatball sandwich from Serafino’s, which I was under the impression was a sandwich deli place down the road. Why did I have this impression? Because I’d been there before and I ordered a meatball sandwich to go. I just wanted the same thing.
But when we got there, they had a movable wall, you know, like the kind you change clothes behind, that was blocking the area where I’d previously ordered at. The lights were dim and a waitress came out of the back to seat us. The place had converted into a sit-down Italian restaurant, exactly what neither of us wanted since I didn’t want something too heavy and she didn’t want to eat at a restaurant.
Worse, on the menu, meatball sandwich wasn’t listed. The waitress explained they only do those at lunch. So, me and Michelle ended up leaving and going to Nathan’s. The strangest thing about Serafino’s conversion? They still had their television going. If you’re going to try to fashion yourself as a higher class restaurant, take down the TV or at least turn it off, especially if you’re going to charge $18 for lasagna.
At Nathan’s
We got to Nathan’s and both ordered the same thing. Turned out though that the restaurant was out of drinks. All they had was tea and lemonade. So if we were in the mood for an Arnold Palmer, we’d be set but we both ordered soft drinks. We settled on lemonade. I paid for the meal and they were also out of pennies.
At Zaxbys
The next day, we went to Zaxbys. And I’m not a huge fan of that restaurant but I’d never tried their salad, so I went ahead and ordered a chicken Caesar salad and it was okay, certainly better than anything else I’ve had there. Here’s the weird thing though, at the drive through, I was asked if I had a church bulletin.
I know this sounds strange but I felt a little guilty about not having a bulletin. In some way, I felt compelled to apologize but I didn’t know why. And I didn’t apologize either. But I felt medium bad when I said that I didn’t have one.
Final Thoughts
I was watching Jay Leno the other day and Bill Maher said ‘fuck’ and it was beeped out but when he used the word retarded, the sound was removed so you could see his mouth move but couldn’t hear the word. Why use an audible beeping sound for fuck but mute the sound for retarded?
‘Chuck’ was brought back by NBC for 13 episodes, not a ringing endorsement of the show but better than being cancelled. There was a strong online effort to save the show and it made me wonder if my girlfriend’s mom signed the ‘Save Chuck’ petition.
I’m hearing the term ‘pissing contest’ a lot lately. You know one person I’d never get into a pissing contest with? A guy on Flomax because that’d be like going up against a fire hose.
I heard a joke that began with ‘A penguin walked into a bar…’ I say, if your joke starts with a penguin walking into a bar, you don’t need a punch line…a penguin going into a bar is funny enough.
Michelle had tickets to the Aarons 499 (which is actually 500.1 miles), so I was able to go to my first NASCAR event ever on April 26th. Now, I realize it’s now a month later and not really newsworthy, but you know that blind-woman sucker punch thing I commented on the other day? Well, that actually had happened a year earlier and CNN had just gotten around to putting it as one of the top stories. So if CNN can cover something a year later, I should be allowed a month delay to report on a NASCAR race.
But here’s the thing. Had I written this right after I’d gone to Talladega, I would’ve had all these stories about the experience. Instead, I’m just hitting on general thoughts I had about the race.
You know all the stereotypes you have about a NASCAR race? Well, most of them were true as far as I could tell. It was a lot of clichéd rednecks (not that there weren’t some non-rednecks but the majority…) yelling things like ‘Git r done’ and one guy shaking his cane at the drivers as they passed by. And then there were women walking around with tramp stamps (including one that read: ‘Git r done’) and one who took off her shirt so she could wave it around and spent a good portion of the race sitting there in her bra.
The rows of seats were very close together, making it nearly impossible to exit out the row. When we first sat down, I noticed the fence blocking my view, which I didn’t figure was a huge big deal except it was going to obscure all my pictures. I was trying to be able to shoot through the fence like I’ve done at Turner Field through the netting but it never came out very well and nearly all the pictures I got from the day were crap.
We were three rows back from the fence, so we were really close but it turns out that being close isn’t a good thing. See, the track is an oval. From where I was sitting, I couldn’t see the other side of the track at all and I could just barely see the top and bottom of the oval. And when the cars passed in front of me, they were just a blur. At no point could I really tell who was winning just by looking at the track. Instead, I had to look up at the leader board.
So, I can only see what amounts to a quarter of what’s going on, which is like watching a baseball game but only being able to see the pitcher and the catcher.
But the fans there were totally into it. Each time the drivers passed by, they would yell cheers and taunts at different drivers. The PA announcer implored the crowd at the beginning of the race to get as loud as possible because the drivers can hear them. Trust me on this, I could barely hear anything when those cars were anywhere near, there’s no way in the world those drivers can hear the crowd. The fans don’t seem to get that.
Of course, that’s not to say all fans are like that. There are those who have headsets that can listen into what the drivers are saying and they’re into the technical aspect of what’s going on and I admire them. They weren’t the ones screaming for the number 88 car to ‘Git r done.’ I think some fans are into the strategy (such as it is) of when to pass, when to hold back, when to pit etc. But I can’t believe that most of those fans there viewed the race that way. It was like an exposition to scream in a crowd, drink beer and hope for the big crash.
In an effort to make Michelle laugh, I hollered a few times, including ‘Git r done,’ ‘whoo-hoo’ and whenever David Reutimann’s name was mentioned, I’d yell ‘Who’s the man?! Reutimann!’ And it was fun…four or five times.
But the race was nearly four hours long and consisted of 188 laps. That’s 188 trips around an oval. I’ve never really understood the appeal of racing. I’ve been able to watch a little racing on television and certainly the ends of these races can be exciting, generally the last 20 laps (30 at most) but I figured this might be a sport where you kinda have to be there to ‘get it.’ Since I could only see a quarter of what was going on, it seems like it’d be a sport more suited for television.
I was okay for the first 15 laps and for the last 15-20 laps but I really struggled during the middle 150 or so. Baseball might be slow moving but at least different things are happening. With the exception of crashes, what happens in lap 110 isn’t that much different than lap 52 or lap 141. A bunch of cars go in an oval.
Each time the drivers passed by, I was hit by a huge breeze that was mixed with all sorts of dirt and debris so that by the end, I was covered in a filthy second skin. I can’t think of a time I felt dirtier than after the race.
Adding to that: Smoking is permitted in the stands. I don’t think about smoking much because it’s been banned in most stadiums for some time but it’s really annoying when everyone around you is smoking and their ash is falling on you. I must’ve sat in the chain smoking section because nearly each person was downing cigarette after cigarette for the entire race and I was their ash tray.
Because the fence was in my way, I couldn’t get the pictures I wanted, so I put my camera away after about 10-15 laps. But when I heard Carl Edwards was making a move to the front, I got my camera back out because I was pretty sure he was the one who did the backflip off his car if he won and I wanted to get the picture.
Carl Edwards had been in 20th place or so for most of the race, never threatening to win it, while Aarons’ driver, David Reutimann had been flirting with the top spot for a good portion of the day. Reutimann would finish 26th and Edwards was seconds away from winning it. This says to me that the first 150 laps don’t matter all that much. I mean, you don’t have to really lead any of those laps to win, you’re just trying to avoid getting into an accident. But with all the caution resets, it’s perfectly okay to hang around in 20th place and then make a move with 30 laps left.
But Carl Edwards didn’t win and that he didn’t win (and how he didn’t win) is what makes this race notable.
Edwards took the lead with a half lap left. Directly behind Edwards was Brad Keselowski and looking back on it (because I couldn’t see this at the time), Keselowski tried to pass low and Edwards blocked him, which caused Edwards’ car to spin and come off the ground a little. Then Ryan Newman’s struck Edwards, causing the car to go fully airborne, spinning into the catch fence that protects the fans from incoming cars.
The fence gave in a little but stayed largely intact, prevent the car and it’s debris from entering the stands. The debris that did enter appear to come from the fence itself, including the PA speakers. Seven people were injured, two were air lifted to a hospital (as a result of traffic concerns, not because of the severity of their injuries. The most serious injury was a broken jaw suffered by a 17 year old girl sitting one section to my left.
And what did I see? Well, I could see Edwards coming around and I saw he was spun out and hit by another car (though it appeared to me at the time to be Dale Earnhardt Jr., not Ryan Newman, that sent him fully airborne). I had the camera in my hand as the car hit the fence but I was completely frozen. Not scared. It was extremely surreal. The car flips around and so I was looking straight ahead (remember, I was three rows back) and seeing the top of the 99 car before it landed back on the track.
The pictures I got were after the car had already landed and none of them especially impressive. In the video that I included below, you can see that the front end hits the fence and then it flips around and at one point, the 99 painted on the top of the car is pointed at the fans, and that was my view looking straight ahead.
My first thought: I wasn’t sure if Edwards was dead or not. Looking at the video, he gets out quickly and easily and trots to the finish line but from my view, I never saw that. Instead I was my view was being blocked by a group of dumb-ass rednecks giving each other high fives and cheering. On the projector screen in the middle of the infield, that I could barely see, it looked like Edwards was being interviewed. But again, I couldn’t really see the screen and the PA speaker for my section was broken.
(if you can't view this video from this page, you can also click to view it here)
After the race, we hung around and waited for it to clear out and then we went to the car, where we waited a couple more hours for traffic to clear out before leaving.
I’m certainly glad that I went but I’m not sure I would go again. Maybe if I had suite tickets so I could be inside because it was really hot out there and I was right in the sun. Michelle said that if you sit higher up, you can see more of the track and then the pictures wouldn’t be blocked by the fence. But I don’t know. It’s still 188 trips around an oval.
Alls I Wanted Was a Meatball Sandwich
Clearing out some more old news: The weekend before last, Michelle and I were going to go to dinner but neither of us really knew what we wanted. She wanted something to take back to my place and I only knew that I didn’t want anything too heavy. After eliminating pretty much every fast food place in the area, she decided on Nathan’s Hot Dogs.
On the way there though, I decided that I wanted a meatball sandwich from Serafino’s, which I was under the impression was a sandwich deli place down the road. Why did I have this impression? Because I’d been there before and I ordered a meatball sandwich to go. I just wanted the same thing.
But when we got there, they had a movable wall, you know, like the kind you change clothes behind, that was blocking the area where I’d previously ordered at. The lights were dim and a waitress came out of the back to seat us. The place had converted into a sit-down Italian restaurant, exactly what neither of us wanted since I didn’t want something too heavy and she didn’t want to eat at a restaurant.
Worse, on the menu, meatball sandwich wasn’t listed. The waitress explained they only do those at lunch. So, me and Michelle ended up leaving and going to Nathan’s. The strangest thing about Serafino’s conversion? They still had their television going. If you’re going to try to fashion yourself as a higher class restaurant, take down the TV or at least turn it off, especially if you’re going to charge $18 for lasagna.
At Nathan’s
We got to Nathan’s and both ordered the same thing. Turned out though that the restaurant was out of drinks. All they had was tea and lemonade. So if we were in the mood for an Arnold Palmer, we’d be set but we both ordered soft drinks. We settled on lemonade. I paid for the meal and they were also out of pennies.
At Zaxbys
The next day, we went to Zaxbys. And I’m not a huge fan of that restaurant but I’d never tried their salad, so I went ahead and ordered a chicken Caesar salad and it was okay, certainly better than anything else I’ve had there. Here’s the weird thing though, at the drive through, I was asked if I had a church bulletin.
I know this sounds strange but I felt a little guilty about not having a bulletin. In some way, I felt compelled to apologize but I didn’t know why. And I didn’t apologize either. But I felt medium bad when I said that I didn’t have one.
Final Thoughts
I was watching Jay Leno the other day and Bill Maher said ‘fuck’ and it was beeped out but when he used the word retarded, the sound was removed so you could see his mouth move but couldn’t hear the word. Why use an audible beeping sound for fuck but mute the sound for retarded?
‘Chuck’ was brought back by NBC for 13 episodes, not a ringing endorsement of the show but better than being cancelled. There was a strong online effort to save the show and it made me wonder if my girlfriend’s mom signed the ‘Save Chuck’ petition.
I’m hearing the term ‘pissing contest’ a lot lately. You know one person I’d never get into a pissing contest with? A guy on Flomax because that’d be like going up against a fire hose.
I heard a joke that began with ‘A penguin walked into a bar…’ I say, if your joke starts with a penguin walking into a bar, you don’t need a punch line…a penguin going into a bar is funny enough.
2 comments:
I think 'Git r done' is now my favorite redneck quote. If I ever get the chance to create a redneck character he's going to say 'Git r done' at least once.
This was an absolutely terrifying sight, and the scene kept buffering, and for that I'm grateful.
ANYONE who says 'git r done' will be rolled into a fireant hill and sprinkled with 10x sugar.
plutomom
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