Alex Kreitman - Stealing signs

As promised, here is the long-awaited post about my first NASCAR experience. Unfortunately, I don’t have the video I had hoped to post with this because of technical problems, but I’m not giving up yet. In the mean time, here’s the blog.

I rose early Saturday morning mostly with excitement to hit the road and get to the track. Traffic was backed up as we got off the highway, but wasn’t too bad after that. As we drove by the track and I got my first glimpse of Lowe’s Motor speedway on race day I was in awe. It was huge!

Thousands of racing fans packed the streets and vendors crowded the sidewalks and parking lots. I couldn’t believe how many people were there. As we waited at a stoplight, hundreds of people crossed the street in herds, it was crazy.

We got to our campground which was a little less than a mile from the track, a little before noon and the fun began right away.

A few of us set up our tent and started enjoying some adult beverages. It was a gorgeous day.

We all sat around having fun and then ventured over to the grill and cooked up some burgers and hot dogs. Then we started playing corn hole, one of my favorite afternoon drinking games. We used to play all the time while tailgating for Elon football games. My girlfriend and I paired up against my friend Ricky and his fiancée Ashley. We crushed them. As a matter of fact, we went undefeated on the day, 5-0 I believe. Very impressive I know.

So, the outdoor fun continued as I took in all the surroundings. RVs, campers and tents flooded the big field turned into a massive campground. Most of the campers were covered in racing flags, mostly Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Jeff Gordon banners and flags.

We even ran into a guy dressed in a keg costume. He was going around getting people to drink out of his keg which actually held a beer in the top and flowed alcohol like the real thing. Check out the picture.

At about 5 p.m. we packed up our smaller coolers and ventured closer to the track to meet some other people to continue tailgating. These people, coworkers of Ashley’s, had a huge setup. Most of them were an older middle-age crowd, but that didn’t mean they didn’t know how to party. A woman who looked to be in her 40’s started passing around Jell-O shots. Of course I didn’t refuse.

Then another man started collecting money for a racing pool. He asked me to hold the hat while Ashley pulled out numbers to decide who got which driver. The crowd cheered and booed as the numbers were picked. Then we cooked more burgers.

Now it was about time for us to get inside the track. We walked to our gate while glancing at the souvenir stands set up everywhere, absorbing the scene. I had my video camera documenting every move we made. A man checked our coolers quickly and allowed us through. I think I had about 10 beers packed in mine.

The moment we entered the track we all stopped and stared. It was an amazing site. The inside of the track looked like it went on for miles, 1.5 to be exact, but the infield was filled with hundreds of trailers and cars. It was really something. I couldn’t believe how many seats there were either.

We found our seats in the fourth row between Turns One and Two and began scoping out every inch of the track. We also poked fun at what I coined the “headset nerds,” those who were glued to their pit radios, listening to every call from the infield. The stands were starting to get packed.

The first race was for the top few racers to get into the actual All-Star race and was fun to watch, but not nearly as exciting as the actual All-Star race. One of the coolest parts was how they announced each driver and then the driver and their crew did a lap around the track in a truck. It was neat.

Bob McKillop, Davidson’s men’s basketball coach, said the famous line “Start your engines” and we were off. It was so exciting. We kept yelling “Let’s going racing,” and were having a blast.

I had no idea how fast 200 mph was until I actually saw it in front of my own eyes. Those cars were flying around that track and they were so loud. A lot of people wore earplugs but I kept mine in my pocket, wanting to soak in the entire experience, including the earth-shattering noise.

Zoom, zoom, the cars flew around the track. You could smell the rubber as they passed. The colors of the cars were so bright too. Green, blue, orange, they looked so much brighter in person.

I was pulling for Carl Edwards and he took the lead in the middle of the race and held it after one of the segments concluded. I was cheering wildly. My girlfriend and most of the other people on hand were cheering for Earnhardt Jr. who took the lead and received a deafening roar from the crowd of over 150,000.

Ricky and I kept staring at each other just saying over and over, “This is awesome.” I put a phone call in to my friend Bob Koons, a huge NASCAR and Dale Jr. fan. He was thrilled with the call.

Kasey Kahne ended up winning the race as a long shot. He was voted into the race by the fans. I could have cared less who really won, I was just excited to be there and be a part of it all. After Kahne won, there were fireworks and then we headed back to our camping area.

It was a long, but fun walk back. We stopped and got a few souvenirs on the way. When we got back we roasted marshmallows on the fire and made S’mores. Most of the campground stayed up all night drinking and partying. We headed to bed around 5 a.m. It was a long day, but a great day. We got up around 9 a.m. and to our amazement most of the campground had dispersed. Tents and campers had packed up and vanished. We were one of the only groups left.

I had a great time at my first NASCAR race and I’ll never forget it. I also hope it won’t be my last.

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