WOW!! The only thing that I really can say (in my best Bill Elliott accent) "that was an AWESOME DEAL!!" That was my first time to goto Talladega for
a race. What an AWESOME place. Our seats were first row between the exit of pit road and the start/finish line. We had a great view of pit road and could see
the cars as they entered the tri-oval, as they passed our seats, down through turn 1 & 2 before they disappeared in turn 2. Our seats were right across
from the jumbo screen so we could watch the cars as they went down the backstretch and through turns 3 & 4. The single file racing was just as boring at
the track as it was on tv. At lap 100, I got up from my seat and went out to make a pit-stop and while I was standing in line, waiting my turn, I was looking
back towards the grandstand and I saw Bobby Allison come out of one of the suites. I had left my camera with my buddy back at my seat. (I said something to the
drunk guy behind me and he said, "yeah right, next your gonna tell me you just saw Ricky Bobby too") Anyway, we missed the Ryan Newman accident but
got to see it reply on the jumbo screen. Anytime the car getts air-borne it is not good, glad Ryan was ok. You could tell that the storm was brewing towrads
the end of the race and the BIG one was coming. 2-wide the tri-oval is onething but 3 and 4-wide through the tri-oval and into turn 1, now that is CRAZY!! I
did not think that they were ever going to restart the race due to the cars that kept running out of gas. I did not get any pictures of the Mark Martin
accident. WOW, what a crazy deal. I am glad that Mark was ok. They did not show it on tv but Mark cranked his car back up on pit and spun his tires all the way
down pit road, back out on the track and across the start/finish line in a shower of sparks. (I guess he was real shaken up based on his post-race interview).
Jamie MACmurray started his burn out right in front of us. GREAT stuff. It took us 2 hours to get back out to I-20 after the race and 7 hours back home to
Arkansas, got home at 2am. I took over 100 pictures and 13 video clips. I will post some later.
I don't like NASCAR telling the drivers to limit their bump drafting. That is a product of restrictor plate racing and if NASCAR is not going to fix that problem then the drivers are going to continue to bump draft and run single file lap after lap. I still prefer watching a race at track like Richmond where you can see the action all the way around the track. All in all it was a great experience and I am making plans to go back next year.
I don't like NASCAR telling the drivers to limit their bump drafting. That is a product of restrictor plate racing and if NASCAR is not going to fix that problem then the drivers are going to continue to bump draft and run single file lap after lap. I still prefer watching a race at track like Richmond where you can see the action all the way around the track. All in all it was a great experience and I am making plans to go back next year.
