Sunday 5th September 2004
It took just over an hour to drive along the I-10 to Fontana, but another two hours queuing in traffic to get to the California Speedway had me very glad of my car's automatic transmission as I inched my way forward. Just before the queue started a Dodge Ram with Dale Earnhardt Jr stickers pulled in front of me, which was handy as we were sent on a diversion by the police that involved a turn I might have missed if I didn't have someone to follow.
When I finally got parked up I had to find the office to collect my ticket. The oval speedway's huge grandstand was visibe from everywhere. The whole site bustled with people. The had set up gazebos and were barbecueing food right in the car park. Around on the grandstand side there were truck trailers converted into stalls selling race merchandise, and sponsors' stands with various displays. DeWalt, makers of power tools, were giving away T-shirts to people for drilling holes with their hammer drills; Chevrolet had racing and road cars to look at and engines on pedestals; and a cigarette manufacturer had a mock up NASCAR car and was getting people to change the wheels in the fastest time possible.
It was a bright sunny day, extremely hot, so I quickly bought a drink from a fresh lemonade vendor. It was quite a walk to gate 14 where I had to collect my ticket. Once through the gate there were more stands and stalls. I bought a souvenir program, which handily contained a list of all the drivers, their car numbers, teams and sponsors.
I found my seat after walking all the way to the wrong end of the grandstand and back, but finally staggered up the flights of steps, sweat running into my eyes. I drank about two gallons of water to replace it.
I had a pretty decent seat at the front of the top part of the grandstand, about a third of the way along the start finish "straight" (which actually has a slight curve to it). There was plenty of leg room and a good view. The drivers were introduced on by one, everyone stood up for a prayer and the national anthem (me hoping I wasn't expected to sing along to it...), there was a flyby of four F-15s in formation, then skydivers came down with flags and smoke trails, and then after a short delay and some more talk the parade lap began.
Today Disney were filming for a new Herbie movie, and the number 53 VW Beetle was there on the parade lap. When the move comes out I'll be in it -- a tiny speck on the screen!
The race got under way. The first thing that struck me was how LOUD these cars are. And there are 42 of them! When they're all bunched up as they are at the start and after a caution period, it's quite a cacophony. I'm sure there was even a gust of wind as they went by at 175mph. At first I found it hard to follow what was happening. The only driver I really knew about was Dale Jr, and Michael Waltrip's name sounded familiar, but trying to spot them as the cars zoomed by in a blur was difficult. I got the hang of it eventually. A tall display showing all the positions helped -- it was possible to count the cars as they went by to find the one I was interested in.
It was an enjoyable race. There were a few crashes -- at one point three cars ended up sliding sideways along the grass right in front of us. Sometime cars spun out all on their own. There was an unusually high number of caution periods. The caution periods were quite good because not only were they a chance to buy more food and drink, they also bunched the cars up and made the racing closer. Usually everyone dived into the pits too; twenty cars getting their wheels changed double time and the screaming away in clouds of smoke was quite a spectacle. As it got dark they turned the lights on (for the first time at California Speedway), the cars looked very pretty and shiny sparkling under the lights.
There were several leaders, but towards the end it was between what I dubbed the Viagra car, the M&Ms car, and Kasey Kane's red car. The lead changed often. The popular Dale Jr was well out of contention, especially after he spun and ended up 2 laps down. Everyone cheered when number 24 Jeff Gordon's engine blew up. I found out from my neighbour that this was because he usually wins at California.
It was close, but the M&Ms car driven by Elliot Sadler won, followed by Kasey Kane and then Mark Martin in the Viagra car. I guess they didn't put enough Viagra in the tank...
I had a great time. I chatted with my neighbours. The woman on my right was supporting the UPS car because her husband works for UPS. She helped me out with some of the background but admitted she was just a race rookie. Her friend occasionally sprayed me with a fine mist of cool water from some kind of cooling device. The guy on my left owns stock in the company I work for, and his wife works in the same complex I worked in for the last two weeks. Small world!
After the race it took me a while to find my car, and when I did it took another two hours to get out of the car park. But it was a thouroughly enjoyable day.