Saturday Garage Report - Daytona

Saturday was the first day I had my North Turn Crew (NTC) in force.   We got to the track and the rookies were starting to “amp up!”    We secured scanners and headed into the merchandise/sponsor circus.    On the way we passed the often shown statue of Dale Earnhardt Sr and paused to remember #3.  

One of the first sponsor attractions we came upon was the Chevy display and managed to time it just right to find Jimmie Johnson on stage to the delight of our new Jimmie fans.  While they watched Superman (in his Ed Hardy shoe-stringless hipster tennis shoes) Bob suggested we scope out where to get them some autographs…good thing he was thinking!    I plopped DJ and Tim in what I thought was a good spot and a few minutes later they both had secured the autograph of the 5x Champ.  (Notice DJ’s jaw dropping look of astonishment!  LOL)

 

Big Daddy Gordon was next up on stage so while they were chasing down JJ I staked out a better spot so the two Jeffy G fans could possibly go 2 fer 2.  Tim had to lay out to get it but he managed to secure another impossible to get autograph in less than 20 minutes!   Tim immediately informed me he had “the fever”…

 

We then went to all the merchandise haulers and got everyone their driver swag for the race and collected our freebee’s along the way…cereal, tums, shampoo, tornado’s samples, stickers & tattoos.  Of course Bob & I couldn't pass up the opportunity to pose with our favorite rodent...NOT!

We shopped til we dropped and missed most of the action early in Happy Hour but managed to catch the last 30 min of practice in seats right along the fence line in turn four.   The look on their faces when the first twosome flew by and rattled the stands was priceless.   At track level the cars really do go so fast you cannot turn your head in time to follow them – they didn’t believe me. 

Before the Natiowide race I popped into the garage to see if the guys were happy with our practice and the car – we were switching out brakes but otherwise we were good to go on Sunday.  I headed back out to our grandstand seats once the race started – how cool it was to have the cars roaring over my head as I crossed under the track through the tunnel.    

It was a bit shocking to me to see the fans go nuts when Danica rocketed up to the front of the pack.  It was clear she was fairly comfortable being pushed but Jr worked with her quite a bit mid-race on the racing line but only had her on his bumper for ¾ of a lap before she couldn’t keep up.   Not a good day for the Penske – related drivers - Bad Brad returned to his wrecking ways, Sliding Sam (ah dreamboat!) picked up where he left off and poor Lil Gator had several hard wrecks in his new ride.  I thought for sure JuuuuunnnnnnYER would pull off the win for me but the (supposedly 15# lighter) fat man still managed to block the best of the rest.

The only Smoke pic I got all week!  He really is skinnier...

We trudged down the stands with great anticipation of the racing action we would see tomorrow.  The NTC loved the scanners and were getting a feel for the personalities and talent out on the track.   We ended the day with another dinner, this time Mexican, with our favorite official and got more great stories from him and some of the history of NASCAR's best "innovators."    

We all hit the pillow early with SUNDAY, Sunday, SUNDAY looming in just a few hours...