Ultimate NASCAR Experience

[HBjet]

WellÂ…Â…..let me say we had the Ultimate NASCAR Experience this last weekend in Las Vegas. We had a pretty busy weekend to begin with, one of our good friends who now live in Peoria AZ was getting married on Saturday and we have been planning on going to her wedding for over 6 months. Just after we planned on going to the wedding, we got word from another friend that we may be getting some tickets to the NASCAR race in Las Vegas that same weekend. We of course said we would want them and just figured we couldnÂ’t stay too late after the wedding. Months went by and we didnÂ’t have the tickets in our hands until the week before. Then we realized we have pit passes and some other pass and we where so excited, especially since we havenÂ’t been to a NASCAR race in Las Vegas. Well, we arrived in LV at 11:30pm Sat. night and woke up Sunday at 5:30am, getting to the track at 6:30am. We had preferred parking and took us about 5 minutes to get to where we parked and we had very little to walk. The passes we had where Hospitality Passes and our friend told us to go to the Interstate Battery tent and thatÂ’s about itÂ…he really didnÂ’t explain everything out. So we got to the tent and we where asked our names, and then they handed us Interstate Badges with our names on them and gave us a few hats. We walked in and they had rolls and muffins and all the free beer you could imagine. They had soda to, but free beer, and Coors Light at that. Since it was rather cold and windy, I had to start drinking beer at 7am to keep warm, especially on an empty stomach. So, 7 beers later itÂ’s now 9am and car owner Joe Gibbs shows up to talk with everyone about the race, where the team is going, and just to answer questions anyone might have. He was a totally cool and funny guy. Then Bobby Labonte showed up and talked a little and then they sat down to sign autographs for everyone in the tent. After that we where guided by an Interstate employee to the pits for a pit tour. We got to walk on the track and at the entrance of pit road. We got to go on our own, and look at whatever we wanted, within reason. The only place we couldnÂ’t go was the garage. Well, 45min. before the race we headed back to our seats and also rented the headphones to listen to the drivers talk on the radio. It was bitchinÂ…
Ok, here are some photosÂ…
[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20winnbobby.jpg[/img]
Windy posing with Bobby Labonte for the photo opp. Boy is he happy she's wearing a Lowe's jacket.
[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20winnjoeg.jpg[/img]
car owner Joe Gibbs.
Across from the Interstate tent was the Coors Light tent which had one of Marlins cars out front.
[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20coorscarnwin.jpg[/img]
Around 8am they fired it up for a few minutes...
[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20winturn4.jpg[/img]
Here is Windy standing on turn 4 of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20winpitlane.jpg[/img]
Here she is at the beginning of pit road.
[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20coorscarpit.jpg[/img]
Marlin's car for the race
[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20dejrollout.jpg[/img]
Here they where rolling out Dale Jr's car.
[ March 04, 2003, 12:39 AM: Message edited by: HBjet ]

[HBjet]

[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20upscar.jpg[/img]
Jarrett's car...
[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20napacar.jpg[/img]
Waltrip's car...
[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20gordoncar.jpg[/img]
Gordon's car...
[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20pitrow.jpg[/img]
Looking down pit road.
[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20winduppit.jpg[/img]
Gordon's pit!
[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20wingordoncar.jpg[/img]
[ March 04, 2003, 12:40 AM: Message edited by: HBjet ]

[boatnam2]

looks like you had a good time hb,i bet wendy wasnt to happy about the way the race ended with her boy getting spun out.

[mbrown2]

Cool pics...I can only imagine during race time, those pits are run like a tight ship in a storm..

[HBjet]

[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20winlowespit.jpg[/img]
Windy in the Lowe's pit...
This next photo was pretty funny. After I took the above photo, I saw the sign they hang over the pit wall so Jimmie Johnson knows where his pit is at and I thought it would be cool for Windy to hold it up for a photo. So, I told her just go grab it and I'll snap a photo, if anyone asks, you didn't know!
[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20winlowespitgirl.jpg[/img]
Of course it took a second for he camera to focus and right after I took the photo, a guy came up saying "You can't do that..." What I like is the two guys walking in the background looking at her, probably wondering what the hell is she doing!
[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20start.jpg[/img]
Once in our seats looking to our left at turn 3 and 4...
[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20gordonlead.jpg[/img]
Early in the race Gordon had a great lead over 2nd place Dale jr.
[img]http://www.***boat.net/image_center/data/500/20runningorder.jpg[/img]
One of my favorite photos.....this was the current running order when they pitted.
Anyways, we had a blast and we can't wait to go again.
HBjet
[ March 04, 2003, 12:42 AM: Message edited by: HBjet ]

[HBjet]

Yeah, on the radio, when Jimmie was passed by little E you could here him say "Damnit" and later he said to his crew chief "How are we suppose to win the race like this" Crew Chief: "We are not going to win now, we just need to finish fast" You could tell the CC was a little upset with Jimmie's tone, and after he was getting passed over and over again near the very end Jimmie said "Why didn't we take two new tires?" all pissed off. When Gordon had a fumble in the pit and cost him some positions, he was very cool on the radio saying "Relax guys, we have a great car" and after he smashed it all up in that wreck he said "Well, it's just not our race today guys" It was also cool hearing the spotters talking to the drivers. We are going to get the headphones and radio at every race we go to from now on.
HBjet
[ March 04, 2003, 12:45 AM: Message edited by: HBjet ]

[Kwicherbichen]

Randy & Windy,
I've never really been that interested in NASCAR but that looks friggin fun. Great set of pics! Thanks for letting us in on your close up view.

[Craig]

Those are some good pic's. How did you get a pass to get all the different places you were or was it just the smile
Craig

[Windy]

boatnam2:
looks like you had a good time hb,i bet wendy wasnt to happy about the way the race ended with her boy getting spun out. Hey Jim...yeah I didnt like the way Marlin spun Jimmie out on the last lap. He and Gordon ran hard. I was hoping Jr would pull of the win, but 2nd place isnt bad.
Meeting Joe Gibs and Bobby Labonte was really cool...walking around in the pits was completely bitchen.

[boatnam2]

boy jj was pissed,his spotter was telling him to calm down on the radio.i dont blame him.