NASCAR

I should start by saying, probably to no one’s surprise, I have never been to or seen a Nascar race so I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that the race started at 12:30 but fans could get there at 7am (to do what I still wasn’t sure) and a few of Oskar’s friends from school were going to meet us there.  I quickly learned over the course of the weekend, from talking to the locals, that 1) we needed to head to the raceway before 9:30 because traffic can get terrible (the normal 15 minute drive can quickly become 1.5 hours), 2) it would be really loud (I had a plan there and packed accordingly) and 3) people could spend a whole day doing all of the fun things available (what that meant was tbd). 

So at 9:30 after grabbing a fresh green juice and some pastries (the gummy bears for breakfast in the hotel weren’t going to cut it) we started off on our adventure.  The first excitement of the day: the 20 minute drive did in fact take 1 hour and, about 30 minutes into the drive, Oskar informed me he really had to go pee.  For reference, it is a two lane highway with nowhere to pull over so the next 30 minutes we’re super fun.  That, plus it looked like we were going to miss the air show which was something Oskar really wanted to see.  We made it to the main parking gate with Oskar on the verge, but thankfully they had porta potties available for immediate use and, after a quick pee break, the stress level dropped significantly. 

I had prepaid for premium parking (because again, I had no idea) which meant we had to take a bus around the two mile track to get to the main grandstand where our seats were.  We watched most of the air show from the bus and I slowly started taking in what a huge event this actually was. My only reference point of professional sporting events is watching the Giants play baseball where you show up at the third inning, hang out for a few hours and then call it a day. This was something else entirely. 

Behind the main grandstand was the fan zone with countless fan experiences to check out, free giveaways, food trucks, beer trucks, DJs and every slice of americano you could imagine. It smelled of BBQ and diesel and even before the race started, it was loud. The crazy part: you could bring your own food, beverages, animals, anything really into the fairgrounds and you could go almost anywhere and sit anywhere. No one checked. It could have easily been chaos  but yet it all kind of worked. I tried to just take it all in and let Oskar lead the way until it was time to grab our seats and watch the race. 

We got to our seats around 12 and Oskar’s friends showed up after the race began (due to the conflict with BMX) so we had just a little bit longer with just the two of us. 

After the pre-show DJ, followed by a Christian prayer and the national anthem, we finally heard the words we were waiting for “racers start your engines”. And then I went deaf and there were no more conversations until the race ended 110 laps and 3 hours later. Oskar and I managed to use some limited sign language to communicate needs such as bathroom, water, candy, and once the other kids showed up, the moms used their iPhones to communicate in writing. 

The best part of the race was when the yellow flag came out and all of the cars ended up bunched together again. The second best part was the end when I could take out the ear plugs and finally talk and hear again. The third best part, having Oskar talk about the race and day with his friends for the next two weeks (okay, this might have been the best part). 

We got home that Sunday night at 6pm, exhausted from the day and weekend, ready for some proper food and both so happy to have had the time together (at least I was happy, we will see if and how he remembers this weekend a few years from now).