Race Weekend part 1

 
Riot truck looking for rogue knitters.

We went to Pocono Raceway over the weekend for the Sprint cup race, the ARCA race, and for the first time the Craftsman truck race.  Saturday Angie was working, so it was really weird going without her.  Did our usual tailgate breakfast and since first practice started at 9 we headed in at 8, so I could check out the fan zone and the merchandise trailers.  As we went through the security check where they usually check for glass bottles, aerosol sunscreen and umbrellas, the 2 security guards decided that my knitting needles were dangerous!  Mind you they had over 8" of knitting on them so it was obvious they weren't a prop.  After some discussion, they decided I could either pull out the needles ( are you insane?) or bring them back to the car.  I was pissed.  It is a good thing we arrived at 6am so were parked only 100 yards from the checkpoint. I was kind of disappointed/surprised that there was absolutely nothing to be had for either the trucks or ARCA.  Not even a generic series t-shirt!

Practice made me a bit nervous as Tony never really rose above 20th.  he even made a comment to his crew chief that it would be nice to see his number on the pylon (Pocono's pylon only goes to 8th) Darian told him they were playing looksee and not to worry he'd have a fast horse the next morning.  Then the trucks qualified.  It was very bizarre- at any given time there was a car coming up to speed, a truck qualifying and a truck slowing down on the track.  AAaacckk! it was worse than watching a Rolex race!!
Happy hour was more of the same- JJ and Jeffie playing around at the top of the pylon.
 
Justin's truck waiting for post race inspection - the white one #7
 
The driver I'm rooting for this year, is the ARCA driver I was rooting for last year - Justin Lofton.  He qualified well and after a bit of a battle finished 6th.  Great job Justin!!


  Then the ARCA race.  I've been rooting for Patrick Sheltra this year.  He qualified horribly.  Really horrible. Surprising because he has raced here before and is near the top of the points in the series.  He raced phenomenally.  passed a lot of cars, got caught up in the pits, and had to repass them.  During the final lap he passed Frank Kimmel ( superstar of ARCA racing)  and ended up 5th.  Woot!



David Ragan signing autographs.  If you can't tell from the jacket he's wearing it was a cool weekend.  the warmest it got was 75 on Sunday when the sun comes out.