Well we got to the track Thursday night and found our site in the
campground before dark. As usual we had some good neighbors …and
some bad.
I walked over Friday Morning before the gates opened and staked out a
spot at the top of the stands in Sec AA coming off turn 4 and looking
straight down pit road.
I was supposed to meet someone at the Nascar trailer when it opened
in the morning but I walked to the wrong side of the track and missed
him picking up his garage passes. (oh well next year I’ll know the
gate where the trailer is)
I hung My Nascar 50 flag in hopes of NG members stopping by but
…..it was to no avail. Practice was rather
uneventful. The only thing of real interest was all the drivers
praising how smooth the track was and how well the cars would stick in
the corners.
during practice I listened to several cars on the scanner.
3 car was completely at a loss for finding the handle…they went
through the notes from the past and tried everything but unloading the
backup car, but by my stopwatch they were clearly in trouble not just
for qualifying but for Sunday also……..
6 car unloaded very fast and tried many things but really only made
minor adjustments from what they rolled off the truck……
00 car was very happy with the setup and was pumped up for qualifying
believing they had a shot at a top five starting spot after struggling
to make their previous cup races….
after being overcast and damp most of the morning most of the clouds
cleared out for the second practice, and many cars were saying they
just could not find the handle again…. Gordon and Martin were not
among that group.
the funniest scanner bite of the day came from Ray Everham.
just before making a mock qualifying run Ray told Jeff they were going
to tighten the car up just a little……Jeff responded that he
thought the car was just about perfect and did not need it. Ray
shot back …were just gonna snug it up a little.
right after making the one lap run Jeff said it was tight ….it
would have been perfect if we had left it alone I think.. Ray came
back in a rather sarcastic tone "I didn’t want it to be so perfect
that we were putting a rear clip on it."
I guess he was concerned that the track is so smooth now as compared
to the old surface that it is hard to tell where the edge is…..IMO
judging by all the teams struggling on Sunday to find he
handle………… he was right.
Sat.
After getting some sunburn Friday afternoon I skipped morning practice
in favor of just going for the busch race and happy hour.
It was nice to see Kenseth have such a good run and give his fans some
hope for the championship.
the funniest scanner bite of the day was sadly because of crash
00 spotter one lap before his crash…….."come on buckshot! dig dig
dig …..
after the crash buckshot keyed his mike and said "I dug"
………….
too damn early in the race to be telling a high strung boy like
buckshot to….did dig dig IMHO he should have been saying we got a
long way to go …be patient.
During happy hour about halfway in it was apparent that barring any
mishap on the track Mark would have his way with the field Sunday.
at the end of a 40 lap run he was passing some cars who had only been
on the track for 5 laps or so……..I was looking forward to a boring
race and 5 cars on the lead lap at the end.
One thing of note was many crews were on the scanner asking where the
heck the new helicopter pad was that the drivers were going to have to
get to on Sunday…..many could not believe that it was in fact in lot
one of the campers area (where I was staying! )
they were wondering how Nascar expected the drivers and owners to get
there through the crowd after the race…… I was wondering
too!….it’s not THAT close to the track.
Saturday night we walked over to the off track Nascar sales, and food
area to check out what they had. The wife bought me an old T-rex
shirt and I bought myself a poster of Gordon’s first win. She
passed up my offer of an Earnhardt Jacket because we could not find
any that fit her perfectly.
I did spit at a vendor on the way back to the campground when he
approached me holding out T-shirts that said Gordon sucks on the
front, he was yelling GORDON SUCKS SHIRTS HERE ! and shaking them in
peoples faces as they walked by…..
OH…..I have started the practice of wearing no Gordon garb at all
to the track…..mostly out of the belief that it may help keep me out
of jail. I mention it because it is sad that supporting my driver
causes me so much grief at the track. There is good natured ribbing
that I like, but sadly, way to much out and out hate for anyone to
have to endure…….I am starting to understand how Dale’s fans felt
during the F.A.D.E. days…..
…but now it is at a level I never saw from the fade bunch……
Sunday!!!!
the forecast was for sun and it stayed overcast for 90% of the
race……I think the cloud cover played against what many teams set
up for.
We moved to new seats this year …next to the top row in between
turns 3 & 4 no view of the pits but you can see every inch of the
Monster Mile form them….they are keepers!
As I predicted around the supper table Saturday night Martin had no
car that was a threat and just had to race the track ……
I have little to add about the race that you would not already know
………except for one thing………..I have the radio frequency for
the Nascar tower it is not published but someone I know stumbled on it
while searching for a driver earlier this year.
When the pit road official called the tower to tell them about the
24 fender flare
the zeal in the response from the tower was unmistakable……
While riding around under the caution the 21 car asked what Gordon was
black flagged for…after finding out he said well they better get out
here and look at the 3 and 94 cars and a few others too then…….
Towards the end of the race Somebody blocked Martin and it was the
first time I ever heard him lose it on the radio…his voice went
really high add he screamed "that F88ker! he just cost me a bunch
of time"……at that point Gordon was keeping pace with him and I can
only imagine he was thinking "here we go again" several laps later
Gordon’s times feel back off again and the Crew informed Mark of
it….he just said 10/ 4………………..
all in all a very fun weekend……but I must say as a fan I really
miss those last hundred miles, and it seems like the place was a
little more fun before they smoothed it out……
–
GoJeffGor…@speed-racer.com for Rappy
DaleEarnha…@theraces.com for Mrs. Rappy
BGN #63 Casey Attwood Winston Cup #24 & #3 & WALLY
Humor……don’t leave home without it!
Neat UCAP, rapster. A few comments and snips below
On Tue, 22 Sep 1998 19:27:41 GMT, "R a p p y"
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
<GoJeffGor…@speed-racer.com> wrote:
>Well we got to the track Thursday night and found our site in the
>campground before dark. As usual we had some good neighbors …and
>some bad.
MrBiG, MoeJoe?
>I walked over Friday Morning before the gates opened and staked out a
>spot at the top of the stands in Sec AA coming off turn 4 and looking
>straight down pit road.
> I was supposed to meet someone at the Nascar trailer when it opened
>in the morning but I walked to the wrong side of the track and missed
>him picking up his garage passes. (oh well next year I’ll know the
>gate where the trailer is)
>I hung My Nascar 50 flag in hopes of NG members stopping by but
>…..it was to no avail.
I missed the reunion at Richmond last week. Too busy having fun, and
thought about it the next day. Forgot all about it ;-(
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
>Practice was rather
>uneventful. The only thing of real interest was all the drivers
>praising how smooth the track was and how well the cars would stick in
>the corners.
>during practice I listened to several cars on the scanner.
>3 car was completely at a loss for finding the handle…they went
>through the notes from the past and tried everything but unloading the
>backup car, but by my stopwatch they were clearly in trouble not just
>for qualifying but for Sunday also……..
>6 car unloaded very fast and tried many things but really only made
>minor adjustments from what they rolled off the truck……
>00 car was very happy with the setup and was pumped up for qualifying
>believing they had a shot at a top five starting spot after struggling
>to make their previous cup races….
>after being overcast and damp most of the morning most of the clouds
>cleared out for the second practice, and many cars were saying they
>just could not find the handle again…. Gordon and Martin were not
>among that group.
>the funniest scanner bite of the day came from Ray Everham.
>just before making a mock qualifying run Ray told Jeff they were going
>to tighten the car up just a little……Jeff responded that he
>thought the car was just about perfect and did not need it. Ray
>shot back …were just gonna snug it up a little.
>right after making the one lap run Jeff said it was tight ….it
>would have been perfect if we had left it alone I think.. Ray came
>back in a rather sarcastic tone "I didn’t want it to be so perfect
>that we were putting a rear clip on it."
>I guess he was concerned that the track is so smooth now as compared
>to the old surface that it is hard to tell where the edge is…..IMO
>judging by all the teams struggling on Sunday to find he
>handle………… he was right.
>Sat.
>After getting some sunburn Friday afternoon I skipped morning practice
>in favor of just going for the busch race and happy hour.
Glad to see you got some different tanning oil/block.
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
>It was nice to see Kenseth have such a good run and give his fans some
>hope for the championship.
>the funniest scanner bite of the day was sadly because of crash
>00 spotter one lap before his crash…….."come on buckshot! dig dig
>dig …..
>after the crash buckshot keyed his mike and said "I dug"
>………….
Good one.
>too damn early in the race to be telling a high strung boy like
>buckshot to….did dig dig IMHO he should have been saying we got a
>long way to go …be patient.
>During happy hour about halfway in it was apparent that barring any
>mishap on the track Mark would have his way with the field Sunday.
>at the end of a 40 lap run he was passing some cars who had only been
>on the track for 5 laps or so……..I was looking forward to a boring
>race and 5 cars on the lead lap at the end.
>One thing of note was many crews were on the scanner asking where the
>heck the new helicopter pad was that the drivers were going to have to
>get to on Sunday…..many could not believe that it was in fact in lot
>one of the campers area (where I was staying! )
>they were wondering how Nascar expected the drivers and owners to get
>there through the crowd after the race…… I was wondering
>too!….it’s not THAT close to the track.
>Saturday night we walked over to the off track Nascar sales, and food
>area to check out what they had. The wife bought me an old T-rex
>shirt and I bought myself a poster of Gordon’s first win. She
>passed up my offer of an Earnhardt Jacket because we could not find
>any that fit her perfectly.
I’ll take an STP jacket, and it doesn’t have to fit perfectly. It can
even be like the little boy on the EXIDE leather jacket commercial !
>I did spit at a vendor on the way back to the campground when he
>approached me holding out T-shirts that said Gordon sucks on the
>front, he was yelling GORDON SUCKS SHIRTS HERE ! and shaking them in
>peoples faces as they walked by…..
He probably deserved it.
>OH…..I have started the practice of wearing no Gordon garb at all
>to the track…..mostly out of the belief that it may help keep me out
>of jail. I mention it because it is sad that supporting my driver
>causes me so much grief at the track. There is good natured ribbing
>that I like, but sadly, way to much out and out hate for anyone to
>have to endure…….I am starting to understand how Dale’s fans felt
>during the F.A.D.E. days…..
I didn’t see that kind of stuff here. Everyone got along pretty well.
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -
>…but now it is at a level I never saw from the fade bunch……
>Sunday!!!!
>the forecast was for sun and it stayed overcast for 90% of the
>race……I think the cloud cover played against what many teams set
>up for.
>We moved to new seats this year …next to the top row in between
>turns 3 & 4 no view of the pits but you can see every inch of the
>Monster Mile form them….they are keepers!
>As I predicted around the supper table Saturday night Martin had no
>car that was a threat and just had to race the track ……
>I have little to add about the race that you would not already know
>………except for one thing………..I have the radio frequency for
>the Nascar tower it is not published but someone I know stumbled on it
>while searching for a driver earlier this year.
> When the pit road official called the tower to tell them about the
>24 fender flare
>the zeal in the response from the tower was unmistakable……
>While riding around under the caution the 21 car asked what Gordon was
>black flagged for…after finding out he said well they better get out
>here and look at the 3 and 94 cars and a few others too then…….
Mikey mentioned that on Monday night’s IWCR show also.
>Towards the end of the race Somebody blocked Martin and it was the
>first time I ever heard him lose it on the radio…his voice went
>really high add he screamed "that F88ker! he just cost me a bunch
>of time"……at that point Gordon was keeping pace with him and I can
>only imagine he was thinking "here we go again" several laps later
>Gordon’s times feel back off again and the Crew informed Mark of
>it….he just said 10/ 4………………..
>all in all a very fun weekend……but I must say as a fan I really
>miss those last hundred miles, and it seems like the place was a
>little more fun before they smoothed it out……
Glad you had a good time and thanks for the UCAP.
R a p p y wrote in message …
>snip<
>OH…..I have started the practice of wearing no Gordon garb at all
>to the track…..mostly out of the belief that it may help keep me out
>of jail. I mention it because it is sad that supporting my driver
>causes me so much grief at the track. There is good natured ribbing
>that I like, but sadly, way to much out and out hate for anyone to
>have to endure…….I am starting to understand how Dale’s fans felt
>during the F.A.D.E. days…..
>…but now it is at a level I never saw from the fade bunch……
My wife & I went to our first race in Pocono, and I was wondering about this
sort of thing. We didn’t see anything that extreme, other than the usual
redneck flipping the bird as #24 went by. A couple weekends ago we were
standing in line for T. Yearwood’s autograph in PA, and when the guy behind
us found out we were Gordon fans, he proceeded to tell us he has a "friend"
that works at DuPont who knows they give the team all kinds of experimental
stuff that noone knows about. We chose to ignore it and not create a scene
as we still had at least an hour left in line. Funny how people will say
anything to make a dig.
Mark
Thanks Rappy… I enjoyed it so much I read it twice! Hope Mrs. Rappy
gets her jacket at the next race you guys go to.
Edith