Homestead 07, oh whatta ride...

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vlap

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
SMF Premier Member
Aug 17, 2007
1,769
10
Bradenton, Florida
Well as most of you know I headed out of town early friday afternoon. First stop was in Ft. Myers to meet up with dad's college buddies. We spend the night here but first we have a nice dinner (which I somehow ended up cooking) Salad, garlic bread, grilled steak and broiled shrimp. was on the menu. Lucky for me I only had to worry about the shrimp and steak. The shrimp got a coating of butter, worchestire sauce, and a good helping of herbs and seasoning. The steaks looked so good I did not want to touch them with anything more then s&p.
Here is the finished product.


After taking the post dinner beers long into the night I got up early and without much sleep to get breakfast working. The left over bread, shrimp and steak went into the over to slowly reheat. I diced an onion and bell pepper and cracked a dozen eggs. I sauted the onion and bell pepper till softened and then poured the eggs over and stired slowly until a nice scramble egg was ready. Steak, eggs and shrimp for breakfast. Good way to wake up!


We soon loaded up and headed out to south beach. Upon arriving we were not able to check in so we took a walk down the strip where we stopped at a few different bars (including Mangos) before we ended up in another large sports bar where we watched the michigan ohio game.

After the game we headed back to the hotel where I began to feel the effects of too much beer, food and exercise. A lack of sleep over the past few nights didn't help either. I went back to the room watched the busch series race and took a nap. As the sun set I got up and got ready and soon we were back out walking the strip looking for a good place to eat. Ended up finding a good italian place at the north end of the strip. A great meal of pappardelle with steak chiles, and garlic. Yummy! Throw in some very good wine an appertif and a full meal was had.

Sunday we were off to the race. Got there early enough to allow me to head into the pit area with dad and check out the action.

I got to stop at the crown royal car. The jerks didn't give me a shot when I threw the bean bag in the hole. Just a poster of the driver which I gave to some girl who wanted a picture of her Jamie Mcdreamy. (as she called him)


Here is a shot of Harvick's car on its way out to the track.


A look down pit road.


Dad, myself, and his friend J.C.


My favorite car.



F-16 flyover.
 
One heckuva big flag.


Ok so they got some pansy executive from ford to come out and deliver the most famous words in racing. It honestly came out in a soft unmotivated quiet voice as "ladiesandgentlemenstartyourengines..." The crowd laughed at the pitiful attempt and I think the drivers were confused and still waiting for the words. It took a bit for them to actually start their engines. Here they are leaving the pit road for the warm up laps.


I never got word on what happened but when they left pit road to start the race Mark Martin pulled his car right out of the way and stopped there. I am not sure why but he sat there a minute before moving on. He had a good run getting as high as third before falling to mid pack then finishing 9th.


Here is the parking lot, well a small part of it. An ocean of humanity.


Green Flag! Well as they passed me on the first lap.


First pit after jr. caused the caution. He also caused the second caution and another later on. I was surprised when he caused the third caution. Each time he entered turn 1 he was sliding all over the place. Back end would not hold.

He also crashed just a little to the left of that golf cart.

Here is jr. just trying to keep his car straight. I look forward to next year when he has some good equipment to drive.


One of jr.'s many pitstops after the crash attempting to get the car somewhat driveable.


Leaving the pit... Did it work? Nope!
 
This poor chap lost his rear end. He ended up racing jr. for last place. Not sure which one was slower.


I believe this was a green flag pit. Not many of these today. From the front towards the back: Johnson, Gordon, Martin, Bush.


A good shot showing the speeds these cars achieve.

At close to 200 mph they are blurs as they pass in front of you.


The stands shake when they pass...


Jr. in last trying to catch up and sliding around the corner.


The sun sets on a great day, but there is still racing to be done.


Johnson and Gordon in a final pit.


Here is tony stewart leaving the pits. He had a good race until the end.


Well thats it for the photos. My card filled up and the batteries died. I have 2 movies that I will try and post as well. Nothing exciting but fun anyway.

Hope you all enjoyed the journey.
 
Well damn, after seeing those pics you posted, I realized that I was not you on saw on tv. The guy I saw that I thought was you was 3 rows down from where you were.
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Sounds and looks like you had a good time.
 
Vlap that was an awesome pictorial play-by-play!! I watched the race from the couch and you seem to have covered it all with your pictures. The Q-VIEW was excellent as well. Nothing wrong with steak and shrimp, especially for breakfast. Glad you had a good time, glad you're back.
 
We had seats 10 rows from the top but after the start and a few beers I had had enough of sitting and went to the top and stood there for the rest of the race.
It was a great time and we are looking forward to going again next year. Tickets will be bought soon!
I am happy to be back as well and I tell ya I am still tired. An easy meal tonight and then I am getting more sleep!
 
Great pictures Vlap!! Thanks for sharing them with us.
You sure did have a good seat, could see the whole track!
The shrimp, steak and eggs look awesome and I even like your purple CR purse. lol!
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Welcome back Vlap, thanks for the blow-by-blow of your journey... very enjoyable reading and great pix!
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Great write up Vlap. The view from your seats is almost identical to where I sit at Daytona. Sounds like it was an awesome time. Thanks for sharing.
 
The seats are great and hopefully next year will be better. They have gotten better each year we go.
As for the purse I thought it was a cute accessory to my sweet outfit
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Actually that crown royal bag held all the free stuff I got and allowed me to smuggle a beer out of the track.
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Can't wait til next year!
 
Wish I could have been there. I've been to the race in Loudon, NH. You are right when you said that the whole place vibrates when those cars go past, along with the smells and sounds.

Take care, have fun, and do good!

Regards,

Meowey
 
We had a total of nine people go. Of the nine, two had never watched it on tv or in person and really had little interest going in. After the race both admitted to really enjoying themselves and may even go again next year. They may not ever become die hard fans but the event in itself is enjoyable for those who are fans and those who are not.
 
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