CMS Day Three: The All-Star Race

As I Twittered, Mom and I decided not to go to the track for the driver introductions. When we read the instructions for the "Mosh Pit," it said to be sure to bring your Sprint FanView to the driver intro because you would be watching the Showdown from the Nationwide garages. So we went back to the Sprint Experience to ask them for more information. We would have to meet at the Sprint Experience before the Showdown started, be held in the NNS garages during the Showdown, brought on to the track for the All-Star driver intros, the taken off after the intros and around to the grandstands after, and we might miss the very beginning of the All-Star Show.

We were also concerned that there would be a mad mob rush to the stage (I mean, it was called "Mosh Pit" for a reason). And with Mom's Sjogren's Syndrome and my torn hip cartilage, we were worried about our ability to beat a crowd. And if we couldn't beat a crowd, we'd be sunk. Because I'm 4'6" and Mom is 5'4". And if we were mired in the back of the crowd, we might as well be in out seats, which were actually pretty decent. Why miss the Showdown and the first part of the All-Star race to get pics of the backs of people's heads?

The most amazing part of the night was that weather.com had us at a 30% chance of isolated thunderstorms from 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. and it NEVER RAINED.

Okay, now let me back up. We started the day getting Robby Gordon's autograph. When Mom stepped up to his souvenir hauler, the step-stool was a few inches away from the hauler, and she managed to somehow get her foot in those few inches and stumbled. Robby said, "Are you gonna fall into me, here?" When Mom said that she fell because of the step-stool, Robby immediately asked the two men in line behind me please move the steps as soon as Mom got off of them. I heart Robby.

Speaking of the two men behind us in line... I've always tried to impress on people who aren't NASCAR fans that NASCAR events aren't just sports events - they're social events. You people watch, you meet people, you socialise with people who like your drivers, you trash-talk with people who like drivers who are rivals with your drivers... even though you know you will never meet them again. It's just one big party, which happens to have a race at the end. Anyway, these guys in line behind us at Robby's autograph line were IN. THE. KNOW. about various fan appreciation events going on this week. In fact, they are responsible for one of the most agonising decisions I have ever had to make.

I've been campaigning all week to go to the Red Bull Racing Team Fan Appreciation event this Friday from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m., which Mom keeps telling me might be difficult since we have the World of Outlaws race Friday at 6:00 p.m. But the two men in line told us about the Kyle Busch fan appreciation event. You have to get there at 11:00 a.m. to get a wristband to be eligible to get an autograph. But he won't be signing until 1:00 p.m. Which means that getting to the Red Bull event will be difficult. Blech.

The thing is, Scott appears pretty much every race weekend at every track. But Kyle is really hard to get to. But they're expecting a LOT of people, so to be GUARANTEED a wristband, we'd have to get there REALLY early. And then stay until at least 1:00 p.m. But if we get Scott, it might be tight getting to the World of Outlaws race. Blech again.

My pics from last night are here. Again, massive spoilers if you haven't seen last night's race yet. Again, unedited and uncaptioned. And in case you missed the memo on who my favourite drivers are, just check out the pics.