Mixed Nuts Part 2

[CPM]

Very cool Rob!! I love the scoreboard, anything with a crown is fine by me
I bet the boys were just thrilled to see their name in lights!! What an excellent fundraiser. There is a massive size Jumbotron at Dolphin stadium, I can't believe they make them even larger! Crazy!

KJ was begging me to let him run on the field Saturday at the stadium! Kids just love that stuff. They were working on it, so he couldn't. Not sure why they bother. Could the Dolphins be any worse this season??

 

[CPM]

My relative is still in the hospital right now but they might release him in the morning. Thanks for all the prayers, good thoughts, hugs, etc. Hope everyone has a great night.

Keeping good thoughts for you all PJ

 

[CPM]

The boys in the Visitor's dugout (dugout is where the players sit during the game PJ) (this pic may be poofing relatively soon so look now while you can):

From left to right: DS9, DS6, DS12, DS14. The younger three were getting on DS14's nerves that day.
-- Rob

The boys are adorable!!
Although, the oldest is freaking me out!! (must take after his Dad)

 

[CPM]

Cheryl! I thought we weren't going to "see" you around this weekend. Great comeback by the Sox tonight -- looks like the Sox have the LAAofA's back against the wall!

-- Rob

Ah yes, but I had to rub in the Red Sox win just a bit.

 

[CPM]

La de laaaaaaaaaa...

A little bored Jean bean?
Hopefully everyone will get back to posting!!

Welcome back to Lisa and Jave!!

 

[RobInBigKC]

Here's the "backside" of some of the souvenir trailers:

As you can see in this pic and the one above, you could get away from the crowds a bit if you left the pavement and went into the grassy areas:

I think that's a plane pulling that sign behind it but, for the first time in my life, I also saw a helicopter pulling an advertising sign behind it during the weekend at the races:

I'll be tailgating at the car with a U.S. flag on a flagpole:

-- Rob

 

[RobInBigKC]

KJ was begging me to let him run on the field Saturday at the stadium! Kids just love that stuff. They were working on it, so he couldn't. Not sure why they bother. Could the Dolphins be any worse this season??

Um, probably not.

Ah yes, but I had to rub in the Red Sox win just a bit.

No rubbing in here. I told you before the season started that the Red Sox are my second favorite team. I did/do wonder about Keith though -- if he supports the Dodgers or the Angels or neither. Your Red Sox may broke his little Angels heart.

-- Rob

 

[CPM]

No rubbing in here. I told you before the season started that the Red Sox are my second favorite team. I did/do wonder about Keith though -- if he supports the Dodgers or the Angels or neither. Your Red Sox may broke his little Angels heart.

-- Rob

Yeah, he hasn't mentioned his favorite baseball team on here, I don't think anyway. I'm really hoping they are playing out in S. CA next summer while we are out there. Maybe our two families can take in a game.

So, now I wonder who will win, Yankees or Indians. I really hate when the Yanks play the Red Sox, my household is just too tense. I don't think I could handle that again. And, what a waste of $$ Roger Clemmons was!!

 

[CPM]

Rob, looks like you had fun at the Speedway! Love those horses!
No Danika souveniers or photos with women that got in the way??

 

[RobInBigKC]

Cars lined up in Pit Row for driver introductions:

Note the black Mustang on the track itself with the racecar driver sitting in the backseat.

Getting ready to race... Note that there are NOT 43 cars in this picture. That is because the initial pace laps before the race are handled by two pace cars at the same time with the pack broken into two halves until the cars get up to speed:

By the time the race is starting, all 43 cars are together in one pack. Note the absence of the pace car and the Green Flag indicating time to start racing at the flagstand just to the left of the finish line:

Boogity, boogity, boogity -- let's go racin' boys!

-- Rob

 

[CPM]

How many people do they pack into those stands??

 

[RobInBigKC]

Rob, looks like you had fun at the Speedway! Love those horses!
No Danika souveniers or photos with women that got in the way??

Well, Danica is an Indy Car driver and this was NASCAR so her trailer wasn't here this time. Not done posting yet -- some of those dang women may still have got in front of my camera.

-- Rob

 

[CPM]

Well, Danica is an Indy Car driver and this was NASCAR so her trailer wasn't here this time. Not done posting yet -- some of those dang women may still have got in front of my camera.

-- Rob

Indy/Nascar

Nevermind, just another sport that I have no idea about.

 

[RobInBigKC]

How many people do they pack into those stands??

The grandstands held 75,000 when the facility opened in 2001. In 2003 and 2005, the capacity was increased to about 82,000. However, there are also people in the infield, on the hillside opposite the grandstands, in the hospitality tents, and in the hospitality suites, so you generally hear numbers around 115,000 fans in attendance total.

Hosting the Nextel Cup race is compared to hosting a Super Bowl every year. You don't get the same amount of media coverage but tens of thousands of people descend on the city sucking up many thousands of hotel rooms for the whole weekend.

-- Rob

 

[CPM]

The grandstands held 75,000 when the facility opened in 2001. In 2003 and 2005, the capacity was increased to about 82,000. However, there are also people in the infield, on the hillside opposite the grandstands, in the hospitality tents, and in the hospitality suites, so you generally hear numbers around 115,000 fans in attendance total.

-- Rob

wow

 

[RobInBigKC]

Even though Sunday's race was the BIG EVENT, Saturday's race was actually more enjoyable in many ways. First of all, the finish on Saturday was super, super close even if it didn't go my way. Kyle Busch driving a Chevy (I think) beat Matt Kenseth in his Ford (who I was cheering for) by 0.0875 seconds -- yes, less than 1/10 of a second separated them after driving 300 miles.

Anyway, Sunday came and here is what everyone was gunning for, to get their name and pic on this trailer:

In this spot:

Well, that, and the "points" and money they earn for winning.

Dang, Cheryl was right, some woman did get in front of my camera:

Others probably did too but I won't bore y'all with those pics.

More scenes from the parking lot. That is DS14 in the foreground close to the center. Note his Jeff Gordon jacket, cooler (because Kansas Speedway was way cool in September as they were back in April and let you bring your own cooler in including those stocked with beer or wine or whatever you wanted basically), headphones, and if you look real close, right in front of his belly (if he had one) in the same color of yellow as the headphones, is like a little TV device, known generically as a Kangaroo TV or specifically (this weekend) as a Nextel Fanview device.

-- Rob

 

[CPM]

Thanks for the entertainment this evening Rob.
It's time for me to hit the hay, I can barely keep my eyes open.
Good night nuts!

 

[RobInBigKC]

Bit of a sidebar here: The Nextel Fanview device was way, way cool. It could pick up the race telecast that was being shown on the video boards at the race track. It could also pick up six in-car camera channels, direct audio feeds between the drivers and their crews, the radio broadcast of the event, and the race "officials" on their radios. The service also was tapped directly into NASCAR's timing and scoring systems so it could provide real-time race statistics and data at the touch of a button. It was simply amazing (I was even amazed that you could view the picture in direct sunlight -- sure can't do that on my digital camera screen). This device is at all of NASCAR and most other major races these days and look for it soon at an NFL game near you (the Redskins already have it for rent at their stadium):

Ok, back to the Sunday morning parking lot:

Between the horses and the farming equipment, wasn't sure if I was at the NASCAR race or an agricultural show:

Oh, the SPEED network is here doing their pre-race show? Must be a NASCAR event:

Note them fancy TV lights and them fancy TV cameras:

-- Rob

 

[RobInBigKC]

Thanks for the entertainment this evening Rob.
It's time for me to hit the hay, I can barely keep my eyes open.
Good night nuts!

Nght Cheryl. I hit that point about an hour ago myself but I'm determined to wrap up my mini-report.

-- Rob

 

[RobInBigKC]

Just when I was getting a bit bored and starting to tell DS14, let's move on, the SPEED Girls showed up and started dancing to Trace Adkin's "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk". Let me just say the pics do NOT give the girls justice (even if they weren't wearing heels ):

Ok, I've lost my freakin' high speed internet service, and though some (Blue River) are dedicated enough to do posts like this on their dial-up, I'm not!

I will finish Sunday and cover my weekend concert as soon as I get a chance to do so. Hopefully, the "space" between these posts of my mine and the next ones will be filled with much chatter by many people. If so, I will come back here and insert a link to where the Sunday race story continues.

-- Rob