Race Day, April 1, 2001
I can hardly believe it! We actually got
to the track on schedule this year! We had already decided (as
we do every year) that we should leave the house around 4:30 so
we could beat all the traffic and get a decent parking space.
Mark always balks at this, but I think deep in his heart he knows
we're right -- if you wait even an hour longer, the traffic backs
up for 15 miles around the track.
This year, we were accompanied by our good
friend, Manny, who had never been to a NASCAR race. In fact, he's
not much of a NASCAR fan, but he loves racing, and we knew he
would appreciate the power behind all that Detroit steel if he
ever got to see it (hear it, feel it) in the flesh. He's been
to the American LeMans series with us, and we tried our hardest
to prepare him for the spectacle of 200,000 NASCAR fans in one
place, but I don't think you ever can really be prepared. Manny
was the one doing most of the whining this year. Over his repeated
"I can't believe I got up at 3:00 AM," we assured him
it was well worth the hassle. Even Mark did his part to convince
Manny that it was necessary.
We made it to the track in record time,
and Mom and I left Mark and Manny sleeping in the car while we
walked around the track to the infield tunnel. As we were walking
on the sidewalk near the Speedway Club, some other fans were walking
toward us. I moved to my right (to the edge of the sidewalk) to
let them pass. But as I moved, my right foot slid off the curb
and down I went -- right onto my left knee. Busted it up real
good, and even tore my black jeans (nearly new).
Mom and I stayed in the infield until about
10:00 AM. It took us so long to walk around to the South Tunnel
that we didn't get to see any of the crews coming in. But we did
get to see a few of them going for ice.
A Viagra Team Member
I think this guy was from the Goodwrench
team
And here's someone from the Cheerios
team
The Pennzoil team came in quite
a bit later than some of the other teams
Here's one of the Dodge team's
pit box
And here's one of the Dodge drivers
-- John Andretti!
Elliott Sadler was the winner of
the previous week's race at Bristol.
Congratulations Elliott on your first win!
Steve Park's Pennzoil crew got
to the track a little later than most of the other teams.
I was busy changing the film in
my camera when Dale Earnhardt, Jr. went by. It broke my heart
to see him. He kept his head down and was almost completely concealed
by the hood on his jacket, but when he looked up at the expectant
fans which were crowded around, you could see the pain in his
eyes.
Ken Schrader is always around somewhere.
Rather than hang out in his motorhome, he can often be seen wandering
around the garage area or talking to someone in the motorhome
paddock. Here he is riding a motorcycle.
I got pictures of a few more cars,
although I was getting pretty annoyed at the ropes they were using
to keep fans out of the crew's way -- it gets in the way of taking
a good picture.
Todd Bodine's Blue Light Special
The Cingular Wireless #01 of Jason
Leffler
The Kodak car (currently driven
by Kevin LePage)
Casey Atwood's Dodge
And of course, I couldn't forget
Mark Martin's Viagra car.
(Steven might disown me if I didn't get a picture of this one!)
It was getting late and we didn't
want to miss the pre-race show and driver introductions, so we
decided to head for our seats in the grandstands. As we headed
down into the pedestrian tunnel (geez that thing gives me the
heeby-jeebies!), we looked up at the Hollywood Hotel.
You can see all the cloud cover
we had that morning, which was wreaking havoc with my attempts
to take good pictures. No sooner would I set the camera for clouds
then there would be a break of sunshine. So again, I apologize
for the lack of high quality photos.
Back
to main NASCAR page
2000
Texas 500
Visit
the UCAP Archives