Eventually we got up the nerve to actually walk into the garage itself. Here's a few of the cars going out for practice.
We walked around for a while and watched the crews work. I got Ward Burton's autograph before we headed to the Busch series garage.
In the Busch garage, we got the autographs of Kenny Wallace, Mike Wallace, and both Ned and Glenn Jarrett. We missed getting a lot of autographs because we were afraid to just go up to people and ask. We tried very hard to just stay out of everyone's way and not impede their work.
In the Busch garage, we spotted Kenny Wallace. We approached cautiously and peeked inside the garage. Kenny spotted mom, smiled, and came out to greet us.
Kenny: (laughing) What
are you two up to?
Mom: Just trying to get your autograph!
Kenny: Well, I bet we can do that!
Me: We sure had fun watching you in that Pennzoil car!
Kenny: Well, I sure had fun doing it!
He seemed like a really nice guy. I've always liked him and I'm really glad Michael Waltrip and DEI have teamed up to give him a Cup car for a few races.
As we worked our way through the Busch garage, we spotted Kenny's brother, Mike Wallace and got his autograph, too.
Cup practice started at 11:20 PM. We stayed in the garage until it was over. Mom found a spot between the toolboxes of Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman. She preferred to stay there. I prefer to wander and catch all the sites.
One thing I almost forgot to mention: I now fully understand the teams' concerns about having fans in the garage area. On TV, it really doesn't look like the cars are moving that fast through the garage, but I can't count the number of people I saw who nearly got run over. Those cars are driving incredibly fast, even in the garage, and there were people wandering everywhere barely paying attention to what was going on. I also saw a lot of incredibly RUDE people who pushed and shoved their way to the drivers for autographs. Mom and I tried to be nice, stay alert, and keep out of everyone's way. Unfortunately, a lot of the people I saw in the garage were not so conscientious.
Winston Cup practice ended at 1:20 PM, so we decided to walk back to the car and dump a few things. I found a lucky penny on the way there. When we were getting ready to go back and watch qualifying, one of the security guards walked up to us and said to Mom, "I like that hat!" Then he told us, "Why don't you just move on up there to that paved parking (VIP only) because I like that hat so much. I'll just turn the other way and pretend I didn't see it." So we moved the car as far up into the paved parking as we dared before heading to the grandstands.
By the time we were back inside the track, all the good seats were taken. (I'm still miffed that Friday's Pole Day tickets were $10 this year -- in the past, they've always been free.) We took to the pedestrian tunnel and made our way to pit road. It was already crowded with people and we couldn't see a thing. Suffice it to say that the place to really WATCH qualifying is in the grandstands, not pitside. We wound up near the entrance to the garage where we could watch the cars coming back in after their runs. Sorry, none of my pictures turned out very well (the cars just move too fast), but Mom is sending copies of hers, so if there are any good ones, I'll add them later.
After we'd watched just about everyone, we decided to call it a day. We knew that we had to leave soon or else we'd be stuck in traffic. Fortunately, traffic was a breeze and we were out of there in record time. After some spicy chicken wings for supper, and a hot bath to sooth our aching feet, we settled in for some deep sleep. Mom was so tired, she slept for 10 hours straight, and she usually only sleeps about 6 or 7.