This weekend was pretty cool! Since I work for the military (contractor), I always hear about cool deals for free or reduced tickets to events. Well, this weekend we attended our very first NASCAR race at the Dover Delaware International Speedway! (Only active duty military, retired military, or their dependents could pick up tickets, but just our luck, my supervisor, who’s retired military, was able to get three tickets for me, Kwasi, and Kwabena!).
Believe me…I was not a NASCAR fan by any means. But when you have a son who loves race cars, you grin and bear it. I have to say, however, that I was pleasantly surprised! First of all, it took less time to get to the racetrack than I had expected. Secondly, parking was close by (albeit expensive at $30). Third, how cool was it that after the National Anthem was played, four fighter jets soared over the speedway? ( I believe it was the U.S. AirForce Thunderbirds, who we had seen a few weeks ago at the Andrews AFB Air Show, which was awesome as shit!). Fourth, when the cars started up and took off, the sound was exhilirating, and deafening! It was very cool!!
Kwabena, who did not nap on the way to the speedway, decided he was ready to crash on my lap about 30 minutes after the races had started! I even suggested that we leave at lap 200, instead of staying for all 400. However, as the day wore on….Kwabena woke up…Kwasi was feeling happy…I was feeling pretty jazzed about our fun family day…and I figured, “What the hell? May as well stay the whole 400!”
The comraderie of the stadium was buzzing. We sat next to some people who were soooo friendly. They took a liking to Kwabena, making comments about him. They offered us water…sun block…ear protection headphones for Kwabena… Kwasi was nice enough to buy and offer them some beer as a “thanks.” Nice people!
Anyhow, I never could understand how someone could sit in front of their tv and watch stupid race cars go around and around a track. But you know what? Even though it didn’t make that much more sense in person, it was FUN! The thrill of seeing these super-fast cars zip around the bend, over and over, trying to outrun each other, you realize that it’s pretty cool stuff. Or maybe it was just the newness of the experience, seeing something I had never seen before. But let’s just say that if they had free tickets again, I would be open to going again!
After the race, while battling trafic back to the highway, a couple things stunned me. First, how united people seemed to be after the event! There was a guy in his hot yellow Mustang (which Kwabena happens to love Mustangs and Corvettes and can propertly identify one yards away….), and Kwabena gave him a “thumb’s up” and the guy put on a little “show” by squeezing his wheels and reving his engine. Another man on a cool motorcycle got the “thumb’s up” too, and the man proceeded to rev his engine, as well. How cool that these grown men were entertaining my toddler son’s fancy 🙂 Too cute.
Another thing that amazed me was the number of people sitting out along the road, dotting their laws with chairs; some of them having parties and BBQs, and other’s just sipping cool drinks while waving to the passersby. Must be something that small towns do after a fun event like NASCAR–or else they just have nothing else to do in their small hick towns. Whatever the reason, it felt very homey seeing people just relaxing and enjoying watching the cars go by….
Oh, something funny–after the race, we saw a limosine. Kwabena said, “Look, Mommy, you see that magazine?” I was like, “Huh?” Then it dawned on me what he meant. Funny! 🙂
Anyhow, it was a great weekend. We really enjoyed the family day 🙂
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