My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

Howdy gang.

Making my annual pilgrimage to Indianapolis for the weekend of trucks, nationwide and sprint cup races, thought I'd share some pics for the race fans in the group and some vids for those who have never been to a race.

The weekend starts at O'Reilly Raceway Park (ORP) for the Camping World Truck race.

My ugly mug enjoying a Torano Virtuoso. Cigar #2 of the day. Over my shoulder you can see one of the drriver's RV. We were that close. And to the haulers as well.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...race09/007.jpg

The party van from the front. The flags make it easy to find in the parking lot.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...race09/001.jpg

Party van from the back. Portable grill, two coolers and various snacks are stowed away. Today's menu was hamburgers and hot dogs. We discovered a few years ago that bribing the parking lot security personnel with food, gets you preferred parking.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...race09/002.jpg

Pics of some of the haulers and a Nationwide car being wheeled past. I am leaning on the front of the party van.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...race09/004.jpg

The Anthem.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...race09/017.jpg

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

They always have a flyover. The first year I went, they had a Blackhawk helicopter fly over the stands, do a straight up bank and come right at us, stopping and hovering about 100 yards from the crowd. Unfortunately, they don;t get that close, but here's a pic as the pilot was banking over us.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...race09/021.jpg

This is a vid of the beginning of the race. Notice how quiet the trucks get before they get the green. Our seats are about 20 rows up or so.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...e09/th_023.jpg

And another vid of one of the restarts and I follow them around the track see you can what a neat little half-mile ORP is.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...e09/th_029.jpg

A quick action shot. Hopefully, I will work out the timing a little better.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...race09/026.jpg

Mr Kyle Busch getting serviced.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...race09/027.jpg

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

Looks like a lot of fun!!!

Thanks for the photos!!!:tu

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

Nice pics! Lets just hope Jeff Gordon wins on Sunday :banger

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

So I write up the last captions, preview post and apparently, didn;t submit.:mad:

Here are a couple of late race action pics.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...race09/030.jpg

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...race09/037.jpg

Todd Bodine in for some damage control. Wrecked right in front of us, of course, i was watching the action behind him.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...race09/031.jpg

Ron Hornaday, the winner, beginning his "Polish victory lap."
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...race09/038.jpg

The rest of the weekend may not get posted until I get back to S. Beloit on Tuesday. Long day tomorrow for the Nationwide race and then a 5am wake up on Sunday to head to the Brickyard.

Hope you enjoy the pics!

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

All the Bodine brothers sucked. They were all wreckers. I would cringe everytime my favorite drivers were around them.

Have fun at the races!

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

Thanks for posting the pics sean. Enjoy the rest of your weekend there.

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

Looks like a great trip, thanks for the pics.

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

Good job!

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

Looks like a good time...thanks for the pictures.

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

Gotta love the truck series :tu

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

Nice pics Sean

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

Today not as much fun. Rain early and annoying people in the stands. Almost saw something I have never seen. The pace car nealry got taken out by a car.:r

No pics tonight as I have only a 4 hour nap and then off the big race.

Will post up on tuesday for those who want to see.

Thanks for looking.:tu

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

Have a great time Sean. I will be watching for you on tv.

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

That was a good race yesterday. Only wish Montoya's dominance could have paid off at the end. Hope you had fun at the big race, Sean.:tu

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

Dude, that looks like a blast. Thanks for sharing it with us! :tu :tu

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

I was waving! 7 rows up at the entrance to turn 1.

Got to hang with my brother, so good time was had. The race was boring. They went from one extreme to the other. Felt bad for Montoya, as did most of the fans around us.

Photobucket being a bit tempermental for me tonight, so I will get picks up as soon as I can.

Thanks for looking!

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

Without further ado, here is the rest of my weekend.

As I mentioned before, Saturday was rainy, cool and blustery. Felt more like October than July. But about 1pm the sun came out, temp went up and everything dried out.

Got meet a couple of the crews as well. The crew from Steven Wallace's crew had good time with us. I was wearing a #88 Navy hat with the name of their boss on it when he was the driver. I bought the hat the week he was fired and replaced. They thought it was funny that they had found their boss's one fan. Took a pic of the hat and then wanted me to sign it so they could give it to their boss. We went back and forth and a good trade, but I think my buddy's wife scared them off.

This batch of pics and vids is from the Nationwide race. They are not quite as good as the truck race pics. We were really sardined in and got jostled quite a bit. I also had to deal with a couple of kids, who instead of standing up in the stands, would stand on the seat of the person in front of them, so I had to aim high.

Enjoy!

Hauler pics. Notice the standing water. Diehard fans or stupid morons? You decide.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...wide09/001.jpg
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...wide09/002.jpg

After the wind died down and the sun came out, got to enjoy a nice 5 Vegas Gold.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...wide09/005.jpg



Ron Hornaday
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...wide09/012.jpg

Brad Kesolowski
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...wide09/013.jpg

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

This race they honor the military. Always nice.


Flag parachuting in.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...wide09/016.jpg
Hit his mark.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...wide09/017.jpg
The Anthem
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...wide09/018.jpg

The customary big flag
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...wide09/019.jpg
Same flyover as Friday, but a different angle
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...wide09/021.jpg

Re: My Race Weekend Overload (pic heavy)
 

Parade lap
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...wide09/024.jpg

Video of the start. Always the best part of the race. As you can see, I was reaching for the video so my aim is not so good.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...e09/th_025.jpg

Ckeck the oil and clean the windshield please!
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...wide09/029.jpg

A couple of action shots.
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...wide09/028.jpg
http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...wide09/027.jpg