I went to the NASCAR Busch series race at Kentucky Speedway Saturday night. What a good time. This is my second straight year attending and the races have been awesome. If you get the chance, and are around a stock car sanctioned event, I highly recommend you go.
- Busch series rookie, David Gilliland, won the race driving an unsponsered car; he's not even driving a full season. Gilliland beat the likes of Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, J.J. Yeley, Reed Sorenson, Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards; all cup regulars. And who said Buschwacking is a problem?
Before the race a friend and I were touring the campgrounds hanging out during the "tail-gating" session. Cornhole boards were everywhere. The cars in the "parking lot" were so close together a car would barely fit between the bumpers of the cars -- a small single lane. Seconds after my friend and I started towards the track, a car plowed through a lane, destroying cornhole boards and causing people to dodge out of the way; this joker was flying. As soon as we turned around to see what was going on, the car had just passed by us and a mob of tailgaters sprinted after the car; we followed. About 50 feet later, a crowd of at least a hundred, surrounded the parked car that had heavily tinted windows. People tried to bust out the windows to no avail. Headlights, tail lights, and the quarter panels of the car were taking a pounding.
While a few brave souls tried to keep the peace, most of the mob tried to open the door to grab the prick. They were incredibly angry -- and who can blame them? After all, a car just narrowly missed killing someone. I saw at least one guy, grab a big wooden board, open the door, and threw the board like a Randy Johnson fastball. After a few seconds, all four tires were forcefully being decompressed and cheers went out among the crowd. After a full five minutes, the cops and security finally showed up and wrestled the guy to the ground.
A little later, I got wind -- unsure of its accuracy -- the car had at least bullet proof glass (one inch think), over $200,000 in the car with mass amounts of cocaine and pot.
- Parking was horrible. We sat in a single spot, in park, for over an hour. We had gotten in our cars at about 11:25 P.M. and didn't get home until 2:40 A.M. The travel time is over an hour. We weren't back on the highway, less than a mile from the track, until about 1:15 A.M. The "parking lot" is mainly unpaved fields. The biggest problem was there was NO ONE directing traffic out until the main road; where we finally saw the first cop.
I understand the whole concept that 70,000+ people leaving at the same time could jam things up. But that's just ridiculous.
I can't say I'm overtly depressed about it though. Recently on a radio broadcast, there were comments that at the Memorial two kids entered the clubhouse seeking Phil's autograph. Phil then went into a four-word (bad words) tirade with the kids right there. Sadly, they never got their autograph. Perhaps there's a reason why he's considered one of the Ten Most Hated Athletes