Saw An Awesome Nascar Race At Dover Motor Speedway
Yesterday was a glorious day for a Nascar race at Dover Motor Speedway. Sunny, 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. The right side of my neck wishes there were a few more clouds because it got fried. Worth it, since I’ve waited years to actually see a Nascar Race.
As you’re pulling in, there are RVs and trucks everywhere. Flagpoles flying, music blasting, a lot of tank tops and Nascar driver graphic t-shirts. When you’re walking into Dover and the fan zone, you’re greeted by Miles the Monster statue. Pretty cool photo spot right as you enter.
Until you are inside a Nascar Speedway, you forget how big these places really are. They’re huge. I mean, it makes sense you’ve got cars going 180+ mph, you’re going to need to make it a large track. You’re also going to need to fit 100+ fans. Dover’s track is only a mile long, so it’s not the largest grandstand around, but at Talladega Superspeedway the peak capacity is 175,000 fans.
I entered the track right as the anthem was about to start and got a perfectly timed flyover.
A few minutes after the flyover they fire up the engines on all the cars and you know you’re just minutes away from a whole bunch of cars going in a circle really frigin’ fast. Before they start racing, the cars do a couple laps at a lower speed to get used to the track and the turns. They sort of turn their steering wheels back and forth to warm up the tires and feel the track out. After a handful of laps around the track the in-house announcer is getting everyone geared up for “Green flag racing!”
When it’s your first Nascar race, you kind of just hope it’s as cool as you expected to see all these cars go past, bunched up 2×2, inches from each other’s bumpers at 180+ mph. It was absolutely as cool as expected. The start of the race and any restarts during the event are great. The sound and the speed. Incredible. Don’t plan on talking to anyone you’re with because nobody can hear anything. Make sure to bring earplugs or noise cancelling headphones if you want to have any hearing left for the rest of your life. It’s loud. Here is video of the first two laps of the race yesterday at Dover Motor Speedway. I’ll definitely go back to a Nascar race with friends, because ain’t nothin’ cooler than cars goin fast!
While we’re talking about races, get your votes in for the Philly 500 at WMGK.com as we get set for our annual Memorial Day Weekend countdown.
Update: I was told I needed to make people aware of the “Raise Hell, Praise Dale” line and online merchandise market.
