In honor of Veteran's Day and our love of racing, we attended the 2nd to the last race of the NASCAR season at Phoenix International Raceway (from this point on - PIR).
Tom drove us along with our good friends, Tony and Scott, to PIR for the event. The gates opened at 8:00 a.m., race time was 1:30, and we arrrived at 8:30 in order to stake out our "spot on the hill". Tony and Scott sat in the stands but we wanted the full experience of the hill that we had heard about.
We went our separate ways and found a great spot between turns 3 and 4. We laid down our stadium blanket, grabbed our water bottles and settled in for the wait. We were amazed to see the number of people that had already staked out their spots by setting up their portable gazebos.
The hill has terraced levels of flat ground that you are able to set up your mini camp. People around us were way more prepared than us! We forgot to bring our grill!
The hillside filled up and the nice people next to us offered us water, snacks and general good chatting!
We watched 2 planes, 1 blimp and 2 helicopters circle the stadium for hours, we thought sometimes coming too close to each other for comfort! (Air traffic controllers nightmare!)
We have heard that NASCAR is the most popular sport in America today & we truly believe it. We were just about to the "HILL" when we heard what sounded like several helicopters approaching. We looked off to the right and saw the 5 helipads. It about took your breath away seeing them fly in!
In honor of Veteran's Day, the track had a sky diver jump into the infield with an American flag,
all the while, Lee Greenwood's song, "Proud to be an American" was playing. The national anthem was wonderfully played on a trumpet and then 4 jets from Davis Monthan Airforce Base did the flyby. Talk about goosebumps!!!
We heard the words "Gentleman, Start Your Engines" and the race began!
Now, DW is a die hard fan of #8, Dale Jr, and unfortunately, he had a wreck by himself 1/3 of the way into the race. Below is a photo of his semi leaving the infield before the race finished.
The drivers were really on their game today and at one point, drove 100 laps without a caution flag!
Fortunately, there was not "The Big One" and the few minor wrecks were individual drivers and didn't result in major damage to any of the vehicles or injury to the drivers.
We both agree that this was an Amazing experience and are thankful for the opportunity. Our goal earlier this year was to be able to make this race. And we did it!
This experience was priceless!
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