7/18/2006

4rilla's First NASCAR Race


Crystal and I headed to New Hampshire early on Sunday morning in order to beat the inlux of race fans decending upon Loudon, NH. We were parked in a dusty lot quite a ways away from the Sppedway by 9am. We grabbed our two coolers, filled with a 12 pack of Heineken keg cans and 7 waters and we were off. As this was my first NASCAR event I was indeed amazed at the row after row after row of motor homes and campers parked in the camping area. Walking down the roadway most race fans were cooking breakfast, drinking beer and lounging out at this early hour.

Most campers seemed to have 3, 4 or even 5 or more flags of their favorite drivers flying at full mast above their Mini Winni. Other campers were shrines to individual drivers. A Dale Jr. cardboard standee by the grill, Budweiser banners strung from the awnings and so on. A rebel flag here and there.

I can now see why NASCAR pulled in over $2.1 billion dollars in merch. sales last year. NASCAR is a merchandising machine! Sales stalls on wheels emblazoned with the logo's and likeness of each driver, the amount of the area surrounding the track that was dedicated to retail was astounding. Everyone had a bag and the money was flowing freely. I guess when you don't have to pay $7.50 a beer you are a little more free to open up your wallet to buy a tshirt. I splurged for a $3.00 Home Depot hat to support Tony Stewart, but it was not his day.

Temperatures were in the mid 90's and the stands were blazing hot, a combination of Heinekens and water kept me in check, and the guy you see pictured above was sitting right behind me and would repeatedly wring out a towel soaked in ice water down my back. Crystal thought he was enjoying himself a little too much. I had a blast and would totally go again in the future.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

dude. i have always wanted to go to a nascar race. arent the tix ridic expensive?

4rilla said...

They were $60.00, five rows back on the straightaway... Money well spent.

I think we are going again in September, you should join us and we can all laugh and get our blog on!