Boots on the Ground: NASCAR Auto Club 400

As many of you know, I was born in Mexico.  Therefore,  I’m obligated to love auto racing. Them’s the rules. You may or may not also know that I love me some NASCAR.  Unfortunately,  I’ve never been to a live race.  Until this weekend.

I have a buddy at work that is a HUGE NASCAR guy.  Plus,  he’s connected.  He knows a lot of the drivers and media guys. Over the last two years,  I’ve been telling him I’d go to a race with him and one thing or another has happened and I haven’t been able to join him.  This was finally the year.

This weekend,  the NASCAR traveling circus stopped at Auto Club Speedway in lovely Fontana (or Fontucky to Southern Californians). My favorite driver is Kyle Busch.  This is not a popular fact.  Even though Kyle won the 2015 championship in a dream-come-true scenario, he is still not well-liked.

Many times,  Kyle runs both the main race (Cup series) on Sunday and the lower-level X-finity series race on Saturday. I didn’t know if he was going to do that this weekend and there was a chance of rain on Saturday,  so I decided to go Sunday. I managed to corral two of my friends that are car guys to go with me. No, surprisingly,  they are not Mexican,  but white.  They fit right in.

My NASCAR buddy from work usually goes for the whole weekend and gets Hot Passes to get into the pits.  This weekend,  though,  he was only going Sunday.  This worked out great as we would,  theoretically,  be able to meet up.

One of my friends recently picked up a very rare Australian-made Chevy SS with a manual transmission. It’s really a Holden VF Commodore. A 415 HP V8 Commodore.

He and our other friend picked me up in that beast and we did the quick 35 minute drive east.

The first thing that struck me was how well-organized the traffic flow was. Law enforcement was very present in case dipshits wanted to pretend they have numbers on the side of their cars. Getting into the parking area was a breeze. Also, general parking was free.  Either that or we totally missed the person taking money.  I really do think it was free,  though.

We didn’t have any tickets,  so we just headed towards the ticket window and asked what they had.  Opposite to field sport stadiums,  the cheapest tickets are lower and closer to the track.  The reasons for that are twofold: 1) The lower you are,  the less you can see of the entire track,  and 2) It is FUCKING LOUD!!

Allow me to demonstrate:

We splurged and got $65 seats in row 19 off Turn 4.  Top seats were over a hundred and the cheapest seats were $45, so this was a decent compromise.  One thing that my NASCAR buddy told me to get and I did was the scanner/headphone package with Fanvision.  Kids, let me tell you one thing:  Roger Goodell is a National Disgrace.  One of my buddies mentioned that they should do this at football games.  They ABSOLUTELY FUCKING SHOULD!

To those of you that don’t know, this is a Fanvision device with headphones:

 

You can rent it at the track, like we did, or if you go to lots of races (like my buddy does), you can buy it and get a subscription for all the tracks.  You can also split the signal so that you can hook up two headphones to it like in the picture below, which is what we did:

It works essentially like a Closed Circuit broadcasting device in that it only works at the track.  What you get, however, is incredible:

I was glued to it almost the entire race.  I knew at all points what the standings were and where my favorite driver (or drivers, you can pick up to 3) was in the race.  You can also, and this was my favorite part by far, listen to the team radios.  Wait, actually my favorite favorite part was that the headphones were so good that they shut down the track noise and you could hear really well what the drivers, the crew chiefs, and their spotters were saying.

That device brought the race experience to a whole other level that I had never thought possible.  It was really the best of both worlds:  I was just as informed as if I was watching the TV broadcast (arguably more since I could and did focus only on the driver I was interested in) and I still got the feel, the smell, and the sound of being at the actual track.  Seriously, this product is perfect for the NFL but Goodell is too much of a dipshit to get it.

Here is the view from our seats of the grandstands and pit lane:

I think the track was pretty close to full.  I’d say maybe 85-90%?  That’s still pretty good for as humungous a place as this is.  Auto Club Speedway is a 2 mile track, so it’s a long way around.  Here is the way the cars looked as they headed to the start:

And here is a picture where I think I got Kyle passing by me:

He was driving the green and white #18 Interstate Batteries car instead of the usual M&Ms car.  As for the race itself, Kyle finished 8th after a solid but slightly frustrating day.  Due to some excellent pit strategy, Kyle managed to get in front with less than 30 laps to go.  A rash of late yellow flags (cautions), however, changed the strategy.  At the end, Kyle got stuck behind other drivers on older tires and, to quote what he said in the radio, “they are driving like a bunch of fucking idiots”.  Or something to that effect.  It was really funny.

His car was way better in long runs and he was consistently in the top 10, but the car was not as good in short runs and in traffic, which unfortunately was how the race would end.  The race went to Overtime (Green-White-Checkered) and Kyle Larson, deservedly, won.  He really had the best car all day and it was nice that he was rewarded.

My main takeaways from the day:

1- People were fun, friendly, and nice.

2- I was never once bored.  I’ve fallen asleep watching races on TV, but there was always something to see on the track.  Also, the track loudspeakers were broadcasting the radio feed, so one could know exactly what was going on even if they were outside getting food/beer.

3- As always, Fox and NBC suck at televising sports.

4- Damn, that was loud.  Not as loud as that one time I went to the NHRA Winternationals, but still…

5- Food options were plentiful and cheap compared to NFL/MLB stadiums.  Beers were $8 and food was in the $8-12 range.  I had a loaded steak with fries plate that was curly fries topped with steak, grilled onions, and nacho cheese.  Yeah.

6- Camping on the infield looks like it is a LOT of fun.

7- Though we were there for over 4 hours, the day really flew by.

I will definitely be back at this track next spring and I will probably now make plans to go to either the Vegas or Phoenix races.  It was a seriously good time and, as one of my friends noticed, it is a friendly family atmosphere.  People were drinking, but no one was falling-down drunk and everyone was there to have a good time.  If you’ve ever partied with rednecks, and I have, you know what that’s like.

If you go, and I hope you do, by all means get the Fanvision package.  It’s about the same price as our tickets were, but it is totally fucking worth it. Incidentally, I texted my NASCAR friend a few times, but his seats were way on the other side of the track and we didn’t meet up.  Maybe next time.  At least, I can proudly show him my ticket to prove that I finally went to the track.

One more thing before I go: Can I ask y’all a question?  Is the black top with blue jeans thing a national thing or just a Southern California thing?  I gotta tell you, it’s a good look…

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ballsofsteelandfury
Balls somehow lost his bio and didn't realize it. He's now scrambling to write something clever and failing. He likes butts, boobs, most things that start with the letter B, and writing in the Second Person. Geelong, Toluca, Barcelona, and Steelers, in that order.
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[…] something worth sharing with you.  I encourage you to seek a race near you next year.  As I wrote earlier this year, it’s a unique experience and a hell of a good […]

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

My dad used to race dirt track stock cars in the late 50s; they got to blazing speeds of the low 60s in the straight.

laserguru

I went to a CART race there right after they opened Fontana. It was insane. This was the last race before the drivers were forced to use restrictor plates. No shit, the lead cars were going over 240 MPH. It was cool as shit but it led to a great many crashes coming into the 4th turn.

One thing I didn’t know, since this was my first race, they put the wrecked cars in body bags. A crane will pick them up and they get carried off the track.

Then the big kitty litter blower comes by with a jet engine and clears the track.

Odd yet entertaining.

litre_cola

Mexicans like Nascar? I honestly had no idea. A part of my small family spends their winters in Florida due to Daytona. I have been told by my uncle that I am not allowed to say an ill word about NASCAR until I come down and go to the races with them. They state that the races around the 500 are the really entertaining and it basically is a week of unabashed redneckery. Cole slaw wrestling anyone? http://www.cabbagepatchbar.com/

entropy

I’m not really a car guy, but I do enjoy driving very fast. I once took my buddy’s Lancer Evo to 130 on a stretch of I-80, and that shit is FAST. Driving NASCAR would be insanely fun.

Also, I’ve been to an NHRA event, and I was surprised at how many people really enjoy these things, and how many of them were genuinely nice people. This sounded like a really fun day, and now I kinda want to attend an event when they come to Pocono (which is oddly pretty much South of the Poconos).

Don T

Fanvision and sideline mike for visitors at Foxboro (Artist’s conception)
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Moose -The End Is Well Nigh
Game Time Decision

great write up.
have been to some local races, on little ovals, where the cars are anything from street legal sub compacts to almost up to NASCAR level. A great time, but fricken loud. Love the feeling as the cars zip by at 100+.

I’m about 30 minutes from Mosport or whatever it’s called this week, but have never been. Something always gets in the way. Some day.

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

Balls went for accuracy and devotion; he brought his own skid marks.

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh
Moose -The End Is Well Nigh
LemonJello

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“Keep talking.”

SonOfSpam

Great write-up! Actually made me wanna head inland and check out the scene.

Couple questions about the #19 car (Daniel Suarez):
1) Can you hear the “La Cucaracha” horn over the engine noise?
2) Do the window fringes cause a lot of drag or is it negligible overall?
3) After the race when the steering wheel pops off, is it the whole wheel or just the chain?
4) Are the gardening tools in the back seat or towed behind the car?
5) How shocking is it that he drives a Toyota and not a Chevy?

I think that’s it…gotta get back to writing for Fox & Friends.

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

You forgot the car with $75,000 in modifications parked out front of a $15,000 row house.

litre_cola

Too long for banner but this is good.

blaxabbath

Also, black shirt + blue jeans (and optional vest) is an international thing.

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blaxabbath

I’ve always wondered how fans at races behave. So you’re a KYLE guy, right. Well, if you see a dude who’s all DALE JR getting into with a guy who is for ::google search:: DANICA, are there types of alliances that let you know, at the very least. to not jump in for the DALE JR guy? Or is it just a free-foar-all?

Shogun Marcus

Nobody likes danica. Crisis averted.

Enrico Pallazzo

I’m pretty up to date on my stereotypes due to my rural Midwest upbringing but I had no idea that Mexicans loved car races. Did you mean donkey shows? You probably meant donkey shows of which I’m sure Kyle Busch has participated in many.

blaxabbath

Oh yeah, man. Mexican LOVE cars. They’ll buy a car, put some some $300 rims on it, and sell it for $500 over their purchase price. That’s $200 profit right in Balls’ pocket.

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

That was a long and tortuous route to get to a Kyle Busch joke….. it was a Kyle Busch joke so we can deal with it.