The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

We saw that movie and its a hoot. Go here, and you can race!

This past friday night we met my friend Becky at the State Fair Speedway to watch the Pro Stocks, Factory Stocks, Super Sprints and Champ Sprint cars. We sat for over four hours. It was hot. No, wait... it was flippin hot with NO breeze whatsoever and even though we were protected from the sun (races start at 7:30pm), it made no difference because the humidity was thick enough you could cut it with a knife. I wore as little clothing as possible and still that was too much. We all just sat there watching the cars go round and round... all without much movement because each time we shifted in our seats that caused our body temperatures to rise thus creating more heat around us. We did happen to sit, conveniently enough, to the liquid refreshment stand :)

The track was dirt track which is sprayed with water before the races begin, but towards the end of the racing the dirt has dried out and is flung up in the air by the cars... creating a nice dust storm for the spectators. The rubber from the tires had created some sort of slickness on the track too... it looked like that 'black ice' that we experience during the winter months from water being on the road and it freezes into that dangerously slick stuff. As the night wears on, i'm not sure if the drivers get tired and are anxious for the races to end, or if the driving conditions progressively get worse with each lap, but they increasingly wreck and stall out. The last race, which should have taken about ten minutes, took about 40 I think. One of the collisions took about 10 mintues to clean up... the cars couldnt be unhooked from one another so they had to drag the whole mess off the track in one giant piece. They started the race again and within minutes... a yellow light and someone else had a mishap. I love to go watch the races but it certainly get tiring when you're trying to watch and it really never gets anywhere because of all the stopping due to wrecks or other little issues.

Anyways... made me think of Ricky Bobby. hahaha