Off to the West Coast again .. Day 5 NASCAR & Sprint cars

[daytonababe]

We managed to sleep till 8am I think the last few busy days had caught up with us.

We got up showered and changed and got our stuff ready as today we were off to the Speedway.

Went down to get the car and overnight some of the NASCAR haulers had appeared in the hotel car park, My DS was excited and wanted to go over there. So we walked across , on the way I struck up a conversation with one of the hauler drivers and by chance we found ourselves in the same hotel in Phoenix later in the trip and have become friends.
Anyway we let DS loose and he wandered around he's been around race cars enough to be sensible so I don't worry he knows what to do.. He really wants to work in NASCAR so he can spend forever watching the mechanics.

After 30 mins we dragged him away and drove to Tahiti Village and had breakfast at Dennys because we had a 20% off voucher. Also I hate race track food (strange given I'm there so much !) so I knew we would eat very little at the track oh and its expensive..

Got to the track and parked really close to the ticket office :-) It was pretty hot already which suited us perfectly.

Went in the ticket office to get my tickets, queued only to find they were outside at Will Call.. Nice to have moved them after 8 yrs lol.. I also had to collect a friends who wasn't able to make it and try and sell to a tout... Collecting his ticket took forever I had the email from the speedway confirming they had been signed to me but the woman couldn't quite grasp I wasn't Jeff .. 20 mins later I finally got his ticket.

Inside mine was what I really wanted.. the 20% discount voucher for the shop :-)

We went over there and bought the usual diecast models, shirts etc $250 later we left.
Then we headed for the big Fanatics tent which has a much bigger range of merchandise.. Well lets just say we spent plenty ;-) . I had purchased a diecast to get signed the following week when I was the ultimate fan .. well that was the plan !


It was roasting by now and we headed into the head and through the tunnel to the Neon Garage.. it was a test day and free entry but it was really quiet there.
They have glass windows so you can see the cars being worked on..and I spotted my driver in his garage so I waited by his window.. my persistence paid off and 20 mins later he'd signed my diecast and my t -shirt !

Connor wanted to collect autographs so DD and I took him to a little gate we found whilst DH went off taking pics.. Persistence paid off again and he got several signatures..And I got a nice dose of sunburn..

By now it was 4pm so we decided to go over to the Dirt track nearby and get our tickets for the night racing. I haven't been to World of Outlaws in years so I can't say I was excited and nor was DD, but Connor and my DH were looking forward to it.

Over to will call and got our tickets and then we decided to purchase pit passes $10 each.

We were hungry by now so decided to go to the Mcdonalds along Nellis Blvd not far from the track. Now I've been down this road many many times at least 8 each time we go and well lets just say its not really for tourists.. However Mcdonalds was ok, we survived without being shot, attacked or mugged like I had imagined ! (North Las Vegas really isn't that great in parts).

We were the only English in there so we sure stood out !


Drove back to the dirt track and parked up.. got changed into leggings etc and wandered into the pits. World of Outlaws are a bit like UK Stock cars and very popular and many NASCAR drivers watch or race them.

In the pits we saw a few drivers and Connor got some pics with them..Then he wanted to look around the merchandise and I ended up buying him a large piece of a race car spoiler thing (never thought about getting it home but we did!).

The racing was quite good tbh and we all enjoyed it, about 11pm Chloe and I went back to the car as she was tired, DH and DS joined us at midnight when it had finished.

Drove back to South Point which didn't take long as very little traffic and finally got to bed at 1am.

Steps walked 15875

[daytonababe]

[daytonababe]

[daytonababe]

[Enchanted]

Goodness that was such a long day! Connor is looking so grown up x

[daytonababe]

It was a long long day...

I know he's 14 in July and I look at him and think where's my little boy gone !

I actually felt a bit awkward when he had the picture taken with Ricoh the Dwarf racing driver, Ricoh had to stand on the step.. But to his credit he laughed and said he was used to people towering over him even kids

And it just goes to show that disability doesn't have to hold you back.. He's a very well respected driver and more than holds his own against the others :-)

[Pussycat Doll]

Fantastic day for you, looks like you're really lucky with the weather too. Pussycat

[Glee Fan]

I love reading all about your Nascar trips. The driver's all seem so accessible and willing to have photo's taken and take time out for fans. I love that, I think it's great.

Ouch at the sunburn, long old day, especially for Chloe bless her!

[daytonababe]

We were really lucky with the weather . We had two days (coming up soon ) that weren't great but otherwise it was fab.

It was a long day for Chloe but I managed to unlock two of our iphones and then bought 2 of the three pay as you go sims for £20 each. So the days we were racing she took one of the unlocked phones with her and was able to use the internet and talk to her friends.And she reads her kindle a lot.

We do get a lot of access to the drivers , most are very normal, They shop in Target some stay in the same hotel as us etc and almost all are fan friendly. On the Sunday after the race many drive back to the airports in every day hire cars. At the Sprint Cars Chloe and I spent ages playing with one of the drivers baby sons who was with the drivers girlfriends..Its a very different world from the likes of F1

[abiknox]

Wow what a long day!

I love reading about all your autographs ect