Wonder if Lee's wondering what kind of people he's hanging with?
Follow
me down Memory Lane - we're headed out to the Kansas Speedway to party
- oh yeah, and watch a few races! Craftsman Truck, ARCA and Indy cars - just
enough to whet our thirst for when the Cup cars come to town in October...
We meet at a bank that sits right off I435, have a short drivers meeting,
then draft to the track... Ignoring the parking attendants (we don't see you,
la la la la la), it's three wide to our pits - gotta make sure we all pit
together, we're a strong, professional tailgating team!
2006 & 2007 ARCA/Truck/Indy Tailgating and Race Page - Enjoy!
These pictures are two days worth of tailgating for the 2006 Kansas Craftsman Truck/ARCA/Indy Races. Our Special Guest is Lee Dinkle, he was the lucky fan who won the RPM package 3 Sisters gave away at the infamous Daytona Watch Party. Lee can hang with us anytime - we had a blast! Stephanie and Adam joined our group on this day, bringing along a couple of peeps with them. Robby and Amy brought their daughter Nicole, a lovely addition to our race-crazy kid group!
The weather was almost perfect, a little windy and dusty, but not unbearably hot. Not that any of us would complain - won't be calling the Waaah-mbulance to our tailgate... Things get a little silly by the end of the weekend - great racin', friends, food and drink - just doesn't get any better than that!
Boogity Boogity Boogity!!
Day 1... It's off to Kansas Speedway, ARCA Races! This is not some fancy Photoshop enhanced picture - it started pouring rain as soon as we arrived at the track...
It was a soggy start - we had to sit in the car over 30 minutes, just waiting out the rain. Everything looked good till we got into the stands, then - downpour. There was a 16 lap green, yellow start to dry the track. But it all ended well, the clouds rolled out and the sky was Kansas beautiful.
Thad says: "I always travel light, because I end up packing for others..."
This is what they mean by a "Torrential Downpour!" And we hear there were a couple of funnels in those storm clouds - scary!
Scott Lagasse had a dominating victory, followed by Erik Darnell in second and Blake Feese coming home third. Great racing, in spite of the soggy start! And we had one more day of race weekend, and absolutely no rain in the forecast for the weekend - yee haw!
Day 2... It's off to the Craftsman Truck Races! We met at our usual spot, no, those aren't our 4-legged rides - we wish! Every year we have different fan friends show up to draft to the track together, but we have to have a seasoned driver pace the line - This time Judy Kay led the way in her black Grand Prix... We arrived at the track with plenty of time to tailgate and souvenier shop, two of our favorite things to do, besides watching the race!
Looks like everyone got to do a little "off-road" racin in this mud!! James makes a port-a-potti run!
Mornin' Sunshine! How's about a little Mornin' Sunshine? Judy Kay serves up one of our favorite juices, Peach Brandy and Orange Juice - just a tiny buzz, and hey, Orange Juice is really good for you!
Shannon warned her mom (NASCarla), "You don't tell me you're taking a picture, this is what you get!" She's always lookin' good tho, so not to worry!
Unfortunately we didn't get a front view of Randy's seat mate - that red face ISN'T from the sun, is it Randy?? Watch the rack, Randy...I mean the TRACK!
Eric Darnell won the truck race and our man Zach Cansler won the Driver pot. $39, not too shabby for drawing names out of an envelope, especially when Aunty Pam forks over the dough...
Jimmie's been framed - in a good way, by Randy Wayman, for Kathy Beth - it's a win-win!!
I feel bad for the poor people who have never had a race track tailgating experience; the sights, sounds, company of family and friends - people bring out their best rides to show off - and after a long, cold winter - we all get some sun! We love tank tops!
Somebody somewhere finally
came to their senses... or was the oppressive heat and humidity of the Kansas
summers finally too much? The Truck and Indy races were moved from the July
4th weekend to the end of April - Good move! We race fans are pretty tough,
but it's a little disconcerting to see medics and stretchers moving overheated
fans to the cooling stations in the hot July 4th races.
Pictured to the left, right above the word "Canadian" stands Ashley
Judd, wife of IRL driver Dario Franchitti. She graced us with her presence
at the Kansas Lottery 300. In 2008, she'll be just another NASCAR wife. Dario
has signed with Chip Ganassi to drive the #40 car. She's a southern girl,
just going back to her roots.
This race marks
the first time three women have competed at the same time in a major North
American race. Danica Patrick, Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno finished 7th, 12th,
and 14th respectively. Dan
Wheldon won; started fourth and led an impressive total of 177 laps. Great
day at the races - Zach Young thinks so too - he drew Dan Wheldon in the Driver
Pot!
Robby took charge of the grilling duties this day - everybody brought their favorite goodies - too much food as usual, but that's the way we roll...