by NASCarla...

My son Brad and his family lives south of Colorado Springs. Pikes Peak International Raceway is south of Colorado Springs. Every July PPI has a Busch Race...
3 Sisters Road Trip!! Judy, Thad and I left bright (?) and early in my red Grand Prix July 22, Kathy and her husband had headed out the day before (you can do that when you own your own business!). We opted to take the southern route - wanted to check out sports bars along the way, our plans were to stop in Dodge City, Kansas on the way home Sunday to watch the cup race. That strategy was

scrubbed - the temps were over the 105 degree mark when we stopped for lunch - got the hell out of Dodge! Arrived in Rye, Colorado around 7 p.m. - not bad timing. If you decide that PPI is a race you might want to check out, we highly recommend the motel we stayed at; The Days Inn, Colorado City. They were under renovation, but have a nice bar, pool, and were so hospitable to race fans. I had the best accommodations, Brad and Carley put me up for the weekend! That's a great way to travel for the races, find a friend or relative to stay with. Hopefully they are race fans and understand that the race is a major focus of the trip! With more than a

little uneasiness I left my car with Thad and Judy Friday night. It's not that I have anything to fear with either of their driving skills, it's just that me and the Prix are pretty tight, it felt like one of us was cheating... I know, that's an issue I need to work on... Anyway, it turned out to be one of those goose-bumps moments: Saturday morning Jaydie, my granddaughter, was waiting with me on their porch for my ride... Here comes the Prix, tricked out in all it's NASCAR glory, drivers flags flapping in the breeze, Eagle 1 Goodyear tires spinning golden in the sun... I jumped up and yelled "look, Jaydie, that's my car!" Jaydie gave me one of those disapproving looks, shook her head and said "Grandma, that's just crazy!" Cool! Brad and Carley had to take the girls to a sitter, so they left for the track later than we did, but my sisters and I thought later that maybe we were just too insane, that our own family would rather not be seen arriving with us. That's OK - we sure do have a good time - it's all about racing, isn't it???

Getting to the track was a bit of an experience. We've been spoiled by Kansas Speedway for the past 4 years - really easy to get on and off. Pikes Peak has one little access gravel road when you're coming from the south - so give yourself plenty of time to get in and get parked. We didn't tailgate so can't report on that, but I do recommend rolling up the windows tight, those duststorms blow in a lot of grit off the mountains. Also, if you happen to be a flatlander like we are, be careful when you open closed containers such as toothpaste, suntan lotion - it just plops out - like a miniatures volcano! Carley says it's because of the altitude - pressure or something. I sure didn't feel any different physically, just a little ear-popping on the drive into Colorado. Anyway, back to the race...

One great thing about the stand-alone Busch races is that the drivers seem to have more time to spend with their fans. In the picture above 3 Sisters pose with David Stremme. He was so generous with his time, and so cute! He's now become another of our "Favorite Drivers". Along with Boston Reed, a Hendrick rookie. Boston shares his ride with Blake Feese, who ran that weekend at Pikes Peak. Our website wasn't up yet, we didn't even think about a sister sandwich - hopefully we'll see them both at Kansas...

Every track has it's own unique "flavor", PPI had some heavy equipment on display - the air show was incredible, even the dust storm was thrilling! Brad and Carley enjoyed a day at the track where Brad didn't have to work on the fire & safety crew, he never gets to watch the race that way! Thad and I enjoyed the Turkey legs!

Temps were hot hot hot, so was polesitter Clint Bowyer. He led for 53 laps, it was a thrill to watch him race - David Stremme had 4 left tires blow during the race, finishing 35th, 28 laps down. Carl Edwards also had a tough go of it, finishing just ahead of Stremme and 17 laps down. Fans had it made though, a cloud cover drifted in and cooled us down a couple of hours into the race, so nobody got too cranky! Except for Kim Crosby fans, her engine failed at lap 127...

3 SISTERS RACING...

David Green pinned back his ears, made it three wide on Bill Elliot and Paul Menard - blew past Clint Bowyer on the final two laps, and treated us to one hell of a celebration. I'm convinced that we are good luck for some drivers, this was Green's first win since Kansas Speedway in '03 - we witnessed that also! We hung around and watched victory lane, hoping to wait out the traffic. It was bad - trying to get back to Brad's place, that track is definitely not set up for the growing NASCAR crowd. We took a wrong turn, not our spotters fault, the police had no idea which way to send us, we went right instead of straight - ended up way out of our way somewhere in Colorado Springs!

Long story short, Brad and Carley waited for us for hours, our cousin Anne, who also lives in Colorado, almost gave up on seeing us... the girls were ready for bed by the time we got there - but again, we sure had a great day! Headed home early Sunday, stopped in a little town just inside Kansas to watch the Cup race - it was at Pocono. Got home around 3 a.m. Monday morning, totally worn out, but already planning our next trip to Gateway Busch race the following weekend... Jaydie's right - 3 Sisters Racing is just crazy - about racing, that is!

RACE BOUNTY

Blayse - "Here Comes Trouble"

Jaydie - "Girls Drive Faster Than Boys - get used to it"

Michayla -"Girls wanna race too!"

Headdressings from Aunt Kathy, something new at the track...

TRACK
RATING:

HOME   PIT CREW   DRIVERS   TAILGATING   TURN 1   GUEST BOOK   JOURNAL  EVENTS   LINKS