Grand Am race at Daytona, Met Brad and some nice people Options

[Part Pricer]

I got back from my trip to Daytona last night. Actually, it was my son’s trip. It was his graduation present. I was the one lucky enough to get invited along. Although, I don’t think his mother would have had any part of it.

Anyway, we spent from Wednesday through Sunday living in a motorhome at Daytona International Speedway. We were fully immersed in the NASCAR experience. Even though we met some very nice people during our stay, I do have to say that most of the stereotypes of the NASCAR fan are true. I saw beer being consumed in mass quantities by almost everyone at any time of the day. And, I was subjected to so much second-hand smoke that I should have just lit up and joined in.

My son had a good time and that is what is important. However, the highlight of the trip for both Evan and I was that we got to work the hot pits for the Rosser Racing/Mind over Motorsports GT entry for the Grand Am race on Thursday night. This was made possible by the asshole that we call Brad.

Let me set the stage for Thursday night. The Fourth of July weekend is a big event for NASCAR fans at Daytona. There are all kinds of things going on. But, the two key events are the Winn-Dixie 250 Busch series race (Friday night) and the Pepsi 400 Winston Cup race on Saturday night. Leading up to these two races are the normal practice and race qualifying sessions held on the days prior to the races. This year, the organizers decided to cram in something a little different for the fans. They added a sports car race on the road course at Daytona for Thursday night. The race is called the Paul Revere 250 and it is part of the Rolex Sports Car Series. To draw a few fans, the race was scheduled to take place right after the qualifying session for the Winston Cup race. I think this worked, there were probably 100,000 people in the stands when I first got down to the pits.

As you may have read in Sean’s earlier post, Brad has been working with the Mind over Motorsports team in supporting Blake Rosser. Brad invited Evan and I down to help out for the race.

We met Brad at 7:00 PM the night of the race. We hooked up at the entrance to the tunnel leading to the infield. I told Brad that I would be easy to spot. I was sure that I would be the only person wearing a Porsche hat. Sure enough, we didn’t miss one another. Now, we didn’t have much time for pleasantries or talk about 914s. There was a lot of work to be done and we got right to it.

Brad drove us into the Grand Am paddock. Because there were three separate races that week, we didn’t have a garage. The garages were in use by the Winston Cup guys. Now, because it was a NASCAR event, security was extremely tight. You couldn’t get anywhere unless you had the proper credentials. Thanks to Brad, we had the proper credentials. As I found out later, I could get everywhere except the NASCAR garages. It was very cool to be waved in to different areas by the security guards while hundreds of people were milling around hoping to get a glimpse of something happening.

Here is my first picture from the night. That is Brad’s ass sticking out of the car.