|
Greetings,
I posted a few weeks back about camping at Good Guys in Charlotte and thought I'd follow-up. My work schedule got hosed, but we decided to take the kids down to Carrowinds theme park for the day, and try to hit the speedway on the way home. As usual, trying to cram too much in one day, but this time it actually worked out.
After a day of waiting in lines to get some thrills at Carrowinds (courtesy of gravity and some crafty engineers), we headed back home. We stopped near UNC Charlotte for dinner and the place was crawling with rods. Many were staying at the hotels and so forth, which are about 5-8 miles south of the speedway.
Well, so seeing so many cool cars even got my daughter excited about going and finding some more. I knew that they were gonna cruise the cars under the lights of
the speedway from 6-10 that night. We headed up the highway and get off at Speedway Blvd. Man, there were hot rods and muscle cars EVERYWHERE! I couldn't stop grinning.
We get to the speedway around 8:00, and park just outside one of the gates. There's a real nice security guard who tells us where we can get in. We can see the lights are on and hear the cars at this point. Meanwhile we see all manner of kick-ass cars coming up the access road from just finishing their laps. Man, they sounded SO DAMN GOOD.
We follow the guard's instructions and slip through an open gate, and in one of the access points for the main grandstand area. As we walk through the corridor, we come out into a sea of light and sound, and witness the spectacle of 1:1 Hot Wheels blasting around the track. IT WAS ALMOST LIKE A DREAM.
The grandstands were empty, save for a few dozen people who knew that this was gonna be happening. I mean, sure, all the people who entered the show (2000+) knew about it, but they all must have left the grounds at 5:00, did their laps, and headed out to the hotels (like we saw in Charlotte). I thought there would have been more people in the stands?
So we find us a nice viewing spot and watched for over an hour, as they would bring cars out in groups of 20-30 and let them take two laps. There were pace cars at the head of the pack and at the tail. I don't believe they were traveling much over 60. But the cars were all so cool and some took advantage of gaps in the pack to put the pedal to the metal on the straightaway we positioned ourselves at.
It was really cool and the cars sounded as good as they looked. We saw everything from flamed deuces, primered '40 Ford Sedans, trucks, a whole slew of 67-69 Camaros, Mustangs, and streetrods, customs, and muscle cars that represented everthing that came out of Detroit prior to 1972. My 9-year old son kept fussing the whole time "DAD, WHY DIDN'T WE BRING THE COUPE!?!?" I think we will definitely be going next year!
Of course, it is fun to just go and spectate... no worrying about the car getting hit or stolen miles from home. It would be a fun weekend to be a part of though. I made a mental note that in addition to bringing a camera for taking pics IN the car, I should get my wife to sit in the stands and shoot video of the coupe taking laps under the lights.
In some ways I think the experience ruined car shows for me. Yes, it's great fun to walk the rows of cars and meet folks and talk cars. But after seeing so many rods and customs rockin' the speedway, it's gonna be tough going back to the static display thing. I guess there's always next year! I hope that everyone who went this past weekend had a great time and safe travels.
-murph
|
