left, then left, and left again

so Saturday i, with the help of our friend eric, took the kids up to fontana to take part in the vehicular festivities. mainly it was just to hang out with everyone who had gotten away from the trailer park for the weekend of left turn only racing. so we started out in the driveway with me running back in the house for something only to come back out and find ethan filling up his car seat with breakfast banana, he was already strapped in. yeah he puked that up and everything else in his belly, all the way down the front of him. a quick bath and we were out the door finally. i figured that it was just a one time thing and he was fine the rest of the day.

just before getting to the gate we started our free stuff grab with a rockstar hat and some energy drinks. we walked around while the truck race was finishing up and got to do a couple of cool things that the kids liked. makenzie for some reason did not want to get her picture taken in front of any display cars but she finally warmed up. the weather up to that point was nice and warm. dark clouds were coming in from the west. at the home depot booth the kids got to build/put together pine wood derby type cars. they gave them some pins, stickers, the wood cars, one of those orange aprons, and a picture tony stewarts car. got to see the speed racer car. the kids loved the free goodies from the booths and makenzie was disappointed the we could not find a necklace. makenzie's favorite booth was the pink one. some racer girl stuff but in her eyes it did not matter. they could have been giving out tatoos, taking your identity and body piercings to the first 150 visitors but because the trailor was pink she now had a favorite. her favorite nascar was the car that had pink numbers for that race weekend.

so we finally went over to sit down. on our way up the stairs the truck races finished and so by the time we got to the stands there was no one on the track. luckily for us the nascars came out to practice or do something. they all lined up on pit row those that could fit and then eventually took off. since were were in row one it was loud. the ear plugs for the kids did not work because they were made for someone a bit larger. we made our way back a few rows to get a better view and i am sure it was only a few decibels quieter. then came the sprinkles and the those oversponsered cars quickly scampered back to cover. we found a table underneath the stands and waited out the light dusting rain. once everything was soaked we went back up to the grandstands and the kids were off. it was like they snuck some energy drink into a sippy cup but they were running all over the place. up to the middle walkway and then all the way to the top of the seating area. makenzie found out that she could hold on to the handrail and slide down. the nice thing was that she would also clean the middle bar of the hand rail with each slide. jacket got dirty but she left each one a little cleaner. her and ethan thought that is was fun just to run from us or go up and down the stairs. since there were not too many people there, it was up one row and down the next. the rain was sporadic and it ended up delaying the nationwide series race that afternoon.

we hid out under the stands when the rain would come, and then we heard that it would start in an hour. the dryer trucks came out, tow trucks and some service trucks driving around the 2 mile track like it was the 24 hours of le mans, lap after lap. all in an effort to beat the next grey cloud that might dump some water on the track. we found the ramp that took us to the very top of the stadium. ethan went down for a nap and makenzie was complaining about being cold. now being the dad that i am, i woke up saw sun and a few clouds and left the warm clothes and rain jackets at home. now we were at the top and the wind was blowing. no water but i gave makenzie my sweater and got her warm. ethan could have slept even if it were snowing. being the frugal macgyver that i am i came across some large grey trash bags. i grabbed one for myself to block the wind. 15 minutes from the race starting the rain came back and the dark clouds followed. i then punched some holes and and began the transformation into a bag man. grabbed one for makenzie and wrapped ethans legs in one, as it blocked the wind and rain on both of them. from our vantage point we could see those die hard fans pouring out the exit and we followed.

the race was delayed until monday after the nascar race finished on monday morning. with all of these sponsors/races it is a bit confusing, sorry i am not a nascar guy. i just don't get it. i like F1. i have my old man to thank for that, as well as my British mother. we would have been stoked to see lightning mcqeen going 3 wide with the king and chick hicks, or Ricky Bobby racing in the rain neck and neck with Cole Trickle. it was loud and the cars go fast. too bad the weather did not cooperate with our outing. maybe next time.

some things that i noticed this weekend, and i am sure that some of these things have an explanation.

• anything goes at the track, old jacket from the 80's, bust that thing out and fit right in. i looked but never ended up seeing a hyper color shirt, someone with stone washed pegged jeans. no parachute pants either.
  
• at one point i saw them working on one of the cars during the sunday race and one of the guys from the pit crew had a roll of duct tape and was using it on the car. last time i checked these cars were not slapped together from a mail order kit from the latest popular mechanics. i would imagine that these cars are worth some bucks, but slap some duct tape on it. maybe that was one of their sponsors
• #3 (dale earnhart) is sacred but isn't that STP (richard petty) guy just as big but he isn't. (i had to look that stuff up.) i don't know anything about these guys and nor do i profess to.
  
• any time a driver gets on tv they start out by saying, "well john, today our mountain dew, pepsi, home depot, fred meyer, paramont pictures, truly nolen, hogie yogie, huffy, scientology, ted's bakery, google earth, far west design, ooyala, 2008 Chevrolet Malibu with the optional sunroof from tommy thompson Chevrolet on front street ran pretty good."
• for those die hard fans, they have portable TV's that you can rent by the race or by the weekend, you can plug in your IV to the speed channel and find out if your favorite driver got 4 tires or extra gas at that last pit stop.
• the only event that i have been to where the crappy seats are front row. sitting in the last row is better because you can see almost the entire track.
• nascar (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) these are not stock cars. they are race cars. in F1 the previous years winner gets to earn the number 1 for his car, his teammate gets # 2. each team (ferrari) has 2 cars that race. the second place guy would then get the #3 and so on down the line. i only explain this to point out that they should have started the no child left behind in the south. here you can see that there are 2 #1's, #7's and #8's. it is not like there are 100+ drivers and some will have to double up.
  
• usually you tailgate in the parking lot. nascar fans tailgate all over the place. they are all over the infield in their 80's Winnebago's while cousin eddie gets trashed, who is watching rocky and ruby. you can also smoke anywhere you want.
  

i did omit the fact that i was involved in a mullet toss. as we got over to all of the displays there was an overly excited announcer inviting any passerby to participate in a competition to win a prize, aka shirt and hat w/logo. i being a willing soul followed the instructions to stand in a line to play. he then announced that we would be tossing a mullet wig. yes a mullet wig. if that does not say hick, southern, white trash, etc...., i don't know what does. the lady in front of me was first to step into the hula hoop on the ground. with her cane in her left hand as well as a bag of other goodies, and balancing on her good leg she whipped that wig around in a full circle and then let is fly. i felt bad for her as she gave it her best effort but it did not go that far, i thought. there were 8 guys behind me so i had be the one to send her on her way, and knock her out of contention for the white shirt and truckers hat. i stepped in and got a little uneasy when slick rick from Pensacola, Florida shoved the mic in my grill and said my name. i looked over at makenzie and ethan in the stroller and began my routine. i grabbed hold and brought it back and then brang it forwards. just i began to bring it around i lost my grip on the rat tail and it slipped out of my fingers. it landed short of where i wanted it to land and short of the lady ahead of me. i had failed at my quest for free stuff, let my kids down and was the laughing stock of the mullet toss. failure.