Love, Baby and Life: Darlington Throwback

Sorry I've been MIA. It wasn't intentional its called love and life for a reason because those two things get in the way sometimes.

I promised you guys an update from Darlington Raceway and here it is.

I was fortunate enough to get to travel to Darlington, South Carolina 2 weeks ago with my hubby for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race over Labor Day. Going to the track is something I look forward to and I haven't been to a race since April, so I was itching for the sound of the engines being fired, the smell of race fuel, and the amazing people watching

We got to the track prior to the garage opening and I went to the Fanatics tent to do some shopping for our niece and myself. I met him in the garage a few minutes after it opened. I walked in with a smile on my face (which the employees at the gates checking IDs and hot passes loved) and 2 things of brownies for the guys at Go Fas Racing. (They know I always travel with sweets for them). Off to the hauler I went. I am a weirdo and I actually enjoy being in the garage area and hanging out just watching everything going on around me. Watching what these guys do in the garages and what it takes to get the cars ready to go on the track is absolutely mesmerizing if you take the time to notice it. I get reminded all the time to not take advantage of what I get to do. Not everyone gets to hang out in the garage and in the pits so I always take a minute to stop and look around and truly be thankful for the opportunities that I am given.

After Tim did some of his duties we headed to the pit box where he needed to set up the computers and TVs. This gave me a chance to see the pit crew who I hadn't seen in a couple months and to see where we were on pit road. Turned out we were right next to Greg Biffle's pit box and he was sponsored by Hooters so we were hanging out next to Hooters girls the entire day. Lets just say the guys were not disappointed at all.

After the box was set up I went and sat at the hauler waiting for the race to start which gave me a few hours to chat with people I haven't seen and harass the guys on the team. I got the opportunity to chat with Matt DiBenedetto's mom who realized that we were from the same area in California and her daughter lived near my mom. (It truly is a small world). I chatted with some of the guys' girlfriends and helped them to understand the sport a bit more. I walked around the garage and looked at the cars as they went through tech and were getting pushed to pit road for the race.

I try to stay out of the way but I always offer to help when I am at the track. I feel like I need to earn my hot pass. There are some weeks I have gone to get their dinner from the garlic garage and there are time sI pull things out to the pit box prior to the race, and many of times I help clean up the pit area after the race.

We have almost reached time time for the green flag to drop. First off we need to make it to pit road, which is a magical feat all in its own. Some of the tracks are awful at making room for the teams to haul things back and forth and Darlington was especially bad. I just about ran over a hundred people who didn't move out of the way as I am pulling a cart with pieces for the car. So in the future if you got to a race stay out of the way of someone hauling something or pushing something.

We stood on pit road, listened to the prayer, listened to the national anthem and heard the famous words in motorsports "Drivers, start your engines". Those are the best words to hear.

The Southern 500 is an extremely long race that starts in the sunshine and finishes late at night. We saw the dos beautiful sunset which is featured at the top of the post. During the race we saw our fair share of cautions, and wrecks. We ourselves hit the wall and had to come in for a vibration which ended up ending our night. Tony Stewart ended his night early as did Kurt Busch. The race claimed its victims and its winner was declared as Martin Truex Jr.

The team packed everything up in the hauler and we made the trek home. We ended up getting home a little after 1:30 in the morning, but by the time you wind down and get tired we ended up going to bed around 3:30am. It was a long day but it was a day I will gladly do all over again. I cant wait for my next race which will be Charlotte for the Chase race. Lets see who can win it, and continue on towards their hopes of winning a championship.

Below are some pictures I took throughout the race and the evening.