2013 NASCAR Contenders Live

What a HUGE difference a year makes! Of course if you read my previous blogs you know I attended the 2012 NASCAR Contenders Live at the House of Blues. Besides the nice intimacy of seeing the 12-Chase contenders live, it was a horrible experience. I remember after last years event we received a survey to fill out about the experience. I'm guessing based on how wonderful the event was this year they listened to the fans when they responded!

This year, they held it in Chicago in the Grand Ballroom on the Navy Pier. What a fantastic venue!!

Before the actual event, my race buddy, Kecia and I went on a 30-minute boat ride to see the Chicago Skyline from the water. I'm a lover of the Great Lakes and this was a special treat. I absolutely loved the ride and the view was amazing.

I think every time we travel together now we MUST get one of those cheesy tourist photos like this one. We had one taken in Wilmington at the battle ship too. yes, this will become our goal now wherever we end up!

Some of the pictures I took from the boat ride.

This one above I actually took from the pier, but I wanted to fit it in here now. Isn't it beautiful with the sun shining on the water. I just loved it. I could have just sat here all day and been happy.


Now, onto the actual NASCAR event.

As we enter the ballroom, I'm impressed by the layout. They have the stage, four rows of tables with 6 people per table, a small section of just chairs on the floor behind the tables and bleachers behind that for the rest of the general admission. The tables have a large metal bucket with popcorn in it, miniature candies surround the bucket along with six beverages. We have our own little seat numbers, table number card and little plastic cups for drinks or popcorn.

We sat there for a little bit chatting with our table mates before Kim Coon, one of the Miss Sprint Cup ladies came out on stage. She did some interacting with the fans, gave away some prizes and did some surveys using Twitter. They had a NASCAR race truck (Toyota) sitting directly behind us under a sheet. Finally she was done and Nicole from ESPN came out on stage for a bit. After her it was Mike Helton (President of NASCAR) and Dale Jarrett (former NASCAR driver turned ESPN Analyst).

They brought out a bunch of up and coming drivers that are just starting in the NASCAR series. I thought this was really neat. After talking with them each on stage briefly they had them sit with the fans in the audience.

Finally they brought out Kasey Kahn, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson and talked with them for a few minutes. Really, the drivers were very quiet. It was disappointing simply because they were so candid and relaxed last year and they were NOT this year.

Next they brought out Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, Joey Lagano and Dale Earnhardt Jr. I was pleasantly surprised that Ryan Newman received a very loud positive acknowledgement from the audience after Nicole congratulated him for making the Chase. I think she summed it up well when she said that Newman will become the sentimental favorite for winning the Championship.

Lastly, they sat Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Clint Bowyer in the center of the stage since they were the three Toyota drivers that made the Chase and Toyota was a sponsor for the event.

I was a little uncomfortable that Kyle was looking so chummy with the Sprint Cup trophy. I refuse to see that as any form of predicting who will win the championship. My vote this year is for Ryan Newman, simply since he does drive for my driver and I want to see him leave SHR with a championship in his pocket. I may root for Tony Stewart but I didn't agree with him letting Ryan go, so I think a championship would be a fitting send off! Plus, Ryan is going to fill the position that Jeff Burton (my other favorite) is vacating at RCR at the end of this season, so it just seems appropriate.

Anyway, the day was just fabulous. Met some interesting fans, witnessed a great event and had a lot of fun with my race buddy. Once of these years we will have to try and spend a whole race weekend in Chicago. I can only imagine the kind of mischief I could get into!

Clint Bowyer

With all "crap" that has happened in NASCAR since last weekend, it's really hard to listen to all the commentary today and wonder what we're not being told. The looks that Nicole (ESPN) was giving to Rusty, Brad and Ray were something I would expect to see from a woman saying what she was told to say and hating every moment of it. And the way the guys were appearing to walk on glass around her was just hilarious. I might have been reading more into it, but I really do not think so. Everyone was so censored on what they were saying and personally, I think Nicole really did not like it. While at the NASCAR Contenders Live event last Thursday, I noticed that when Clint Bowyer came up on stage, she casually mentioned the elephant in the room. At this comment, all the drivers clammed up.

Of everything we heard about the last week, I think for me the most difficult was hearing about Clint Bowyer. I really like him. I like his sense of humor and his down-to-earth personality. Sure, he can drive a race car but that is not what caught my attention. What caught my attention was the fact he appeared "normal". About as normal as anyone could be who drives a race car for a living, but still, he is what I would consider normal.

He also has this infectious smile and this mischievous glint in his eye that lets you know he's up to no good.

Anyway, I posted on Facebook today that while watching him walk to pit road before the start of today's race in Chicago,I felt sorry for him. His usually confident, almost on the verge of arrogant swagger was gone and he just looked lost. From everything I read and heard, he was following team orders when he spun his car at Richmond. Now most of us would jump immediately to the conclusion that he was wrong and should not have done it. I, on the other hand did not immediately judge him.

I'm sure we have all been in a position where our boss tells us to do something that we really don't want to do. Perhaps it's morally or ethically wrong and yet we face a huge dilemma when deciding what to do. It's the damned if we do, damned if we don't scenario. Until we are in his shoes, facing his choices and dealing with his consequences, we really don't know what we would have chosen to do. Do any of us really have the right to automatically condemn him without truly understanding?

No, we don't.

I'm not saying I agree with what he did. No, I can't say that at all.

However, I can say that I don't think that one wrong is going to damn him in my eyes. I am going to choose to believe that he will learn from this situation and he will become a better person.

I'm choosing to give Clint Bowyer a second chance.

We all make mistakes. I think we will see Clint's true character by the way he chooses to race from this point forward.

So, here you go Clint... your second chance starts RIGHT NOW!

2013 - slow year for me and NASCAR

I've been so busy this year I can honestly say I have not attended any races as a fan. Totally disappointing but not surprising. I had a two week trip to Europe in May. That took up a majority of my time and energy. I had a trip to Texas in mind with my race buddies, but that kind of fell through. It's a real bummer for me to not have seen Jeff Burton race this year, especially since he's out at RCR for next year and has no set plans. If I missed seeing him race for his last full Cup year I'm going to be very pissed to say the least. I've been a fan of his since 1997, I want to be able to see him race ONCE more live. And Tony breaking his leg and ruining his championship contention, was just another nail in the coffin.

The only excitement I've had this year in regards to the sport was my 80-hours of volunteering at Michigan International Speedway. As part of my graduation requirement I have to have about 120-hours of an internship. Well, I have a career and really didn't need that requirement so they substituted 120-hours of volunteering at the speedway in it's place. The goal was to let me see a little bit behind the scenes as far as what goes into making a successful race weekend and have some fan interaction for my research. My senior thesis is on NASCAR so it was a win/win for me.

Well let me just say, I had a very involved meeting with two of the higher ups at MIS before they approved me doing this. It almost felt like a job interview. They agreed to let me in and so I worked 38-hours at the June race for the Fan Experience and 42-hours at the August race in ticketing. Very interesting, thoroughly enjoyable and absolutely tiring as hell. I have met some wonderful staff and fans. It has been a true eye-opening experience to say the very least. I have some pictures of the staff I worked with and me from the June and August race but I'll not post them on here since this is public post. You'll have to trust me that I did it.

Can I just say... until you see it with your own eyes you can not imagine the work they put into each race weekend. It's truly incredible.

Hopefully they will take me back next year so I can finish out the requirement. To me though, it is just so much more than a requirement. It's been a fantastic experience and it helped me broaden my view about the track and NASCAR.

As for what is next on the agenda, I head to Chicago this coming Thursday to see the NASCAR Contenders Live. I'm going just for the day with my racing buddy Kecia. We had a great experience last year and I can't imagine this would be any less. I'm super happy they moved it from the House of Blues to the ballroom at the Navy Pier. That is the one place in Chicago I have not been (Navy Pier) so I'm super excited!

I'll post any good pics I get from the event on Thursday. Catch you later!