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!