Post LVMS Views! Part 1!

I had the best of intentions on blogging daily after the three days of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway event. As you all probably figured out, it didn't happen. However, the guests are all gone! I adore my in-laws, and I am thrilled that we were able to meet with our family and continue this annual event.

Chapter ONE will address the LVMS experience. Next, I hope to discuss the racing, and then one final blog on any thing not covered in the first two blogs.

*******************

The NEON Garage ROCKS! The views are incredible! You can view from the ground level, much like Daytona.





You can also work your way up one level, and view the teams working on the cars from both the front and the back of the garage stall.



And from the outside, you can also view the haulers, and catch the drivers moving from hauler to garage.






The details in the brightly colored garage were amazing. There were many, many signs giving you detailed locations of the garage of your favorite driver/team. The food was upgraded in quality from the 'outside' midway, and yet keeping within the same price range! If you were on the second level, looking out to the haulers...they even provided a shelf for you to set your 'favorite beverage' while you snap your pictures.

The bad? Only one ATM that I could find in the whole neon area. The upper levels provide a possible safety hazard in the viewing area of the fan favorites. On Saturday, I made the mistake of passing the upper viewing area of Dale Jr's garage, and it was so clogged that it was impossible to move. Suddenly, when Jr backed out of his pit stall, there was a sudden jump of fans who ran from the viewing area to the outside viewing area, not caring who they knocked over.

The center stage is so very Las Vegas. The "Celebrities:" were a tremendous amount of fun!




Dale Earnhardt Jr and Richard Petty had wax figures made for Madame Tussauds, to be permanetly located at the Venetian. The figure of Dale Jr was not quite right, except they got the stance EXACTLY right.

Richard Petty's likeness was spooky in its realism! Check it out!

(I am still spooked by the realism of The Kings replica.)

Speaking of Richard Petty, for the first time we sat in the Terrace named after him. We sat high enough to have a perfect view of all of the track, and a fabulous view of the exit of pit road. The seats were individual drop down, with cup holders! There was enough room under the seat to hide the backpack, and my purchase from the midway. The only improvement would be signs at the stair level directing folks to their sections. We and several others had challenges finding our way to the right section. A simple sign with the section number and an arrow pointing to the correct side would suffice. The ones out on the concourse were not very helpful, even to the extent the "ticket checker-guard" could not always figure it out! One of them directed me to find a supervisor, and of course, there was not a single supervisor available.

But an added bonus, we were surrounded by a group of fans who had fun, teased us, and we gave it right back. After the race, they hoped we would be back next year in the same seats. The answer? YES!

The track has improved in several ways. The pit road is a great view! It was wonderful to have it moved so much closer to the grandstand. I was delighted to see that a previous rant of mine has been addressed, and they now have Nextel Vision on all turns, including the turn 3 $99-bucks-for-the-weekend seats. Well done!

The worst part of the weekend may stem from something totally amazing. My father-in-law was visiting. A staunch Jeff Gordon fan, he was the first in our family to be a NASCAR fan. At 82 years old, he is the reason the family gathers here every year. This year, we took two cars, to provide for his comfort, and so that he and my husband could park in the handicap parking area. (He has bone cancer, in remission, so walking distances is a challenge for him.)

This was a *very very bad word* disaster. The handicap area they were directed to was behind the drag strip, and there was a one hour wait for the handicap shuttle. After the Busch race, they were funneled out of the track onto Las Vegas Blvd.....going NORTH! They were stuck in slow moving traffic until it connected to the 15, turned them south, and they passed by the track with nearly empty parking lots. After the cup race, it was even worse, taking over 5 hours to get home. And BTW, the rest of us parked in a different parking lot, and it took us two hours to get home.

Now mind you, I understand that traffic needs are paramount. But this so-called handicapped parking area was not near the track at all. There was one closer, but there was no signage on how to get there. It is shameful that a parking lot supposedly set up to help the disabled access and enjoy the race takes the members so far away from their destination, while not affecting many of the others parking lots. I would hope that there were no health issues involved with any of the cars that were pulled over in the desert, as these cars were primarily from that parking lot.

And on a minor note, I think they need to rethink the location of the Speed Stage. It created a very narrow funnel for some of the traffic, and I think would have been served better being further towards the center of the midway, where it is wider. OR, don't have so many haulers or displays gathered around. It was almost dangerous trying to get through that area, all to arrive at your own seats.

Other than that, Bruton Smith has a winner! The track will, in the future, provide for great racing. It deserves a second date!

David Gilliland Appearance

I am proud to say that I met David Gilliland at M&M's World on the Las Vegas strip earlier this evening.

From all perspectives, he is one heck of a nice guy. He seems relaxed with his fans and takes the time to look them in the eye and express his thanks that fans are there.

He appears to especially be great with children! Tme and again, I saw him taking extra time with each child, and listening to each of them. I saw several youngsters leave thrilled and excited, tightly clutching their prizes!

While most events work out very well for the fans, I find that driver signings can also be 'make or break' for the fans. Many fans will wait for hours in line, and then be upset that they were shuffled through the line. If the driver does not react within expectations, a fan can leave the appearance disgusted with the driver, and indeed so angry they are no longer fans. Other fans will assume that the driver is just having a bad day, and they will accept the poor reaction blissfuly, explaining away any apparant bad mood based on something bizarre and unusual.

Every one has heard reports about fans being upset with the drivers. Some drivers can start out very attentive to their fans, and at some point in their careers, the signings seem to be less enjoyable for both the driver and the folks who wait in line for hours. One would hope that the drivers take time to remember that they continue to be ambassadors for the sport, even if they have issues with circumstances that are not caused by the fans.

Fortunately, I have very good feelings that David will be steady and solid with his fans. I am confident that Mars/Masterfoods will continue to be proud of this new driver.

And from around town, I heard of the following experiences of other driver's signings. I was unable to attend any other than David's, but did talk with several who were at these other events.

• Kasey Kahne's signing was overwhelming and poorly organized, according to several who attended. Five hundred wristbands given out had to make for a long night for KK.
• Brendan Gaughan, as usual, put on an excellent open house. By now he is, by all reports, heading out to run around in the desert.
• Elliott Sadler's appearance at a local Walmart went well. The reports I heard was that he was in an unusually good mood. That may have something to due with his new ride, or it may be due to his posse coming in town too! There is some speculation that his new 'galpal' may be along for the weekend. YO! Elliott! this IS Vegas, known for a 24 hour marriage license bureau with drive up chapels!
  
• Several other drivers are still signing about the city. Many are at the Speedway Childrens Auction at Sam's Town. This key event for race weekend always draws a nice amount of people, and an equally nice amount for a great charity.

More observations later!

PS...Question of the Day!

As of late Thursday, it looks like Ken Schrader may win the Sirius Driver Fan Choice this week. Ricky Rudd won the first two weeks. I remember when Elliott Sadler's fans would vote in E. for the scanner 'Voted In' on Trackpass. One has to wonder if the closing of the message board has prevented the fans from being unified and banding together to work towards a common goal.

Race Week is FINALLY here!

I am glad to say the Vegas NASCAR race is finally around the corner! We have a house full of company and plans are being made for every day of the weekend.

First off will be the trip to meet David Gilliland at M&M's World Thursday night. M&M's World hosts a nicely run event. The associates there make sure the line is kept entertained by the M&M's spokescandies Red, Yellow, and the vampy Miss Green. I want to thank Robert Yates and M&Ms/Mars for hiring David. He is proving to be an excellent representative for the brand. Ricky Rudd is a great representative for the Snickers brand, too!

The race itself should be interesting. The test in January had weather considerably cooler than what we are experiencing now. We are expecting temperatures in the low 80's, so the the new track may have less grip. At the truck race last fall, the second groove came in pretty fast as the sun was setting.

Fifty-three cars are projected to try to qualify. Friday will be a long long loonnnngggg day! The Busch race will be earlier this year, thank heavens! And the Cup race will have its usual long wait to get out of the parking lot!

If I can, I will post my observations during race week. I hope the TV version of the race will be exciting, but it usually is never as exciting as actually being at this race.

Scatter-shooting!

I am sorry I have been not been blogging, but my work load and home responsibilities have recently escalated. So, here goes with some random thoughts and observations, in no particular order!

• Awesome job to Robert Yates Racing and David Gilliland at Daytona! I was holding my breath that Yates was on a comeback, but after Fontana, I see that they appear to have more work to do on the intermediate tracks. While I am not continuing to hold my breath (a blue face is so smurf-ish) I do hope to see steady progress on the downforce program, especially in the last half of the year.
• There are a few drivers that are on the hot-seat. Jeremy Mayfield has not made the first two races, and hopefully having Tommy Baldwin on the pit box at Vegas will be helpful. Jamie McMurray....wow, being in the wrong place is rough, but I am hoping the Jack sees that, and doesn't force him out early. Jack already has a few candidates ready for that seat. AJ Allmindinger is so very talented, and yet he has not made a Cup race to date. I hope Dale Jarrett is planning on being there for the long haul, as he is not showing any sign of being any better at MWR than he was at RYR. Teammate David Reutimann is appearing to be the star of the organization. As for Mikey, he is not on the hot seat..... he is sitting in the Electric Chair with NASCAR, Toyota, and his sponsors ready to flip the switch.
  
• Engines seem to be the talk of the NASCAR world this week. There is much commentary that the engines wouldn't survive the unleaded fuel changeover. Yet, it seems some teams had little to no problems, like Yates, Childress and Hendrick. DEI will need to go back to review their program. I am sure they are thankful for the break.
• The Car of Tomorrow is happening Today, or at least tomorrow. The first big test for all of the teams happens in the next few days. I am thrilled for the obvious safety improvements, and I am hoping for the racing to be better. Many say it will be like the CTS racing, and my fingers are crossed in hopes of that!
• Sirius is still rocking my world! I love almost all of the programming, with Sirius Speedway at the top of my list.
  
• The new site at NASCAR.com is at the bottom of my list. I am tech oriented, but that site is danged hard to navigate. I have mostly given up, and find myself getting news from other web sites.
• On the other hand, I may be one of the few in my circle who really LIKES the RaceView and the 3-D effects from NASCAR.com. Yes, it is not perfect, but I can see who is battling on the track with my favorite driver . However, the leaderboard part of that does not work, so I keep another computer live with Pitcommand and the scanner playing my favorite driver. They seem to have gotten many of the bugs worked out by Fontana, but I realize that NASCAR.com will probably foul it up in some way, just because they can.

Only partly racing related.....I have both Cox cable HD DVR and DirecTV with the TiVo type of functionality. I LOVE the HiDef for watching racing, but I think there is a conspiracy to prevent maximum enjoyement. The Cox DVR software is pathetic, and for some reason, we have been told there are software upgrades that will allow the DVR to be more intuitive, yet it is not available to us. DirecTV had a great deal on a HD/DVR...we ordered it the 3rd week of January. They were supposed to install it on 2/22...but they suddenly don't have the receiver. Yet, our credit card was charged at the moment of ordering. I will post more on this later....I forseee another customer NON-service issue looming. DirectTV might want to check with Sprint, and see how that worked out for Sprint. (I won, BTW!)

Have a good off-week...and I will check back in with information on the Vegas race.