NASCAR

I had lost another pound last week and finally saw 167. Sadly, I don't think I am there any longer. Saturday we were wined and dined by Fed Ex at the Bristol Nascar Race. I swear all they did was feed us. While I didn't eat all of this stuff, this is what they had for us.

1PM Chicken Tenders, Fruit & Chips

3PM Hotdogs, Chicken Wings

6PM Ribs, Beef tips, scalloped potatoes, macaroni salad, rolls

7PM Apple carmel cheese cake

9PM Nachos, little wieners, and pretzels

All day: M&Ms, Peanuts, Open alcohol bar and unlimited soda/water

Um..that sums that up. I literally felt sick from eating when we left. Other than the day being a total diet sabotage; it was an amazing day and experience. Let me start this by saying that I am not a NASCAR fan, I have never watched a race on TV and have really had no interest in attending a race. Yet, Travis had gotten these tickets from Fed Ex and I knew that it would be a once in a life time experience and I am ALL ABOUT THOSE!

We arrived at Fed Ex at 12:30 and got on a coach bus which had a police escort to the race track. It was great. We went through all the traffic, every red light, and arrived in style. As soon as we got there we were greeted by golf carts that picked us up and took us up to the suite. When we arrived at the suite we were given a gift bag. It was filled with a large fed ex replica car and a small hot wheels style Bristol race track car. It also had a fed ex hat and drawstring backpack.

We had some lunch and then we were greeted by Cory. Cory was our personal escort. Only 6 of us there had VIP hot passes and he was our guide for the day. We got back on our golf cart and went down to the track. There we met the crew, saw the race car up close, walked the track and got an insiders view of the hauler. The hauler is not a typical semi. It has a small kitchen, a living room and tons of parts, pieces and technology. That is the one thing that I found so interesting. When you think of NASCAR the first thought is a bunch of rednecks but what I found is that the Fed Ex team has a team of engineers, scientists and business men to create what happens on race night.

Cory, our escort was in charge of marketing and had an MBA from Vanderbilt. One of the things he does is place the sponsor stickers on the car. I guess there is a big strategy to it. :)

After our tour we went back up to the suite where we met the driver, Denny Hamlin, and he talked to us about racing and his day. Inside the car it can get anywhere from 140-200 degrees. He autographed our cars and we got professional pics taken with him. About an hour later we met Coach Gibbs the owner of the racing team. He is a retired NFL coach and has won 3 superbowls and had the ring to prove it. He also talked about racing and did autographs and professional pics.

From there we took our private golf cart back to the track. We watched all the driver's introductions and then joined our driver at his car for the National Anthem. We were lined up by the driver and watched the fireworks and jets fly by. Then we were off to the pits. There we were given a set of earplugs and a large set of ear muff headphones. These headphones had several different channels where you could listen to the drivers talking to their teams and then we had a small handheld TV where you could watch the camera's that are inside the cars.

We watched the first 125 laps from the pits. I was sitting right next to the crew chief. Inside the pits was intense! Watching the race that close and seeing the pit stops really was incredible. It took them about 15 seconds to round the track and about 15 seconds to change 4 tires and fill the car up with gas. When the tires come off they are almost 200 degrees. We finished the race in the suite and enjoyed watching the close finish.

It was an amazing experience and a fun day. It also was one of the first times that me and Travis had that much time together. We left at 9am and actually didn't get home till about 2:30am. A big thanks to our two babysitters that made this all happen. We go on date nights but never have we had more than 12 hours of just the two of us. This was bitter sweet. While we totally enjoyed our selves and had a great time...I could only think the entire day about how much my little boy would have loved it. He is obsessed with cars and this would have been his dream day. Maybe when he gets a little older we will have to take him!