NASCAR Race at the Monster Mile

The "Monster"

If you aren't a NASCAR fan you may want to tune out now because this entire post is about the NASCAR race we attended at Dover International Speedway on Sunday.



As a Father's Day gift from me and the kids we bought Howard tickets to the race at Dover. Kendal bought tickets for her and Peter as a gift as well. Howard and Peter have wanted us girls to go with them ever since they first attended a race at Dover, so Kendal and I went along for the experience.

A little NASCAR trivia. It is called the Monster Mile because the race track is infamous for chewing up the tires on the race cars.

For the record, we are Jeff Gordon fans and cheer for the Hendrick Motorsports team (except Earnhardt Jr.). We watch these guys on tv everyweek but it was surreal to watch them walking past us in person.

There is all this talk about fans not liking Jeff Gordon but what I saw in reality was just the opposite. There were tons of people walking around with Gordon hats, shirts, etc. Our seats were right in the middle of a bunch of Jeff Gordon/Jimmie Johnson fans and a lot of people all over the track were rooting for him.

Jeff Gordon walking to his car after driver introductions

Jeff Gordon and his wife Ingrid during interviews

Opening Ceremonies

This was incredible! The little black specks above the American flag were four Air Force jets that flew overhead. We saw them well before we heard them. I kept thinking "they're not as loud as everyone said to expect them to be". Right after they went directly over us the sound hit and it was incredible! There is no way to describe the sound decibel those four planes hit! I stopped taking pictures after this one because I wanted to be able to enjoy the moment.

A pit stop in action

Jimmie Johnson's pit stall was right in front of us!

And Jimmie won the race!

We were sunburned and tired at the end of the day but it was a good time. I have a new apprectiation for what we watch on tv. The best part was getting to spend a day with Howard and two of our closest friends.