Pepsi 400

This past Saturday Grant and I got up and went to the gym and got ready and went to Daytona. We got to the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway at around 3P. We were given our tickets and pit passes from a friend. Our two friends, Courtney and Cole, were going to come along, but then couldn't because her parents came to visit. Parking was so expensive everywhere! Some places were charging $70 just to park! We found a lot near the Daytona

Airport charging $30 and parked there.

It was about 95 degrees -- with a heat index of over 100. At times it looked like it was going to pour! Luckily the rain held off!! We couldn't wear shorts, jeans, tank tops or open toed shoes. I wore capris, a white tee shirt and tennis shoes. Grant wore a polo shirt, dress pants and dress shoes - poor guy! We walked through a bunch of sponsor trucks/tents and got to guest services. We were trying to find the ticket office to get our pit and garage passes -- allowing us access to the pits and garages before the race. At guest services they told us we had to go to the NASCAR credential trailer that was almost a mile away! Luckily there was a taxi nearby - so we took the taxi over and got our passes and then taxied back.

We finally made our way to the pits and garages. They were really cool There were a lot of tires! We met Rudy Giuliani - I got to shake his hand and get a picture with him. We saw a bunch of the drivers - not that I know who any of them were!? We got to see the cars, all the tires and crews. It was really pretty interesting. We were in the pits for about 3 and a half hours. Just before the race all of the drivers have to go to a driver meeting. We saw a lot of people lined up and realized that we were right outside the driver meeting room. We saw a bunch of the driver walk right by us and go in and out of the meeting. The ones I would have recognized -- Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Jr. -- all managed to take a secret way out, so we didn't get to see them. =(

At about 7:30P we went to our seats. By this time we were pretty exhausted. We saw a couple crashes and about 40 laps and then left. It was quite hot and we didn't want to fight traffic. Plus, once you see the cars go around once you've seen most of the action all in my eyes. The beginning of the race was cool and I am sure the end is really fun to watch, but the 100+ laps in between take a while!

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. NASCAR is really fun to watch. The race is a really big event with a lot of stuff to do surrounding it. Our seats were really good and the cars were really fast. It was a lot of fun, but would have been much better if it weren't 100 degrees!

Here is the way to watch! Sitting on top of your RV in the infield!

After the race we walked back to our car. We parked near the Daytona Airport in a car rental lot -- when we walked all the way there the lot was chained shut!!! At that point I just wanted to get in the car and get a cold shower and some water. We tried to break in. Grant was about to climb the fence (and barbed wire) when someone finally came out and opened the gate.

We drove to Grant's brother Steve's place. They live about 10 minutes from the track. Steve was still at work but Meagon and Tyler were there. It was really nice catching up with them and seeing their new place. We slept there and had breakfast with them in the morning and drove home stopping at the outlet mall on the way back. =)

We found a 28!

Here is a link to the rest of our photos on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/razaccardi/

Enjoy!