Surprised to Learn

Okay, here is something you would be surprised to learn about me, I like to watch car racing.  I guess since you really don't know me, it may not be such a surprise but my friends and family would probably be surprised to know this fact.  It would be a great factoid to use in that fun-filled ice breaker: tell us something about yourself that no one knows. 

I grew up always watching the Indy 500.  I tried not to ever miss it since I have all brothers, it never seemed weird that it was on TV on Memorial Day.  I just love watching the cars go around the track and the anticipation of which car will finish first.  You just never know until the final second.

This weekend was supposed to be the Daytona 500.  I have never been a super fan of stock car racing but now my favorite driver switched from racing formula cars to racing stock cars: Danica Patrick.  I got up early on Sunday to watch the race but it was postponed due to rain.  The race was run tonight and it was exciting.  There was one crazy crash (everyone was okay) but it torn a hole in the race track.  They had to bondo the track back together.  It took forever.  I watched another show to pass the time.  In the end my Danica didn't win.  Matt Kenseth came out the winner. 

I have to wait until May for the Indy 500.  It won't be the same without my Danica but I will survive!  I may have to watch more Nascar.  

Just one Nascar story before I go: A few years ago Brenda and I won a trip to Las Vegas.  We carefully chose the weekend and thought it would not be very busy since there were no big conferences or activities that weekend in Vegas.  Oh, were we wrong!  We didn't know that it was NASCAR weekend at the Vegas raceway.  NASCAR folks are loads of fun.  They have to be at the race track real early and they bring their coolers of (I assume) beer with them.  Some of them start to drink before they head out!  There is a LOT of money in NASCAR gear.  Everyone was decked out in some sort of NASCAR T-shirt, leather coat, hat, beer cozy, seat cushion, shorts, sunglasses, etc. NASCAR puts there logo on everything!  The race is only a few hours on Sunday but the events go on for days.  There is the come visit the race car drivers and pit crew, come see the practice sessions, come get more stuff with the NASCAR logo.  It goes on forever!  It was overwhelming. Then the folks would gamble at night!  I don't know where they got the stamina.  Oh, and I would have thought it would be 20-35 year olds.  NO.  There were all ages.  The couple that was the most fun was a 65 year old retired couple with matching leather NASCAR jackets (she had NASCAR sunglasses that must have cost a fortune) who partied HARD.  They were a blast!  Gave me a new appreciation for race car folks!

Update: Going for an MRI on my ankle tomorrow morning. Fun!