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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
My passion is also my business, as I am with the Toronto based Hav-A-Kar Auto Group. I sell or lease any make of car, van or truck available in Canada. My interest in all things "car" has helped me with my many clients in Ontario over the past 25+ years. Please give me the opportunity to assist you.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Sept 11: NASCAR Road Trip

Yep, that's me, sitting in the number 88 Chevy Impala NASCAR racecar waiting for last Saturday night's race to start. Believeable? Yeah right.

Every year for the last 15, my buddy Steve and I have gone to a NASCAR Sprint Cup race in the Fall. New Hampshire, Delaware, North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia have all been stops over this period, some multiple times. The last two years we've gone to Richmond, Virginia. Good race for a number of reasons  -  it's a short track and it's the last race in the regular season before NASCAR's version of the play offs. Lots of action and nail biting.

Ever been to a NASCAR Sprint Cup race? It definitely is a bigtime show. The teams all have their souvenir trailers, the sponsors have numerous big displays and there is extensive TV coverage. Lots of colour and excitement. Here are a few shots of the experience........

.......Chevrolet racecar display......

........Kyle Busch's rotating Camry race car above the Toyota exhibit......

........cut-a-way racecar at Ford's display......

......Speed TV's live pre-race show......

 .......and finally, the race itself. We had great seats in one of the highest grandstands overlooking the front straight-a-way and the pits. Good location for the best action.

Used to be that every race was sold out months in advance, that is why it took us several years before we eventually came to the Richmond race. Now things have changed somewhat with the US economy. Seats are generally available right up until raceday, but the better ones still need to be booked in the Spring. Attendance is down, but I would guess there were still around 60,000 in the stands.

The race itself is always fun, although with this year's rain delays, it seemed to go on forever. But the neat experience is the road trip. Steve and I get along really well and in 15 years have never had an argument (we should be married?). We are usually away 4 days, so it is a good way to wrap up the Summer.

Anyway, if you are the least bit interested in car racing, any bigtime race is a treat, but in my opinion the show around a Sprint Cup race is the best.

Until next time........

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