OK, now that you've read Rob's Daytona story, it's time for mine.[All
true, or so they tell me]. This was my first real bus trip for the shootout
after years of borrowed and rented vans. The practicality of taking one
vehicle, combined with the security of someone who could drive us home
without closing one eye, made perfect sense back in November when we started
putting this together.
Upon arrival in Daytona the first thing that became clear to us was that
nothing the Security staff had told us or faxed us regarding bus
traffic-parking had any basis in fact. Inquiries regarding non-existent
police escorts who were to bring us to equally non existent bus parking lots
produced looks ranging from "huh?" to "are you crazy?". The advantage to
realizing no one knows anything is that they also don't know you're not
supposed to park a great big bus in a given spot so that's just what we did.
And no, I'm not going to tell you where it was, only that nobody said a word
to us even though we were the only thing parked in the whole big lot. See,
there's a lot to be said for looking on the bright side.
The 46 crazed fans bailed out and took just enough time to load up their
little track legal coolers before vanishing into the crowd heading in. Of
course no one, Suzy and I included, took our ponchos. It was a beautiful day
and it wasn't going to rain! So sometimes optimism is over rated.
Oddly enough, the combination of a rain delay and those cursed undersized
coolers,[ you'll hear more from me on that sore subject], produced at least
one good story. My good bud and fishin partner Wormy was standing in the
crowd in the men's room with his cooler slung over his shoulder, waiting his
turn at the trough, when the melted ice decided to succumb to gravity via a
small hole in the bottom of the cooler. As the trickle of water began to fall
on Wormy's jeans about eight inches above the Reeboks, an observant father
with two young race fans standing behind him said, in a clear loud voice,"
that's OK son, just go ahead and pee on that man's leg. He won't care". You
know it's got to be true, nobody could make up something that funny!
I was bummed about not being able to hook up with Rob when we were
spittin distance apart, and the rain kind of sucked, but over all it was a
fantastic time enjoyed by all. [ Except maybe Donny who traded Tony Stewart
for Junior] Oh well, it's only money!
A special thanks to Lakeland I-4 Hooters for putting the perfect end to a
great day.
Also, Adam and the staff of All Around Charters, Venice. Till next time,
Happy Racin,
Danny Zeeff
DannyZ@insidethepitbox.com
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