The race was on Halloween, and so many of the citizens of Trailertown took advantage of the holiday as an opportunity to pile on even more decorations. We saw all kinds of jackolanterns, ghosts and other spooky stuff, as well as folks in costumes. Personally, the normal NASCAR fan outfits gave me plenty of ideas for the next costume party. Anybody know where I can get a mullet wig? It was great to arrive after three hours in the car -- yeah, three hours for a 40 minute trip! But the folks along the way were all convivial. There was a happy vibe, and we even saw several other Kerry/Edwards stickers on the cars of NASCAR fans. Janet and Suepie were immediately shocked to learn that you can just go right over to the fence and holler at your favorite drivers during the introductions. And you can even tell who's merely waving in your general direction and who's actually waving AT you! We got nice waves from Mikey, Jeff Gordon (we're sure he was glad to see some friendly fans before rolling past the 24-haters on the backstretch), Jr. (we got his wave before those thousands of rabid admirers on the backstretch), Mark, Kasey, Elliott, Ryan and Jamie, who -- get this, y'all -- actually gave us THE PEACE SIGN! Dudes, I am not lying! It was AWESOME! For some reason, we had 0 audio via the track speakers out in Turn 2 -- AMS, y'all get that fixed, OK? -- so I had to rely on my home tape for the starting info (Thanks for the tape, Houseboy Ronnie!). The Rev. Bill Brannon, AMS chaplain, offered the invocation. In a blatant bow to the sporting sponsors of the MBNA Bass Pro Shops 500, The Rev managed to work in references to several leisure activities that involve equipment for sale at Bass, mentioning fishing equipment, being "up on a deer stand" -- Personally, I do not think a prayer is the appropriate place for product placements. The glory of a picture-perfect race weekend in Atlanta was preceded, of course, by a period of deepest mourning for the ten folks lost in the Hendrick plane crash the previous Sunday. It was so touching to see, on the TV coverage, so many handmade signs offering the families prayers and sympathy. A moment of silence for the victims followed the invocation. Let's continue to lift all the bereaved up in our hearts. Singing the National Anthem was Matt Powell of 3rd Day. Just as it ended, we got this incredibly low fly-over by a B-1 bomber. This thing came in so hard and fast that there was almost no noise from it until it was directly overhead -- then the force of it knocked me to my knees and had me grabbing aholt of a chair to keep from falling off the trailer. Even more alarming was its unannounced return, when it again swooped low over the track and shook everything like an earthquake! Ryan Newman was on the pole but lost the first lap to Joe Nemechek. Ryan got the lead back at lap 2 and held it steady on. At lap 18, we saw Jeremy Mayfield smack the wall right in front of us, but we stayed green. At lap 46, a cheer went up as Kurt Busch, the points leader, headed to the garage and brought out the caution. Ryan held onto the lead, but took an unscheduled stop -- saying, "I've got a bad vibration! I've got to come now!" -- that gave the lead to the handsome Carl Edwards. Then Mark Martin took the lead, beginning an amazing domination of the race. At lap 119, Elliott headed to the garage with transmission trouble. Caution came out at lap 137 for Bobby Labonte's spin. At lap 177, Matt Kenseth's blow-up brought out the caution and ended speculation that he might wn and complete a sweep of the weekend's Busch, IROC and Cup events. Mark held onto the lead, and the Atlanta crowd roared its delight when Jeff Gordon headed to the garage at lap 179. Jr. was chasing Mark but couldn't catch him -- Mark's car was incredibly fast. Dixie and Suepie got so excited because, at lap 287 as we stood near the track at the North tunnel, Martin Truex Jr. wrecked. "Betty Jack, it was my first time to see a wreck!" Dixie bubbled. I would have seen it except I was looking up at the scoring pole. What rotten luck! At lap 288, the cars were in for what could have been their final stops. But another caution came out when Kevin's car died and couldn't get to pit road. On new tires, Jimmie Johnson took the lead from Mark, who stayed out. Crowd favorite Jr. was out after he mixed it up with Carl Edwards at lap 311. Jimmie's victory was celebrated as an offering of victory and honor to all those lost on the Hendrick aircraft -- he actually did a full victory lap, which you don't always see. Not to question the legitimacy of the outcome, but, uh, does anyone else think it's rather odd that Mark, after building up an incredible lead, was so easily passed by "sentimental" favorite Jimmie of the Hendrick team? Hey, I'm just saying... I want to say again how much fun I had at the Atlanta race -- Amy and Amanda, you are so kind to invite us to your swank Turn 2 hideout, and Janet and Suepie, it was great to see you have so much for at your first Cup race! Friends, I've said it before -- the people you meet at NASCAR races are some of the best folks you'll ever see. It's wonderful to be reminded of how kindly and fun most Americans are when you can separate them from all their worries and troubles for a few hours. That's it for this week, friends -- thanks for stopping by the trailer. I'll see you at Phoenix -- let's all meet up down at the Track Bar! Love,Betty Jack DeVine E ME at Bettyjack@bellsouth.net |
