Yeah, That Technology Works Fine

To Generic To Be My New Ragtop, But Cool

thanks automobile deluxe

A Barnfind For This olelongrooffan

"This book is for anyone who has ever owned, driven, or yearned for a sublime automobile. It is for the brotherhood of those who are stirred by the beauty of a Grand Marque, by the excellence of an honest design made real in metal, or by the exasperating, exciting individuality of a thoroughbred performer."*

As anyone Counting Along With Me knows this olelongrooffan is Car Crazy.

As I have mentioned numerous times in past blogs, I am confident my brothers and I inherited this passion from my Dad, TheGentlemanFarmer.

I mean with 9 kids, and another on the way, he was able to procure this 1932 Ford Model A while living in a huge *ss house in Shrewsbury, Mo, working at a printing company and driving two VW microbuses.

Later, after a move to the Ozarks, he was able to acquire this super cool longroof along with an Optimist pram sailboat. This 1967 Ford Country Squire, by and away, is the foremost reason my moniker is 'longrooffan'.
And I can remember taking a cross diocese trip, one in which TheGentleManFarmer did not let my schoolwork get in the way of my education, and we spotted this wrecked Chevy Nova on the hook. We were traveling, for whatever reason, in my maternal grandmother's 62 Chevy Bel Air and when this future longrooffan spotted it across from Miller Motors in Mountain View, TheGentlemanFarmer turned around so I could check it out further. By the way, he did, too. I am sure you observant Counters Out There will recognize the long sleeve, button down collar oxford shirt this olelongrooffan is sporting in this photograph as the type of fashion statement I still make.

Of course, a few years later this happened: and the GentlemanFarmer, in his unimitatable way bestowed this wonder of delights
to this olelongrooffan for my participation in the adventures of that Sweptline Series Dodge pickup.

Well, one of the photographs that brings me the fondest photographic memories of my youth is the one shown below. Yeah, me reading The Treasury of the Automobile on the floor of his den at 1822 S. National, Springfield, Missouri.

I even included a reference to it on my first blog over at Hooniverse, 'How This Hoon Became A Hoon'.

By the way Counters, it is 8:15 pm EDT and if you have been following along with me, a huge double prop military helicopter just flew north along my beach.

So, anyway, much speculation has been put forth toward the location of this copywritten in 1961 coffee table sized book, but to no final avail.

Now if any of you Counters have clicked on any of the blogs on the blog list just to the right, you will notice that the vast majority are automobile related (you should see my favorites on my home page).

One of them is one I call "More Car Stuff", although his title is "Tamerlane's Thoughts". It is an excellent, insightful blog, not just obscure cars but food and geopolitics to boot! Anyway, Kashgar216 did a blog a couple weeks ago about Powell's Books up in Portland, Oregon. He mentioned he found a great automotive related book he found there from his youth. He also threw down the gauntlet in that he was headed back up there from Northern Californey and if his followers wanted anything, we had better get there before he did. Turns out Powells.com was having a huge sale and it was liquidation time!

So, this olelongrooffan accepted that challenge and headed over to that site and I am so grateful to Kashgar for directing me that way but especially for a heretofore unknown Steve for doing this in 1967:Seems Steve had bequested his father a copy of 'The Treasury of the Automobile' for his Dad's birthday and now, some 43 years later, Powells wants to sell that copy to me.
Well, Counters, the sale price of that highly desirable book was a belief defying
$5.20 plus a whole $6.98 shipping and handling.
You got it....a total of $12.18 for one of the most formative books of my youth!

Yeah Counters, this olelongrooffan finally got my barn find, even though it is of the print variety.

So, this olelongrooffan ponyed up that $12.18 and today a driver of a Big Brown Truck delivered that book to the Taj Mahal.
And even though a buck or two is nearly impossible to come by these days,
this olelongrooffan is going to have a great time reading the sans-sarif 1961 generated font on this ole book as I continue to

Celebrate Life.

Be back in a couple weeks!

*from the forward of The Treasury of The Automobile.

Hammer Down To Macon Town

It's 7:25 EDT on Sunday, July 25, 2010.

As thejeepjunkie related here, The Kid's American Legion baseball team made it to the state finals this weekend down in Bradenton, a long 45 minutes south of Tampa on Eisenhower's Interstate 75. It was a double elimination tournament. The Kid's team lost the first one on Friday morning and had another scheduled for the same time on Saturday.

Well, their victory in that game set up another game today, Sunday, at high noon. Around a Japanese dental appointment, you know tooth hurty, this olelongrooffan called thejeepjunkie,

"Whatcha doing longroof?" was his greeting.

"Wondering if you are sitting by the pool or sitting by the wheel?"

"Sitting by the wheel," was his response.

"Tell The Kid I'm bummed for him, have fun in the Ozarks and drive safely."

"Will do. Thanks longroof. See ya"

and click. Yeah that's the way we are.

So unfortunately, unlike the Kid's sister,

he didn't walk away from the last game of the season with a trophy.

But to my family in the Ozarks, that just means you get to spend a little more time with the Kid
and that big white truck.

And the reference to the title of this blog?

They are just south of Macon, Georgia and look to be in the Ozark Mountains mid morning on Monday.

And this olelongrooffan knows ya'll will

Celebrate Life.

It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's.........

It is amazing to this olelongrooffan the amount of air traffic visible from the veranda of the Taj Mahal. Seldom a day passes that at least one and often several military helicopters fly along the coast shuttling who knows what between Patrick Air Force Base to the south and the Jacksonville Naval Air Station to the north.

I am sure the fact there are three flight schools within 10 miles of the Taj Mahal also has a great deal to do with the number of private planes I spot on a regular basis. That and two fly-in communities nearby.

Then, of course, there are the planes towing advertising banners behind flying up and down the coastline hawking everything from Geico Insurance (probably need to double click on the following image to see it)to the latest WWF event at the Ocean Center next weekend. Sorry Counters, no image of it but it helped spawn this post.

Even vintage military aircraft play a part. On July 4th, TheGoodAttorney and this olelongrooffan were celebrating Happy Hour on the front veranda of the Taj Mahal and we spotted these 4 P-51 Mustangs. TheGoodAttorney commented, "longroof, you have great karma. We are witnessing our own private air show here at the Taj Mahal. At my home we wouldn't even know this was going on."
I felt pretty honored at that statement especially coming from someone I respect. It was much like getting a compliment from one of my brothers.
We even moved our expensive, almost teak-wood-like, hey, I said almost, lawn furniture out from the covered veranda to the patio to soak up the show.
It was pretty cool. They stuck around for a bit and then took off for points south.

Then, there are
these jets flying over a race out at the Daytona International Speedway and later over the Taj Mahal.

Then there was the time thesungoddess alerted us to the Shuttle for the Space Shuttle, and yeah horsefarmer, we saw it even though this unprepared olelongrooffan neglected to provide photographic evidence of that sighting.

Then there was the time I didn't get to see the Goodyear blimp down in MickeyMouseLand.

Well Counters, this olelongrooffan met up with Manuel Labor on this Chamber of Commerce kind of Sunday to finish up a project and acquire some photographic evidence to get to the owners. As my super-duper sophisticated email provider only lets me send two, maybe three, images at a time, I usually load them on to a blog I have just for that purpose and then email them a link.

As this olelongrooffan was doing just that this afternoon on the veranda of the Taj Mahal, I heard a distinctive sounding engine emanating from the north and out along the coastline. I immediately knew a treat was heading my way albeit two blocks away above the beach and went inside the massive Taj Mahal to get my image taker.

And man was I in for a treat. Other than the Shuttle for the Shuttle, this was the coolest sighting of flying machines this olelongrooffan has witnessed down on my beach.

Yeah Counters, it is one of the Goodyear Blimps, live and in person. I have seen them before out at several events at the Daytona International Speedway but those times there is a multitude of stimuli that the sightings get kind of overlooked.

Not today though, I know that Blimp pilot decided to fly along my beach just for this olelongrooffan.
Ain't I lucky?

And know that seeing cr*p like this and being able to share it with you Counters that really allows this olelongrooffan to

Celebrate Life.

Just Saying

This olelongrooffan is sitting on the front porch of the Taj Mahal enjoying the ocean breeze and watching more
gecko porn, live.

Now, as some of you Counters out there will remember, this olelongrooffan is still without steady employment. Hell, I didn't even make the cut for a Planning Aide position in the Daytona Beach Planning Department. I still meet with Manuel Labor though.

As a consequence of my state of employment, this olelongrooffan made the decision not to run the air conditioner in the massive Taj Mahal this summer. I just can't afford a buck and a half per month for the privilege of cooled air.

It is alright though as there is almost always an ocean breeze here, even though it is regularly in the low 90's with about 80% humidity. I just wear a pair of shorts when around the Taj.

An added bonus is that it just doesn't seem that hot to me.

Well, these interwebs tell me that most of the good ole USA is in the middle of a heat wave and this olelongrooffan empathizes with ya'll but remember these days will be here real soon.

And even though it is hot as h*ll out, remember to

Celebrate Life.

North, South Carolina

Things have been rather quiet around the Birthplace of Speed the last week or so. Hope to get something together to share with ya'll over the weekend.

I did, however, receive an email from my buddy TomK and here it is for your enjoyment.

In an almost Abbott and Costello way, I thought this video of You Bet Your Life was hilarious.

Hope you enjoy it as much as this olelongrooffan did.



And don't worry Counters, even though I basically don't have a life, this olelongrooffan still remembers how to

Celebrate Life.

Road Construction Ahead

So yesterday this olelongrooffan headed out to the intersection of International Speedway Boulevard and the Eisenhower Interstate System's Highway 95 to pay for my interwebs connection so the sponsor of the Cup Series could continue to fulfill their financial obligations to NASCAR.

After my financial commitment was made, this olelongrooffan was east bound and down and as I passed under this and I remembered this was going on.

And in an effort to keep those of you Counting Along With This olelongrooffan informed of the progress, I whipped into the parking lot of the Daytona International Speedway and inquired of one of the security dudes where the grandstand was that could be traversed at no cost to view the repaving. "Head over to the Daytona 500 Experience," I attended here, "and they will let you in," was his response.

And I did.

So I got over there and after walking through the souvenier shop, I headed out to the tram staging area to see what there was to be seen. I spotted the empty tram above and caught some of the now removed light pole lying on the ground. See that white wall at the top of that hill in the background of that light pole image? That is the NASCAR turn 4 wall with all the catch fencing removed.
I turned to the west to head up to those free grandstands NotSoLilJim, the youngsters and this olelongrooffan were at a couple years ago.

Before I could get out of the tram area, I noticed a sign saying that the grandstands were closed today. I was bummed. So, this olelongrooffan went over to talk to one of the tram drivers who was standing behind the check in counter. I inquired if the grandstands were indeed closed today. Yep, he said, too much heavy truck traffic in the area today and we don't want anyone to be injured.
Well, I was then really bummed out. I mentioned I had driven down from the Birthplace of Speed to get a few shots of the repaving for my blog. I then asked is there any other way to view the proceedings? He mentioned I could do the infield tour on one of these trams. I mentioned that the $15 admittance charge was a bit much for me at this time. Just then, he reaches down under that counter and pulls a used ticket stub out and told me to get in line and keep my mouth shut.

Yes Sir!! Sometimes really good things happen if you just let them.

Well Counters, this olelongrooffan grabbed a seat at the rear in the last row of the last tram car and waited for my benefactor to get the show on the road.

I have mentioned previously that these trams just barely fit through the "old" tunnel and here is proof of that. I am sitting in the far right hand seat and that mesh is the "door" to the row I am on. The red thing is the guardrail keeping vehicles away from the pedestrians walking through this tunnel.
Yeah, it is a squeeze.

These images are not representative of the order in which they were taken but you get the idea. The tram stopped just outside Victory Lane and the driver let everyone get out for image taking on the winners platform.

Well I am sure you Counters realize this may have been interesting for the touristas but I am here for the repaving. So I head over to get a shot of this grader moving the limerock base around near the Start/Finish line.

I actually took the next two after I had left the complex and captured that dozer and dumptruck from just outside the facility.



After we left Victory Lane, the tram pulled out onto pit road. Quite a bit quieter than the last time I was there.

I got these two images of the pavement removal machine while we were still at Victory Lane.
As a side note, all of the removed asphalt is being hauled to a secure, fenced in area to be sold at a later date or to be included with the purchase of ticket to the 2011 Daytona 500. Yeah, always a buck to be made around here.
A rare sight of turns 3 and 4 with no catch fencing and the SAFER barrier removed.
I did learn something new today. See that Sunoco tower in the folowing image? There is one of those at all four corners of the track and two NASCAR spotters sit in each on during a race to look for debris on the track and spot the flagman in case of an accident.
They are actually building a road for the "cantilever" equipment to drive on to hold the paving equipment in place on the high banks.
See that pavement "washout" in the center of the track. You can read all about it here.

And a section of track along the backstretch with the lightpoles and catch fencing still in place.
Someone on the tram mentioned that the Start/Finish Line is going to the Smithsonian. I have not yet been able to document this.
But this olelongrooffan has this to say about that. I'm not really sure how it could be removed in one piece and then transported to DC, but if it can be done, that would be really cool.

Well Counters, that's it. The fact this olelongrooffan struck a chord in that tram driver and prompted him to get me that courtesy ticket sure allows me to

Celebrate Life.

Another Pretty Cool Video From Kashgar216

Click here for a few minutes of Chinese hilarity. Excellent editing FTW!

Super Saturday At The Brumos Porsche 250

So Saturday morning the massive communication system here at the Taj Mahal lit up and started making all kinds of noises. Turns out it was the usually at work on a Saturday jeepjunkie calling this olelongrooffan to let me know he was on his way to the Daytona International Speedway for today's events.

I'm just heading out myself and I'll see you there.

Now as this olelongrooffan related my parking situation on Friday, I figured I would need a new place to park my oleragtop on this Saturday. Well, as it turns out, as I was leaving the track on Friday, I spotted a new Bug parked on the island at the side entrance to the NASCAR office complex, without a ticket, so I knew where the oleragtop was parking on Saturday.

I did so, walked the short block to the entrance to the turn 4 tunnel. It was a shorter distance than I had walked yesterday from my illegally parked oleragtop to the GM powered shuttle.

As it was not quite 9:00 am, I wasn't sure the shuttles were running yet. I walked up to the information booth and inquired as to the pickup location for the shuttle. The elderly gentleman standing there gestured to a nearby stretch golf cart and told me to climb in.

And this olelongrooffan did. He drove me through that tunnel and, once inside, stopped in front of a Chrysler minivan, telling me to climb in the front seat of that van.

And this olelongrooffan did. The driver of that minivan asked me where I was going. I showed him my Super Deluxe Pass and said "The pits." That driver proceeded to shuttle this olelongrooffan to the pits section of the Daytona International Speedway early that Saturday morning.

Can't beat your own personalized transportation at the track and not one red cent was expended by this olelongrooffan! Another reason this olelongrooffan loves thejeepjunkie.

Before I get really going on the race car portion of this post, let me try to demonstrate the scale of the Daytona International Speedway complex.
I got these images from the top of the Sprint Cup garages accessible from the Fan Zone with the full zoom on. The shot above is taken to the west looking at NASCAR turn 2. That white ribbon is the outside wall. The backstretch grandstands are just to the left of this image.

The image below is looking due south over the top of and row of transporters and over looking the tops of the driver's motorcoaches. The blue ribbon is the catch fence with the Daytona International Airport air traffic control tower beyond. The backstretch grandstands are to the right of this image and turn 3 is to the left.
Looking southwest at the backstretch grandstands. The two story building on the top of the grandstands contains 32 private suites.
This is looking east toward NASCAR turn 1. The building to the left in the background is Halifax Memorial Hospital.
And just a gratuitous look at the NASCAR transporters with the front stretch bleachers in the background.
Well, thejeepjunkie and this olelongrooffan hooked up and we made d*mn sure we took advantage of those Super Deluxe Passes with which thejeepjunkie hooked us up.
Today's major event for us is the Grand American Racing Series Brumos Porsche 250. These are the cars that run in the much beloved Rolex24 at Daytona. Now in this race series, the race is on regardless of the weather. Yeah, they run in the rain. In dry weather, they run slicks but in the rain, they run grooved tires as seen above in the 01 Chip Ganassi pit stall.

As the weather this Saturday was iffy as far as rain goes, Gainsco Racing had a set of slicks ready for the next pit stop but the rain tires were patiently waiting close by should they be called to duty.
Prior to the beginning of the race, the teams lined up on pit road for
photo opportunities and TV interviews.
Although they are at different angles, check out the difference between the noses on these two cars. When I first spotted them, I thought possibly one was a different generation model but when I queried the #6 team, they mentioned that different chassis require different locations of air intake hence the big opening on theirs.
This #28 Corvette is also owned by the guy shaving those tires I spotted yesterday. He also owns the #31 Corvette to be piloted by Boris Said.
What happens is the teams line up, head out onto the track for a few warmup laps and then come back in to do a bit more sorting out. When they return to pit road, it is opened up to all with the Super Deluxe Pass to come on out and look around. I got the following image after we had been run off pit road and the cars were getting ready to start the race. The numbered signs those stewards are holding represent the starting rows.
The powerplant on a random Mazda RX8.
The 69 is a teammate of the 70 MazdaSpeed sponsored RX8.
I'm not sure who this guy from SpeedTV is but he is waiting to interview the driver of Wayne Taylor's #10 SunTrust Daytona Prototype.
And the lead car of the benefactor of today's race.
Chip Ganassi's 01 Telmex DP.
MazdaSpeed's #70 in front of their pit box.
The Pirelli girls posing with the SunTrust DP.
Here they are with the Gainsco #99 prototype.
Just another random image of pit road.
It seemed to thejeepjunkie and this olelongrooffan that those girls kept moving around to get into every image I took.
See what I mean? By the way, that dude squatting down beside that DP? He is Alex Gurney, son of the none other than Dan Gurney.
The Gainsco crew members lined up and ready for the national anthem.
Finally that interview.
A couple GT Porsches after they had run their warmup laps were up in the air being attended to by their respective crews.
This Grand Am dude was explaining to a group standing to the left of this image about how the aerodynamics work on a DP. Mmmm....Crown Royal.
Now those girls are starting to piss this olelongrooffan off. Hey they were way to young and way to skinny. But, admirably, not a tramp stamp in sight.
The legendary Hurley Haywood being interviewed by some TV personality.
Here the crew of the #94 Turner Motorsports BMW are hard at work. This is the only BMW in the series this year. During the 2009 season, there were two. Usually Boris Said is one of the drivers of this car but he was loaned out to the #31Corvette for this race.
And he was to pilot it but it blew an engine during the warmup laps and never started the race. Here is Boris Said and the #31 team pushing it off pit road. I'm fairly sure Boris was a bit upset over this revelation. I was too as I am a fan of his.
Here Wayne Taylor walks up to his driver prior to that interview to make sure he knew all of the required "talking points".
And this is one of Wayne's sons, Jordon, who drives for the #30 Mazda team.
During the warm up laps, two teams found something so problematic that they decided to tear apart their transmissions. Ten minutes before the race was due to start!
One was the #6 DP and the otherwas the Gainsco #99 DP.
Yeah, gears, gear oil and sweat all over the place.

While just up pit road, these two dudes were changing out a punctured radiator.
in the #90 Daytona Prototype. Again, ten minutes before the start of the race. See that guy in the wheelchair in the following image? He is their boss.
And I thought I would share with you the two of the different types of disc brake rotors used.
Not much interest to some of you but this olelongrooffan thought it was pretty cool. The above image is of one of the Camaros while the one below is on one of the Prototypes.
The race finally got underway and in all the excitement, this olelongrooffan didn't get any images of the start! Sorry Counters but my new $28 ebay digital was able to capture some pretty good images of the cars at speed, even zoomed in.

Yeah Counters, as much as this olelongrooffan loves and appreciates that sometimes trusty Polaroid (thanks again Bus), in the past few months it had started to become rather unreliable doing stuff like going out of focus for several images and it would have to be turned off and then back on to make if operate correctly. Well, I thought about toughing it out until, one time on ebay, I spotted a HP photosmart 6 pixel for a buy it now $28 including shipping price. So I did and the much beloved Polaroid is working back up duty. If these things get any cheaper they will pay me to take them!

Anyway, HP and this olelongrooffan were able to get some at speed images. One of them is of the Stevenson Camaros running through the tri-oval on the front stretch of Daytona.
They had just crossed the start/finish line and that grass between me, pit road and them is where all the NASCAR dudes do their donuts after a victory.
thejeepjunkie and this olelongrooffan alternated back and forth between pit road and the east horseshoe throughout the race.
I had stepped up onto the rear bumper of a Rusty Wallace Racing golf cart and got a few images of the passing racecars across the roof of that mag wheel equipped ride..
While this olelongrooffan missed capturing images of the start of the race, I did get one of one of the restarts. The Porsche pace car is coming down pit road, to the far right of this image, as the Prototypes get back up to speed.

Another shot from Rusty's cart. Incidentally, if you double click on these images they are a ton better.
One of the cool parts about our Super Deluxe Pass? Pit Stops!

We kind of camped out between Krohn Racing and Brumos Racing pit boxes.
Check out this next series of events. thejeepjunkie thought he had to point this out to this olelongrooffan.
As you can see, one of those Camaros hit a discarded tire from its teammate sending it careening out into the traffic area of pit road. Notice the crew member in the above image looking to get out and retreive that tire?
Well, the Grand Am official sure thought differently of that idea and he was sent back behind the wall.
While that wheel rolled across pit road and it was retrieved by yet another official and returned to Stevenson Motorsports.

The calm after the storm, at least with reference to pit stops in this race series.

And back to the east horseshoe.


And while we were there, thejeepjunkie spotted Papa John's Camaro passing us by. Sorry no images available but know it was cool.
And one of only two permanent casualties that day. Boris's Corvette
and this Daytona Prototype sponsored by Flex-Box, which according to Google is a pretty intense computer application or a shipping container from a company in Philadelphia.
I'm gonna go with that computer thing.

And lest you Counters Out There think this two and half hour race was filled with non stop excitement, well to this olelongrooffan it was, but on the Spirit of Daytona team,
it was just another day at the office. Actually this race is the shortest one of the season in this series.
This is a shot of the roadway behind the pit boxes. The black building to the right is the Goodyear Tower and just in front of it is Victory Lane from which this olelongrooffan has been asked to leave on more than one occasion.
While I am not a huge fan of Porsche's (the roofs aren't long enough) I just plain ole like Brumos Porsche and their history of legendary sports car racing.
This guy is just waiting around for his time out there having fun!
And a few spare parts.Command central for the Stevenson Camaros. That big screen on the left received a closed circuit broadcast of the entire race, yeah, without commercials. This olelongrooffan would love to have that ability in the Taj Mahal.
And the Gainsco team readying for another round of pit stops.
Oh Yeah!!
Can you say wheel spin?
The scent of burnt rubber and burnt racing fuel, two of my favorite things. Yeah this probably explains my current romantic situation!
These three images are in mixed up in the order of occurence but you get the picture.
Super fast paced but deliberate action.
When this Brumos Porsche would come into pit, at about this point it would take a sharp left and come directly toward me. Every time, this olelongrooffan would take a couple steps back.
And back to racing action.
This olelongrooffan has this to say about that. I think for 28 bucks, I got a pretty good deal.

Check out the skies to the north of the speedway. That, Counters, is why there were rain tires present that Saturday morning.
And, of course, the ever popular jeepjunkie had to commandeer an unsuspecting golf cart to use as an office while out there by the east horseshoe.
Now Counters, this is a pretty motivational highlight to the race and kudos to MazdaSpeed. The number 65 Mazda RX8 was staffed by an entirely Mexican team, both wrenches and drivers. And I mean Mexican as in from Mexico, not emigrants from Mexico, but live in Mexico.
One of the team members must be pretty well connected and MazdaSpeed has hooked them up with the use of an RX8 and provided them with non-race support, specifically transportation for the car and equipment in one of their haulers to the different events.

Well, they had a couple different problems with their car while out on the track. The first time they pushed it off the track and into the now vacated Nationwide garage area. thejeepjunkie and I were returning from Rusty's golf cart and noticed they were confused about where to perform their repairs so they just pushed it up to a garage, got the repair done and then back to the race.
We never did find out what their first problem was but the second time they pushed it off the track we saundered over to find out. Turns out this time they had punctured a radiator and were replacing it. We saw them finish up and get back out on the track. They finished the Brumos 250, albeit a few laps down, but when I walked by their pit box as they were tearing down, everyone of them had a smile and an occasional high five. This olelongrooffan gives you an "A" for effort, Amigos.
Well, the 01 of Chip Ganassi won the DP class of this race with the ever classy Scott Speed behind the wheel while the #66 Porsche won the GT class.Each winner in class headed to Victory Lane while the remaining top five in each class hung out as all ten of those cars are required to pass through "tech" after the race.
I am fairly certain Boris Said is bummed to have gotten "loaned out" for this race.
I do like the look of those Camaros in race trim but I remember hearing over the loudspeaker, while the racecars were on the other side of the speedway that they suffer a weight disadvantage of several hundred pounds over the others in the GT class.
And the TRG sponsored GT winner being interviewed by SpeedTv. This was the only time I saw any Grand Am official without his helmet on all day.
And not a Pirelli girl in sight!
The Brumos team is heading back to that remote garage area to head on back to their Jacksonville home.
And click on the above image to see the debris that collects on the nose of these cars. Just imagine after 24 hours of racing what they look like. I'll try and get an image of that in February.
And after that Brumos DP headed out, I took a look at their pit lane parking spot. The teams always put down tape to provide the drivers a reference point in which to come to a stop.
Yeah, just a little bit of rubber was laid down on pit road today.
And if you think this is a walk in the park kind of race, check out the
gathering of grass in the air intake on the McDonald's Ford.

By this time, thejeepjunkie had headed out to attend the Kid's sister's softball game. As it was now after 2 pm, NASCAR officials had opened the impounded garage area to the general public and this olelongrooffan headed over to our benefactor's garage to express both his and my appreciation at being the recepients of those Super Deluxe Passes.
I was able to hook up with TheMan and expressed that appreciation. His response was no problem, have thejeepjunkie give me a call in January and I hope his daughter does well in her softball game.

You can bet this olelongrooffan will make sure thejeepjunkie does just that.

So, unlike that Saturday morning, a private shuttle was not available so I hopped onto a GM powered one and arrived back at the turn 4 tunnel in no time. I hoofed it the block back to my ticket free oleragtop and headed back to the Taj Mahal.
Now this olelongrooffan has been asked by some of you Counters Out There, via email and, now, texts, yeah, I'm getting sucked into texting, why I did not attend the Nationwide Race or the Coke Zero 400.

Well Counters, it's like this.

And know this olelongrooffan is not trying to be blase about it....

My Super Deluxe Pass is not good for the grandstands, although I'll bet ya a buck I could get in, and the top row of the grandstands is the best place to watch a NASCAR race....actually the private suites above the top row is the best place....at least at the Speedway.

From the infield it is just an, almost, nauseating drone of engine noise going round and round. And the glare of overhead light reflecting off those racecars reminds this olelongrooffan of the original movie TRON, in that it is almost computer generated.

Then let's factor in drunk rednecks late at night trying to stumble onto those shuttles to get out to their cars and drive back to their hotels.

Additionally, let's think about a three hour rain delay while surrounded by drunk and wet rednecks!

Plus the security staff and officials at a Grand Am event are much more relaxed, probably because of the lack of the presence of the above two items.

Plus the fact that in order to get to the Taj Mahal which is north and east of the Speedway, when leaving said Speedway after a NASCAR event, I have to travel south and west.

But trust me on this one Counters, other than possessing the experience of attending a NASCAR event with some 100,000, or so, other race fans, the best place to watch a race is on TV in your living room or back porch or any other place with just a few friends around. You get to hear the commentators insight, speak with your friends about the action on the track at less than a full out scream, walk to the fridge for a cold one, have a free snack, watch all the replays and the bathroom is just a few steps away.

But for this television deprived olelongrooffan, the best place for a NASCAR race is sitting in the massive living room of the Taj Mahal listening to the Atlantic Ocean breakers and the race on the MRN racing radio network and trying to envision, through the words of those announcers, the action on the track.

It reminds me, with extreme pleasure, of listening on the radio, with TheGentlemanFarmer all those years ago, to Jack Buck announcing the St. Louis Cardinal baseball games and envisioning the action on the diamond.

And that Counters is how this olelongrooffan, in the smallest and most obscure way, is able to really

Celebrate Life.