First off, I enjoyed Friday qualifying and practice, and Saturday qualifying, practice, modified and BGNN races more than I did the big Sunday event.  Used to hear people say things like that and think they were just being difficult or weird.  Now, I did get sunscreen in my eye Saturday, and, depite repeated dosings with some visine-like stuff and washings, it was still watering all day Sunday.  So I had to watch the race mostly with my eyes closed, or occasionally with one eye open, listening to the scanner.  But I don't really think that was the deciding factor.  It was just so fun listening to the practices over the scanner, that's the BEST toy!!!  And the Mod race Saturday was quite cool, hope you TV viewers thought so as well.

Under things I learned this weekend:  Sunscreen products DO expire!  I didn't know that, and was all set with my SPF 8 (a very conservative number, I usually use SPF 2) on my general sun-exposed areas, with my super-duper SPF 45 on my tattoos to prevent fading.  Well, the SPF 45 areas started to feel real hot, almost like it was intensifying the heat ... after asking around I learned that there is an expiration date, and for a reason.  Quickly washed it off, borrowed from others, and hit the WalMart on the way from the track.

It's been bantered about here that Dale E just wants what he wants on the car setup, and doesn't really want to pay too much attention to the crew chief.  Obviously he was one of the drivers I spent considerable time listening to on Friday, and I heard him at least four separate times say things like "I'm good going in, but not coming out, any suggestions Kevin?"  "It seems it could be the sway bar, what do you think?"

On the other hand, I was really looking forward to hearing the much publicized Gordon/Ray whining ... but caught not an ounce of whining or anything negative on their channel all weekend.  On the third hand (how many do I get) ... and you KNOW how much I hate telling THIS!  Dale was amongst the group of drivers who had to qualifying up front right after that disasterous (for both fans and drivers, I was SOAKED!) rainstorm.  There was MUCH scanner activity during that time, and Dale was indeed entreating "talk to them, Richard" about trying to reschedule, renegotiate the situation and lamenting how unfair the deal was for those who had to go early.  A bunch of people (don't really know who) were lobbying to try to get the BGNN guys to do some high speed turns around the track.

The reunion was again, the best!!!  We had at least eight new faces, Diane (well, with a little pushing from me) was a gracious hostess, there were no permanent injuries incurred, there were refreshments, Canadians, a total of about two dozen folks showed up altogether, including assorted camping buddies.  Two of our number had been recently tapped by their companies to try to solve the Y2K problem ... putting a nail in the coffin of that silly theory that F1 fans were most likely to be targeted by computer/high-tech sponsors/marketers, or whatever that was being tossed about here last week.  One of the new guys when introduced to me said "Oh .. I've read YOUR stuff" ... kinda made me feel like Tinadog et. al. must feel, not sure whether it was good or bad!  I tried to talk Di and Brent into spending some of their 11 days vacation at a nice seaside town, with lots of history, and a rocky coastal harbor just 3 blocks away from FREE accommodations, complete with cuddly cats.  I guess they're still talking it over .. c'mon guys, you know where I live, you've been there before!  And Di, I promise I won't move without attending at least one more NHIS reunion .. but when I do (keep your fingers crossed for the employment gods!) .. I'll need some company on my drive down to North Carolina with the three little beasties ... you and me, road trip, sound good?

Karen Jensen

	Home | SHR | Race Pics | About the Author  | UCAP |  E-mail
This page was last Modified on:  .