Thanks!
I used to help a few different friends over the years with the Friday and Saturday night roundy round thing. It was lots of fun, and I even got to hot lap a few times during practice.
One of the sports car clubs out my way had a few meets at the local fairground circle track, Evergreen Speedway, in Monroe, WA. There are 5/8 mile, 3/8 mile and 1/8 mile ovals, each on inside the other. The road racing guys used all three. We went counter clockwise on the 5/8, clockwise on the 3/8, then counterclockwise on the 1/8 and back onto the 5/8. It was a hoot to be sure.
I also drove a semi for a guy who had a Winston West car back in the early 1990's. We went to all the West coast tracks, and some of the Western states, like Tucson Raceway in Tuscon, AZ and Colorado National Speedway near Denver, Co.
When they ran at Evergreen in Monroe the promoters brought in ringers from the Winston Cup. One year it was Davey Allison (just before he was killed, and Kenny Schrader. After qualifying our car was tore up some and we were thrashing to get it ready for the main event on Sunday. The Saturday night Northwest Tour event was running, and the winner was Schrader. As always they brought in the top 3 finishers for post race teardown. Now we were in the garage area trying to get the car repaired and ready for the next day, and we were drinking beer. When the officials and teams started pushing the cars in for the inspection we all got freaked out and someone said, "Quick! Hide the beer! We're not supposed to have any in here!"
About that time Kenny Schrader walked up to see what we were doing, and asked, "Hey! Anybody got any beer?"
So we all sat around drinking beer with Kenny and some of the other drivers and crew members.
Also, the road course race at Sears Point is always run together with the Cup. That was always cool to rub elbows with the guys in the highest level of the sport. When our car and driver was performing well we would get interviewed, and the cameras would be focused on us during pit stops.
My small moment of fame.
Good times.
The key is to know when to say "when". Like Spuds Makenzie, the "Original" Party Animal.
Again, thanks!