“America is all about speed. Hot, nasty, bad-ass speed.” – Elenor Roosevelt.
Ok, so she didn’t really say that, but it’d be cool if she did and at the very least it would be an accurate statement. I don’t need to go into it, but we Americans know we loves the car. It just expresses our view of freedom so succinctly. Just seeing a red sports car can get us excited. We even have shows where we just look at new cars, or hell, even old cars just sitting there. And sometimes we have events where we just watch cars go fast.
Car racing has been around since the car was invented. And here in the Big D we have a great track to go watch cars going fast, really fast. Texas Motor Speedway opened in February of 2006 and has since been a home to the NASCAR and IRL racing series.
I know what you are thinking what could be more redneck than a NASCAR race. Well to be honest… not a lot and that is exactly what I thought. I had never been to a race, but I was lucky enough to be a guest to the Samsung 500 in April. I had more fun than I have had in a long time. In the stands before the race, I had butterflies in my stomach. There was a certain electricity in the air. And when they yelled “Gentlemen start your engines!” and all of the drivers started their cars, I was smiling ear to ear. I felt like a 10 year old kid. Those screaming engines, bright pretty cars and the rumbling in the stands was enough to make me get out of my seat. And stand I did until well after the green flag dropped.
I had heard it was going to be loud, but i couldn’t have know it would be that loud. I had heard the cars were going to be fast, and trust me they were fast. At full speed the cars made it around the 1½ mile track in about 30 seconds. I had heard there was a lot of beer, but I was in college the last time I saw that many empties. Come to think of it when if Texas Motor Speedway has a theme it is “More = More.” Maybe that’s just a theme they inherited from Texas herself.
Needless to say the race far exceeded my expectations. Since my first race I have been back to Texas Motor Speedway again to see the IRL IndyCar Series race. And it was different, but easily just as cool. If you haven’t had a chance to see a race I highly recommend it. I will be there in November, maybe I will see you there.
