it's not even close.

all the race fans here know I keep up w/ NASCAR, but I'd never been to a race in my life. my girl got me tickets to the Pure Michigan 400 Sprint Cup Series race here this weekend and mannnnn

(note: did see two confederate flags in the parking lot)

lemme tell you two things right off the bat: parking at MIS was free. like. free free. like ACTUALLY FREE, right at the track.

you can bring. your. own. beer.

your. own. beer.


also, I've been to Indycar races and drag races before so I had an idea, but you really have no idea how fast and how loud these cars are in real life. we were sitting right behind the start/finish line, and even with earplugs in it was terrifying.

great experience, everyone from the fans to security were super chill (you're not supposed to bring in hard coolers, the security guard let someone bring one in just said don't bring it next time, you're not supposed to have umbrellas and I had one in my bag -- they just said don't don't take it out, but I didn't have to go back to my car or anything)
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www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

>you can bring. your. own. beer.
>
>your. own. beer.

so I thought this was normal, and the other sports were weird.

funny how perspective changes.

I was just sure I had read the rules incorrectly and I was going to get stopped at some point.

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

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i imagine most people were pretty friendly. from my experience it's a fairly welcoming bunch, overall. surprised you only saw 2 confederate flags though, honestly.

I showed up just after the green flag dropped so pretty much everyone was seated already.

everyone was super focused on the race, the entire time.

the people I did talk to, were friendly and chill, from security to just random folks

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i have a segment of my family that loves that stuff but it's a lot of effort to drive to a track for an event and then sit out in some 100 degree shit just to shoot the shit and watch cars and get drunk. I can do that in a lot of other places with way less effort, so I only want to be at a race if the weather is cooperative.

it was actually unseasonably cool so that was never a problem

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

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____________________

<================== MVP

I work at NASCAR, so I can get them for free.

The Hot Pass let's you:

~ Walk through any garage you like at certain times

~ Roam around right behind Pit Road, even during the race

~ Go out on the track an hour before the race. Drivers come out with their cars and kick it with the fans, sign autographs, etc.

I could not imagine having that kind of access in ANY other pro sport. It's crazy.

(And yes, once you get close to the track, you REALLY understand the speed on those cars.)

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doing credit card sign ups. Got paid like $100 for the day plus bonus if we hit our numbers. Not bad for a 5 hour gig.


Anyway only 2 confederate flags? Crazy I saw about a hundred. Not counting tattoos and swastika tattoos. Other than that it was really chill. People were cool. Even caught my brother chatting with this big bald white dude who had lightning bolts on his head. Every thing you say is pretty much on point. I still dont get it.

But I have to say UFC is pretty awesome to attend live. Its expensive as shit but the access you get to fighters is incredible. Dana White encourages fighters to hang out in the concourses between fights and stay after the show and sign autographs in the parking lot. I've been to 3 events live and every time it was amazing the amount of fighters just chilling talking to fans and taking pictures. The kids really got a kick out of it. I havent been to an event since UFC 63. But now they do the fan expos too. Pretty awesome especially at a time when the big 3 sports stars are put on a pedestal and and all have velvet ropes around them.

honestly I expected more of the confederate flag type shit, but I didn't see it.

just your usal 90sish walmart clothes: camo, ridiculously drawn nascanr drivers and graphics and mad jorts. NEXT TIME I'M WEARING MY JORTS AND NO ONE CAN STOP ME BRO

the only thing that even came close was after the race, I was in the bathroom, my gf was by herself, and she saw a guys shirt and rolled her eyes, and the guy next to her said "ha, you must have read his shirt?" and laughed, because the shirt said "I love vagina" in the Coca cola font or something like that.

also, I saw a guy taking a selfie with a flip phone, and the dude in front of us in a dale earnhardt jr t-shirt had a tether device on his ankle, lol.

there weren't many not-white people there, but I saw more black folks than I expected

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a lot of black people, a LOT of Latinos and also some Indian and Asian fans as well. all of them rocking racing jackets.

the nfl/nba fucking wish they could sell merch like this

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i live near Charlotte Motor Speedway so needless to say i saw many confederate flags. i even saw a few blacks with confederate flags believe it or not. but the races themselves are pretty interesting. i went to the May race and the October one. the autumn one actually got a little cold at night. as far as the beer, yeah it's a little nuts how they let you bring in whatever you want without even checking. cats were dragging huge containers full of beer and food. not only that, they were passing it around like crazy in the stands. i got quite nice and didn't buy a single beer. also got quite a few different flavors of jerky. i honestly am not a big fan but i would be interested in doing the All-Star race one year to see how that is.


on a side note, if you ever get to come to Charlotte and check out the NASCAR Hall of Fame, it's pretty cool. a lot of hands on stuff and interesting stories. did you know the sport got it's start from guys running moonshine? i had no idea. LOL

took my son when we visited Charlotte and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it and how much there was to see and do. We were there like 3 1/2 hours and still didnt do everything there was to do there.....



We the children of the Light, you know what I mean?
That's why I'm hating on the darkness like Paula Deen
Cause in my hood they masked up like it's Halloween
We going hard for the Rock, but we not some fiends
- Andy Mineo

he works for coors light and does marketing stuff w/ their nascar guys

he was telling me I need to get down there and tour the various garages

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not as lax on the alcohol and bringing stuff in, but you can set up chairs or lay out a blanket and watch the race from almost anywhere around the track and get a better view of what's going on than the higher priced bleacher or club seating.

when I was headed back to the airport

used to sell merch back in the day for Ferarri on the F1 circuit, and he said the best race to go to is at Spa

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Plus the umbrella girls!
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Used to do both brickyard and Indy 500 but lately just the 500.

I think the further south you go, you see more of the confederate shit.

I also used to go to the mid-ohio race in Lexington every year and there used to be a race at the Cleveland lakefront airport runways that was cool.

I went to the Sonoma sears point race a couple times and stayed in sf. It was a great time and that was probably the closest driver/garage experience.

I'm really into the design and engineering aspects of it so it's great for me. And being able to kick back with some beers after checking all that stuff out is great.

It was the funny car racing.

We were taking turns working the different camera positions. One was in the stands, another in the pit area and the last was ON the track at the starting line. I started on the track and even WITH ear plugs I almost dropped the camera with how loud everything was. And the force of the engines when they pull off? Man... Gained a whole new respect for the sport. It's a power you really have to experience live. TV doesn't do it justice at all.

but it's something a speaker is just not capable of recreating.

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

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If you catch them in the right setting, they can be the coolest, most chill people on Earth.