Things don’t always go as we planned. This year, circumstances prevented us from attending the NASCAR race at Pocono for the 2nd straight year after never missing a race since our inaugural visit in 2013. I offered to make it up to Austin by taking him to a different track: he chose to go the annual road race at Watkins Glen (sponsored this year by GoBowling.com).
We have always arrived early to the races, but this would be our second year trying to authentically tailgate: cooking 2 meals over 6-7 hours under the canopy, playing games, listening to music, etc. This year (unlike our previous effort) I was determined to get things right and (between my preparation and Austin’s greater maturity) the entire pre-race festivities went off without a hitch (except for the him blinking for the one image I captured of us under the canopy).
We arrived before 0900 and were able to set-up in short order. By 1000, we were eating breakfast, which included pancakes, potato crisps, and bacon. The pancakes were made fresh with a add-water-only mix and the other items were pre-cooked. After breakfast, we would play cribbage, Pylos, and Quoridor. I would beat him handily in cribbage and Pylos, but his brain is wired way-better for Quoridor than is mine. Lunch included Hofmman Snappies for Austin, Grilled Chicken for Keith, chips, potatoes, and fruit. Like the potatoes, the chicken was pre-cooked in advance of the race, which made prep and clean-up really, really easy.
As the green flag approached, we kept our eyes on the radar; a storm with lightening looked to be coming toward the track and was traveling such that would arrive at nearly 1500. Rather than go into the track, we elected to wait it out in the lot, only 50-75 yards from the gate. Luckily, the cell dissipated as it approached. As it did, we folded up the chairs (the canopy had already been put away to keep it dry) and we entered the track to find our seats.
I did a really nice job with those seats. Having never been to the track before, I had looked a cell phone footage and images that had been taken at previous races to determine where we could sit that would offer some action and a nice view of the jumbotron and I nailed it! Despite obtaining tickets with less than one month’s notice, I was able to get us a spot that fit our needs completely … or at least as well as we could hope.
You see, I hadn’t taken Austin to The Glen in the past because I had a suspicion that it was a mostly-boring in-person race. Much like Pocono, the cars start to spread out fairly quickly after green flag so there is little passing, so pit-strategy and luck play an enormous role in how well a driver places at the end of the day. Different from Pococo, however, spectators can’t see the entire race from their seats and only have a chance to watch the cars pass them and go through 2-3 turns before waiting another 70+ seconds for them to drive by again. Austin did not find this to be as exciting or fun to watch.
The other advantage to going to Pocono is the date: it is typically held on a weekend in early June and the sun is positioned in the sky just so that we are able to remain in the shade for the duration of the race. On this date we were exposed and facing almost due South, so when the sun was out (and – more often than not – it was), it was a very, very hot experience.
Midway through the race, we visited the haulers, but Austin didn’t see anything that he had any interest in. I shared with him how strange it was: when he was younger, the most exciting part of the race was his going to the haulers and shopping for 1-2 hours. Now he walks to one trailer, takes a peek from a distance
Toward the end, Kyle Busch was having a middling day, so Austin was not married to the idea of staying through the checkered flag. With 15 laps to go, we started on our way to the car. At Pocono, we are usually able to park close to our seats and run out with 3-4 laps to go, but we were seated inside of the track and needed to walk 10 mins and over a foot bridge to get back the car. Still, we were able to hit the road before the mass-exodus of folks who would have been trying to drive through town to get home.
On the way to the race, Austin had watched Eccleston-episodes of Doctor Who, but he never turned on his electronics on the way home. Instead we listened to music and talked about life: the race, COVID, philosophy, racism, politics … it was a really, really nice ride and a memory/experience that I will cherish for years to come.
We ended the day under a pavilion in the pouring rain in North Syracuse while enjoying some Toss and Fire pizza.
Despite the heat mid-day, a race that is viewed more on a jumbotron than in-person, and a deluge of rain at dinner, it was the most perfect inperfect day that I could have asked for.
Hopefully, he’ll look back on the experience one day as fondly as I do