View photos from the event here and wallpaper here.
1. @ da new smyrna speedway for a usaracing event. my 1st time seein a live car race. i won free tix 4 it. its hot as hell n i aint complainin!
2. its called the pro cup series florida 250. bout 2 do a ride-along. damn cars r loud as hell. need earplugs out in dis bitch on da reals!
3. dat ride-along was sweet. had 2 put on uniform n helmet. brow sweatin like a bia in da race car but it was fun. once in a lifetime. luv it!
4. damn good day so far. my homegirl made it out here. she announced da start of da race, i was in da pace car. all wood n a good time so far.
5. said she had her eyes closed when she did da ride-along. WUSS! we hit up an italian joint by da beach den went 4 a short walk on da beach.
6. i busted my ass on sum stairs when i was takin her pic. yep, her n another guy got a good laff. so did i. glad no one was filming!
7. 2 cars spun out, 1 of em rite outta da race. 1 car crashed n2 a wall. 1 car got sparks flyin behind it. even saw 1 wit da hood missin.
8. 10 laps 2 go n food stand said 1/2 off all food. now u know 2 wait! couple more spinouts but nathan serious. dont think ima c a crash 2nite.
9. food country usa car 75 won it all. $8,000. dats a good chunk for drivin ur car in a circle 250 times. cats as young as 14 out here drivin.
Working from home has its perks. While I’m taking calls on one computer, I’m usually texting on my phone or surfing and IM’ing on the other or doing other shit that can only be done on a computer like video editing. Every now and then I’ll enter contests at the websites of local radio and tv stations. I’ve actually won in the past (like movie and theme park tickets) and I won again just a couple months ago (yeah, I know this article is late as hell). I tend to enter contests for things that I’d be more apt to do. I’d never in my life been to a car race before. The opportunity was there so I took it. Other things were going on that day as far as contests I could and did enter. Either way, whichever I won, if I won, I wouldn’t complain about it.
Got an email from K92fm (country music radio station) letting me know I won the grand prize for the Crane Cams 250 race. I was pretty surprised cuz I’d only entered the contest a few days before if not a couple. They gave me instructions on where to pick up my prize pack. I think they’re a part of Cox Communications and their hub is located completely on the other side of town from me. Wasn’t too long of a drive cuz it was a straight shot on a major road but that don’t mean it wasn’t far. It’s on north JYP and I don’t even hang on any part of town if it ain’t my immediate area or downtown. So it was nice to see some familiar territory again since I used to live up in that area.
Got to the joint, went in, receptionist was kinda cute chewing her gum (you know she was stereotypically blonde), and I told her why I was there. You’d think shit would be sorted for a place of that importance but there was a mixup. The chick who sent me the email was out of the office and they leave the prize envelopes with the receptionist. There was confusion as to which was the grand prize envelope and which was just tickets only. They weren’t even sure what the grand prize fully consisted of even though there was a flyer with all the details. So blondie had to call email chick to confirm. It was a bit of a waste of time cuz all that shit shoulda been known and taken care of in advance and I had to wait a good bit while it was figured out. And my allergies were fucking with me bigtime too. I was sneezing and snotting up a storm in there. Got to see some radio personalities walking by though. Only knew their faces from the tv images in the lobby. Otherwise I’d have no idea who they were cuz I don’t listen to the radio at all in any form.
Had to sign a form for tax purposes cuz the prize value was 500 bucks. Me and my allergies thought we were through but I got a call from them cuz there was still some confusion about exactly where I’d go to redeem the prize. I don’t like driving and talking on the phone so I told them to just email the shit to me. Here’s an image of what was included with the prize pack:
Something like this is once in a lifetime so I was pumped. Others not so much. One friend never replied back (come to find out her phone was disconnected). Other friend said he’d let me know but never did. It’s fucked up when you invite someone to something and you gotta ask them if they’re going or not cuz they don’t communicate. After I forced a no out of him, he’s been placed on the no invite list. Asked another friend and he said yes then said no which isn’t unusual so he’s also been placed on the list. I ain’t got time for indecisive, unreliable people. I wanted to use all four tix but I could see that just wasn’t happening. So I asked an acquaintance that I don’t see or talk to much due to distance and scheduling and she actually came through for me and I appreciate it. She said yes and stuck to her word and stayed in constant communication all the way up till we met at the event. That’s how friendships are supposed to work in my opinion. It can’t be that hard to stick to your own word. If it is, something’s wrong with you and I don’t deal with people like that anymore.
I’d never been to New Smyrna beach in my life so I figured why not enjoy the beach while I’m out there. We had to arrive early for all the pre-race festivities and the race wasn’t till evening so there was plenty of time for it. A pre-mentioned friend said he and his family were down for going to the beach. You know what happened next. He changed his mind again. I wasn’t even sweating it at that point cuz I already planned the day without him or anyone else other than my homegirl. I give time and attention to those who earn it. Pretty simple, ain’t it?
The assumption was that it was gonna be a hot day so I asked her to bring some beach gear along cuz I ain’t have none. Turns out later she forgot but I can give her a pass on that since I’ll explain later how none of it was gonna get used anyway. New Smyrna’s about an hour from my pad. The speedway shoulda been easier to find than it was. The road leading up to it was easy to navigate cuz there weren’t many lights or traffic. But the sign for the speedway is off in the cut and if you miss it, which both of us did, then you’ll be wasting some time and gas. As big as the sign is, it’s too far off the road. I only lost about 5 minutes cuz I caught it and made a U. She went all the way to the beach and lost about a good hour cuz when I told her where it was and she came back, she still went too far.
Before she got there though, I arrived around noon when I was told to if I wanted to do the ride-along. The parking lot is just dirt and grass and it was pretty warm during the day but it was overcast so the sun wasn’t beating anyone down into submission. I went into the general lot to explore the speedway and take some pics. It’s pretty rundown but considering that it’s racing and in a small town, it wasn’t completely unexpected. We both knew that we’d probably be the only niggers there, and as I recall, we were, but she thought there’d be some drama from the hicks, hillbillies, and rednecks in attendance. I didn’t think that at all and I assured her ass there wouldn’t be nothing like that going on and there wasn’t. It was all love. Contrary to popular belief, niggers and rednecks get along fine. We’re basically the same types of people other than skin color and culture. Rednecks and trailer trash are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my life and that’s on the real. And being that I grew up in a small town around people like them, there’s nothing but love from me. Hopefully she sees that now cuz they treated us very well.
I got my pics and then went to the proper parking area since I was the grand prize winner. I had to sign in at a trailer for the ride-along. Since the drivers were whizzing around the track testing their rides, me and a few other people had to wait it out to cross the track to get into the pit. Man, those fucking cars are loud as fuck. I had no idea. I’d recommend strongly that if you’re gonna attend any race with cars driving that fast, bring some earplugs! We neglected to. You get used to the loudness but that’s not necessarily a good thing. I got golf cart treatment to the ride-along area. Made me feel special as hell the whole day. Had to get dressed in proper gear (all used and probably not 100% clean) before I was allowed in the car. The pit crew was cordial and made sure I was strapped in safe and tight and all the gear was on proper. Here’s the end result. Had to slide in through the window. Not the most comfy of settings as there’s no AC at all (but I already knew that). The ride can get bumpy and rough too cuz the seats ain’t cushioned from what I remember.
All that aside though, I was in and ready to go. My driver and everyone there including other guests, the photographer, and the crew was nice and professional. The initial launch was a great feeling. I think we shot up to around 100 mph in a few seconds. That shit felt awesome. You can feel those g’s hardcore. We went around about 5 times. Inside the cockpit, you probably gotta have some good concentration as a driver cuz it was a short track, lots of stop and go, and it was hot and rough. Kinda sound like sex, don’t it? And just like sex, I loved it. How many people on earth can say they’ve done that? I’m privileged to be one of them cuz it was an awesome experience. I’m all about new experiences and this was definitely one I’m glad came along.
After that was all over, a couple other people took their turn riding around. At that point, I had plenty of time to kill waiting on ol’ girl to get there. I walked around and soaked in the sights and sounds of the pit, talking to people along the way. There’s a kiddie track that wasn’t open. Saw some overtanned, tattooed chicks in bikinis. I forget what they were promoting. I guess they think they was that bomb diggy but all of ‘em was young white bitches with no ass and barely any titties. Good for a lay and nothing more. Lookin’ like every other chick you see at the bar or club on the weekend. Nothing unique about them.
I was getting hungry and tired of waiting for her. I hung out in my car listening to music and surfing on my phone then walked across the street to a convenience store. They had fried chicken (insert nigger joke here) and all that but she said she was getting closer so I just got a quick snack cuz we was gonna do lunch and hit the beach later. Made my way back right when she was pulling up. That’s when it was revealed she forgot the beach gear. That was partly due to her having so much shit in her car that there wasn’t no room for it anyway. She parked near where I was, we got her signed in, and there was still time for her to get a ride-around cuz it was the second and last opportunity of the day.
Her opinion of it would be good but at the same time, she’s made it clear she wouldn’t do it again. Women are such cowardly ass creatures, ain’t they? She said we could knock that off our bucket list and she’s right. Done deal. Glad I came to experience this cuz it probably ain’t ever gonna happen again quite like this. With that out of the way, we drove to where she got lost; the beach. Traffic on our side was light. Opposing traffic was backed up for some reason. When we came back though, it was gone. Apparently New Smyrna’s still having a tough time in the economy cuz half of the homes we saw were for sale and there were plenty of vacant storefronts too. We wanted some grub first and settled on an italian joint. Food was about what you’d expect; nothing exceptional. We sat on one side and were the only ones there. About 10 minutes later, I guess the lunch crowd starting coming in, all of the white, and they sat on the other side. Plenty of room to go around but they bunched themselves as far away from us as possible. Might not have been intentional but we made some jokes about it to ourselves. Gotta love segregation. She paid for the meal. No complaints here!
There was another joint we walked up to before that was in the same plaza. Fucking owners were outside smoking cigarettes in front of it. They didn’t serve the type of food we wanted (quick and cheap) so it was for the better. That’s one way to lose business and being that the inside was completely empty, it ain’t no wonder why. They even still had a Food Lion in the same plaza (I thought all of those were long gone) so we went in. I forget what my homegirl wanted to buy but there were 2 chicks in front of us with a lot of shit and then there she was with just one item She asked them without hesitation if she could go ahead of them and they said yes. I’m used to seeing people already in line tell the other person behind them that they can go ahead, not the other way around. I thought it was pretty funny if not borderline rude. Ain’t like she was mean about it or anything but I guess my attitude has changed slightly due to that incident. I always say you never know what you can get unless you ask and she did exactly that and got what she wanted so I’m in no position to complain about it. Can’t contradict myself like that. Still thought it was funny though.
After that, the beach was right across the street. We coulda parked at some condos there but I ain’t wanna get my car towed so I just left it in the plaza parking lot where I knew it wasn’t going nowhere. Things were cooled off and a bit windy by that point so beach gear wasn’t gonna be useful at all cuz we wasn’t chilling or hitting the water. Too cold all of a sudden for that. We walked for a bit and took some pics. I tripped and busted my ass while trying to take her pic cuz she was on the stairs and every single time I was about to snap a shot, someone came walking up or down and I had to move. I moved on one occasion, the first one, and tripped back over the stair rail. Landed in the sand. Embarrassing as it may have been, we got a good laugh out of it and she finally loosened up cuz I could tell she was on guard for a long while since we met. It was our first time officially hanging out after all. We only met once before but talked plenty before that. Things was real cool between us after my slip and fall.
It takes a guy damn near injuring himself for people to warm up to him. How fucked up is that shit? The beach was pretty damn big if not empty. I assume it was low tide. White sand all round and it was clean. No lifeguards though. She pointed that out. Not many people were in the water anyway cuz it was too cold so it ain’t make a shit of difference. We made our way back to the car (mine by the way), back to the speedway, and back into the pit for the start of the race. Just before that, we got some VIP suite badges which you can peep here. There was some downtime so I peeped the area under the bleachers cuz I couldn’t before. Had to cross the track to get back there. Food was all junk food as expected but reasonably priced. I think they even had a small-scale bar and you already know the types of people that were in there. There was merchandise but nothing noteworthy. I do remember using the bathroom in the pit. Stunk to hell and cobwebs all over the fucking place. At least the bathroom in the bleacher concession area wasn’t as bad. Not good but not nearly as bad. She gave me some dough to buy her a water so that’s what I did and made my way back to the pit.
There were more perks to come that I wasn’t told about. We were front and center on the track facing the crowd with the Crane Cams owner and the announcer to greet all the drivers before the start of the race. That was a unique experience. Some of them was like kids and shit. 14 or 16 was the youngest driver age. They was skinny and pimply faced and shit. Child labor laws don’t apply here, I suppose. It was cute for lack of a better word. All of them was white. Niggers don’t drive race cars…or play hockey either. Wonder why that is? Ain’t see any other nationalities there so we were indeed, as for what our eyes could see, the only minorities there. We even met our drivers from the ride-around and they was all cool except for one of them who we were talking to beforehand and he was spitting a lot during convo. Yuck. He was still cool but damn, that shit is nasty, man. Yep, I grew up around people that do that shit too. Gross then and still gross now.
Then I got in the pace truck and she got to say “gentlemen, start your engines” for everyone to hear like they do at the start of every race like this. No chick drivers so the “gentlemen” word still holds merit till some new trailblazers start making waves in the racing world. Danica can only do so much for the feminist movement. Talking with the owner, he told me I was in pretty exclusive company riding inside of any pace car or truck. Politicians, entertainers, and businessmen have all done it and now a low on the totem pole guy like me is amongst their ranks. There’s pics for all of this shit but it wasn’t my cam that took the pics. Plus I forgot to get video from inside the pace truck as I left my cam on the sidelines like a fool. I emailed who I’m hoping is the photographer (while this is being typed up) and hopefully she still has those pics and is willing to share. I’d love to share them with everyone and have them for myself for the unforgettable memories.
The owner is pulling double and triple duty since the company is just starting back up but after talking to him, I can say he’s a stand up guy and has a plan in mind. Lots of good people we met on this day. Since I was in the pace truck, I was stuck out in the pit and didn’t get the VIP seating like my homegirl did. I could see her up in the enclosed area but I wasn’t sweating it. Just adds to the experience and I suppose where I was is a more desired place to watch the race than anyplace else when I think about it. How many people get an opportunity like that? Got to see the small scale wrecks up close and personal along with the quick tire changes, repairs, and even some minor footage of the winner spraying champagne on his peeps: