Talladega

Written by Administrator | 24 May 2011

On the weekend I took Kate over to Alabama to experience Nascar first hand at the Talladega speedway which is America’s biggest speedway. With the race starting at one o’clock it was an earlier start but once Jordon Bowen who is a therapist at Shepherd and his dad arrived we pile into the silver bullet and headed west to Alabama. I don’t really know how to describe Talladega it is a race track just built in the middle of nowhere with the nearest town twenty minutes away and a service station as your only amenity. But for one hundred thirty thousand rednecks I guess a servo that sells fuel, grog and smokes this is all you need.

Arriving at nine in the morning we meet up a couple of friends from North Carolina got a park and settled into a little pre race tailgating. Now it is never really a great idea to be cracking a beer at nine in the morning but with the crowd already in full swing in the car parks there wasn’t much choice but to join in. With Nascar also being the only sport that you and take alcohol into the grounds it was always going to be a little messy. For one poor old chook in front of us this was definitely the case as she was carried out before the national anthem to sleep it off.

Whilst waiting for Kate to buy a program I was able to witness possibly one the funniest and most excited two fans there. Picture a father and son combo walking through the gates dressed in jorts, there racing team singlets and mullet hair style that would have made most people jealous. They paused upon entering and the father turns to his son and takes a deep breath and says “Son it smells like Dega, it looks like Dega, God dam it we are at Talladega!” They high five and continue to walk in. Well after that comment I could have gone home a pleased man but that was only the beginning of the day.

So with our headsets on listening to car 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr who is a nascar favourite son, a beer in one hand and watching the crowd rise every time he went past it was truly unbelievable. Unfortunately Australia’s only hope and representative Marcus Ambrose crashed out early on in the race. In the end Jimmy Johnson took out the race with our car 88 finishing a close third. It was a cracking day; I think Kate actually really enjoyed her first nascar experience and seeing what the South is really about.