3 Days of the Dayonta 500, Rain or Shine!

Austin's stepsister Shannon was so sweet to send us tickets to this year's Daytona 500. Her brother-in-law works for Tony Stewart, and she wasn't sure what kind of tickets they would be, but we were just excited to go because we've only been once, 4 years ago. It's just not the same watching it in the living room. :) We were floored when the tickets arrived, and they were for seats in the Sprint Tower, Sprint Fan Zone access, and the Frontstretch hospitality village--all valued at over $1,000. We got to do so much...in the hospitality village, we got free food and drinks, Austin won an autographed Jamie McMurray hat in a raffle, we got Sprint Cup backpacks with hats, ponchos (a necessity!), ear plugs (we didn't bother), and little die-cast race cars, and we got to see Tony Stewart up close! In the Sprint Fan Zone, we got to walk on the actual race track, sign the Start/Finish line, be on the infield for the Lenny Kravitz concert and driver introductions, tour the garages and pit road, and watch the pre-race car inspections. That was Day One, and then the rain started...and the race never did. After waiting for hours, some in the rain, some in the truck, the race was finally postponed until the next day.





So we came back for Day 2, after several rain delays, and the race finally went green at 7:00pm. We had amazing seats, which I was terrified in for the first several minutes. They were sooo high, but it let us see the ENTIRE race track, something you can't do in most of the seats there. We also had a great view of pit road, the garages, and the start/finish line. The rain was staying away (the humidity was not!), and it looked like it was going to be a normal race. I was disappointed that Danica Patrick was taken out on just Lap 2, although she finally got the car fixed enough that she re-entered the race around Lap 64. Around Lap 140, Austin said, "You know, this has been kind of a boring race." And then, on Lap 160, under caution, Juan Pablo Montoya lost control of his car and smashed into the jet drier truck in Turn 3. We couldn't hear an explosion, but there was a huge fireball that just burst seemingly out of nowhere. Thank goodness no one was hurt, and it took 3 dozen emergency vehicles and over 2 hours to fix the track. A lot of people were leaving, saying there was no way they were going to keep running the race tonight. But for the same reason we waited for hours in the rain the day before, we stayed in the stands...it's never over until they say it's over. :) Finally, they went green and finished the race, with Dale Jr. making a last lap run for first, but finishing in second place. The race ended at 1:00am. Techinically, DAY THREE!



We were exhausted and ready to get home to our babies, but what an amazing two (three?) days we had together! Thanks to Shannon, we only spent money on Sharpies (we forgot ours!) and parking to be close to the track--and we parked at Chili's both days, where the manager was donating all parking proceeds to St. Judes. It was a history making race, and we got to do so many things we never imagined we'd be able to do!