They had a few nostalgic race cars in the beer garden
I flew out to Newark from Seattle on the last day of May to begin my June work schedule. In their infinite wisdom, and complete lack of logic, the company that employs me decided to give me a day off on my first day of availability. It appears they enjoy wasting their money and my time... but that's a subject best discussed elsewhere.
So... because I was free of any obligations, I was able to do basically whatever I wanted to. The problem is there is not a lot to do in Newark, especially when you're stuck at the Crowne Plaza located in a "lovely" industrial area with very few places within walking distance. So I basically was expecting a day filled with catching up on a few emails and watching a movie or two in the comforts of my 11th floor room overlooking the Newark airport.
Sometime around lunch I accidentally discovered (via Facebook) that the NHRA races were currently being held at the Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ... just a short 35 or so miles away! How fortuitous!
I contacted my friend, Bob, the Team Manager for Team Wilkerson and told him of my situation. He then graciously offered a VIP pass to attend the race! This was getting better by the minute!
BTPRG & STP
I then took the shuttle over to the airport and picked a rental car agency at random. The gal who helped me at Budget couldn't have been less interested in providing any customer service. She provided information about the transaction only if I asked a direct question about it. She kept checking her cell phone to see if someone had contacted her in the few seconds that had elapsed since the last time she checked it. I don't expect to get special treatment but c'mon, it would've been more personal had I been dealing with a computer kiosk.
Once I was in the rented Nissan Altima and heading south on the New Jersey Turnpike, things were looking up... I could almost smell the nitromethane already!
16,000 horsepower getting ready to blast down the track.
Upon arriving to the track, I could hear the burnouts of the first Funny Cars getting ready to take their first shot at the 1000' distance. I made it up to the fence in time to see the second pair of nitro burning monsters make their pass. I watched the rest of the Funny Cars run and then while Top Fuel was taking their turn in qualifying, I made my way over to the beer garden. I was able to see the rest of the dragsters make their passes with a very expensive Heineken in my hand.
After Q1 was over, I made my way over to the LRS pit area and met up with Bob to thank him for the VIP pass and to "shoot the breeze" for a bit. Being the team manager and PR guy, he was pretty busy but he carved out a few minutes of his time to hang out and talk. The LRS hospitality tent was a great place to relax between qualifying sessions, as I was able to munch on hot dogs and watch the guys on the team tear down the engine completely and rebuild it in about 45 minutes.
For Q2, I went back over to the beer garden but this time I noticed that there was an upper level where they had a live band playing. I decided that this would be a perfect place to watch the cars run and enjoy a bit of live music at the same time. I normally sit toward the starting line to watch the cars launch when the light turns green, but this location was at the finish line and it was very cool to watch the cars cross it at over 300 mph!
The band was good... and because of this fact, and because I wanted to avoid the insane traffic jam that always ensues after the last round of qualifying, I decided to stay and watch them until they finished their set. Once they were done I ambled back to the parking lot at a leisurely pace and my plan seemed to work as I looked at maybe a dozen cars left in the parking lot. No traffic!
There was line dancing.
I enjoyed attending the historic raceway park and getting to ingest some tear-inducing nitro on what likely would've otherwise been a boring weekend. It just goes to show that even when you think things look bleak (ie: stuck in Newark) that sometimes it can work out in your favor. Go Wilk!
Closing time
Yo Vinny... Drink Up!
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