Left Turns.

Work has been extremely busy lately as we lead up to a trial in three weeks.  Even with that, there was no way I was going to say no when my friend KWW told me he was going to be in town to do the NASCAR race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet and asked if I would like to attend.  I can't call myself a NASCAR fan or even knowledgeable about the sport -- I think I can name, at most, 5 NASCAR drivers -- but the answer to that is always going to be yes.  And, because KWW would be working the race and not really able to hang out, I got M and K to go with me.

When K decided she would skip her brunch plans and come to NASCAR, she immediately burst into a chorus of Proud to be an American.  Honestly, we expected to hear it everywhere we turned once we arrived at the track.  In that, we were disappointed.  But we did have some stereotypes met, including: confederate flags; lots of beer; and, bad clothes:

Seen on two separate people, the assault rifle motif was popular, even more jarring to me considering the Aurora shootings not three days ago.

It was awesome.  Part state fair midway, part sporting event, part People of Walmart.  So much fun to be had between the planned diversions and people watching.

We suspected it was going to be great when we were starting our hike from our parking spot and flagged down a golf cart to ask where Will Call was.  The driver told us but said he couldn't give us a ride (before we even asked) because it was only for people with disabilities.  Out of sheer laziness, I told the man that I had rheumatoid arthritis.  For the first time, I'm happy to have it as we were told to climb on it.  K and I sat in the back while M had a fairly detailed conversation about twinkies and their history.

Our twinkie-loving driver dropped us off at the midway where we quickly obtained a margarita and a lot of free swag.  Sunglasses, hats, collapsible water bottles, bottle openers, koozies, fans, stress balls, crayons, pens, coloring books and more.

I refuse to heed the advice of the tire stress ball.

Yes, this is a bad picture with my nose looking even more broken than it is and the child-sized frames but they are cute right?  At least, the Geico gecko in the upper left corner is cute.

K would oblige me to point out that while it is a cute motif it is not a great insurance company -- go State Farm!

We started playing the various games and KWW was able to join us briefly.  The three of us got to take this picture.  Don't we make convincing mini-drivers?

In case the whole law thing doesn't work out for us.

Before entering the track, we got snacks.  For me, I had one of my favorite things: a hot dog at a sport event.  It was the oddest bun I've had (essentially a thick piece of bread with a slit down the middle) but still good.

Once we entered the track, we made our ascent to our seats.  The seats were awesome -- we could see everything -- but man, were they steep:

Section 121, Row 58, Seat 1.  It is a long way up (and down). NASCAR seats are not for the unfit.

KWW was able to join us for the prayer/pledge of allegiance/national anthem/fly-over and the beginning of the race.  He had warned us -- and even provided ear plugs -- that it was loud but it is hard to understand just how loud until you experience it:

This was coming off a caution about twenty-five laps in.  VROOM!  That's a lot of left turns.  My favorite part was watching the pit crews.  They are so impressive.

Cars lined up in front of pit row before the start.

We had to leave a bit early and apparently we missed the perfect race ending: two laps under a caution, two under white and the checkered flag.  Honestly though, even with missing the "perfect ending," it could not have been more fun.  AND, on the way home, I got to fill up on cheap suburbs gas and get a desperately-needed car wash.

By far, my best Sunday in a long, long time.  Thanks, KWW!