Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen (Watkins Glen)

A lot has happened since we last talked. For one, the King of Pop died... as if you haven't heard enough about this. I've been listening to Billie Jean, Beat it, and Rock with You like 1,000 times. And while my iPod still had a charge, we listened to him all the way to Watkins Glen this past weekend.

We took a Vital Energy field trip to the Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen for July 4th (Indy races). None of us have ever been to a race before so we didn't know what to expect. We bought 3 General Admission tickets because they were cheap and we didn't know what Terrace, Grandstand, Pit, or Garage tickets meant.

Anyway, I had a friend who was in the Pit at Danica Patrick's pit stop. We wanted to go say hi, but we didn't have the right tickets! Sooo Jake and I made friends with the ushers at the security gate and schmoozed our way in. They were awesome ladies though, so it was easy to be friendly! Check out the fine young ladies to the right with Jake :)


When we got into the Grandstands we were able to talk to my friend in the Pit and even caught a few snapshots of Danica Patrick.

After I introduced Jake and Scott to my friend Brooke, we left to go explore the festivities around the track (the track was 3.4 miles long). We got picked up by our golf cart limo driver and then we met some Bat ladies, Erik Estrada from CHIPs, and walked by a bunch of Indy racers we didn't really know.

Jake was becoming mr. cranky pants, so he took off and took a nap in my car while Scott and I watched some Indy time trials. We decided to be risky and sneak into the Pit. This was awesome! Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti, and some other racers walked right by us. We got right up to the cars, and even walked into the garages where mechanics were working on the Indy cars.

The engines were insane looking. I took a few snapshots of Scott and the engines. We then spotted a huge line outside Danica's trailer and waited patiently with everyone. When Danica came out the first time, Scottie waved at her and she waved back at him. Scottie was smitten by the wave.

Later on, some attendees were allowed to drive their cars around the track for a lap. A guy in a white Supra came back and his car sounded horrible. When he parked, we looked at the back of it and found out what the sound was. He said he was driving down a straight part of the track and lost control...and ended up slamming into a wall (see pictures below). He was obviously a great driver.

Rock with me, And we can ride the Boogie,
RIP MJ
-Mike