NASCAR is coming to Atlanta this weekend!
Five years ago, in 2001, it was the Cracker Barrel 500 and we were there! Buddy was building Cracker Barrel restaurants at the time and he was sent to the Atlanta Motor Speedway to build the Cracker Barrel storefront stage. This is where the drivers were introduced to the crowd, coming out of the "restaurant" door when their names were called. It was built on a tractor-trailer and pulled out front and center for the pre-race stage, then pulled off the track for the race.
We spent about 5 days camping out at the Speedway that year, with passes to all the weekend events provided by the construction company he worked for. There were several races and qualifying runs. We ate breakfast in the infield and toured the pits. A lot of his coworkers were camping there also, along with hundreds of die-hard NASCAR fans. It was just a gravel parking lot used for camping, but the atmosphere was electric. There were huge banners displayed on campers of their favorite drivers. There were satellite dishes, grills, lots of food and fun.
This was our first NASCAR experience, and if not for the free tickets, we probably would never have gone to a race. (And after fighting the traffic, may never go to another one!) But it was worth it, the noise, the bright colored cars, the Air Force jet flyby, the speed, the roar of the engines! The weather was perfect, cool and sunny. It was a very exciting few days.
We still cheer for Bill Elliott when he races, as he is kinda a neighbor, being from Dawsonville. Carl Edwards won the Atlanta race last year, doing his trademark backflip off of the car. I hope the weather cooperates this year, we will probably watch it from our vantage point on the couch!
