The Pocono Experience 2005: Pennsylvania 500
July 27, 2005
By Lou Demian
2005 marked 2 years since we’ve been to a NASCAR race. Since we were busy the previous year with wedding preparations, we just didn’t have the time or money. Therefore, we would make it up this year by going to 2 races. Originally, we were just going to attend the September Dover race, however afterwards we decided we would go back to Pocono as well to make up for lost time.
This would be the first race we would attend after the existence of Lucky Dog Racing. After some last minute preparations for the league, we left early on Friday morning and made our way to the Poconos. We arrived shortly after 8:30am at Pocono Raceway. It had been 3 years since our last visit to the track. Not much had changed except for all the Nextel signs replacing the Winston Cup ones.
We made our way inside and headed towards the garage area to get our pit passes validated. The one bad thing about having pit passes; you have to wear this annoying wristband all weekend. At any rate, we walked through the underground tunnel to the garage area. Unfortunately we didn’t have garage passes, so we had to stay outside the fenced area. By that time of the morning, teams were well underway preparing their cars for the afternoon test session. We took several pictures of the cars in the garages and as they would head over to the inspection area as well. After some time, we decided we would head back over to the souvenir trailers.
While walking among the souvenir trailers, we would check to see if there were any postings of driver signings. We didn’t see any, so we walked over to the next section that featured several different exhibits. One exhibit caught our eye at once, the Budweiser experience. A replica of Dale Earnhardt Jr’s 2004 Daytona win car was on display along with the Daytona 500 trophy. While we were checking it out, they announced they would be starting the first show of a Dale Jr. presentation. The idea of sitting down, in an air-conditioned theater, watching something about Dale Jr, couldn’t be passed up, so we went in. It was a pretty good 15-minute show all about Junior. Afterwards, we checked out some of the other exhibits. Chevrolet had a nice exhibit that featured Kevin Harvick’s car, Dennis Setzer’s Craftsman truck, and a corvette driven in the Grand Am Series. The Nextel Fan Experience had simulator rides, free photos, and a cutaway car as well. This is where the Nextel fan of the week is shown each week on TV. Afterwards, we walked back to the track, ate some lunch and headed back to the garage area.
Things were buzzing a lot more now as the practice time was drawing closer. We saw Richard Petty walking around in the garage area so I quickly took a picture. We noticed a professional photographer setting up to take pictures of someone. I assumed it was a driver and was correct as Kyle Busch came out and was photographed by his car. Afterwards, Kyle came over to the fence and signed quite a few autographs. Gwen and I got our first signing of the weekend. As noon rolled around and the ARCA series were finishing up their practice time, we went out on pit row to watch the Cup Cars practice. We probably should have brought our radio with us since we didn’t have access to speed times or what was going on the track. If we were up in the stands, it would have been different, but you can only see so much while on pit row. During the first session, the field was red flagged. We weren’t sure why until we saw Jimmie Johnson’s car come back to the pits with a smashed up rear end.
After the first session ended, we hung around the garage area and eventually went up to autograph alley for final practice. Autograph alley is a set of bleachers that overlooks the road that goes on pit row. The fueling station is across the way as well. Drivers will usually sign autographs there as they are walking to the pits. It’s also a good spot to sit up high and watch all the cars drive by as they go out to practice. During the second session we saw Elliott Sadler come back with damage and also Kyle Busch come back pretty banged up.
Not long after Happy hour ended, we decided we would head to our hotel that was about a half hour away in Pittston. Before that, we checked the souvenir trailers and noticed that Brian Vickers would be signing tomorrow. They would be giving tickets away at 8:00am. You had to get a ticket that would allow you to get an autograph. We also checked out some vendors that were outside the track, and I bought a Dale Jr. die cast car. After that, we made our way to the hotel. The Super 8 hotel we stayed at wasn’t exactly super. I thought it was a little run down, but hotel rooms were scarce that weekend, you took what you could get. It was only for a couple days so it wasn’t too bad. We went to bed to get an early start for Saturday, Qualifying day.
On Saturday morning we were there at the gates as the opened up. We figured everyone would be running over to Vickers trailer to try and get a ticket. We made our way there as quickly as possible. Unfortunately everyone stood on line for an hour. Someone must’ve posted the wrong time, because the trailer opened at 9:00am. Well, if you didn’t stand on line at 8:00, you probably wouldn’t be able to get a ticket anyway. After we both finally got our tickets, we walked over to the garage area. Not much was going on yet, so we decided to go get some breakfast. By the time we were finished with breakfast, ARCA was well into their qualifying so we decided we better go on pit row and get a spot for Cup qualifying.
We weren’t too sure where the best place would be to stand, but we eventually settled on a place that was near the entrance to pit row. From there, we could see all the cars being brought out to where they would line up to qualify. Eventually a number of the drivers started coming out as well, so we took their pictures. The first driver to come out was Kyle Petty since he would be qualifying first. After awhile Mark Martin came out and started signing autographs along pit row. Sweet! Got my card ready and received my 2nd autograph of the weekend. Scott Riggs also came out and signed as well. I didn’t have any card for him to sign, so I let him sign my program. That was the 3rd autograph. We also saw Brian Vickers, Kyle Busch, Jamie McMurray, Carl Long, Mike Garvey and Jeff Gordon come out. Unfortunately some of the drivers came out from a different entrance toward the front of pit row that we didn’t know about. We missed Dale Jr and a number of other drivers unfortunately. Towards the end of qualifying, we had to walk back to the souvenir trailers since Vickers would be signing then.
We stood online again waiting for Vickers to come by. While standing online we were talking with others around us, getting things ready and all that fun stuff. Sometimes people would have to get by you to meet up with their party in front of the line. One guy touched me on my back, said excuse me and had to get by. I was getting ticked off by having to move again, didn’t realize it was Brian Vickers. D’oh!, sorry Brian. Anyways, after he signed my die cast car that I bought, we walked around writing down names of drivers that would be signing tomorrow. We noticed a line starting to form outside of Jeremy Mayfield’s trailer and saw a sign that he would be arriving soon. So with our great timing, we jumped on line. Before long, Mayfield came by and we received our 5th autograph of the weekend. Afterwards, we decided to head back to the hotel since we had to get to bed early. We would be getting up 5:00am the next day.
While at the hotel we planned our strategy of who would be getting what autograph. We would split up so we could get the most we could. Drivers signing on race day included Casey Mears, Sterling Marlin, Greg Biffle, Scott Wimmer, Robby Gordon, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and even Jack Roush. For Casey Mears, Scott Wimmer and Robby Gordon you didn’t need a ticket. Since we already obtained Kyle Busch’s autograph, we would skip him. We obtained Robby Gordon’s and Sterling Marlin’s autograph in the past, so we decided I would get a ticket for Greg Biffle, Gwen would get one for Kurt Busch and then we would stand on line for Casey Mears.
Early the next day we hit the road back to the track for the final time. People were lined up at the gate when we got there. At 7:00 the crowd was getting restless since the gates should have been opened by then. Finally 10 minutes later, they let people in and the races were on! People took off in all different directions to try and get tickets for their favorite driver. Gwen took off for Busch and I ran over to Biffle’s trailer. I got the ticket with no problem and saw that tickets were still being given out for Jack Roush signing at Carl Edwards trailer across the way. I quickly ran across and got a second ticket. Trying my luck, I ran across to the next row over and obtained one for Dave Blaney. I tried just for the heck of it to get one for Kyle Busch, but it was too late by the time I got there. I got more than I expected. I met up with Gwen who got Kurt Busch’s ticket. Both exhausted, we rested for a while, I went and bought die casts for all the drivers that we would we be getting autographs for and then went to stand on line for Casey Mears.
We figured our strategy out while on line. Mears and Roush were both signing at 9:30. I would go on Roush’s line after getting Mears’ signature. Since I already had a ticket, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal if I was towards the back. Casey Mears came out a little earlier then expected which was good. Casey took the time to talk to people and seemed like a really nice guy. He signed my car and a trading card. Afterwards, Gwen took off to go stand on Kurt Busch’s line and I went on to the line for Jack Roush. Gwen would have Busch sign my car and a photo we bought. I would have Jack Roush sign Greg Biffle’s car and a photo of Jack. While I got up to Jack I asked which driver of his would it be this weekend? Jack thought Carl would have a good day since he had a bad day in the Busch race the day before, but though Mark Martin would be the one to beat. Little did he know it would be his other driver, Kurt Busch who would dominate.
After getting Jack’s autograph, I went around taking pictures of some of the other drivers that we missed. Unfortunately we had to sacrifice Scott Wimmer, Robby Gordon and Sterling Marlin, but at least I got their pictures. Afterwards, I went to stand on line for Dave Blaney. By the time I got there, the line was just about done with, so I pretty much just walked up and Dave signed my Jack Daniels car and a trading card. Gwen was waiting for me there after she had finished with Kurt Busch. We both then went to stand on Greg Biffle’s line and before long we had obtained our 10th and final autograph of the weekend. Not bad at all.
So we were done with the running around and standing on the lines. We went back to the car to dump off all the die casts, chilled out for awhile, ate some lunch under cover from the sun and got ready to sit in the grandstands. We weren’t even going to bother going into the garage area or pit row because it’s a madhouse on race day. Before long, the pre-race festivities had gotten under way and the race was getting underway.
Last time we were at Pocono we sprung for the better seats that were higher, under cover and even catered. This year we took the cheaper seats that were lower and in the sun. Definitely wish we had the other ones. It was bad enough with the sun, but at Pocono it’s much better to sit higher, because it’s tough to see the cars on the front stretch as they go by, especially when everybody stands in front of you.
Jamie McMurray started out on the pole but didn’t even get to lead the first lap as Kurt Busch quickly jumped out front and stayed there for the first half of the race. The first part of the race was pretty boring as Busch was taking off and the field was spreading out. After a caution came out for Mike Wallace smacking the wall, pit strategies made things more interesting as different drivers were up towards the front. Later on green flag stops were happening when a caution came out that put a lot of cars either a lap down or on the tail end of the lead lap. Dale Jr. was on pit row changing springs when he lost a lap, sped down pit row and was held another lap by NASCAR for his actions. He was never able to overcome the penalty even though his car looked good late in the race.
Later on during the race there was some nice racing between Kurt Busch, Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace. Near the end Greg Biffle hit Michael Waltrip who ended up against the wall. Waltrip went back out but spun out again bringing out another caution and a green-white-checker. This would be the first race that we’ve attended where a green-white-checker was used. On the final lap Kasey Kahne slammed the wall and that sealed the win for Kurt Busch who was leading. After watching Busch try a burnout that really wasn’t very good, we braved the huge crowds and went to the car.
Last year I waited a couple hours before we left and didn’t make much of a difference. This year we left right away and got out of the lot with not too much problem. That was the easy part. The hard part is that they send you out the back way on all these backcountry roads where all the hicks sit outside their houses watching the traffic go by. Finally after a couple hours we reached the interstate, thought we were home free, but ended up sitting in more bumper-to-bumper traffic. Didn’t get home until 11:00pm.
The hardest part of race weekend is the ride home for sure. If you are an autograph seeker, it’s also a chore to do that as well. As we collect more driver autographs, we’ll take it easier for future races probably. We had a real good time though. We were exhausted afterwards but recovered of course. Now we start thinking about our next race at Dover, where we have no idea what to expect! The adventure will continue…..
See Our Pictures from the 2005 Pennsylvania 500 in Long Pond, PA!
