Off-Topic Forum

I went to the Martinsville race for the 3rd time in 4 years. My seat was in Turn 3, Section GGG, Row 16. I thought I got there with plenty of time, but they removed the concession stand in Turn 3 this year. So the only stand for T3 and T4 had a huge line! Thankfully, NBC airs commercials after the command to start the engines. I was next in line when we heard the engines crank. I got my hotdog and Mountain Dew and went to a spot I could see the track while waiting for the rest of the family to get their stuff. The cars finally pulled off pit road about the time we got to our seats. So here's a dozen pictures I took (of the 67 total) and a special video for y'all. I did my usual 1-lap video twice, but then got a bonus one. The first pic is the pace car pulling off the track for the 1st time to start the race.

Here's a picture of Jimmie Johnson and Chase Elliott right after the 9 passed the 48 for 16th, I think. Chase qualified 2nd but had to start 36th b/c they changed the engine.

Here's a pic of Kyle Busch and Chase battling for the 10th spot a few laps later.

Here's Jimmie and Bubba Wallace fighting for 12th position.

It's hard to see thanks to the sun's low level, but this was the big wreck. Top left of center shows Kyle Busch (18) sideways. Two cars were destroyed in that wreck and couldn't continue. Unfortunately, one was my favorite driver - Jimmie Johnson. Aric Almirola was the other one, but he started the wreck getting tangled with Busch.

This is a great shot of the entire track with cars all the way around it from my seat right after the lights came on. The leader is right in front of me in the #19 car.

This is where Joey Logano almost hit the wall when his tire went down in Turn 3 (he's in Turn 4 here). You can see that a lot of people don't like him (including me).

And then Logano did spin in Turn 1. He's just above the center of the picture in the middle of the word Martinsville.

Daniel Hemric (8) spins into Michael McDowell (34).

Martin Truex Jr. celebrates the win in the middle of Turns 3 & 4.

Here's Truex getting interviewed by NBC Sports.

This last photo is the marks Truex left on the track from the burnout.

There's a reason that I don't have a photo of the burnout to share with you. It's because I have video! Below is the last lap and then the burnout. Too many people standing up got in my way after that, so I switched back to pictures after the smoke cleared.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aQ84kPCBRo

When I lived in Virginia, Martinsville was my favorite track to go to. it is also the track where I got to see my favorite driver win one of his two wins. John Andretti

Nice shots Adam! Unfortunately for me I only got to see the final 25 laps. What happened to Chase? He was many laps down by time I was able to get it on, and I know with the current rules it must have been a mechanical issue. But I have been unable to find out what. 
 

Did you see the fight?

Thanks! I have 55 more photos that I didn't show. Chase got from 36th at the start to 8th at the end of Stage 1! But on that pit stop, the rear axle broke when they dropped the jack. It took 53 laps to replace it in the garage and he lost 2 more laps on additional adjustments under green.

I couldn't see the fight with my own eyes, the car haulers were in the way. But just like NBC did, the big screen switched from Truex's interview to what was happening with Logano and Hamlin. MRN (Motor Racing Network for those that don't know) did the same thing. I listen to their radio broadcast when I'm at the race. Not only does it keep my informed on what I can't see, but it also works for my hearing protection. Everyone around me was going crazy trying to find out what happened to Chase. I was at least able to inform those close around me. That's also how I knew that Jimmie Johnson was in that wreck with Kyle Busch and Aric Almirola. The inside wall blocked my view of JJ hitting AA. I had to watch video on nascar.com when I got home to see that he hit Aric's front end with the right front of his car and broke the wheel mount. It was a fantastic race from the track with almost non-stop action throughout the field. NBC really didn't do that race justice. Truex was pretty much the only driver not battling others the entire race. It was easily the most exciting race I've attended so far (out of 5)!

This was my 4th Martinsville NASCAR race (3 Cup and 1 Truck). I also went to Charlotte for the Roval last year. My next goals would be to get to Bristol, Darlington and Talladega. But the drive is much longer to those and a few others closer to me than Talladega. M'ville is only an hour away and Charlotte is 2 hours away. Easy day-trips. Everything else would require me staying the night near the track and that adds a ton to the cost of the experience.

I was lucky and had family in a number of the race areas that would love to see me that 1 time a year. Plus I would normally buy an extra ticket for them to pay for me staying there.

I have probably been to around 100 races counting all the different types, Busch, Cup, Truck , and Indy. (yes to me they are still and will always be Busch and Winston Cup) Martinsville just had to old school feel about it, which is why I liked it so much. It would be a drag on me seeing as I would be the one driving most of the time. Get up at 4, get on the road at 6, be at the track around 9:30 to 10 for a noon start. Fight traffic getting out of there, then driving the four or so hours home and getting there around 11 at night. Richmond was only 90 miles away and it was a longer day, because traffic getting in and out of RIR was a lot worse.

I'd love to go to an IndyCar race too. I think the closest track to me that they run is Atlanta. That's at least a 6 hour drive, not counting the extra traffic at the track. If it wasn't for my work schedule, I could have been to hundreds of lower tier races by now. I live 10 minutes from Ace Speedway. On Friday afternoons, I can go outside and hear them practicing. It's only a quarter-mile track and most racing is local drivers, but they do run Modifieds there sometimes. I'm about an hour from Bowman Gray Stadium as well. There have been 2 different TV series' about their Modified Series racing. But both tracks have all their races on Saturday evenings and I have to work.

The only thing that really sucks about M'ville is the terrain around the track. All the parking lots are so hilly! We actually didn't have much problem getting out this time, but we did going in. We got stuck in the wrong lane and were forced to park in the South Lot. Our seats were as far as you can get from the South Lot and my Grandfather is 86 years old. We tried to get hospitality to get us a golf cart ride to the car after the race, but the wait was 45 minutes. The walk to the car only took about 20 minutes, even with his slow pace. At Charlotte last year, we HAD to wait for that ride b/c our parking spot was a couple of miles from the track. I'd guess a half-mile at M'ville this year. But now that they can run at night, they REALLY need to add lights to the parking lots too!

It took me SO long to stop calling them the Winston Cup, Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series. I started just doing initials for each series (NNCS, NSCS, MENCS and NNS, NXS and CWTS, GOTS). But then I have to remember after each sponsor change. At least with IndyCar you can just say that and fans know what you are talking about no matter who the sponsor is, was or will be. I was just getting used to it being sponsored by Firestone and suddenly it changed to NTT Data this year. The same with the title sponsor for the M'ville Cup race. It was the Goody's 500 for so long and then changed to the Goody's Fast Relief 500 and now it's the First Data 500. Crazy sponsoring crap shouldn't really be part of the title of a race or series level. Certain races always remain the same, no matter who the sponsor is each year (Daytona 500, Southern 500, All-Star Race).

RIR is about a four hour drive from me without the race traffic. That's part of the reason I haven't tried to get to a race there yet. I'd definitely have to stay the night either before or after the race. I do love that the M'ville race has moved from 1pm to 3pm since they added the lights. Now I don't have to wake up WAY before normal to get there before the race starts. Remember that I work in the evening and night - 6 nights a week.

I understand the working nights and getting up. I have been doing it for 30+ years now. The last 10 or so Tuesday through Friday 5 to 4:30. 

Indycar ran at Richmond in the early 2000s, that was where I went to see them. It was something to see them flying around that track about 40 MPH faster then NASCAR. There used to be a dirt road at Martinsville that led to the parking lots outside of turn 3, I wish I could remember how we used to do it. It would be a lot closer to where you were sitting. I had the same seats for every race there about ten feet from the start finish line and the top row of the concrete seats. They were nice because you had an exit right behind us and all you had to do is stand up and step up on your seats to get out. Have they done something about the road leading out of the track for the drivers and crews that ran right through the walkway to the parking lot yet? I know they were talking about it the last time I went there, because they had had a few instances where Richard Petty hit predestrians after the race.

I always just called it Cup and Truck and the various name changes didn't affect me too much. I still call the 2nd division the Busch series, though, and probably always will. It's been what, 12 years now since that was the title? Of course, part of that is a little bit of snark because you know before it starts that if Kyle Busch is in the race, he's going to win. 

I still call them Winston West and Busch North too. At least I don't refer to ARCA as MARC! 

That dirt road is now paved and so is the exit route from the infield. That dirt road has to be Clover Road. It comes off of Industrial Park Drive, goes over the train tracks and connects to US58 West. We parked along that road in 2017 and exited with that road. Speedway Road comes off of US220 south of Industrial Drive and is also completely paved and loops around some of the closest parking lots to the track. It also is connected to the Turn 4 infield exit and to Clover Road now. But they keep changing how they direct traffic based on the arrival times. In 2017, our same lane allowed us to go up to Industrial Drive but this year they funneled everyone in that lane onto Old Sand Rd. While that is a great shorter route for us coming home, it's a long way from Turn 3. Coming in, they funnel traffic from 220 onto Old Sand Rd., but coming out they funnel traffic away from 220. That's fine with us b/c we don't need 220 to go home from that end. We just need to get to Ridgeway and take VA/NC 87 South to get home. From the northern parking lots off Clover Rd., we have to go to US58 West, pass under 220 (they block the on-ramps for 220), get to the next exit and circle back around until we get to 220 and then to Main St. in Ridgeway that leads to Highway 87. It's a confusing mess the first couple of times. After 4 trips to the track in the past 5 years, I've figured out a bunch of it going out but they keep changing the incoming routes!