After missing a few years I finally 
made it back to ORP last night. Actually I made it back during the day. We decided to skip the first two practice sessions which were delayed by rain anyway. We got to the track in time to see the cars qualify. It is always fun to see true professionals take on the track. By shear luck we sat in front of former LaPorte resident Tony Raines‘ pit. He was the last car to go through tech inspection before 
qualifying so we got to see them wrench on his car for a while. As I said in the previous post Tony does not have the car under him to make noise so I was not too upset with his 21st spot after qualifying. He ended up finishing 15th the first car a lap down. He is a good racer that is just not getting his chance. Sadly though his age may prevent him fro
m ever getting that chance. The race was full of carnage, and I included a couple of pics of the end result. Kyle Busch blazed through the pack along with Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth to displace the Nationwide regulars. Busch ended up collecting his 17th top ten of the season, and has a huge points lead. Matt Kensenth had not raced at ORP in ten years, and managed a third place finish. Crazy Carl Edwards won the race which was disappointing to 
me, but some people will be happy with that. We were sitting near the start finish line in some great seats that we got at the window just before qualifying. The last few laps we moved down to turn four, and stood against the fence. Although I still have not regained my sense of hearing it was a blast. The rest of the night was spent using hand signals. We had so much fun that we decided to start doing this every year. Maybe I will be able to hear by then.
On a sidenote apparently the male enhancement pill Extendze has a car in the Nationwide Series. They have 
a booth at the track where they will give away pills and t-shirts to anybody. I mean anyone. I saw some kids under ten wearing the shirts and holding the pills in their hands. Do we need this at the track? Parents now will have to explain to their kids what the pills do at an age that maybe they should not have to. With the economy the way that it is though I guess you have to take whatever sponsor will get your team up and racing. You want your team to grow bigger, and you will do whatever it takes to make it so. To the left is another fan who had a great shirt. He was down with us at the end of the race, and made it a little more exciting. This man really loves his NASCAR. He said his kids got him the shirt. Good present kids!
Confessions of a Sports Junkie 