Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Boogity Boogity Boogity, Let's go racing boys!!!

This last weekend, Pat and I went down to Indianapolis for our annual Brickyard 400 outing (I think Natalie would refer to it as BY07) and had a BLAST, as usual. Good times seem to follow us around :)

We almost got to fly down in our friend Stone's private plane, but the weather wouldn't cooperate. We have had nothing but heat and cloudless sunny skies for weeks, and Saturday dawned windy and cloudy...


This is Stone....isn't he cute?

Pat had to work on Saturday morning, so I bummed around the house, pretending to clean until he came home, and then we headed out. We made it all the way to Angola....a whole hour (ok, maybe an hour and a half) from our house before Pat decided that instead of driving, he needed to pass out in the back seat. So I ended up driving the other two hours...and I couldn't even sing to the radio because Pat was sleeping....it sucked.


So we got to Jill's parent's house and hung out with our second family for the rest of the night.

The really cool part of this race is that Jill's uncle hooks us up with a really great set-up. We park under an overpass in downtown Indy and then get on a schoolbus. Then we get a police escort to the racetrack, get there with about an hour before race time, without having to battle traffic, or get up at 4:00 in the morning to avoid battling traffic. And then after the race, we just get back on the bus and off we go! By the time everyone else is getting on the highway, we are back at Jill's parents' house enjoying a nice dinner before heading back to Michigan. Like I said....he's got the sweet hook-ups.

Jill was happy to be on the bus!



Jill says that Carrie is "cute as a button". Which, of course, sparked a conversation about whether or not it is flattering to be as cute as a button, and whether any of us had actually seen a cute button, and if so, what it looked like...

While we were waiting on the bus, we had a couples photo shoot:


Pat and I

(yes, that is a John Deere Hat. Yes, I'm a hick. I was going to a NASCAR race...was there any doubt?)

Jill and Kevin...and beer makes three....

Jill's brother Mark and his girlfriend Amy...we LOVE Amy....still not sold on Mark though...:)

Jill's brother Mike (Mark's twin) and his wife Carrie...once again...LOVE Carrie...Mike.....:)

Jill's parents, Big Mike and Cathy. Can't deny it, love 'em both.

Our Esteemed Escort

This is me with the winning car....BEFORE the race...I'm a premonitinist...just ask Natalie!

(OK, so Tony Stewart is my favorite driver and I get my picture taken with his car every year...but that's beside the point!)

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway holds half a million people. (this is only half, we couldn't see the other side of the track) It's amazing.

The whole day was a BLAST. It was hot, but not TOO hot, and the race got pretty long, and kind of boring, but the company was great. I can't wait for next year!

Just a note about today's title: If you've ever watched a race on TV, Darell Waltrip is a former driver and now an announcer. At the beginning of the race, when the cars cross the start/finish line for the first time, he always yells "Boogity Boogity Boogity, Let's go racing boys!"

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