06/08/2003
J.A.'S
AND DAN'S MOST EXCELLENT ADVENTURE
by J.A. Ackley
On a dark, gloomy early morning, I awake
at 2:00AM to the tunes of Metallica’s Fuel.
It’s time to start to get ready for a long day (22
hours to be exact) to see the Pocono 500.
After cleaning up, and eating my breakfast, which
consists of a huge chocolate chip cookie, I head off to one of
LongIslandJam.com’s Saturday Night photographers, Dan
Dombal’s place. I
arrive like a thief in the night, silently entering through
the back door as Dan gathers his stuff up and checks his list
twice of Winston Cup Fan race day essentials.
Essentials including drinks, money, radio scanners,
camera, batteries, (for the radio scanner and camera), and of
course tickets. After
gathering up the goods, we packed our rental car, a 2003 pearl
white Cadillac Deville (hey if we go on a road trip, we go on
a road trip), and off to the races we go.
The 3-hour long trip to the Poconos,
through New York, New Jersey, and the Poconos region includes
going through two Led Zeppelin CDs and a Big Band CD to soothe
the nerves while in traffic to get to the race.
Dan decides to park away from the track so we would
have easy exit from the after-race mayhem. We park our rental car at a small roadside restaurant, about
a mile or two away from the Pocono racetrack.
We gather our backpacks of assorted racing essentials
and put together two bikes to ride to the track on.
As I open the trunk, I discover two bikes, one of which
was bright purple, the other a silver bike with the license
plate “Daddy’s Lil’ Girl”.
As you could imagine I was in shock, and questioned Dan
on his seriousness about this.
He was apparently very serious, as we put together the
bikes, and he rode off on the bright purple bike, leaving me
with “Daddy’s Lil’ Girl.”
As I placed my tall frame of a body on the little
girl’s bike, I wondered if this venture to Pocono was going
to be as bad as it seems like right now.
But despite my concerns, I decided to continue on, and
trekked my way by traffic, nearly getting hit by a few cars,
taunted by others, and scolded by the police for holding up
cars on the road. Dan
was asked if his daughters were left home crying that their
bicycles gone, Dan simply replied back with that he went to go
get some air, but I doubt anyone bought it.
After what seemed a long trip to the
track, we arrive at the entrance to Pocono Raceway.
We locked up the bicycles to a tree and headed off
inside, being immediately greeted by souvenir pushers, which
are as about as intense and notorious as your local street
corner pharmacist. And
like true addicted raceaholics, we give in, buying the Pocono
Raceway programs and t-shirts.
After giving into our habit, we decide to head off to
the Victory Circle suite, which we were invited to.
After navigating through a confusing array of paths,
tunnels, and stairs, we arrive at the top suite of the Victory
Circle club. We
are immediately greeted by Dupont executives and given Dupont
propaganda. Afterwards,
we gulf down a whopping load of eggs, sausage, and French
toast to satisfy the hunger we created by the long journey to
the track. After
indulging in the free food we mingle with other guests while
waiting for the star of the day, Jeff Gordon, to make an
appearance. His
scheduled appearance is from 9:45-10:15AM, but the star has
yet to arrive and it’s already 10:10.
Finally at 10:15, the four-time champion arrives, to
brag about his achievements, discuss how great Dupont is, and
deny his fans autographs, to only autograph select items for
raffle. Dan held
pictures of his special Jeff Gordon edition Chevrolet Monte
Carlo and quarter-midget from his youth, but Jeff would ignore
them, just like his fans.
After a brief ten-minute visit, he leaves, with all the
invited Dupont guests disappointed and empty feeling.
The Dupont executive instructs us to wait
for the raffles to be held, but Dan and I decide to jet and go
down and visit the pits.
The pits were crowded with race fans, all trying to get
a glimpse of pre-race festivities and perhaps a signature from
their favorite driver. But
to the dismay of many, the “very accessible” drivers were
nowhere to be found, with only a few crewmembers signing
autographs in the pits. For
a sport that deems itself fan friendly, the Pocono pits felt
as cold as a harsh Upstate NY winter.
After getting a glimpse into what the
Winston Cup pits are like, me and Dan head over to the outside
of the track for more souvenir shopping.
However, after walking what seemed to be a long journey
through the tunnel connecting the infield to the grandstands,
Dan began to feel ill with dizziness and felt as if he would
pass out. Dan
took a seat right after climbing the stairs out of the tunnel
to underneath the grandstands and the gate attendant signaled
for help. After
waiting fifteen minutes, Dan told me to get souvenirs now, and
come back when you’re done.
So I rush over to the souvenirs section and buy shirts
and other memorabilia in a frenzied pace.
After taking fifteen minutes to do that, I return to
see Dan still waiting there, waiting for help.
After waiting a few minutes, medics arrive, and take
Dan via wheelchair to the first aid center outside turn three.
The medics diagnose him with dehydration as well as an
accelerated heart rate and high blood pressure.
To solve the problem, Dan loaded up on liquids and we
headed back to the Victory Circle suite.
We take our seats just as the jets fly over, and we
prepare to watch the race.
The race was fun to watch as Pocono
provided a lot of lead changes and some interesting commentary
on the radio scanners as well.
For those that have gone to a race without a scanner,
you don’t know what you are missing, as often there are many
stories behind the action at the track.
As the race was occurring, I noticed
Richard Childress standing at the back of the suite clocking
his cars, the #29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet of Kevin Harvick,
#30 AOL Chevrolet of Steve Park, and #31 Cingular Wireless
Chevrolet of Robby Gordon.
Dan picked up on it too, so he decided to stand next to
Childress while I snapped shots next to him.
Then we switched.
To be honest, I wonder if Richard Childress noticed
what we were doing. But
eventually, Dan garnered up the courage to take his
quarter-midget picture up to him and ask for an autograph.
Mr. Childress was happy to oblige as long as he kept
his secrecy among the suite.
So I guess we didn’t come totally empty handed
autograph-wise, but it was still discerning about the
accessibility of the drivers.
After the race, we watched the victory
lane celebrations and then headed back to our bikes.
The race was awesome and so was the event, despite the
few things that were troublesome.
On our bike ride back, I managed to lose Dan, and
waited for him at the intersection along with the PA state
troopers. I asked
them if they saw a guy with a bag on a girly bike, and they
said he went that way, the opposite way, which I thought we
parked. So I
waited ten minutes, and then asked which way was I-80, and
they told me the way the biker went, so I went that way and
sure enough there was the car along with Dan.
Man, the backcountry of Pennsylvania is so confusing.
So we packed up our stuff and headed back
to Long Island. I
drove back since Dan wasn’t feeling well, and believe it or
not, it was the longest I ever drove (4 hours) and man my foot
was hurting. Maybe
I should take up an Enduro to build up endurance. But anyway, the long day produced a ton of great memories,
ones that will be never forgotten.
I would like to thank Dan Dombal and The National
Collision Co., USA, Inc. for providing me with this very
memorable day. If
you wreck your car, you can be assured National will take care
of you.
Well, I head back upstate now, wondering
when will be my next race I see.
Undoubtedly it will most likely be rained out, but I
know Watkins Glen uses rain tires… Hmmmm…
I sense another field trip abroad maybe, or if I can,
I’ll make a trip to my home track of Riverhead Raceway.
For those who badmouth Riverhead with the outrageous
prices and horrible food, I think you’re looking beyond the
point. The point
is to have fun, and as someone who is unable to be at the
track daily, you miss seeing your favorites lose and your foes
win, as well as everything else that goes along with it.
Just ask Dan or I who haven’t been able to be at a
racetrack. We’ll
tell you something. Whenever
we get the chance again to go to a track, we’ll be ready to
steal Dan’s daughters’ bikes again, just to see racing
once again. Hopefully
that will be soon.
Until next time, thanks for checking in
with us at the Jam and we hope to see you at Riverhead soon
again.
Sources:
J.A. Ackley/LongIslandJam.com
Posted: June 10, 2003
