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This is Scoop here, man, best night’s sleep I've had in a while. Time to wake up the troops and find some breakfast. I've tried banging on the doors and calling on the phones but no response from this bunch of sleepy heads, time for Plan B. I'll be back in a minute, gotta get something from the hotel kitchen. Ahh, this should do it. (big metal spoon + big metal pan = redneck alarm clock)
Clang! Clang! Bang! Fire! Fire! Fire! That's the ticket, I'm getting the response I was looking for, half-dead old men falling into the hallway. Now that I've got your attention, Out of your rooms and on your feet, out of the shade and into the heat, Move It! Breakfast is in 30 minutes and then it's time for the park. The pictures I got with this stunt come under the category of Priceless and will come in handy later. Now where's that cup of Joe and stack of flapjacks. This is Boomer here, the sound I heard this morning that woke me up for a brief moment made me think that perhaps Mrs. Boomer had found my bed during the night. Worse! It was Scoop, banging and clanging stuff, all fired up like a crew cut kid in a candy store, hungry, and raring to go. Sambo, who by nature is a night owl, had worked all night, as usual and as he staggered down to the restaurant for an early breakfast, his eyes had that un-focused look that you see all the time on the janitor in our staff room. Coffee, hot and plenty and a good breakfast soon had him focused on this day. James said something about a hair and a dog but he was a little un-focused too and could have been talking about Scoop. Coffee and pancakes soon had James up to speed and telling lies just as good as all of us. Old Red seemed to be the most clear eyed and energetic one at the table and the look in his eyes seemed to spark of adventure, both in his past and what was to come this week-end. He seemed to be going as strong as his coffee looked this morning and that’s about as strong as it gonna get. Gray Dragon didn't seem to be dragon to bad either! Hanging around peeps like Scoop and the like, and the fact that his wife wasn't here to keep him in check, had changed Gray Dragon into a real Dragon, this Ex-marine seemed to be "fired up" and ready for the next adventure. I also seem to recall him helping Scoop clang things to get us up. Once a Marine, always up early. Rog however is a different story. When he met us with the fancy black Hummer stretch Limo he was dressed to the nines (just showing off I think), but this sadly dressed man that sat before us this morning made me wonder if Wagi or Mamma Bear hadn't joined the party as Rog must have run into a bear somewhere during the night, because the night had taken its toll on what was left of his once proud suit, however, although most of the suit was ripped or missing, he had managed to hang on to his tie, which was proudly hanging backwards down his back. "Not to worry" Rog told us, he would change before we hit the park. There was a smile on his face though because he had helped build the Park we were getting ready to go to and KNOWS how much fun... I mean WORK we will have today. Me? Bacon and eggs platter under my belt, two pitchers of coffee joining it, Mrs. Boomer 3000 miles away and I'm good to go. All rested and ornery and raring to go we piled in the Limo and headed for the Park. We looked like a bunch of old happy ticks on a big warm dog as we talked to each other in hushed excited tones about the Park and the Park owners. Scoop had been talking to RCTNorthwest about something and slowly the talk faded away with the rest of us as we all wanted to hear what James had to say about his Park. James doesn’t talk a lot but when he does it usually pays to listen.
Scoop and James went on yakking and the excited conversation fueled by what James had just said had us all talking now. But as we were busy talking and laughing the Hummer kept humming along and before I knew what was happening, the Limo had stopped, the doors had opened and as we hesitatingly crawled of the cavernous limo there she stood before us in all her checkered glory. The NASCAR Experience! RCT Race fans Nirvana was standing before us Gates swung open wide like an Angel with her arms open, beckoning in all who dared, race fan and RCT fan, alike! Rog was there before us and had mercifully changed. Standing next to him like big silver dominoes were the personal Electric carts ready for our command and to race us around, anywhere and everywhere we wanted.
Through the gates and into the fun tinted air that lay within, everything and I mean everything was open and running and crew standing by to see to our every whim. At this point I realized that Rog and James were the finest men alive… Except old Walt (frozen or not) and perhaps Old Red. Also it was from that moment on that things start getting fuzzy and fun. Fun overload was the catch phrase for the entire day. But to start it all out we had some legal docs to sign, who knows why, scolded by James that our money was no good here and we were handed a Park brochure and map to help us get familiar with the park the best we could before screaming off to destroy it. Reading over this brochure was hard as Scoop was honking his horn at me and it’s hard to read anything when you’re at the doors of Paradise. But I’m glad I did, I found some interesting information inside… Take a look for yourself.
Around and around and around they go, and now you can too! A park built by the RCT community's resident auto racing experts, Brought to you by RCTNW and rwadams, this map features a duo of fantastic hotels, the NASCAR museum, and a wet-and-wild water park...and to think all of that is outside the park! Inside, the park is dedicated to all things NASCAR, which of course means car manufacturers, drivers, and of course racing (coasters)! NASCAR Experience is a tribute to the Drivers, manufactures, past champions and famous tracks throughout NASCAR. The park layout features six distinct areas including the Entrance Plaza, Infield Area and Turns One thru Four. Aside from the Entrance Area, the other five areas are dedicated to specific aspects of NASCAR.
Turn One – The NASCAR Rookies area takes a look at the current up-and-coming young guns with rides named after these rising stars. One thing that all rookies need to get used to is the “Rookie Stripe”, and Turn One is full of them! The signature attraction of Turn One is the quad LIM coasters “The Lady In Black”! One of the toughest tracks on the NASCAR circuit, the rookies are sure to get a “Darlington Stripe” to go with the yellow one on their back bumper. Turn Two – Presented by Dodge looks at the teams and drivers that are driving Dodge Intrepids. Here you will find Penske drivers Rusty Wallace or Ryan Newman take on Ganassi driver Sterling Martin or Evernham driver Bill Elliott while racing the dueling inverted coasters “Thunder Valley”. This one of a kind track located at Bristol Motor Speedway is one of the hottest tickets in the sport, so it stands to reason that this is one of the hottest coasters in the park. Turn Three – Presented by Chevrolet contains the biggest quad coaster set in the park. This quad combination of Floorless and Hyper-Twister coasters named “The Rock” features teams from Dale Earnhardt Inc, Richard Childress, Joe Gibbs and Hendrick Motorsports teams competing against each other every single lap.
Turn Four – Presented by Ford features teams from Roush touring around “The Brickyard”. This pair of dueling flying coasters has Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle taking laps around this fast paced track. Turn Four also features a twin coaster “Martinsville” with Robert Yates drivers Dale Jarrett and Elliott Sadler where the winner will always be a photo finish!
Infield Area – The Daytona Experience. What would a NASCAR park be without honoring the past champions and legendary drivers of NASCAR? Also, we could not forget the best of all super speedways, Daytona! The dueling woody featured here honors the two biggest names in NASCAR, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt…truly a dream match up between “The King” and “The Intimidator”! Entrance Plaza - RCTNW Turn One – NASCAR Rookies – rwadams & RCTNW Turn Two – Presented by Dodge - RCTNW Turn Three – Presented by Chevrolet - RCTNW Turn Four – Presented by Ford – rwadams & RCTNW Infield – The Daytona Experience - rwadams Daytona Beach Water Park - rwadams NASCAR Museum – Presented by NEXTEL - RCTNW The Winston Ritz-Carlton - rwadams NASCAR Resort by Marriott - RCTNW This park is more than just a park to both rwadams and myself. It’s a way to express our real passion for NASCAR and racing in general. It was important to both of us to capture the feel of NASCAR to include those drivers that have made it great. We feel we did this and we hope you enjoy your stay. Thanks to: Miscellaneous Notes: Just the names intrigued me and one thing stood clear, plenty to eat here and plenty rides to throw it up on and eat some more. We swept past high flying flags red, white, green and yellow intermingled with checkered flags and the good ole U.S. flag, through the gates like old knights on young steeds and soon we were whisked away into a swirl of sight, sound and color that without being there about the only way to describe it is like being caught up in a tornado along with a flying cow and an airborne tractor, this place just flat rocked my world! Dale Earnhardt was my first Nascar experience in the Infield, this race was so fast it left my scream a full half a second behind my body coming into the station. I must have taken to many hits by Mrs. Boomer to think I was still young enough to ride these big boy toys these days. My legs were a little unsteady as I came off the ride and stayed that way all day. Good thing we had the carts and plenty of time to recuperate. The old adage, time flies when you’re having fun certainly seemed to hold true on this day. Before I could blink my eyes we had all been herded up by a virtual army of Park staff and steered back to the infield and a wonderful place of refuge called Gordon’s Diner. This perfectly themed Diner was a hands on building built by Rog and his attention to detail here, as in everything he had his hands on in and around the park, was simply put… excellent! Rog and James had laid out a spread that would leave a whole battalion of Marines walking away rubbing there stomachs with bliss and still have some left. The old gaggle of geese were seated and eating and squawking and snorting away. Good times, good food, each one of us trying to eat on stomachs that had been so abused all morning that they and some other select internal organs, were considering going on strike. Each one of us also were trying to outdo the other in explaining what we were experiencing at the Experience. The outcome of all this was comical to say the least, crumbs flying through the air, hands gesturing as if that would make the one they were talking to see it better. Someone’s dentures flew by my ear at mach speed but in a room full of old goats like us, those teeth could of belonged to anybody, besides, we mostly all carried extra sets on us. The steady filling of our beverage cups produced a steady stream to the Men’s room. Setting at the table with me Gray Dragon and I were pushing down large acres of Apple pie wanting to both eat but get back out in the park as fast as possible. In between our grunts and snorts I managed to coherently ask him what he thought of the park so far.
Back to the track and out of the eye of the storm and back to the hurricane! Whirl winds, tornadoes, rushing race cars, raging rapids, racing coasters and checkered flags that led to delights unseen by this old reporter before in RCT design! Turn after turn I had to turn… and look at James and Rog in awe. Top notch Park… absolutely astounding! But I wasn’t alone in my awe and telling my old friends around me what I thought was like preaching to the choir! What else did I experience at the Experience? So much that even I couldn’t take it all in and retain everything in my feeble mind. With this report comes the opportunity though for you to grab a brochure, download and visit this awesome Experience for yourself. If you do and you find some dentures laying around just send them to Scoop here at the site. Afternoon was both running from the morning and also quickly chasing the evening, in a race to darkness. The reflection of orange and gold beauty of the sunset over the lake at the Park was paralleled by only the deep red and pink tones it cast over the park as it faded into oblivion and the arms of the moon. They say location and timing are everything. With James and Rog nudging us we just happened to be at the right location and the timing for what was next was spot on! The very minute the last stubborn ray of pink sunbeam disappeared, right in front of us the fireworks were set off over the lake. At the same time small jets of water sprayed up from the lake creating a mist which soon served as the backdrop for laser generated imagery. Even the moon and stars seemed to be part of this class act and as the music built towards the finish line, deep bass rumble literally shaking our carts, we set and stared as one, drool dripping down on our steering wheels, as right before our very eyes in giant 3-D splendor from out of know where came speeding race cars, screaming around a corner and in to the straight away headed for the finish line and the checkered flag. I actually ducked at one point to avoid being hit by a flying tire. This was the finish of last years Daytona 500 exactly like it happened and as the cars crossed the finish line the whole park lit up with spot lights, theme lights, laser lights, moon glow balloons wafted upwards in hoards reaching for the moon. The goose bumps on my arms I swear were trying to push a tear out of my eye as a sat spellbound by this state of the art sensory explosion and spectacular beauty we had all just observed. Never again would we look at RCT Northwest and R.W. Adams, the same. That was the signal for us that our time in Race Heaven had come to an end. The tired electric cart steeds who had served us so well all day were retired to the cart stable to be charged up for another day. The Limo with open doors waited just beyond the high flying flags at main gate. It seemed as though we were zombies walking out of a swamp in a grade B movie. We had all lost what ever working parts of our brains we had when we rode in to this… Experience! But one thing was very clear, we all were smiling and we all were very, very tired. As the limo pulled away taking us to the hotel and it’s welcome beds, James reached up and powered the moon roof open. It wasn’t planned, it wasn’t even thought about but it must have looked strange to see seven old sad heads sticking out the top all looking backwards at the park retreating behind them, taking its Experience with it but leaving with us such grand memories. One by one we all slid back down into the comfort of the plush seats and only the sounds of quiet conversation filled the Limo. Sambo and I, along with the others, had done many adventures together that day and I had gotten to know him a lot better during this Experience then I ever knew him before so on the short ride to the Hotel I had a chance to get his take on the whole NASCAR Experience.
We all had sleep on our minds and it seemed to me soon after the conversation with Sambo, I was IN that glorious bed and fast asleep. Tomorrow was The Daytona 500 and then we all parted ways for our return trip back home. Another big day and I needed all the rest I could get to keep up with Old Red tomorrow. My head hit the pillow and knocked out a weird racing dream and soon only the snores were all that was left of seven tired happy men.
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