This time there was no pans, no spoons and no clanging banging noises to greet me at an a time in the morning I never even knew existed. The race didn’t start until right after noon so we all had the luxury, more like the necessity of sleeping in and resting tired bones and overused muscles.
Scoop, bless his heart, had thoughtfully let me sleep in and then had ordered a late breakfast for just the two of us, he rang and told me that he and breakfast was on the way and to “get up, you old coot and get your teeth, I’ve got hot coffee and hot breakfast coming at ya”! Of course that meant he was coming at me too so I struggled out of bed and begin the arduous task of coming back to life.

Over breakfast and a couple newspapers Scoop brought along, we both leisured our way though breakfast and eventfully my old friend and I were talking about the NASCAR Experience that had crashed gloriously down around us yesterday.

As the morning started to age we soon had all been rounded up again and soon were all once again piling into the Fancy Hummer. We sounded like buzz saws at the lumber yard on the trip to the Daytona Beach International Raceway. We weren’t all race fans normally, but on this day we all were, how could you help it once you started soaking up the race day environment. The smell of hotdogs, burning rubber and high formula racing fuel saturated the air. Everywhere people waved checkered flags with the number of there favorite drivers on them. Helicopters flew overhead and TV cameras and satellite arrays were everywhere. The sound of Daytona are cars revving, air horns squawking, people cheering and frumping around. HOT DOGS! Get your red hot hotdogs here, could be heard over the drone of the announcer and noise from the pits.

We all got settled in to our fancy box seats and were soon as snug as a bug in the rug perched happily over the racetrack watching the feverish activities going on below as race time soon approached. James, Rog and Sambo took advantage of there pit passes and soon had left us to go have a NASCAR Experience of their own. Us older gentlemen had opted out to hang in the box and eat red hot hotdogs and drink various assorted beverages and why not? They brought them right to us! Tired bones had a lot to do with our manning of the box seats also.
Soon the guys had been kicked out of the pit row as the beginning of the race approached and the cars made there way to the track. The excitement mounted and the crowed as the race car drivers mounted there steely steeds. During the opening ceremonies the Star Spangled Banner was played and echoed hauntingly around the racetrack. I couldn’t help but look over at my two old soldier friends Scoop and Gray Dragon whom had both served our country so honorably and bravely during the Viet Nam war. As much as I tried to stop it I couldn’t help letting a tear escape as I thought of what they, my brother and others must have gone through and what they had to leave behind and WHO they had to leave behind, for us to be setting here in freedom and enjoying this race today. My heart will always hold a special place for brave men like these who honored us so well with there lives and their sacrifices. God Bless America comes with a price and these two old warriors standing next to me in honor of the flag and country had certainly paid their dues and I say God Bless THEM too.

Finally in a growing wave of noise and excitement the green flag took the attention away from the stars and stripes flag and the race was on. Here now is the Jamesmaster himself to report on this great race as he saw it from the box seats.

Dale Jarrett had the pole but after just a couple laps, was heading backwards due to a ill handling car

Two past Nextel Cup Champions (Bobby Labonte and Matt Kenseth) both lost engines in the early going of the race and finished 43 and 42 respectively

Due to some tire concerns from Goodyear during speed weeks, over 600 tires were pulled from the teams prior to qualifying as they were able to isolate the problems to a bad batch of tires. During the race there was only one tire related incident when the cap on Ricky Rudds left rear tire gave way as a result of what's known as a cut tire caused a few cars to go to the garage with damage from the accident

One of the pre race favorites, Michael Waltrip and teammate Martin Truex Jr. (both from DEI) experienced engine problems late in the race causing some concern for teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. on his own engine durability

Most of the race was very clean and the drivers showed patience however all bets were off during the last 27 laps as 3 wide racing for position was the norm from here on out. This makes for VERY exciting racing when your driver is in the middle of pact.

I was completely going bonkers when my favorite car driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. came screaming out of nowhere from way back in the pack, bumping and grinding his way to take the lead, only to have it stolen from him by Jeff Gorden. Third place for Junior was good enough for me though and I spent what little energy I had left over from yesterday yelling and cheering as if he had won.

The big race was finally over, I had screamed so much I was getting hoarse. We all had smiles sunburned into our faces from the day. The race was over but man what a day this had been. The crowds were enormous as you can imagine and it took a long time to reach the comfort of the enormous interior of the Limo waiting for us patiently. The only sounds inside once we were all inside were just sounds of sighs of relief at sitting on something not made of hard plastic all day. We all tried to communicate our pleasure and joy from the last two days activities but all that would come out was , “oh my” or “Ahh”. Man and wow and a few other choice grunts and groans were heard for a few minutes as the Limo jockeyed for position, but sensory overload and adventure undreamed of, way outside the normal limits of this old gaggle of geese, had left us all, for once, speechless.

It took forever to steer the big Limo through traffic and out on the freeway headed for the airport but soon we were on our way watching the sights and sounds of what was now seemingly all a dream disappearing like vanishing evidence in the dark of the night.

The tall tower of the International airport loomed into view and we all started gathering ourselves up and getting ready to say goodbye and take the long return flights home. The words that were lacking on our lips were magnified in each others eyes and we all new we had done something very special here this week-end, a bond had been established and friendships had been bolstered and this particular herd of old-timers would add one more strong memory to an already vast supply.

The best words that were spoken on this entire adventure were the unspoken ones being shared at this moment by us all. Somehow in the silence an exclamation mark was made and we all just… understood. Men are not good at goodbyes! Men are not good at crying, so we get angry which is more accepted for a man and cry on the inside. I can only speak for myself but one by one as we all left to go our separate ways and our separate life’s I’m sure that more than I felt a couple of tear drops working there way down inside as I gruffly said my last farewells.

To Be Continued