The Charlotte Motor Speedway is within walking distance from where we are staying in the campground. Today we decided to drive over since rain was in the area and we are going out to Red Lobster after the tour to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary (a couple of days early).
We started out the tour in some really nice seats. Our tour guide spent about 15 talking about the history of the track and what we were seeing from our seats.
There are some really great views here.
Tomorrow night they will have school bus races. The busses are taken to local schools prior to the race and the students decorate them. Tomorrow night the school principals will race them around the small quarter mile oval in front of us.
When you are watching the race from those great seats you have access to food and drink in this area. I understand this is a popular area for wedding receptions.
We’ve walked the concession area before. The last time we were here we had to shelter in place here when bad weather came through during a race we were attending.
We got to go into a couple of the corporate suites.
First was one of the Coco Cola suites. They have another suite that accommodates 300.
Your view of the race would be great from here.
The companies can decorate their suites as they see fit. The Bank of America suite looks more family friendly.
They have that same great view.
Lighting in the press box wasn’t great.
Performance Racing Network is where the radio coverage comes from.
Lots of buttons to push in here.
Next we headed out to a van to go on a tour of the outside facilities.
The ZMax Dragway where we were a couple of days ago for the Hot Rod Tour.
This is the drivers view down the four wide drag racing track as they get ready to come to the starting line.
The dirt track is where the World of Outlaws run.
Notice the bottom section of seats, they are all stained from dirt that flies up in the stands during the races.
There are 52 condominiums here, all are sold and 10 of them are occupied year round.
If you see strange things in the sky above the garage area, that is just the reflections on the window of the van.
This room is the media room where the drivers come for a pre-race meeting. Driver interviews also happen in here.
Standing in the winner’s circle.
The view of the stands when you are in the winner’s circle.
The seats for observers in the winner’s circle don’t look too comfortable. There is tape marking where the select few are supposed to sit. We noted that one was marked “CIA”. Someone asked, “really?”, answer was “yes”.
No more pictures at this point, we are out on the track and without the seat belt I would be on the floor, I see now why they have the drivers secured so well during the race. This track has 24 degrees of bank in the corners. Oh my, that is steep! I don’t know how they keep their cars up there. We experienced decelerating to get down to pit lane speed. However, we were only going about 80 mph – nothing like racing speed. This was a really fun tour.
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