September 10, 2001

Having just picked up our new motor home, yearning for some place to go, and knowing that we have a long holiday weekend, it doesn’t take us long to make up our minds. "Where’s the next Winston Cup race?"

It's DARLINGTON. We fire up the computer and quickly log onto Yahoo maps, figure out if it is drivable…...it is. Darlington, North Carolina is only nine hours away. If we leave on Friday around 2:pm., we would only miss qualifying. A small price to pay.

A quick call to the track to see if there is a remote possibility that there would be tickets and camping available. The only sites available are in the infield. It took us both a nano-second to agree that watching the festivities from early Saturday until Sunday high atop our motor home, not having to fight the crowd was a definite GREEN flag.

Furiously we pack up - the scanner, the headphones, the binoculars, some clothes and food. We are packed and ready to go on Wednesday. (We give ourselves 5 extra bonus points).

Wednesday evening we take out the NASCAR atlas (compliments of MBNA) and it does not show Darlington, North Carolina. It is only showing Lowes Motor Speedway in Charlotte and Rockingham .

Panic sets in.

We keep repeating it, Darlington, North Carolina. …Sounds right… Then a YELLOW flag comes out and we turn the page to South Carolina. Ah, yes that’s where it is. No big deal we think.

Back to Yahoo maps, type in the information for the driving instructions. It is fourteen hours not nine! At this point we have entered the pits before they were "officially open" - and we are obliged to go to the end of the lead lap.

Our entry has been received and processed by the track and we have made a commitment to our sponsor (Fleet Bank), and what the heck...it's just another FIVE hours?

Friday, we leave our jobs earlier than planned and off we go. We start our long drive from Connecticut. We have gone south so many times before, the route was embedded in our minds.

We approach Maryland and see a sign for the beltway. For some reason neither of us question our decision (probably because the navigator was thinking about the beltway around Washington) and off we go. We go east.

Then the signs change. Now they are saying we are going south and nothing is familiar. After crossing the second bridge, the trip is RED flagged in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Maps spread, highlighters out. Here we are misplaced in Maryland. We retrace our path, over the same two bridges and find ourselves back on Interstate 95.

Our first practice run wasn’t very good, but we know we’ve got what it takes to finish in the top-ten, which means arriving in Darlington before the Busch race on Saturday. We continue to drive (we go past the Sadler truck stop - Elliott are you waiting for us?) in Virginia, we can’t pit or we would have lost position. Finally we make a mandatory pit stop somewhere on route 95.

Not a bad pit stop, three hours, and off we go again. It is another six hours until we see the WHITE flag waving us on. We wait at the entrance to the track on the backstretch, the officials wave us on…and for a brief moment, we drive DARLINGTON. (OK so it’s just going across the track, but it was a thrill). At 10:00am, we see the checkers as we back into our site - directly next to the big screen TV. The WC cars are out for a practice session. We don’t care that we cannot see the front or backstretch, the corners are visible. The roar of the engines has told us we have arrived at VICTORY LANE!

We watched the races (although we did fall asleep during the Busch race - not for lack of excitement just from being tired), and experienced the track from the infield. During the evening, it was just one big block party! Dancing, a pig roast, tales of tracks, tours of home made motor homes and new found friends - all of who we will never see again. The DEW CREW pickup truck comes through the infield, handing out "Code Red" to all the fans.

The biggest thrill was we watched our favorite drivers come in 1st & 3rd!

There could be no better trophy for our case than our famed tickets to Darlington or the autographed die cast of the Jeff Burton GAIN car (by Jack Roush!!) or the memory of standing by the fence some four hours after the race watching Ward Burton, still dressed in his drivers suit, making his way back to the only hauler left in the garage area. As the crowds of some fifty people yell and scream with delight, Ward turns, waves and disappears into his hauler. His crew chief, Tommy Baldwin and his son approach the fence and Tommy begins to sign autographs, through the chain links of the fence.

We slept on Sunday until 1:00am (Monday morning) and drove straight back to our garage in Connecticut, arriving at 3:30pm.

Before we stepped out of the motor home, we closed our eyes, reflected on the weekend, and embedded it in our memory forever. Hey we drove Darlington!!!

We take a week of rest, have no major chassis adjustments, and it’s off to NHIS on Thursday.