A Day at the Races

A few weekends ago we took Turtle to her first every car race (and no it wasn't a Nascar race!).  See, was raised in a car racing enthusiast family. My parents went to some of the major road races on the east coast before I was born. Road Atlanta was one of their favorites, as well as Watkins Glen in NY. They attended the 24 Hours of Daytona on more than one occasion. I even got to go one year and stay in the in-field in my grandparent's RV. It was super fun but I think I found the whole using the bathroom in the RV to be more interesting then the race itself. After all my brothers were born my parents took me and my oldest younger brother to Road Atlanta for a 24 hour race and I remember having a blast!

Unfortunately, I haven't been in years. But my middle brother has gotten involved in photographing what are basically amateur races. These are leagues of drivers who come together in an association and rent out major race tracks and spend the weekend racing against each other. What do you win? Bragging rights. And the joy of doing something you love.

So, a few weekends ago there was an event out at the Charlotte Motor Speedway and we met my brother out there. I suspected that Turtle would enjoy it since she loves to watch the cars drive by on my mom's road, but I was surprised at how much she seemed to enjoy it. It was a toasty weekend so I ended up spending most of the time in the garage of my brother's friend but we could still see the course and I was able to keep Turtle out of the sun while the boys enjoyed taking pictures.

Oh my gosh! The pudgy arms! I die!

As you can see she wore her hot pink hearing protection that we got her for the 4th of July. I knew those would come in handy. She never seemed to have a problem with the noise. In fact she didn't even flinch when a loud car cranked up just a few stalls down from us in the garage. So, I figure the hearing protection works.

Truthfully, it was kind of a sad day. Racing is something that my dad thoroughly enjoys and something I've done with him for years. It was hard not to text him a picture of Turtle and it was sad knowing he was missing out on such a cool experience. But cest la vie.

I did giggle a little when I found myself taking special time to point out the lady driver to Turtle, like she understood. I'm sure this won't be Turtle's last race!