Phoenix race day.
11/08/2004
I had woken up early, about 5:45 when I looked out the window of the hotel and it was pouring down rain.
There were huge puddles in the parking lot and lots of grumbling from the crews and the guests. You could hear it echo up and down the hallway “it’s raining, it’s really raining out.” I headed down to grab a cup of hot coffee and heard a bunch of grumpy folks. People were trying to get a reservation for an additional night, thinking they would have to run the race on Monday.
I was logged onto the weather radar and was keeping an eye on the garage cams. As the sun started to clear the horizon, the clouds started to dissipate. I figured we had a chance at running the race, maybe a little late but there was hope. I let brother sleep for another hour or two just waiting out the weather. We headed on down to the track and snagged a primo parking space, with his new truck, I could see the empty slots. I said hi to the folks we met yesterday but I didn’t want to hang around and miss any of the race: they were making a bit of fun of me. I managed to get in for some of the driver intros, they were on a hurry up schedule all day today.
The race started a bit early, but we managed to get it underway. The checkered flag fell as fans were still heading to the seats. I was there, got to watch the whole race. The track had changed considerably and the cars that were strong in final practice were not doing all that well for the first 70 laps of green flag racing. A big relief could be felt as the teams headed for pit row.
Robby as looking good after some adjustments on the car and he started to move up through the field. He was racing Bobby Labonte for the lead when a caution fell. The boys in the pits did a fabulous job and he got out first. I am not sure how Jeff Gordon got out of the pits before the yellow, he was pitting under green but Jeff was scored as the leader. The restart was good and Robby was holding his lines especially in turn 4. There was a long sequence of racing until the next caution and then the day went to hell. Robby went from 2nd to 35th in a few hard laps.
Robby was contending for the lead until lap 237. A cylinder went and then after a couple of cautions, exploded on the track for a place in the garage on lap 307. Dam we looked good out front form lap 156 at the ½ way point until it ended in a puff of smoke. Well, I guess it was a plume of smoke, it covered the whole grandstand.
Jr. ended up catching up with the pack until the last red flag for a crash and Robby’s blown engine. He managed to restart the Green, White & Checkers finish running with Jeff. He passed him and came home with a win again at Phoenix, that’s 2 in a row at this track for Jr.
As the stands cleared, the rains started again. I wanted to get an autograph from Robby on the way out and Brother wanted to meet up with Kelly and Dean. We parted at the merchandise area. I don’t know why this always happens to me: I say something stupid whenever I have gotten a chance to talk with Robby. It doesn’t make sense to me. I am used to dealing with rock stars, high profile politicos and there I stand tong tied. I managed to get my new lanyard and holder signed, I did have a stupid comment for him but the strangest this was going on. There were two folks, wearing Cingular Jackets, just watching Robby like a hawk. I guess with the official news that they are parting ways next year, they want to keep an eye on things.
Off to the truck to find brother and wait out the parking lot mess. It was raining quite hard by then. It took a few hours to get moving and then we managed to get right to the hotel. I just grabbed up some fast food for dinner and crashed hard.
It was a terrific race weekend: nice folks, good racing and a whole lot of fun. I will miss Phoenix next year, the schedule has it back to back with Texas Motor Speedway for both dates. Unless something spectacular happens, I just cant do 4 back to back races.
