Collect a few thousand fans each with their favorite driver and the sole goal for the day is to have a good time. Add large quantities of beer, all manner of promotional attire, and a bright scorching sun. This is what fills in any not-so-exciting moments when the drivers fall into spaced out, single file on this 2 ½ mile track. We had the pleasure of having one pretty annoying, loud, stand in the way, couple near us but it wasn’t enough to spoil the experience. Mostly folks just had a good time…..it’s a fun thing to be part of. I wonder if anybody is mumbling about us this evening.

What, no instantaneous deafening roar? This track is so big that all those engines starting was more of a purr rising from the row of cars at the far end of the pit lane. That didn’t last long though. The first pass at speed created a rumble in my chest. Yeap, the race was on. There were just enough cautions and lead changes to keep it interesting. I truly don’t have a favorite driver but I would have loved it if Mark Martin could have held on to his late lead.

The founder of Pocono Raceway, ”Doc” recently passed away and was a big supporter of the armed forces personnel of the region.  Thousands of troops have been guests of the track on race day over the years and today they paid tribute.  Music was provided by a large military brass band, the national anthem was sung by a solder, drivers where chauffeured around the track in HUMVees and of course there was the fly-over to conclude the national anthem.  They rendered taps in Doc’s honor and provided the gun salute not with rifles but with cannons.  Great Tribute!

There was a huge spontaneous launching of sky lanterns from campers in the infield and in fields around the track. The wind was about perfect so they rose and drifted in constantly changing formations. Very cool to watch. The night ended with a nice little fireworks display. From our perspective the fireworks backlit an American flag. It was a wonderfully patriotic moment.

As part of the full race experience, we checked out the free infield entertainment last night. Nascar is 0 for 2. It was a pretty marginal local talent much like in Phoenix. Their Grateful Dead was better than their Johnny Cash but that isn’t saying a whole lot. We didn’t stay the whole set but I’m glad we wandered that way in for a while. The people watching is worth it.

I had to have one!

We watched some of the practice runs of the ARCA and the Sprint drivers. It was actually pretty fast paced and fun. Folks are all wound up because they are setting track records because of the new surface. They bumped up to 179+ mph average lap speed. The old records were apparently around 170. Needless to say, they claim drivers are pretty happy with the surface and everyone is expecting great race speeds.

The 2 ½ mile “tricky triangle” is big enough that I can barely hear the cars on the far side of the track and really only watch them with binoculars. Our seats are on the front end of the finish line straightaway so we have a great view of turn 3 and a clear but distant view of turn 1. It ought to be good for the race.

The Delaware Water Gap is a cut in the mountain range occupied nearly entirely by the Delaware River. It demonstrates the power of water over time in making this 1,000 ft cut through the rock.