Did anyone go to "RaceFest" at the Auto Club Speedway?

Question

What was your favorite part? Gordon playing drums? The National Guard/Dale Jr. area? The hauler parade? Would you do it again?

Answer 1

[note: surprise, this is going to be a long answer as it was a long day - a great one]

my favorite part - my whole day!!! i spent three hours waiting out in the heat and the sun with hundreds of tony stewart fans outside a home depot in rancho cucamonga (i love to say that, ran-cho, cu-camong-a). must have lost five pounds in sweat alone, and that was standing still. we all had wristbands, and STILL were too dumb to get out of the sun, or at least to go inside, buy a chair and umbrella, then return 'em later...

;-)

met some cool people and saw some really cool collectibles, including a full-size running monte carlo totally decked out to look as close as it could be to tony's home depot-mobile. finally tony showed and they had that line MOVING. they were very well-organized - too-well organized at times. only one autograph per person, and no real contact, except for the kids. he took extra time with each kid that came through. i knew i should have rented a couple of 'em.

;-)

got to say hi, take some pics, joke a little bit because i was i believe the only person who had him sign the first page of the article about him in this month's rolling stone. for those who have read it, you'll know what i mean when i told him that "i loved it" sort of slyly, and he said "yeah, well, some of that was, ... not supposed to be printed."

;-)

from there it was over to the racefest like 90 minutes after it started. walked in and right into david ragan signing - so i ran and bought a couple 1:64 models for him to sign then was told since i didn't have a ticket, no go, AAA member or not... bummed, i went back and exchanged one of them for a couple of other roush die-casts, then hit the m&ms trailer. heaven. ok, not heaven as i had most of what i wanted already, and i still don't like his hats. well, he had one that had the red m&m and said "who's your candy," but it didn't fit well. but i got a couple more small die-casts - including the one from richmond - and a new dark blue rowdy shirt. i drooled a while then moved on.

i went around the corner to the tony trailer where they were supposed to be selling logano stuff, and they had nearly nothing for logano - only two shirts and a hat. but as i looked to my right, i saw the miller lite girls, and i looked again, and again. and after a minute i realized they must be there for a reason - the main reason i wanted to go - kurt was sitting and signing. we walked up, and some guy came and asked for tickets, then someone else said, ahh, stop behind those people - the people behind us. so i quickly switched from my jgr shirt to my favorite kurt shirt - looks like the "welcome to vegas sign" but has his name and info on it - and got together all my 97 cars and my new 2 car and my mom and i split them up.

she took the number 2 cot and a 97 die-cast, and i took one old 97 and my special edition double die-cast of the finish of the darlington 2003 race, with the tide car set slightly ahead of the rubbermaid car. kurt was as nice as could be. he signed everything, and we talked about the darlington race and our "vegas connection." then, he posed by his cut-out for some people, then his handlers took him. what timing!!!

to my left i saw a vitamin water booth and a carl cut-out, but as part of the area had joey logano sitting there signing. someone was collecting tickets but didn't stop us, so he signed a standard photo/jgr flyer thing, and he was just as nice. he let kids come around the side and posed with them for their parents, and although i took a picture of him signing his pic for me, he then looked up and waited for me to take another shot. we talked a bit - mainly about why they didn't have his car for sale so he could sign it. so i went back, bought a couple tony cars, a home depot car bumper sticker, and two tony number twenty hats ($5 each!!!). i went back, he signed the bumper sticker, posed again, and we joked about me finding something he could sign. nice kid.

then we ran about buying up all the platinum series 1:64 models i could find from most of the chase drivers (i never found burton's trailer, and skipped bowyer's - he's appearing down the road from me tomorrow night at the blood bank to sign autographs and i thought, anyone but bowyer...) i missed harvick's too, but i got a helluva collection. then we headed back and sure enough, gordon was onstage playing drums badly with a bunch of contest winners on-stage - one girl who didn't want to let go of him without an autograph. that was funny.

after he finished, i was walking away and got my best "live" picture of the night - with rutledge wood. he was dressed in street clothes just hangin'. my mom had the camera and he didn't see me coming up to his side so he went to pose and then feigned shock she didn't want just him in the picture. we joked a bit and off we went.

then there was the national guard area - five or six "stations" where you could get your picture taken next to junior, driving his car, by a show car, and a place where they had little kids doing push-ups. i skipped the last one, slipped on my new blue rowdy t-shirt, and had my picture taken with junior, in his car, by his car, etc. the guard guys gave us little cards that we can use to get the pictures online, once they've uploaded them. it was great... but then, my poor mom could go no longer, and my sun and wind burn kicked in and away we went. never got to see the hauler parade or kasey's q&a, but a great night nonetheless. more fun than i've had at most races i've seen there...

Answer 2

meeting the drivers. Aj, Brian, Greg, and Richard Petty.  

Answer 3

My favorite part was getting 7 autographs, with hardly any crowds. getting an upclose view and picture of "the king" richard petty, he's awesomely friendly. I stood in line to get "da biffs" sig when i got there he didn't even look at me, just signed his pic and the trading card i gave him, totally innattentive to his chore at hand, that was very disappointing. Ambrose, Logano, Kurt were some of the coolest there. The strangest things i saw being signed were a slick tire, a shoe, cardboard cutouts. All in All it was fun, but I was VERY dissappointed that i couldn't find all the drivers tables to get tickets, they were spread oout all over the place and i must have wandered for what it felt like 10 mintues before figuring out where to find the tickets at. That was VERY annoying.