Race Day: Atlanta

Cari and I went to Atlanta Motorspeedway for the Nascar race on Sunday. The first thing I need to tell you is that traffic was an absolute nightmare. We sat in our car for hours. A person could die sitting there so long. In fact there was a small cemetery along side of the road next to the track. That says something about their traffic. I am so sorry I didn't get a picture of it.

On the way to the race, the idiots on the radio kept telling us how bad one road was and how great traffic was on the NEW road. We were headed for this new road, so should be good. We had left the house with plenty of time to spare.
As we sat motionless on the new road, the traffic people on the radio updated their message, "Hwy 20 is backed up about 10 miles." So much for this great NEW road. Sitting still on the road made me bored and I got my camera out. Here are a few examples of my entertainment:

With a dish THAT big, the people
living here are certainly
stealing HBO!

Either that, or they have
launched their own
satellite. I already have
my application in
with the neighbors to
approve one like that for me.
I guess that's what you do for HD TV.



99% of Nascar fans are white.

99% of the guys buying
and selling race tickets
on the side of the highway
are black.

The two guys in this picture
are taking a break to count
all their money.



Frustrated with the tracks free parking lot, we went down the street to a small airport and paid $10 to park. We made it to our seat as the National Anthem was finishing and the airforce jet flew over the track.

We had good seats, and the race was good to watch. Not a lot of crashes, but there was some good racing going on for the top five spots. I took my camera, as always, and snapped about 80 pictures. We had a good view of pit road, here are a few pictures I got.
After we watched Carl Edwards to his victory back flip, it was time to go home.

Traffic at the track reminded me of an hour-glass. You take thirteen lanes of traffic coming into the track from all directions and funnel them into a single lane parking lot.

Traffic leaving was an equal or larger mess as coming in was. In over three hours we drove less than 10 miles. That is not an exaggeration. It takes no more than two and a half hours to drive to this track from my house. The race ended at 4:30 and we got home at 10:30pm.

I'm going to print out a map of the roads around the track and e-mail them a proper traffic plan. They obviously don't have one.

This was our fourth Nascar event, and fourth different track. When we decide where to go next year, it probably won't be Atlanta.