Things I noticed in Seattle (1 Viewer)

[rocketman]

The crowd was big on both Saturday and Sunday. Long lines to get into the track. I noticed that several of the team hospitality centers really weren't getting used at all. Where are those sponsors and clients? I guess for some of the sponsors they don't have business in ever market on the tour.

On the other hand they were getting used big time at DSR. In fact the people over there were eating lobster tails and king crab! Do they even do that at NASCAR? Very impressive.

Also, at the times I went through the pits I noticed that very few of the drivers were ever out greeting the fans or signing autographs. I saw a lot of missed opportunities. I hope this was just Seattle and the times I waked through.

 

[Toejam]

Rich, I thought the crowds looked pretty stout as well! Those new Grandstands sure are a huge improvement aren't they?

 

[rocketman]

Yes they are Joe. I was hoping I'd bump into you but we did our night of fire show on Friday in Oregon so I didn't get to the track until Saturday. If I didn't know better it looked to me like the whole NHRA pro show is doing quite well in light of the economy. There were still full fields, big crowd, professional looking equipment, it seemed all good to me.

 

[Kris]

There were a fair number of folks there on Friday, too, and given the weather I am not surprised. Last year it rained. Two years ago it was 98 degrees. This year it was 67 and cloudy. The crowds were indeed good all weekend.

I've been going to this race since 2004. This year was the first time I had to wait more than 10 minutes to get into the track off SR 18. On Sunday I actually didn't even take the highway since it took me an hour and a half to get from the end of the line to a parking spot on Sunday. Where did all those people come from?!? Plus the line from SR 18 Eastbound (I took westbound since it's so close to my house) was at least 3 miles backed up from the exit -- I ended up looping around on Saturday because the line caught me by surprise heading westbound.

I didn't get a lot of time in the pits so I can't comment on how much the drivers were out. I spent most of my pit time with Gary Densham.

I had a really fantastic time this year even though I got a bit sunburnt on Saturday.

So it made me wonder if this event has grown during the past two or three years. And if so, I got to wondering what it is that caused that. Hmm.

 

[Toejam]

Seattle couldn't have asked for better weather that's for sure! That was my 6th time at that race, and every other year it was either cloudy and Rain or 85-90 degrees or Hotter!

 

[clwill]

Seattle couldn't have asked for better weather that's for sure! That was my 6th time at that race, and every other year it was either cloudy and Rain or 85-90 degrees or Hotter!

Funny, I was thinking how the last few years were weird with respect to weather. I've been going to the race since '93 and the weather has always been great -- the last couple of years seem like the anomaly. But we'll see

 

[possum]

I noticed some of what Rich did. Hospitality setups with nobody in them every time i'd go past. I did see quite a few drivers making themselves available, maybe it depends when you were there but all the Force clan were working the ropes even Courtney who wasn't driving anything. When i happened by Antron Brown, Tony Schumacher, Hillary Will, Brandon Bernstein , Gary Scelzi and Larry Dixon were all out there with pens and crowds of fans. I saw several more Pro Stock drivers in the souvenir trailers. The way they schedule the qualifying sessions with very little turnaround time between must make it more difficult than the old 3 o'clock and 7 o'clock times.