June 13 - Lisa's Musings (on MIS) and Every Day Life

So, the weather gods were good to the fans at MIS today for the NASCAR race. Not a drop of rain. The humidity wasn't too bad and there was a nice breeze.

It was a great day to be packed into a track for a few hours to watch the boys go round and round and left left.

Only, there was hardly anyone there. Looking around, I'd venture to guess that maybe half the seats were filled. And, I could have stretched out and taken a nap where I was sitting.

Apparently, the state's economy has really taken a bite out of NASCAR attendance at MIS. Or, perhaps, people believed the weather reports. Or maybe it was a combination of both.

My friend, Becca and I were in the center grandstands near the entrance to pit road, about 25 rows up. Great seats to see those brakes light up when the driver's hit the commit line for the pits. Close enough to really hear the roar of the engines and high enough up to see what's going on at the back side of the track as well.

And, it was typical Michigan ... whomever got out in front was gone. Not a lot of wrecks, but boy you could feel the thunder as they drove by at 173 mph or so around that wide oval track.

Not that anyone wishes for wrecks or anything while watching a NASCAR race, but, fans do like to see side-by-side racing up front. Or perhaps a little mixing it up between the weasels in the back. And, well, there wasn't a whole lot of that going on, either.

In fact, after 100 laps or so, we were wishing for cautions just so everyone bunched up again. But, there really weren't that many of those, either.

To be honest, it wasn't all that exciting and Becca and I left before the checkered flag. Not that we didn't have a good time, we did, but, we'd had enough of the same three drivers in the front.

We got there early, roamed around, watched some really cool motorcycle trick riders do amazing jumps -- really scary jumps.

We shopped some, ate a little, people watched. All the fun stuff that takes place at a NASCAR race. And, of course, did our part to help the NASCAR economy by buying a few t-shirts.

I bought both a Tony Stewart and a Ryan Newman one -- even bought Ryan, the dog, a new collar with his namesake's name on it.

Which is why his photo is included in this blog. You can't see it, which is a problem with buying fancy collars for a dog with tons of fur on his neck, but Ryan's wearing his new collar. He seems to like it.

So, Denny Hamlin won. Ho hum. I think that's his fifth win of the year. Kurt Busch, who started on the pole was up there, too.

My driver, Tony Stewart, finished a respectable fifth, but he was never a factor. In fact, although he likes MIS according to what he told me in an interview -- as do most of the drivers -- Smoke's never been a huge threat to win there. At least not in the last 10 years.

My cousin, AJ, ended up 11th and I'm not sure where Ryan finished exactly, but it was back in the pack someone.

As an aside, one of the most curious people to watch in the grandstands was a Junior fan. He stood almost the entire time, and as his driver got to turn three, he'd put both arms in the air, with three fingers up on both hands. He'd stay that way through turn four and when Junior went by, he'd wave him on.

This took place lap after lap after lap for a good 100 laps or so. Then, for some reason, he just stopped. Maybe he realized that it wasn't working. Or his beer buzz subsided. I'm not sure, but, he sure seemed to be having fun doing it and even got another Junior fan behind him to join in. For a while, anyway.

It was a great Sunday in Brooklyn spent with fellow NASCAR fans. I hope more of them show up on Aug. 15 for the second race of the season at our local track.