Funniest Brainerd Campground Story (1 Viewer)

Brings back memories of the "Brainerd International Mud Pit" over between the first and second turns. For the first few years before they shut it down in, I think, '88, I swear as many people came to the track for that as much as for the drag racing. I think the track management tolerated it because it kept the fans busy until sundown at least. There were lots of stories and legends about people getting their car or truck permanently mired in there, and suffering severe damage when pulled out, including a new Trans Am from a story someone told me. The last year I saw it in operation, there was someone who brought in an old military 6 X 6. He got it mired so deep, they needed to get a commercial unit to winch it out, It left the front axle in the mud when they pulled it out. I'm pretty certain I got pictures of that, and will see if I can find them.

Saw a nearly new Toyota Supra get torched. Burnt to a crisp. Was nary a sign that had happened the next day.

I remember walking up to our seats in the stands, going by guys in the grandstands near the finish line. It was noon, they had their keg in the stands in a garbage can with ice, and a couple of them were already passed out.

I remember the Top Alcohol Camp. They're the ones who had an old school bus for a camper, and an entertainment system set up in a trailer, right? They played a lot of Diamond P videos, and even got on one of the shows, if it's the one I'm thinking of. I visited and did sign their guest book. Wonder if they still have it?

Still have my souvenir jacket from Northstar Nats #1. It's in halfway decent shape. I'll try and get a picture of it tonight and post it.

I also remember an incident from the first year of the "professional" security squad. This was the year after the infamous T-shirt contest. '89 I believe. They got pretty serious about profanity in the stands (Amongst other things.) because NHRA was NOT happy about the way things had gone the previous year. (Things were even starting to get a bit out of hand for my tastes. Trust me, that's saying something.) Anyhoo, we were in reserved seats on the spectator side. There were a group of guys from Canada, about 6 of 'em I think. On the first session of pro qualifying, they were already half in the bag and started up the "SHOW YOUR T*%S!!!!!" chant, sign and all. They carried on for about 10 minutes or so. Then one of the new (now armed) security people showed up who told them they couldn't do that anymore, and that they had to knock it off. (These guys were about 3 rows behind us.) He was met with a stream of curses and invectives like I hadn't heard for some time. A stevedore would have stood in reverent silence. Security guy says "Last warning gentlemen, no more chances." More cursing and insults. He shrugged his shoulders and left. By this time, these guys were completely full of themselves. "Hah! We showed him! They can't tell us what to do. Ran his a&% outa here!!" They started up "the chant" again. 5 minutes later, the security guard shows up again, only this time he's got about 5 other guards in tow, and all of a sudden, the guys from Canada get REAL quiet and tried melting into the grandstands. Guards came up the stairs and the first guard starts pointing and says "You, you, you, you, you aaaaaaannnnd you, let's go! You're outa here!" They protested, but started moving. They weren't happy and complained mightily. They were gone. For good. We never saw them again, and everyone in the area had more space to sit in. Strangely enough, I never heard "the chant" for the rest of the weekend.
 
Good stories DrRocket!!

Oh yes, the mud pit!!! Years ago an old friend was sleeping in the back of a pickup truck (ok, maybe he was passed out:D) when another friend decided to use that truck to pull out another truck that was stuck in the mud. Long story short…..Nobody in the crowd knew there was anyone sleeping in the truck. After hitting his head several times on the inside of the pickup box he finally woke up. The crowd went nuts when he sat up and his head appeared above the box sides!!! The look of confusion on his face when he looked around to see where he was……. Priceless!!!:D

Oh how I wish we had digital cameras back then!
 
Good stories DrRocket!!

Oh yes, the mud pit!!! Years ago an old friend was sleeping in the back of a pickup truck (ok, maybe he was passed out:D) when another friend decided to use that truck to pull out another truck that was stuck in the mud. Long story short…..Nobody in the crowd knew there was anyone sleeping in the truck. After hitting his head several times on the inside of the pickup box he finally woke up. The crowd went nuts when he sat up and his head appeared above the box sides!!! The look of confusion on his face when he looked around to see where he was……. Priceless!!!:D

Oh how I wish we had digital cameras back then!

That's FUNNY!
 
2005 ZOO Pictures

I put together a web page with pictures from last years zoo. Most of these pictures were taken on Thursday night so the partying was relatively mellow compared to Friday and Saturday night but you’ll get the idea.

Pallet fire…. Did someone say pallet fire??? (I think it was mentioned in the other Brainerd thread) Again, this was Thursday night, most of the pallets shown in these pictures were being saved for Friday night.

Chef Dale….. I think there might be a few pictures of you on the Miller Lite golf cart. I hope you don’t mind that I posted them.

A good time was had by all that night…… Can’t wait for this year, only about 36 hours until I hit the road!!!!

See ya there,
Brian.


Click HERE to see the pictures.

My cousin took these pictures with his camera and they’ve been stored on his computer until tonight. I had him burn them to a disk for me so I could post them for your viewing pleasure…… Enjoy!!
 
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I should mention that I’ll be taking these pictures down from my web site when I get home form this years race. (Tuesday August 15th)

Just wanted to let people know in case someone stumbles upon this thread in the future, they might be wondering where the pictures are. :)
 
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can you believe they bring a Green Bay Packers tent to
a MN race!!!!:D (that bunch is from WI)
 
I've been tellin' my wife for years we need to attend the Brainerd event, just so we can visit the zoo. It sounds like a couple Navy parties I've attended over the years... both here & abroad - nothin' but a good time had by all! Thank you to those who shared, even though I know you're holdin' back & rightfully so.
 
The pictures I’ve posted only give a small taste of the whole campground. Remember, Brainerd’s campground is (about) 600 acres, the party in my pictures only covered roughly 1 square city block. You could go from party to party all night long and never see all of them. Actually, you could see all of them but you wouldn’t be at each party for very long before you’d have to move on to the next one.

A lot of the people who camp there show up on the Monday before the race and stay until Sunday night. The partying progressively gets bigger and bigger the closer it gets to the weekend. It’s hard to tell which is the biggest night for partying….. Friday or Saturday. It’s a good time!!!





 
this might be too late, but for those of you that haven't left yet, I hear
from my camping group already there that there are new rules/pricing
in effect. Example: If I show up at track at 7pm tonite (which I am),
I will pay for the entire day of Thursday, I can NOT buy just thurs. camping,
then fri/sat/sun - the cut off, from what i was told is 7am each morning.
Oh well, too late for me, i'm ready and leaving work in one hour. can't
wait to get there.
 
this might be too late, but for those of you that haven't left yet, I hear
from my camping group already there that there are new rules/pricing
in effect. Example: If I show up at track at 7pm tonite (which I am),
I will pay for the entire day of Thursday, I can NOT buy just thurs. camping,
then fri/sat/sun - the cut off, from what i was told is 7am each morning.
Oh well, too late for me, i'm ready and leaving work in one hour. can't
wait to get there.

Have fun. Those of us who can't go would certainly love to hear some stories about how it is going!!!
 
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