Saturday at Joliet (1 Viewer)

Gutter Brain

Nitro Member
Well, the day started off early as my son was up about 5:30am, yelling at me that I didn't wake him up earlier to go to the races!
We stopped and Burger King for breakfast on the way. We traveled through downtown Joliet on Rt 53 all the way to the track. We get to the track at 8am. My son was very excited to get into the pits. We saw a lot of drivers. Bailey was very good with trying to find the drivers. The day again showed me why drag racing is so cool. There were many drivers that chatted with Bailey while doing their autographs. Angie McBride and Karen Stoffer and a few others spent a minute talking to a 7 y/o about his morning so far.
Bailey and I stopped by the Vegas Fuel pits. We talked to Wendy, who is in charge of the Hospitality area, in preparation for the Mater Meeting in the evening. She was great. They were very welcoming of us and excited for us to come back tonight. I got to talk Jane Naylor too. She was just as inviting and great to talk to.
I got to talk to Tony Smith for a little bit. He was very informative about the clutch, their plans, etc. TJ walked out while I was waiting for Tony and chatted for a minute while running someplace. It felt like we were friends from way back.
Bailey and I headed to our seats for Q3. We were behind the starting line a little bit, almost directly lined up where the cars would sit waiting to fire for their run.
We then hit the pits to see teams do some work, and see if Bailey could get more autographs. I saw John Rogers talking to Tom Compton. Bailey had to see someone, then John was gone. Not to long after, we ran into John posing with his girls with the Wally, all dressed up in the "Winner's Circle". We all hung out for while. We checked out the Force pits, then John and I noticed a drip, drop, a few more and it opened up. It was about 4pm (an hour and a half before the Vegas Fuel meeting). But, we headed over there to see about getting in and out of the rain. Paul Miller made it over too. They let us in and let the kids play for a while. Then, heard about the tornado warnings. It was not going to make it that close. So, the three Maters with kids in tow walked around a bit till they got Q4 going again. We got some nice night runs after the delay, and TPed's fire. That was big.
My son had a great time all day. After qualifying was over, we stopped at Force's pits. Bailey got his autograph, but the batteries didn't want to work in my camera. :( So, we stopped at Beckman's pits on the way out. We got his pic and headed home at 9:30pm. Very long day for a 7 year old, but he did better than dad probably. lol
Here are some pics that he and I took.
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BaileyandBeckman.jpg

BeckmanwithTimmahsign.jpg
 
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It was great meeting you and Bailey! What a day yesterday, and so far so good today!
 
Good to see Antron, Jack, Jane and Bill are on the Timmah for Top Fuel Ticket!!! But, I knew that already!;)

Thx Eric!
 
It was a good time with you and John (and kids). All my son has talked about is watching the final round of FC qualifying from the very top of the grandstands.
 
Can't believe I missed running into Mark, Greg and Paul too. It was good to see them too.
Thanks again to Max, Jane, Bill, Wendy, and all the Naylor/Vegas Fuel crew for letting us come in.
 
I second that thank you Eric, the Vegas Fuel folks were very cool...pics as soon as I get home.

I want to also say thank you to the Vegas Fuel team. That product is tasty, I look forward to seeing it in my local stores soon. Also, thanks for keeping us dry!
 
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