The need for speed!

Last Saturday our friends Rob and Emily invited us to join them at the Irwindale Speedway to watch the races. I had never been to an event like this so I was looking forward to seeing exactly what it was all about.

Before the races started they let the fans down on the track to check out all of the cars and take pictures and photographs with the drivers. None of us actually knew who any of them were, but we had fun looking at the cars. It was neat to see how bare they were on the inside.

There was also a P.T. Cruiser club that proudly displayed their silly little cars. Emily and I took a picture by the one that caught my attention the most. Its theme was little red riding hood. They placed a stuffed wolf on the dashboard and had a custom paint job depicting the fairytale on all sides of the vehicle. What really completed its awesomeness was a quote across the hood that said "Grandma what big eyes you have". It is amazing to me all of the different ways people can find to throw away money.

Before the show began we all stood for the National Anthem. They announced the singers name and it sounded so familiar. When I looked closely I recognized the woman as a patient in the doctors office I work for. That was pretty funny. I wasn't expecting that. I run into patients in the most random places. The best was when I got pulled over by a patient and when she recognized me she let me go without a ticket. But that is a completely different story :)

All of the races were fun to watch but I would have to say my favorite was the figure 8. The name pretty much says it all. It was exciting to see the cars barely miss each other as they crossed in the middle. We were all sitting on the edge of our seats cheering when the racers become more and more daring.

The finale was an all female demolition derby. As I watched these women slam into one another I thought....I can do that!!! It looked fun, just like real life bumper cars.

All in all it was a fun night. We saw a car catch on fire, ate fattening track food and enjoyed good company. I would say the one negative was the man sitting below us that was completely oblivious that half of his rear end was exposed for the world to see.

Gleason family thanks again for inviting us to share this experience with you. We had a great time!