Phoenix International Raceway, April 22 2005 April 25
On Friday, April 22 I attended the first NASCAR Busch race ran under the lights at Phoenix International Raceway. I won’t bore you with the details of the race as you can find that elsewhere. We drove down from Sedona, checked into the Days Inn and then made to the track by about 11:30 AM. Busch quailifying was up first followed by Nextel Cup qualifying and then the Busch race. During one of the breaks I sampled some track food. I had a tasty “Tex Mex Burger” and a Lemonade. The two items cost $9.00 all together. Not a bad price for a major event, although not great either.
I was really rooting for J.J. Yelley. He ran most of the race in the top 5 but faded at the end due to old tires. Still, he managed a top 10 finish so it was a good run for him. It took us about 30 minutes to get out of the parking lot. We would have gotten out of there a little earlier, but the person in front of us (on a major road through the parking lots) let 2 or 3 people out of every isle. I’m all for letting a few people go, but this was ridiculous. Anyway, I vowed to park next to an exit on Saturday.
All in all it was a good time and the track looked great under the lights. Once I get a picture gallery up on my website I’ll post some photos. Also, I’ll post a report on Saturday’s race and another on my whole trip in the next few days.
My 2005 racing stats after the Phoenix Busch race are:
Races: 10
Tracks: 6 (1 new)
States: 5 (0 new)