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Ya know...before Thanksgiving night, I probably would agree with Sean...to a point. I've had some pretty dismal experiences with that race and that track in the past. But aside from Dave Darland totally dominating the "big show", this Turkey Night Grand Prix was definitely worth watching.
Nothing against Sean or anyone else that has a negative opinion about the race. We all see things differently, but you cannot tell me that there was not any racing action...I personally believe that some people would have said that no matter what they saw...but will still show up next year and gripe again...
I, like Tim, cannot believe that I forked out $65 for a non-member pit pass. However, I was rewarded with the opportunity to share a brief conversation with Robin Miller about "real" racing, as well as catch up with a whole bunch of buddies from all over the country. To me, that was worth the extra cash alone.
Anyone that was there would have to agree with the fact that the battle from 3rd through about 8th was something fierce! The amount of slide jobs (yeah, that's right...I said slide jobs!) that were traded within inches of each other between such shoes as Jason Leffler, Bryan Clauson, Josh Wise, and Kasey Kahne...will bring me back. It was simply amazing. 98 laps worth of good, clean, old-fashioned side-by-side racing.
Hey, lets not forget that this race and the history that is carried along with it are what bring all those haulers and drivers and fans. How did Nascar ruin this race? I didn't see one uniformed Nascar representative the entire night. What I did see was a pit full of drivers, owners and sponsors that would not have been there had the race been run on dirt. If the PAS had hosted the race, we most likely would not have had Santos, Steele, Nine Racing, Western Speed, Zarounian, Davey Hamilton, Toyota (as a race sponsor and with the presence that they had at Irwindale), etc., etc...
I know I sound star struck (the list of names sounds like a Busch race), but I'm teling you, these guys drove their hearts out and had fun doing it too...no wonder these guys have been signed to do bigger things in the future. You should have seen the smiles on these guy's faces when they took their helmets off...it was realy something to witness those guys doing what they truly love to do without all pressure of it being a day job.
Too bad Wise and Swanson blew up and Leffler over-heated...it would have been really interested had they continued. The TSR tangle took out both Stenhouse and Jones in one shot. I'm still bent about the fact that this race was moved to pavement from dirt...those wounds will never heal. But this year's Turkey Night GP put a band aid on 'em for a little while...
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