NC pride

The same man who has taken me to Handel's Messiah, Quiet Reflections Prayer Retreat, and brunch at Old Edward's Inn reached a new level of culture this Saturday. He "got" us some free tickets to the RACE! I'm talkin NASCAR, baby - WOOO!
Now, honestly, I have scanned through races on tv many times thinking to myself, "What is so exciting about cars going around in a circle for hours?" and wondering how thousands of fans could get so wrapped up in it all.
I found out yesterday at the Lowe's Motor Speedway.
This thing isn't about a race, it's about a day-long event with people. People who are proud to show their gut and have a good time. These people come a day early and set up their campers inside and outside the speedway. It's basically a glorified tail-gating extravaganza. Barak and I didn't show up until a couple of hours before the race started, but we could still see North Carolina at her finest... bar-b-quers, bean bag tossers, drinkers, and all of them yelling. Lots of yelling. It didn't matter what the subject, just yelling. You won at a vendor's putt-putt challenge? Yell! It started raining? Yell! You can't get to your seat because there are too many steps and they are way too steep? Yell!

Once we had our fill of ice cream, bbq, hot dogs, funnel cakes, and lemonade, we walked around the inside of the speedway and climbed the steps to our seats, the whole time wishing Spanky had come along to help me appreciate it all.
Then, it began. Now, I expected the national anthem and the introduction of the drivers, but what happened first, before each race, was something amazing. They had a man pray. Not just a generic prayer to "God" but using Jesus' name. And after said prayer, the whole crowd roared with excitement! I had never experienced anything like that at such a public venue. Well, any venue, for that matter. Then, of course, after the "Amen," most of the onlookers continued with various cursings of the drivers they liked the least.

All of this to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the way NASCAR changed my perspective on my fellow redneck. Don't worry, I won't be asking for Dale Jr. caps for Christmas or get a Jeff Gordon bed-sheet set in the guest room or anything. But I did really enjoy the whole experience and would totally do it again if I was given the chance.
I have to say, Barak made it fun. He 'gets' this crowd, knows the type, and made me and the people around us laugh a lot the whole time. I'll post more pictures and maybe a video clip on facebook.