Since moving to the USA from England 20 years ago, I’ve never quite known what to think about NASCAR. I have to admit, my thoughts have not always been very flattering, but I try to live by one simple rule; if it involves speed & noise, I’m going to love it. For sure, my first NASCAR experience proved this was still a good philosophy.

I remember watching a couple Mustangs racing a field of Minis and Hillman Imps at Brands Hatch when I was a kid and thinking how undeniably awesome it is to see big, hairy assed American cars at full bore on a race track, so when I noticed that the second race on the 2010 NASCAR calendar was only 2 hours away at Fontana, I called my friends at Dodge and suggested that it was time for a baptism of patriotism & thunder. They hooked me up with a couple of “HOT” pit passes (That means you can stay in the pits during the race!) which provided a really good insight into the heart and soul of stock car racing.

To get a female perspective I took my wife. I explained to her that this was a privileged some lifelong fans would kill for and hoped she could appreciate the opportunity. She really likes the sound of a race car, but it was soon obvious that not wearing ear protection was a huge mistake. The start of the race wasn’t just loud, it was painful!  We’ve been pretty close to the grid at an F1 race in Motreal, but this was much louder and of course, the cars came past every 30 seconds.  TV doesn’t do NASCAR justice. It doesn’t capture the atmosphere, noise, or the sheer impact of 43 cars driving at over 200mph in a tightly packed group. Like an earthquake, it has to be felt to be appreciated. As the cars went out of sight my wife turned to me and pointed out that although I had not always appreciated NASCAR, I’d be pooping myself if I were on the track with those guys. She was right.

As brutal as this race series is, it can also be quite forgiving. By the end of the race most of the rides were battle scared and generally quite messed up, but still running courtesy of  some creative pit crew surgery and a lot of duct tape. To be honest, they didn’t look that great at the start of the race, (which is one reason why I wasn’t a huge NASCAR fan)  but I understand now that their design is all about keeping it real, making sure the drivers are safe and entertaining their devoted fans.

So after 500 miles of racing and 26 lead changes, almost the entire filed were within sight of each other, which, lets face it, is what the fans came to see and as Jimmie Johnson’s Chevrolet and the remaining 32 cars crossed the line, the crowd went wild.

After the race was over I asked my frozen wife if she would do it again. She replied enthusiastically, “absolutely”. I think that sums it up. So the next step for us to relinquish our  “resident alien” status, hand in our British passports and become US citizens.  Thanks to NASCAR & Dodge Motorsports, I think we get it now. God Bless America!