Speed Street

Well, it’s the Memorial Day weekend, and that means NASCAR here in Charlotte! Yesterday Speed Street kicked off downtown and the roads are blocked and full of sweaty office workers who rarely see day light. This is an annual event, and the Coca-Cola 600 will take place this Sunday. Although I don’t keep up with NASCAR and who’s leading in the points, I have been to a few of the races and found it very enjoyable. Once, through work, I even took the Jeff Gordon driving experience and drove 8 hot laps in one of the race cars. I had to follow the pace car, but still managed to reach just over 140 mph. I was completely shocked at just how tight you fit into one of those cars. Once I was strapped in, the only thing I could move was my arms and legs, and nothing else. Not my head, not by body, nothing. It had a very claustrophobic feeling about it.

Anyway, back to Speed Street. As with any street event, about all you can do is eat expensive fast food, drink beer, and sweat as you’re trying to fill your bag up with as many free handouts as you can get. Generally the promotional items that are given out are brochures, drink cozies, posters, and candy. I normally don’t attend these types of things, but since I work downtown, all I need to do is walk outside and here it is. Of course since I’m at work I have to skip the beer portion of it. That’s a real shame too, because I just might enjoy it that way, not to mention being better able to cope with my co-workers afterwards. Once back in the office, everyone compares their crap with everyone else’s crap, and then we joke about why we even bother in the first place.