Nascar at Sonoma

Race tires for 01 teamThis weekend my father and I went to the Nascar Winston Cup race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma — the Dodge Save Mart 350. We had a great time and enjoyed watching the race live, especially the close battle between Jeff Gordon and Robby Gordon for the last 20 laps or so. The last time I saw a Nascar race was probably 10 years ago. With new track ownership and the Infineon sponsorship deal, they've really upgraded the facility. The “terrace seating” is really nice — we sat in the Turn 9 Terrace which had a great view of practically the whole track.

We rented a scanner for the day to tune in on the driver-team communication. There wasn't too much to hear; I suspect you'd hear more on an oval track where the spotter is constantly updating the driver with information. Next time I'll have to bring mine and program in the frequencies. (Available on the web or for a few bucks at the track.) Using these scanners has become so popular that manufacturers like Radio Shack make dedicated racing scanners (search Google).

I took a few pictures of the event, especially from the morning. The pictures from my seat didn't turn out very well because of the distance. Hopefully my dad's camera took some good ones.

Nascar pictures