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N.H. diary - 6/9/04
Thought I'd add a little note about scoring tickets here while I got the time. right now I am at home trying to stay
vertical while in the throes of a sciatic flare-up. If any of you don't know what sciatic nerve pain is like, consider yourselves
lucky. The words "total agony" come sort of close, but not quite.
Anyway, how, may you ask, did I manage to get a ticket to a race that was supposedly sold out long ago? Here's a few
hints to help you get tix for those impossibly sold out races.
Tip #1 - A race isn't sold-out unless an employee of the track tells you otherwise. Although several sources said the Sylvania
300 was sold out, upon calling the track directly I was able to get a seat - not only a seat, but a fairly good one as well.
Tip #2 -Never EVER deal with so-called ticket brokers. It is totally unfair that the slightly disheveled guy in the parking
lot will be busted for scalping trying to sell you one of his extra tickets, yet that same guy can sell his ticket to a broker,
who will in turn sell it to you at 2 to 5 times its' value, and somehow THAT'S legal. What it is is BULLSHIT. Ticket brokers
are nothing more than legalized scalpers, who make tickets unavailable to fans who play by the rules, so that they can cater
to the whims of the rich. They SUCK!
Tip #3 - The fewer you are, the better your chances. I do almost all of my travelling solo (one of the downsides of having
friends who don't make as much as you do). If you call up a track and say "surley you must have ONE ticket SOMEWHERE,"
chances are they will! Now, I realize I'm in the minority and most folks go in pairs (at least), but, well, I'm just sayin'.
I also have the rather luxurious problem of trying to decide what to do while I'm in New England - besides going to the race,
of course. My plan so far is to spend 5 days in Boston and the immediate vicinity, then head up to the White Mountains in
NH (doing the race along the way), and then zipping accross Maine to Acadia National Park for a few days, then back down the
coast to Boston. Yeah, life's rough.
Actually, at the moment, life IS rough. I stopped smoking 2 days ago, I'm in the grip of sciatic agony, work sucks (which
is bad, 'cuz usually i like it), and my damn cat will not shutup. One of the best things about planning travel is having
something to look forward to in the dark moments.
N.H. Diary - 6/3/04
Welp, It's only half way through the season until the run to the championship - and already I'm worried.
NASCAR has decreed that only the top 10 plus drivers within 400 points of the leader will be allowed in the final 10 races.
We're halfway there and, apart from the top 10, only 2 drivers, Kahne and McMurray, would qualify under the present rules.
At the present pace, nobody outside of the top 10 should make it in the field.
I was lucky enough to score a ticket to the Sylvania 300 in New Hampshire. Please do NOT tell me that I'm going to be
watching a race with only 10 cars in it! What happens if a wreck takes out half the field? A 5 car race? And if a 10 car
race in New Hampshire isn't ridiculous enough for you, how about Talladega? Or Atlanta?
Now I think I understand the beer cans at Talladega! I mean it's difficult to be in love with a sport whose ruling body
is so consistently iconsistent.
I just have a really bad feeling about this whole championship thing. I think with so much on the line the temptation
is going to be too great to keep certain drivers from bumping others out of the hunt. And the problem is that NASCAR's hands
off approach to on-track altercations will almost guarantee that whoever wins will get there by knocking someone else out.
At a track like Talladega, that could easily translate into a top10 driver getting killed.
Well, enough gloom and doom. The trip planning is coming along well... got the plane tix, scored tix to see the 'Sox....
fortunately Tampa Bay are in town that week, so tix were easy to get! On Tuesday I'll be sitting in the FRONT ROW (yay!)
of the centerfield bleachers (boo!). And on Thursday I'll be behind the 'Sox dugout on the first base side about halfway
back. I have total of 5 days in Boston before I pick up the rental car on Saturday and head north to Manchester, NH.
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