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Swirly Rat Jr. (ha... another junior!) and I made the trek up to Sonoma again this year to view Northern California's largest
sporting event... where we and thousans of others witnessed the Gordonator totally demolish the comptition.
Sunday morning I drag Swirly's ass out of bed and we split, allowing 4 hours to make the 40 mile trip. We made it to
the gates in record time, then waited for nearly 45 minutes to get to the parking lot. For those not in the know, Infineon
is located in the middle of the Bay Area's own little patch of nowhere; the roads leading to Infineon are little traveled
two-lane highways that narrow to one lane once you get into the complex. The "parking lots" are just the hills
surrounding the track.
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| ...Over hill & dale, junior.... |
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| Swirly on the move |
There are - in theory - shuttle buses that take fans from the lots to the track. I say in theory because some years they
seem to have it on the ball, and some years it appears that they forgot to line up the shuttle service altogether. This year,
unfortuately, it looks like the latter. And that means a long, hot hike over hill and dale for 3/4 of a mile. Fortunately,
we're sitting in turn 7, right where the track's back entrance is.
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| Remembered to bring the seat cushion this time |
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| Turn 7 - "The Budweiser Bottleneck" - with turns 2&3 terraces and the "chute" |
Turn 7 is THE place to see a road race at Infineon. Virtually all of the action occurs at this spot. True, the cars are
only going about 40 mph or so, but those cup cars can be more difficult to handle at 40 mph than they can at 100 mph. If
you ever get to Infineon, get your seats in turn 7 - or watch all the action on the jumbotrons!
His Royal Highness Dale II may be the designated deity of NASCAR, but Northern California is GORDON COUNTRY! It's proably
one of the only tracks in NASCAR where Jeffie-poo gets more cheers than boos! Of course, there are also tons of Junior fans,
who, for the most part, are remarkably well behaved. I am the lone Ward Burton fan as far as I can see. When Ward is introduced,
I stand up and turn to the crowd and yell "WHOOOOOO!!!." Everyone looks at me funny.
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| Loud and proud... well, loud certainly... |
Most people expect this to be a race between Jeffie-poo and Rotten Robby. But those of us in the know are keeping an eye
on Scott Pruett - Chip Ganassi's hired gun for the day. Scott did pretty well last year (for most of the race) at Infineon
and scored a top5 at the Glen. The others we're watching are the Home Despot - who won in 2001 - and Ratface, who always
seems to be up towards the front messing things up. Ricky Rudd scored his last victory (some would say his last competitive
finish) here in 2002, so he can't be ruled out. Completely.
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