Doofus Skwad Invades Texas – Part One

Thursday April 12, 2007
The Doofus Skwad invaded Texas on Thursday April 12. Our hosts/shuttle drivers Susan and Dave spent most of the day picking us up at the airport and getting us settled into our hotel. I was the first to arrive, followed by Mel, Merri and Alnee. Yes, the "legendary Merri" made it to Texas!!! I had already met everyone else at the Sadler Barn Party last September (except Alnee who I had met on a trip to SoBo in August) so it was a special treat for me to finally meet Merri in person (and despite some people's opinions, she's NOT "scary Merri").

Friday April 13, 2007
Friday was our first full day together. After picking up our tickets and pit passes we browsed some of the souvenir haulers, then made our way to the pits to check out the happenings there. Thankfully we all had vinyl ponchos as it started to rain. We saw several drivers go in and out of the white NASCAR trailer. Ray Evernham came by. Susan called to him and he came over and graciously signed autographs for us (and several others). And to top that we even got to meet Robert Yates just a bit later. We talked to some nice Goodyear guys and they indulged us as we took pictures by the stack of #19 tires. One guy, Wayne (call me Junior) even tipped one so we could put our #19 sign inside the rim. My creaky old body decided to give me some problems but the nice guys at the Sunoco building were kind enough to let me use use one of their chairs to sit for a while while still watching the goings-on up and down the pit area. Much to her delight, Mel was able to get her picture taken with Bob Dillner and John Roberts.
After our adventures in the pits we hauled ourselves to the RV campground to visit with Phil (yes, the "evil" Phil) and his wife Jenell. Contrary to what some people think, he is NOT evil. In fact he’s one of the nicest people you could ever meet and so is Jenell. My foot was aching by this time and Phil insisted that I go into their RV to prop up my foot and rest. The “evil one” pampered this hurting guest like I was a VIP. Things got “interesting” when the weather turned and we started hearing tornado sirens. After much discussion it was decided that we would stay at the RV and wait it out instead of attempting to leave with thousands of other people clogging the roadways. It was my first experience with imminent tornadoes and it was unnverving to say the least. Fortunately mother nature decided to stay away from the tornado magnet and all we got was rain, thunder and lightning. Once the storm had passed we decided to make our way back to the hotel. It seemed like we had storms all around us, but never directly over us. When we stopped for dinner there was a double rainbow that we were able to see end-to-end. After dinner it was back to the hotel to crash for the next day’s activities.

Saturday April 14, 2007
Saturday turned out to be another turn of the weather as it was extremely cold. We parked near the TMS ticket office/gift shop and everyone headed in to find some warm gear – jackets, gloves, ear warmers. I bought a TMS camo jacket which was comfy, warm and large enough to accommodate the 5 layers of clothing I already had on. It kept me warm throughout the rest of the day. We decided to forego our anticipated shopping at the souvenir haulers and headed right to the pit area. We wandered around for a bit then went off to stake out our positions for Nextel Cup practice. We found a prime spot where the cars left the garage area to enter pit road. Armed with our “GO #19” signs we were ready when Elliott was the first car to come out for practice. Yelling and waving our signs at him, we got a smile from our driver. We yelled and waved at several drivers, but Scott Riggs was the one driver who really seemed to enjoy us calling to him. The first time out he waved to a couple of people wearing Valvoline jackets just down from us (we found out that they know Scott). Then he realized that we were cheering for him too and after that he was waving to us every time out - a real wave with his hand out the window. Elliott was smiling and laughing every time he saw us, but it wasn’t till the last time out that he finally waved to us. By the time practice was over it was time to make our way to the grandstands for the Busch race. With apologies to Kasey Kahne and the Evernham Ultimate Chargers team, this was my day to cheer for Stephen Leicht and the #90 CitiFinancial car. The funniest moment of the race came when I was listening to Stephen and his crew chief, Cully Barraclough, discuss one of the wrecks. Cully asked Stephen if he knew who started the wreck and Stephen replied, “Uh, let me guess. Shake ‘n Bake?” Cully said “Right-O” to which Stephen said “They need to put curb-feelers on his car!!” I just about fell off my seat with that comment!! Heck, I thought Stephen was too young to even know what curb-feelers are!! Even more fun was that on our walk out of the track I look over at the cars leaving and noticed Steve Wallace in one of the cars. Susan yelled out “Shake ‘n Bake” and we got the usual sneer from Steve. We all walked away laughing hysterically. At least he knows his nickname (even if he doesn’t like it). Stephen (Leicht) started the Busch race from the 16th position and finished 20th – retaining 11th place in the standings. Oh yeah, throughout the race, Mel and I had fun with my new "toy", a scanner complete with intercom so we could talk to each other and actually hear what was being said. We had lots of fun with the new toy - Waan, driving a "dotch"!!!
After the Busch race we all headed to the RV campground for another visit with the “evil one”. This time Phil was cooking dinner for us and what a feast we had – steaks, chicken, salad, spaghetti. By the time we finished eating we were stuffed. Thank you to Phil and Jenell for the wonderful dinner and hospitality!