Pit Crew Chief-ing

Yesterday was Musclepalooza, a bi-annual drag racing event at Lebanon Valley Dragway.   It was a hot day with 150% humidity.  Pretty yucky weather for racing and watching racing.  Many people have asked me if I get bored while I’m at these events with Paul.  The answer is: Sometimes.  But mostly, no.   I am the Pit Crew Chief, so there are things that I need to do.   I am also the only member of the pit crew so I have to do all the things.  I don’t do well with humidity, so yesterday was a little challenging in that respect.

“All the things” starts with signing the waiver that I won’t hold them responsible if get injured while pit crewing at the track.  And once that is done, I get a wrist band saying I’ve done it:

Then, we find our spot to set up.   I’m not going to get into how I am about making sure we get a good spot but I can tell you it’s pretty annoying to Paul (understandably).   You may have read somewhere in here how I am about going to the movies.  This is similar.

Next, I open up all the doors:

And set up our relaxing/waiting/eating area:

Sometimes there is a canopy, sometimes not.  Yesterday was cloudy for the morning so we didn’t put it up until after this picture.

And of course, set up my things-to-do-while-I-wait-to-do-my-other-pit-crew-duties:

All this while Paul gets the car ready:

Then, we wait for Paul’s bracket to be called.  He races in the 10 second bracket.  That means he gets to the finish line – 1/4 mile away – in 10-10.99 seconds.

My next duty is to write on the window the time he thinks he will get to the finish line under:

And change it when needed:

Yes, three hundredths of a second makes a difference.  Who knew it could be this precise?

It doesn’t end here.  Then I follow him to the staging lanes on the ATV to wait with him:

…and take his water and any other stuff from him before he races.  It can’t stay in the car with him because he goes so fast (122 mph) that when he brakes at the end, things will fly everywhere in the car.

Then I go sit here:

Or stand here:

…to watch him go down the track.  If I can see through the burn-out smoke.  Cough. Cough.  If I see that he has gotten down safely, and does not need me to tow him with the ATV – which would mean the car broke and would be bad - I head back to the pits to wait for the next round.

And knit.  Yesterday I worked on my next round of traveling socks. I was able to finish my section and they are ready to send on:

Somewhere in between rounds I cook lunch:

And knit some more.  Or read.  See?  Not boring.  I love to knit and read.

Then, when he gets out in the second round, losing by 14 thousandths – yes, thousandths - of a second, I put everything away and lock up all the doors and we go home.  Even though he was out early, it was a good day.  Except for the 150% humidity.

Ice Cream and Drag Racing (a natural combination)

It's that time of year....
Today was the spring meeting for the Northeast Chapter of the Buick Club.  Which means drag racing season is beginning! We drove down to Chappequa, NY - no, we didn't see Bill and Hillary - where the meeting was being held.   Lots of chatting and catching up about who did what with their cars over the winter, who is ready for racing and when will they be taking them out to the track.  I mostly just listened.  Then it was time to get down to the business of the meeting - re-electing officers and talking about club-sponsored drag racing events.  So we took our seats near the front and I got out my knitting.   A veiw of the room from my seat:

 This here is the group of officers for the club:

As Doug (the tall guy in the black shirt) called the meeting to order, the first thing he said was, "We have just one rule for this meeting and that is that there will be absolutely no knitting."  Ha!  If you look very carefully in the first picture, on the right hand side, you will see another woman knitting.  And, although you can't see them, and in case you were wondering, there were actually three other women there amongst the 65 men.

Then we all shared three, mile-long subs.  More yammering talking intelligently about cars and car parts, like this intake thing that Paul's friend Rob made:

That's Rob in the yellow sweatshirt.

FYI, you don't need a carburetor with this one.  In case you were wondering.  Then looking at said cars in the parking lot.  Then watching some of the said cars be put on the lifts so we could look at the underside parts.  THEN, the best part.... leaving to go to Red Rooster for ice cream!!!!!

Wait.  That came out wrong.  I wasn't trying to say that the best part was leaving the meeting.  I was just really happy to have ice cream for the first time this season!  With sprinkles!  It was so yummy.

Made progress on my Light Speed shawl during the meeting and the drive:

Finally, here is the pond when we left our house:

And here it is when we got home:

Yay! No more ice!!!!!

Complete with our mallard couple who visit every spring:

Next post: My other exciting weekend activity - a visit to my mom!