Get Your Motor Running

 

Okay, I'm the first to admit that NASCAR is not really my thing.  The deafening sound of race cars zooming around a track again and again.  And again.  For hours.  The stereotype of crappy beer and a deficit of sleeves on male spectators.  Nope, nope.  Not really my bag, baby. 

So when we received the email a few weeks ago from Gabrielle's Angel Foundation about the opportunity to attend a NASCAR race at the Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania, I hesitated.  We are usually the first to jump on any adventure, but...NASCAR?  Do we really want to do this?

Then I thought of the movie Cars and Fionn's years-long obsession with all things Lightning McQueen, and it became clear.  Yep, we were doing it.  Look out, we were headed to NASCAR!

Since the Poconos Parkway is a good 4 hours from the DC area and also located in a pretty area of the country, we decided to make a weekend out of it.  We headed up on Friday afternoon and spent the night at a sweet little B&B about 10 miles away from the Parkway.  The next day we spent the morning hiking at a beautiful spot called Bushkill Falls.  We totally forgot to bring our hiking packs, so the boys were on foot for the whole hike which ended up being several miles.  To our surprise, they did great!  They both seemed to love running and exploring the mostly flat path.  Maybe we'll "forget" our packs again the next time we go hiking!

 

Ah, isn't that a sweet picture?  A little bit of harmonious running between two brothers across a bridge.  So adorbs. Totally a framer.  But, just so you know, here's what happened next.

Thatsa my boys!  Although Conor has insisted that the last picture in that sequence get framed somewhere in our house, I told him that I don't need a visual reminder of this moment.  I am living it.  24/7.  Brotherly love.  What are you gonna do?

On Sunday we awoke bright and early and headed to the Parkway.  As we were parking, I heard a familiar voice calling out, "Fancy meeting you here!"  It was Amy, the mom of Fionn's clinic buddy, Sully.  Sully and his family were special guests at the race that day too.  It was such a treat to hang out with these wonderful "clinic friends" outside of the sterility of the hospital.  It really made the experience twice as special for us.  Of course, Fionn was being a pill and wouldn't pose for a picture with Sully, so this is the best I got.  Ah well.

We were also met in the parking lot by a wonderful NASCAR representative, J.C., who stuck to our family like glue for the remainder of the day.  I'm sure it wasn't in his job description, but sweet J.C. ended up providing child care for Deaglan at various times so that we could take part in the special NASCAR experiences with Fionny.  Deaglan, at the ripe old age of 2 years old, was more interested in opening and closing doors and eating snacks than meeting race car drivers.

Oh but we love him just the same.

I don't blame Dex.  There were times when I would have been right there with him on this preference, but I have to admit that meeting a couple of the drivers was actually pretty cool.

Who'd we meet?  Well, we met David Ragan and Clint Bowyer.  Never heard of 'em?  Yeah, me either.  Outside of Dale Earnhardt Jr., I am pretty much in the dark about NASCAR drivers.  However, I have to say that I will continue to follow the careers of Clint and David after the experience of meeting them.  They were such nice guys and so amazing with Fionny.  Our boy peppered them with questions which they seemed to truly enjoy answering.  He even offered up some sage advice to David

"Drive faster than everybody else.  And then you will win the race," Fionny said with a serious expression and a firm nod of his head.  David was sweet enough to act like this was the most mind-blowing instruction he had ever been given which was pretty cute.

Of course, this whole conversation took place while Fionny was completely taking over David Ragan's trailer, opening and closing the doors like he owned the place.  Ah, this kid.  Fionny is many things, but a shrinking violet is not one of them.

 

Another highlight of the day was the pace car rides.  Our whole family got to pile into one of the pace cars and take a lap around the track.  Both boys loved it!  We went so fast around the curve, I felt like we were going to melt into the side of the car.  And knowing that the race cars themselves go twice that fast during the race...well, it was pretty incredible.

Speaking of the race, it eventually started at 1 pm.  We had pretty awesome seats in the corporate box as you can see in the picture below, but we didn't last too long once the race began.

It had already been a long day, and we still had a 4 hour drive ahead of us back to DC.  We watched about 45 minutes of the race, and then headed out.  Fionny was so worn out, I think he was content to go.  In his words earlier today as we were talking about the experience, "Mama, it was a fun race, but it was way too loud." 

There you have it.  I'll also have you know that Fionn conked out in the car before we even made it out of the parking lot.  He was pooped in the best possible sort of way.  From a surplus of fun.  And Deaglan?  Well, he had his own little nap a bit earlier as you can see.

All in all, it was an incredible day.  We are so, so grateful to NASCAR, especially CEO Brian France and his family, as well as the Gabrielle's Angel Foundation, for giving us this experience.  I left the Poconos Parkway with an appreciation for race car driving that I never expected to have, and a special place in my heart for the good people of NASCAR who truly treated us like celebrities. As for our Fionny, he left with a collection of autographed racing hats and jerseys and a renewed interest in racing his little cars around the breakfast table.  And, most importantly, he left with an incredible memory of an extraordinary experience.  I'll check in next week after Fionny's next clinic appointment.  Until then...