racing

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Dear Jack: Go-Kart Racing Never Gets Old!

12 years, 4 months.

Dear Jack,

During your Spring Break, Uncle Tom and Aunt Jenny came to visit us from Florida. Despite the week before being nice and sunny out, it turned out to be one of the ugliest weeks of weather during their time here.

Fortunately, Mommy found a place to race go-karts about 30 minutes away from where we live. We never knew it was there this entire time.

All six of us got to race at the same time- and there happened to be no one else there besides us at the time!

It was such a close race, too. Such a constant back and forth between you, me, and Uncle Tom, but you ended up winning, just in time!

Love,

Daddy

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Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville: Family Friendly Review

Both last summer and this summer, our family has made a habit of attending the Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville, home of the All American 400, to watch the races.

Nashville Speedway Races

For a very affordable price (usually tickets are $10 but children 5 and under are free), your family can attend several races featuring many types and sizes of racecars, lasting a couple of hours. (Parking is $5.)

There is no doubt it is entertaining. I think of it as “NASCAR on a budget.”

You can tell that many of the drivers are apparently self-funded, with spray painted race cars and taped on numbers on the sides of the trucks.

I always like to root for those underdogs! (Meanwhile, my young son is smart enough to cheer for the cars at the front of the line-up; since they were the fastest during the time-qualifying pre-race.)

When we’re in the mood for an all-American, blue collar kind of family fun event, this is where we go.

I will say that much of the fan base smokes cigarettes… and this is an open-air event.

Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville: Family Friendly Review

In fact, the demographics for the Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville are so predictably smokers, that when you first walk in to the event after handing in your ticket, the first thing you see is a booth in which an e-cigarette vendor is eager to convert anyone they think are smokers.

However, your family can avoid most of the cigarette smoke by sitting in the C section, which is specifically set aside for families: Smoking and drinking are not allowed in that section.

There are some who try to sneak doing it, but typically the hired security guards catch them.

Our family is always entertained when we visit the Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville. Again, it’s inexpensive and entertaining; not to mention, it’s full of Southern flare.

If you end up checking it out, you may see our family there in the C section. Thanks for reading Family  Friendly Daddy Blog today!

1 Comment Posted on Nostalgia, parenting

We’re (Not) Walking In The Middle Of The Racetrack…

July 14, 2013 at 11:21 pm , by 

2 years, 7 months.

Dear Jack,

Somehow despite living in the South my whole life, including the states of Alabama, Virginia, Florida, and Tennessee, it wasn’t until this weekend that I went to my very first car race.

It was your first time to a race, too; at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.

I think it’s funny that Mommy, who is from Sacramento, has been to more races than she can count.

So I guess I should say, Mommy, the California girl, introduced us Southern boys to our first real car race.

Did you love it? Of course you did!

You were mesmerized.

We kept “betting” on the underdog and always lost.

“Ah, Daddy’s yellow car came in at 2nd to last,” I explained to you.

Sure, you loved seeing the fast cars whiz by, but honestly, you were most excited by the “crashes.”

By crashes, I mean… when a car would get bumped off the track, into the green.

Planning a Saturday afternoon event with you is always tricky, because typically when we’ve got a fun special thing like a race coming up, you have a hard time falling asleep for your afternoon nap.

If you don’t take your nap, you’re not in the best of moods…

Well, this time around, you ended up falling asleep on the way there, meaning that I stole a few of your Go Go Squeez applesauce pouches as Mommy and I let you sleep in the car, while we sat in the parking lot for 30 minutes.

Once you had woken up and we had entered the stadium, you survived about an hour and a half sitting in the bleachers before you started getting antsy, prompting the leave to go back home.

My favorite part of our family racing event was actually as we were walking back to our car, trying to find our Honda Accord among countless look-a-likes.

“Those cars crash!” you exclaimed.

Mommy helped me understand why you were so excited:

“I think Jack thinks we’re walking on the racetrack right now, and that all these cars parked so closely together are actually race cars that crashed into each other in the middle of the race.”

While I would like to think of us being an adventurous family, we’re not that adventurous…

Though I’m sure you wouldn’t mind getting a closer view of those “crashing” race cars.

 

Love,

Daddy