The end of October is a special time in Atlanta. Just tell anybody your going to 'the Race' and their face will light up. Then you realize that their brow starts to furrow and their hand is reaching to itch that spot that always starts itching when they're thinking real hard. Finally they just give in and say "What race?"
We've been heading down to the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the past four years and have finally gotten it down to somewhat of a science. The only thing that gives us much trouble is finding a taker for the "fourth" ticket. This year we had a good buddy of mine from Oversight lined up and pre-paid but on the day before the race his wife threw out her back. Luckily we had Darrin on stand-by and avoided the dreaded empty seat.
In the past we've headed down early, set up the site, and made breakfast. A strategic decision was made to stop at Waffle House this year as it would give us the strength to start the day...and fast forward to the Bloody Mary's!
When we got there we were told that our order would take a little extra time as the cook was cleaning the grill. I still haven't figured out if this was code for in the bathroom, having a cigarette, or late for his shift but anyone that's been to Waffle House knows he wasn't "cleaning the grill!"
The centerpiece for any outdoor event in the fall is the fire. Thank goodness we had our resident Eagle Scout in hand because it was quite a cold morning. A combination of dew, strong breeze, and unaged wood made the process take much longer than normal, but since we were all well fed we had beer and my special ZingZang Bloody Mary's to power us through.
Darrin had just completed a busy shift of hauling away drunken drivers on their way home from the Wide Spread Panic concert at 3AM and kept referring to yesterday as this morning. We gave him a break because he chipped in and picked up the fourth ticket.
George had been introduced to "hanger golf" while on a business trip earlier this year and bought a rig from the local Walmart. Always looking for something to do with the hand that isn't holding my drink, I thought it was good addition to the day's activities.
We set the hanger golf up in front of the car and began to play. The funny thing was that no sooner did we have our first game finished when our neighbors set up their very own hanger golf! It a craze folks...sweeping the country!
I thought we were going to have a throwdown with a guy that walked up to Darrin and asked if he could "toss his balls once", but after a quick point to the hanger golf rig everything was cool and we let him have a throw.
Lunch was a combination of hot italian sausage and bratwurst. Green Peppers and Onions were both available and each man took personal responsibility for their intake ;).
After lunch we made our way into the track. 
Our timing was perfect as they were just through with introduction of drivers when we made it inside the gates. Michael Johns, an American Idol contestant that has ties to Atlana sang the National Anthem. The flyover was a C-130. This year we switched our tickets and got the four seats on the end of a row. I'm not sure that it really mattered as it seemed that attendance was way down...lots of empty seats.
I'm not sure if it's the new car, the chase format, or what but the race was just plain boring. I'm not looking for 10 car pileups but passing would be interesting. A lot of follow the leader and few leader changes. Carl Edwards ended up taking the checker flag.
Once the race was over, we headed back to the car. We got our fire started back up and started preparing dinner while the traffic cleared out. We had ribeye sandwiches, roasted red potatos and twinkies. Thoroughly satisfied we packed it all up and headed home. George took us out the "back way" which helped keep us moving and everyone made it home safe and sound.
