Ahhhh...what could be better than the taste of propane cook burgers slightly accented by the exhaust of a Silverado truck? Or, your friend, a brainiac rocket scientist by profession, wearin’ his “big guns” tee (see picture below)? If that’s not NASCAR, I don’t know what is.

This year, we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary with two NASCAR newbies: our friends Liz and Ben Diachin (see article Lancester Jethawks for more on Ben and Liz). They were nice enough to help us with all the NASAR tailgate preparations. After reading our article, Tips for the NASCAR Novice, not only did they dress the part, but they crafted quite a NASCAR tailgate despite considerable obstacles.

The afternoon started easy enough. We drove right into the main parking lot area to set-up our tailgate. There was no parking fee and if you get there early enough (about 4 hours before the event), you have your pick of locations to set-up camp. Contrast this to last year, when we were in some side lot without port-a-potties, we had lived and learned.

NASCAR in the Southern California races in Fontana, CA -where you have desert level temps despite being located near a mountain- which means it’s hot but the mountain blocks any possibility of a breeze. So, just as we were setting up our camp, Liz’s face and neck turned as red as Dale Earnhardt’s uniform. Although she claimed to be “fine,” we realized that she was five minutes and a Busch beer away from de-hydration and sun stroke.

Ben, being the rocket scientist that he is, went all “Macgiver” to save the day. With only a Swiss Army knife, an old blanket, some rope from a worn back-pack, the near-by, back-door of a Silverado and a heapin’-helpin’ of ingenuity, Ben concocted a tail-gating tent for us to hang under while we grilled and chilled. Fortunately, the owner of the Silverado was cool enough not to care that we used his truck to rig our tent and in the universal symbol of NASCAR peace and friendship, we offered him a cold beer for being so cool.

We grilled some burgers and hotdogs in the heat and drank some no-frills Coors light. Armed with our ear plugs and protective eye-wear, we watched Kasey Kahane race to victory. Props to Liz for stickin’ it out in the heat for her first NASCAR event and Ben for helping to make it possible.