Winston Cup at TMS

[jrussell]

Boy,
WHAT A FABULOUS DAY!! Thanks to Gary Sharapata, Drew Baird, Gary Morris & I were able to enjoy a wonderful Sunday at TMS with about 250,000 of our friends. We met at Gary's house at 6:30 am, and headed out to a stunning sunrise. We rode in Ford style, and were parked and in the Ford tent by about 8:10 am. Dale Jarrett came in to speak for about 15 minutes, and was followed by Ricky Rudd. These guys are real class acts, and our table led the tent in questions.
After a fine early lunch, we joined the crowds along the multitude of vendor trailers while watching 4 Blackhawk 'copters fly around the perimeter of the track against a beautiful blue sky. After taking our seats and watching a wonderful opening ceremony(Don B, that was you, wasn't it!), we settled in for a wonderful race.
Although this was not a great day for Ford, it was a great day never the less. I DO have some great pictures and I will burn a CD for my three sidekicks. I just might post a couple of then later, especially one of Gary enjoying a great race!
Thanks Gary for another wonderful day!!!!!
John Russell

[Gary Morris]

Uh Oh..........John....did you happen to snap my picture when I was involved with concentrating on listening to the scanner with my head hung over? Your last sentence made me think...what could he be talking about???? I enjoyed the whole race and did not miss anything......whatever the picture looks like...ain't skeered.
And yes a big Thank You to Mr. Sharapata for a most excellent adventure. Last words of the #17 Dewalt Ford that was leading the race.."that son of a b@#$h cut me off" and after his last pit stop " don't know what they did but the car is awful now" At least a Dodge won...that's better than a Chevy!

Gary

A Most "Crowning" day!

[jwoodard]

it was a great day! Tom Meadows invited me to join him, his brother and his friend Ken from Houston for the day. Our schedule was similar to yours as we left Tom's house at 6:00 am and headed north to Denton for breakfast. We were at the track by 8:00 and hung out at the Panoz building for a couple hours before going into the stands and our seats.
I'm suprized you didn't mention the B1 bomber and F16's that did a fly over during the opening ceremonies. What a rush when the B1 cranked open the after burners and the whole place shuddered. That coupled with 200,000 plus fans waving the old red, white and blue and cheering like crazy. The spirit of patriotism was unbelievable!
And yes, it sure was Don and Elizabeth in one of the school cars. Check the thread started by Tom, titled Cobra #42, regarding having the TCC drive their Cobra's in the parade lap at a future event.
Even if your favorite driver didn't win the race, it was a great day in deed!

Jim

[wolfmantx1]

Those were my boys from Abilene (the B-1)...I just love the smell of JP-8 in the morn and the kick of the afterburner on takeoff

Well... like I thought, I am deployed now (have been for a while)and wasn't able to make the annual TCC meet in Austin. I would have loved to been there...as well as either at the races or flying over them.

Don't worry, I'm not seeing much action where I'm at but my bothers in arms are doing a lion's share of the iron dropping in SW Asia right now.

Glad you all had a great time and were able to enjoy the flyover.