go fast. turn left. crash hard.

so here's my big revelation to you all...i love auto racing. particularly stock cars (nascar). i don't mean i kinda like it and watch it when i get the chance. i mean love it - i have diecasts (little replica cars. kinda like hotwheels on steroids) of my driver's cars, i watch all the races, i even listen to the nascar channel on my xm radio. but i'd never been to a nascar nextel cup event. until this weekend.

a friend of mine pulled some strings and got me a ticket and a pit pass for the coca cola 600 in charlotte, nc. it's the longest race of the year at 600 miles and it's one of the biggest events because charlotte and the surrounding area are basically nascar central. the drivers live there, the shops are there, it's the place where stock car racing started. so it's a big deal. and i, along with 175,000 other people, was there. in a big suite (the friend's company had rented it for clients and prospects), drinking free beer, eating free food. pretty cool? you bet your ass it was cool. i was lucky enough to find a seat in the grandstands, so i didn't even have to sit and talk with people i don't know about things i don't care about when i really just wanted to watch the race. heck yes.

long story short, i was at the track for 13 hours on sunday, got to bed at 3.30, woke up at 6 to catch an 8.20 flight back home. so i spent a lot of my memorial day passed out in bed. and i'm struggling to focus at work today (that's becoming a pattern) since i'm flying out thursday to corpus christi to help my pop move halfway across texas.

all this travelling and experience will turn into songs. i can feel them brewing. i just gotta stop long enough to find a pencil...and stay awake long enough to touch it to paper.