Ed and Chris go to Darlington

Last Saturday night by buddy Chris and I drove down do Darlington to see NASCAR's Camping World Truck Series race 200 miles at Darlington Raceway. I love Darlington, it feels like an old baseball park to me. They've been racing there since the early 50s, it's in the middle of nowhere and doesn't have the crushing crowd like at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. It's also rednecky as hell.

Chris at our campsite


We had good seats. That is another nice thing about the truck series. We paid $25 for seats that would cost around $100 for a cup series race. We had a real nice view of the racecars coming out of turn 2 and a good view of Kim Lopez, the chief starter and/or flag waver. You can see her here telling the field they got one more parade lap before they go green.


People watching at Darlington is the best. This guy was toasted and was fun to watch all evening.


I'm still shocked by how many kids I see at these races without ear plugs.


The best seat in the house, where the spotters stand.


Chris and I in our seats. Pro tip: rather than purchase your race tickets online, call the race track and talk to a ticket seller. You get better seats that way. I got aisle seats via the nice lady I talked to on the phone. Thank you, nice lady.


Generic fans-in-the-sunset picture


Drunk Chris made friends with the drunk couple next to us. They were fun. I always meet fun and interesting people at the track. This is one of our new friends popping out of her seat when I was taking a picture.


Cute kid (no earplugs)


Johanna Long and Ricky Carmichael had the only wreck I saw where it appeared there was a pretty big hit. Carmichael spun out and Long plowed into him. Video here.


I'm pretty happy how this pit road action shot turned out. That's Ron Hornaday in the #33 vehicle.


Naturally, I took a panorama shot. I need to remember to use the manual setting on my camera so I get a more even distribution of light across the sky. Those vertical bands you can see where the two photos overlap are distracting.


Thanks, Darlington. See you in May.