At the races once again

Wow! So many adventures lately and not enough time (or energy if I do have time) to blog about them! Here I go in my attempt to catch up on my backlog of blog posts.

Last weekend I had a wonderful opportunity to spend time with my older brother, sister-in-law, nephews and darling 3-year-old niece as we attended the Clash of the Titans Monster Truck Race at Rocky Mountain Raceway in Salt Lake City. Every time it’s been a few years since I’ve gone I forget how much I enjoy it, but I always do. Part of that lies in the fact that it feels like something so unTammy like to do, and I usually enjoy that.

Just being silly before we went to the race. What a cute little poser and a silly boy.

The thing I can never get over is the sickly sweet scent of the fuel they put in those trucks. It’s so interesting. They’re so big and so loud. As an adult who has been quite a few times, I forget how loud they are to tiny ears, but KK reminded me. The first truck came out and she got so scared she went over to her mommy to sit on her lap. Then, when she came back over to me, the first thing she did is take my hands and place them over her ears. So my brother fixed the problem for her by getting her some headphones.

A few pictures of the races. I discovered that although my iPhone is great for regular pictures, it’s not so awesome with action shots. Oh well! There’s a few with car crushing so use your imagination on the rest.

Here’s the eventual winner, the Bigfoot Bessie, driven by Larry Swim.

A few after race shots during the Pit Party. First, the boys.

Then the girls (pictured by Scarlet Bandit, the only truck driven by a woman at this event. Her husband was also there with two other trucks they own.)

Finally, me with the kids.

This year they did a wheelie competition after the races, but, alas, my pictures are all blurry, so I’m not going to post them. It was an enjoyable evening spent with my wonderful family.

Monster Trucks!

So pretty much I've been meaning to write this entry for days and just haven't gotten around to it yet. But there's no time like the present. :)

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go see the monster truck show at Rocky Mountain Raceway. It's been quite awhile since our family has been able to go for various reasons, but I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Not only did I get to hang out with my two brothers, sister-in-law, two nephews and my cousin, but it was just an enjoyable evening. Unless you've seen the trucks before I think it's hard to appreciate how loud the engine is or the sickly sweet scent of the fuel. I also love the excitement of the crowd. So great!

Well, and I love that this seems like not a typical Tammy activity either. I get a rush out of doing stuff like that sometimes. :)

But of course I think the pictures can tell the story better than I can.

Beauty and I didn't know that Batman was going to be there!

Of course the monster trucks are interspersed with other types of racing, namely the Maverik Midgets and the Nascar Modifieds. No race would be complete without a pretty icky wreck and this was no exception. In the very first heat one of the Midgets hit the side of the track, bounced over to hit the corner that lead off into the pit area and then landed on its side next to the wall. It was a nasty crash but miraculously the driver walked away from it, then had his car fixed enough that he was able to race in the major event, placing fifth. Yikes!

A picture of a wreck that happened with the modifieds during their 50-lap main event.

Just being silly. . .

Monster truck racing! Each truck had a qualification round to get their time, then were paired in racing according to qualification time. That meant the slowest truck raced the fastest and so on. Each round eliminated the trucks that lost until it came down to the final two. This year it was Bigfoot vs. Bounty Hunter. Bigfoot won!!

Sorry, my camera sucks at night shots, so I don't have the actual final race. This was just before it started. They had to go around the figure 8 track twice in order to win.

Just us in the pit area following the race.

Beauty and I enjoying a girl power moment with the Ms. Bigfoot truck. This truck was driven by the lone female in the competition. When we saw her afterwards (although we didn't meet her because her line was way too long), she matched her truck somehow.

Why I should definitely avoid fangirldom. . .

So tonight I totally had a Tammy's guillibleness rears its head again moment, and since I'm me and I love to tell stories, I'm going to share it here.

I went to see the monster truck show at Rocky Mountain Raceway with my cousin, two brothers, sister-in-law and my two nephews. It was a great show, and I loved it! (In fact, I'm going to create a separate blog post about that, but not tonight because it's much too late.)

At the end of this year's show they did something different and had all the trucks do one minute of freestyle. It was awesome! Freestyle leaves so much more room for creativity than regular races. One of the drivers is a national freestyle winner, so needless to say his one minute was by far the coolest of the evening. After the show the invite you into the pit area to see the trucks up close, meet the drivers and get their autographs if you so desire. Since my brother is the world's biggest monster truck fan, followed closely by his son, whom he's taught all about it, of course we headed that direction.

When we went into the pit area, I decided that I needed to be fan girl and tell this gentleman just how awesome he did.

Me: I just have to tell you that you have some of the coolest freestyling skills ever.
Him: Thanks so much. And the best part is, I did it all with my eyes closed.
Me (with eyes now the size of salad plates): Really, you did?
Him (on seeing my expression): No, I'm just joking with you. Of course my eyes were open the whole time. But thanks for the compliment about my show.

Umm, yeah, so I felt rather foolish. But I also laughed and laughed about my little gaffe. And now I'm sharing it with all of you so you can enjoy it too. Good night everyone!