2019 Robby Gordon Headquarters
My Talledega Report
Friday: Left Jacksonville Florida in the late morning, and arrived at Talladega Speedway 7 hours later. I found a free camping spot (I slept in my Nissian Xterra) in the North Camping Area. I packed seven bottles of water, and planned on eating track food all weekend:) It was maybe a mile from my camping area to the track, and I briefly cruised the merchandise trailers, and then walked around the outside of the track to get acquainted with Talladega. Walked back to camp, and the over to the dirt track (which was close to my camping spot) to watch the late models. I enjoyed that!
Saturday: Cold with a light rain, and as you know qualifying was rained out. Visited Robbys merchandise trailer and bought a couple of t-shirts. Hanging up on the “porch” of the trailer was Robbys race worn Jim Beam drivers suit priced at $1,000. I was in the crowd at the early SPEED channel broadcast holding up my #7 baseball cap, did anyone see it? Met one Planet Robby fan Kevin Love, Hi Kevin! I had GREAT seats all weekend in the very last row in the Tri Oval Tower, my two day package cost $180. Enjoyed the truck race, ate some track food, watched all the crazies in the North camping area, then crawled into the back of my Xterra to sleep.
Sunday: Up before 6AM (time change) walked up the road to the gas station for coffee, newspapers, and breakfast (biscuits and gravy). Made it to Robbys trailer and got autographs and pictures with both Robby and Paul Menard with me standing on the platform. Robby is real nice to his fans! Met Miss Sprint Cup Monica Palumbo and got her autograph and someone took a picture of her and me together. Then I stood in the crowd and watched RaceDay at the Speed Channel area.
Race Comments: *I have not read anything about the race or seen any replays yet* I have a scanner and followed Robbys channel and also the MRN broadcast. Robby did SO good, and it was great to see him mix it up out front! From my seats I could follow his car nearly around the whole track watching that big “7” on the roof. Robby is very aware of what happens on the track. There were two cases where either his spotter or cc said something, and Robby corrected them. One involved if a certain other car had pitted, I forget the other instance. Another time most of the cars were in single file, and Robby got out of the line and I heard him say “I’m just trying something”. Lots of chatter about if the inside middle or outside line was moving. Once Robby changed lines, fell back, then announced “that didn’t work out very well”. CC said there was no tire wear at all, I don’t know if they ever changed the inside tires all race? Not sure but I think they did a green flag stop, and then a few laps later there was a caution with 45-50 laps to go. CC told Robby right then to save fuel. Then late in the race caution came out and Robby wanted to pit for gas, he said his fuel gauge said “6”. I don’t know how they measure fuel, maybe his gauge said 6 pounds of fuel pressure? CC said stay out, they had worked to hard to lose track position. #48 and maybe some others came in. Next time by Robby said his gauge was “2”, and he came in for gas only. I can’t remember right now the sequence of how this played out with the red flag, maybe this happened right after the red flag. Robby said he wished he would have come with the #48. Green White Checkered and Robby came to rest on the grass almost right in front of me. The only thing he said on the radio was that he was real mad because he had wrecked his car. WHAT A RACE!
I left my seat about 4:15PM, ate a steak sandwich, drank a lemonade, and had an ice cream cone. It was nearly dark by the time I got to my vehicle, and I crawled in back to sleep. I woke up at 4AM, all the traffic was cleared out, and I headed home.
Saturday: Cold with a light rain, and as you know qualifying was rained out. Visited Robbys merchandise trailer and bought a couple of t-shirts. Hanging up on the “porch” of the trailer was Robbys race worn Jim Beam drivers suit priced at $1,000. I was in the crowd at the early SPEED channel broadcast holding up my #7 baseball cap, did anyone see it? Met one Planet Robby fan Kevin Love, Hi Kevin! I had GREAT seats all weekend in the very last row in the Tri Oval Tower, my two day package cost $180. Enjoyed the truck race, ate some track food, watched all the crazies in the North camping area, then crawled into the back of my Xterra to sleep.
Sunday: Up before 6AM (time change) walked up the road to the gas station for coffee, newspapers, and breakfast (biscuits and gravy). Made it to Robbys trailer and got autographs and pictures with both Robby and Paul Menard with me standing on the platform. Robby is real nice to his fans! Met Miss Sprint Cup Monica Palumbo and got her autograph and someone took a picture of her and me together. Then I stood in the crowd and watched RaceDay at the Speed Channel area.
Race Comments: *I have not read anything about the race or seen any replays yet* I have a scanner and followed Robbys channel and also the MRN broadcast. Robby did SO good, and it was great to see him mix it up out front! From my seats I could follow his car nearly around the whole track watching that big “7” on the roof. Robby is very aware of what happens on the track. There were two cases where either his spotter or cc said something, and Robby corrected them. One involved if a certain other car had pitted, I forget the other instance. Another time most of the cars were in single file, and Robby got out of the line and I heard him say “I’m just trying something”. Lots of chatter about if the inside middle or outside line was moving. Once Robby changed lines, fell back, then announced “that didn’t work out very well”. CC said there was no tire wear at all, I don’t know if they ever changed the inside tires all race? Not sure but I think they did a green flag stop, and then a few laps later there was a caution with 45-50 laps to go. CC told Robby right then to save fuel. Then late in the race caution came out and Robby wanted to pit for gas, he said his fuel gauge said “6”. I don’t know how they measure fuel, maybe his gauge said 6 pounds of fuel pressure? CC said stay out, they had worked to hard to lose track position. #48 and maybe some others came in. Next time by Robby said his gauge was “2”, and he came in for gas only. I can’t remember right now the sequence of how this played out with the red flag, maybe this happened right after the red flag. Robby said he wished he would have come with the #48. Green White Checkered and Robby came to rest on the grass almost right in front of me. The only thing he said on the radio was that he was real mad because he had wrecked his car. WHAT A RACE!
I left my seat about 4:15PM, ate a steak sandwich, drank a lemonade, and had an ice cream cone. It was nearly dark by the time I got to my vehicle, and I crawled in back to sleep. I woke up at 4AM, all the traffic was cleared out, and I headed home.
Views: 87
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on
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'Dega, a world unto itself, and my favorite track! Glad you had fun. Thanks for sharing.
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Permalink Reply by LuckyLarry7 on
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Tri Oval Twr
Sec: K
Row: 68
Seat: 7 (SWEET)
Price $120 - Attachments:
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DSCF2066.JPG, 1 MB
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Here's a picture of the wrecked #7
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DSCF2071.JPG, 1 MB
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Permalink Reply by laura_a_Robbyfan on
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Thanks for sharing your experience!
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Permalink Reply by MartyP on
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Allison Grandstand
Section S
Row 16
Seat 1,2,3
It was awesome watching Robby come off of turn two leading the pack.
Been going to Dega for 7 years and this was the best time yet.
Even though the finish wasn't what we wanted, great job to everyone at RGM.
I noticed Robby and Bobby L working together a few times also.
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Permalink Reply by rick on
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Best race of the year. Not the best finish but best overall team effort. It was great watching Robby running upfront. Keep up the good work and one these days the results will be there.
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Permalink Reply by Karen on
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We were in Moss Tower row 40/seats 11 and 12. Nice view, but chilly!!!! Backstretch look tantalizingly warmer! We camped in the free South Park - in a fairly mud-free spot in a borrowed somewhat leaky pop up which was saved from being too cold by my heater. Got my 7 flag at the RGM merchandise trailer on Friday (had forgotten to get it in Charlotte). The truck race on Saturday was a really good race - even better when the sun started to peak out from all the clouds near the end. Hit several of the free concerts outside the track and visited the infield which was pretty wild and crazy to see the Zac Brown band. We didn't stay long there because it was in the middle of a cold muddy field and we aren't as tough as we used to be. Sunday was my birthday, and my friend had gotten us tickets to a breakfast deal to see Dale Jr./Jeff Gordon at 8 am (am not an early riser). Needless to say Jr overslept! It was a nice gift and I enjoyed it though I had planned to be at the merchandise trailer for the Robby signing session - but no opportunity to sneak off! To me the race on Sunday was not boring, because I was thrilled at watching Robby race! I think our enthusiasm was contagious with the folks around us - since JJ wasn't do anything to cheer about - so we got them to yell too. What an awesome job Robby did! At this track the finish isn't as important to the fans as the effort. And I think Robby gained some new fans on Sunday! We were too tired to pack up on Sunday night, so grilled some steaks, drank some JB Red Stag, and made a nice campfire.
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Permalink Reply by Justin Smith on
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I was in the Moss Thornton tower too!
Here are my pics from the weekend:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2385268&id=7005926&l=...
and
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2386954&id=7005926&l=...
I took lots of pictures. Those are public links, so FB user or not, you should be able to access!
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