The Intern Files: The 2009 Brickyard 400 (Part 3 of 3)

Raceday, the best day of the week by far, was shaping up to be a good one. Mark was on the pole, had had a fast car all weekend and even seemed happy when I got to see him and talk to him. Now all he had to do was cap it off with a win. Here’s the minute-by-minute run down of how it all shook out on raceday.

SUNDAY, JULY 26th
6:45 AM- My alarm goes off, signaling to me that the day of the race is upon us.
7:05 AM- We’re off on a drive to Indy. I tune my XM radio and my dad and I begin to discuss traffic plans for Indianapolis.
9:30 AM- We pull into the Lions Club lot next to the Coke plant on 25th. We begin our trek on foot toward Georgetown Road where we’ll head out to get some, “free [stuff].”
9:50 AM- We grab our first Coke Zeros of the day along with Prilosec OTC freebies and Helluva Good chip dip. We stop by the Allstate booth for free backpacks and attempts to kick field goals.
10:00 AM- We walked back toward the Prilosec area to hear Jeff Burton discuss his brother Ward and if the Cup Series should run at Kentucky Speedway. He said, “I think it’d be nice to run at Kentucky but that means we’d be taking a race from somewhere else that has one.” Amen Jeff.
10:15 AM- We go further down the street to check for more giveaways. We find nothing but turn around to hit a few more stops we skipped along the way.
10:45 AM- I stand in front of the Big Ten Championship trophy with my Big East Championship ring on (Read more here: http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/07/so-i-might-be-little-showy.html)
10:50 AM- We throw some cornhole bags for more free backpacks. My cousin’s husband calls my dad and tells him that he and my cousin are getting close to parking. They plan on calling us back and meeting us at our car for lunch.
12:15 PM- After stopping by Raceday for a few minutes and checking some other things along the way (Oh, we grabbed two more free Coke Zeros too) we get back to the car. My dad notices that he forgot a match to light the grill. We ask the guys next to us.
12:45 PM- The guys we borrow the matches from walk away after chatting with us for thirty minutes about racing and more. They were also from Cincinnati. As I told my dad, “These are my people.” Rodney Atkins would have been proud.
1:15 PM- We get to the track and get inside the gates. We buy a program.
1:25 PM- We get to our seats in the Tower Terrace and meet up with my cousin Erin and her husband, Robb.
1:45 PM- Driver intros begin. Mark Martin gets nothing but cheers from the Indy crowd. I smile with pride, wearing my blue Markaholics t-shirt.
2:03 PM- The prayer followed by the National Anthem and flyover take place. (For video of the flyover check here: http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/07/videos-from-indy.html)
2:19 PM- The green flag flies starting the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard
6:49 PM- We get back to the car and begin our trek home.
7:55 PM- As tradition calls for, we stop at the Post Road Wendy’s, exit #96 on I-74.
9:45 PM- We get back to Cincinnati. I prepare to go to WCPO for our Sunday evening sports show, “Sports of All Sorts.” I screen phone calls for the show.
10:45 PM- I get to channel 9 and tell sports director John Popovich, the man who was responsible for getting me my media access for the weekend, that he “Made my dreams come true.” He said, “Good, I’m glad you had a great time.”

After answering phone calls for the show I headed home and went to bed. It was a whirlwind day. It was almost the greatest day I could have wished for. This play-by-play should give you some idea of the way the weekend went for me.

I was extremely happy everything went the way it did and I’m extremely grateful for all you who join me on the blog to read what I have written. With football season quickly approaching I know my time here will be significantly cut down, but I’m planning on at least another week or two of NASCAR postings before we head out for training camp. I’ll finalize my plans before then and I’ll keep you abreast.