Butterball Memorial Race

On July 22nd Rick and I went to the races again.  We go every year to the Butterball Memorial Race in Richmond, Kentucky.  We always have fun there, but it is very noisy and it's very hard to carry on a conversation while the cars are whizzing by at a tremendous rate of speed.  We end up covered in dirt and debris from the track and have to shower when we get home no matter how late it is.

This year we got there early and by early I mean around 12:45 p.m. so that we could get a parking space up close to the gates.  The races don't start until around 7:00 p.m., but we brought a large cooler with ice full of water bottles and gatorade to drink, and snacks to eat while we waited for the gates to open and the races to begin.  We stayed in the comfort of the air conditioned Saturn for most of the afternoon, because the temps outside were nearing triple digits and it was much too hot to sit out on the bleachers for all that time.  We did go and pick out our spot where we wanted to sit as soon as we arrived at the track and tied down an old quilt to mark it and reserve our seats for later.  The very top row was already all reserved and marked off by fans we heard chose their spots the night before.  Some fans were very trusting souls and left their chairs there over-night, and others marked their spots with that orange tape that's used for crime scenes.  Others bungee'd their seat cushions to the bleachers to mark their spots.  It gets very crowded in the bleachers, so next year we are going to go the night before, mark our spots on the top row and bring our own canvas chairs to sit in and pray that we don't have to go to the bathroom.  This year we picked a spot right next to one of the rails that is used to go up and down the bleachers, and yes, I did have to go to the bathroom once, but I didn't have to climb over anyone, thank God.

Here are just 3 pictures that I took while at the races.