{"id":573887010,"date":"2014-10-19T23:18:43","date_gmt":"2014-10-20T04:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/?p=573887010"},"modified":"2014-10-22T17:48:28","modified_gmt":"2014-10-22T22:48:28","slug":"talladega-500","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/blog\/2014\/10\/19\/talladega-500\/","title":{"rendered":"Talladega 500"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We received tickets to the big race at Talladega Superspeedway. It was a great day. Everything worked out perfectly, the weather was grand. We were on time. We did not get sunburns and were entertained by a little bit of everything. <\/p>\n<p>We drove up, fighting no traffic, walked a far shorter distance than we&#8217;d anticipated, waited in the shade for a few moments at the Will Call window and then walked a few hundred yards to the gate and to the proper section. We were sitting about 100 feet off the finish line. It was a perfect afternoon to be outside and we had a grand view of everything.<\/p>\n<p>There were pre-race interviews, a parade of antique military vehicles, driver introductions and there was something called sky-typing:<\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct52.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Then eight retired military service members jumped out of a plane with flags attached to their rigs:<\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct53.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>We saw a flyover synched with the military band playing the national anthem:<\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct54.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>And, of course, the race fans:<\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct55.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct56.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct57.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct58.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the pace car for the day&#8217;s race:<\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct59.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Brian Vickers had the pole, he would finish 20th:<\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct60.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Dale Earnhardt Jr lead the most laps throughout the race, but his day ended with a disappointing 31st, which eliminates him from the championship race. <\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct61.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>For a time it seemed that we would see a little history. Danica Patrick had a strong run toward the end of the race, but caution flags and the last pit stop worked against her:<\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct62.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Brad Keselowski won the Geico 500, advancing in his championship chase:<\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct63.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p>But, really, you&#8217;re hear for the fans. Here are a lot more of them:<\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct64.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct65.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct66.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct67.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct68.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct69.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct70.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct71.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct72.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct73.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct74.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct75.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct76.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct77.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct78.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct79.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct80.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct81.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct82.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct83.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct84.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct85.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/oct14\/oct86.jpg\" alt=\"Talladega\" \/><\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We received tickets to the big race at Talladega Superspeedway. It was a great day. Everything worked out perfectly, the weather was grand. We were on time. We did not get sunburns and were entertained by a little bit of everything. We drove up, fighting no traffic, walked a far shorter distance than we&#8217;d anticipated, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,22,10,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-573887010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures","category-friends","category-photo","category-weekend"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573887010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573887010"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573887010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":573887013,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573887010\/revisions\/573887013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573887010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573887010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573887010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}