http://www.northwestvoice.com/home/Blog/goldenhawkfan/26322 Saturday morning I woke up fairly early (can't remember exactly what time).  It was April 19, my 25th birthday.  After taking a shower, it was time to eat breakfast in the hotel lobby.  Having learned how expensive food was at the track, I ate literally until I was totally stuffed.  While eating, I talked to a fellow race fan and his family (whom I'd also talked to on Friday morning during breakfast in the lobby).  My mom and dad didn't eat at the same time I did.  Once we had finished eating, it was time to head down to the track.  But this time, only my dad and I went to the track.  This time we just drove all the way down there.  My mom and my sister, who stayed the prior night with us, went to do some shopping and see a movie.  I stayed at the track almost all day, whereas my dad only stayed for a couple of hours. Saturday was a little more important than Friday.  There were actual races on this day to go along with warm-up sessions and qualifying.  I arrived a little after 11 am I think it was.  The Toyota Pro-Celebrity Race was just getting ready to start when I got to the grandstand.  This 10-lap race featured numerous celebrities and a few "pro" drivers (drag racers and a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver).  The pros started 30 seconds behind the celebrities.  Mike Skinner, the Truck Series driver, won the overall race, while ESPN pit reporter Jaime Little won the celebrity division. After the celebrity race, I started walking around.  I walked all the way down to Turn 1, where the cars exit Shoreline Drive.  I found a restaurant called Boston's Gourmet Pizza (I think) and decided it was time to eat!  So I called my dad and tried to get him to meet me down there, but the Atlantic Series was doing a qualifying session.  Because of that, it was so loud that I had to go into Boston's to talk to him.  After several minutes of misunderstandings on both my part and his, we decided to meet at Famous Dave's (which is just a few hundred feet down Shoreline Drive from Boston's.  After a about 45 minute wait (not too bad considering the size of the crowd), we got a table.  I enjoyed the brisket I ordered.  My dad enjoyed his dish too.  I can't remember what he had. After eating, I went back out to watch the action on the track.  The Champ Cars had started their qualifying.  I walked over to an area about maybe 100 feet away from Famous Dave's (near a harbor) where you can literally get within 15 feet of those cars, which were going probably at least 150, but probably even faster than that.  I took some pictures of the cars going through this stretch.  At 4 pm, the American Le Mans Series race started.  I would have to say that these cars were the loudest of all the cars I heard throughout the weekend.  The race lasted 100 minutes and featured only 3 full-course cautions (and I think 2 of those were for debris and 1 for an accident/wreck).  I forget who won the races (there's like 4 races in one in the ALMS, overall and each of the different classes).  It was a good, clean race. After the ALMS race, it was time for me to leave.  After what seemed like an hour (probably well less than that, though), my mom arrived to pick me up near the main entrance.  I had to walk east along Ocean Blvd (the main road in and out of the race course area) for a couple of blocks because there were no parking signs and many Long Beach PD officers nearby.  My mom barely got through coming west on Ocean Blvd before the LBPD shut the road down and detoured motorists onto side streets.  I was running out of money, so we stopped by Ralphs (a grocery store that is prominent down south.  Many of you might remember that Bakersfield used to have them, too) so I could get cash.  After that, we went to the hotel and picked up my dad, who was about to go to the Subway across the parking lot from the hotel.  My sister had already left because she had to go to work.  We then went to Claim Jumper and ate after a more than 30 minute wait.  The Claim Jumper was pretty good, but I'd prefer going to The Cheesecake Factory next time (we'd ate there the previous 2 nights, so it was time for a change).  After eating, we just went back to the room.  My dad fell asleep first, my mom second, and me third.  I tried to watch the IndyCar race from Motegi, Japan on TV, but my mom turned it on too late and caught only the post-race show.  And what I saw was both shocking and exciting.  Right when my mom turned it on to the race, they were showing Danica Patrick's car with many people surrounding it.  I thought, "Did she win!?!"  Turns out, she did!!!  I was very happy. After playing cards against myself (which I tend to do a lot), I finally fell asleep after a very long day, knowing that Sunday would be even longer. That's all for now, folks.  The final part, Part 3-Sunday, coming soon, so stay tuned! Saturday morning I woke up fairly early (can't remember exactly what time).  It was April 19, my 25th birthday.  After taking a shower, it was time to eat breakfast in the hotel lobby.  Having learned how expensive food was at the track, I ate literally until I was totally stuffed.  While eating, I talked to a fellow race fan and his family (whom I'd also talked to on Friday morning during breakfast in the lobby).  My mom and dad didn't eat at the same time I did.  Once we had finished eating, it was time to head down to the track.  But this time, only my dad and I went to the track.  This time we just drove all the way down there.  My mom and my sister, who stayed the prior night with us, went to do some shopping and see a movie.  I stayed at the track almost all day, whereas my dad only stayed for a couple of hours. Saturday was a little more important than Friday.  There were actual races on this day to go along with warm-up sessions and qualifying.  I arrived a little after 11 am I think it was.  The Toyota Pro-Celebrity Race was just getting ready to start when I got to the grandstand.  This 10-lap race featured numerous celebrities and a few "pro" drivers (drag racers and a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver).  The pros started 30 seconds behind the celebrities.  Mike Skinner, the Truck Series driver, won the overall race, while ESPN pit reporter Jaime Little won the celebrity division. After the celebrity race, I started walking around.  I walked all the way down to Turn 1, where the cars exit Shoreline Drive.  I found a restaurant called Boston's Gourmet Pizza (I think) and decided it was time to eat!  So I called my dad and tried to get him to meet me down there, but the Atlantic Series was doing a qualifying session.  Because of that, it was so loud that I had to go into Boston's to talk to him.  After several minutes of misunderstandings on both my part and his, we decided to meet at Famous Dave's (which is just a few hundred feet down Shoreline Drive from Boston's.  After a about 45 minute wait (not too bad considering the size of the crowd), we got a table.  I enjoyed the brisket I ordered.  My dad enjoyed his dish too.  I can't remember what he had. After eating, I went back out to watch the action on the track.  The Champ Cars had started their qualifying.  I walked over to an area about maybe 100 feet away from Famous Dave's (near a harbor) where you can literally get within 15 feet of those cars, which were going probably at least 150, but probably even faster than that.  I took some pictures of the cars going through this stretch.  At 4 pm, the American Le Mans Series race started.  I would have to say that these cars were the loudest of all the cars I heard throughout the weekend.  The race lasted 100 minutes and featured only 3 full-course cautions (and I think 2 of those were for debris and 1 for an accident/wreck).  I forget who won the races (there's like 4 races in one in the ALMS, overall and each of the different classes).  It was a good, clean race. After the ALMS race, it was time for me to leave.  After what seemed like an hour (probably well less than that, though), my mom arrived to pick me up near the main entrance.  I had to walk east along Ocean Blvd (the main road in and out of the race course area) for a couple of blocks because there were no parking signs and many Long Beach PD officers nearby.  My mom barely got through coming west on Ocean Blvd before the LBPD shut the road down and detoured motorists onto side streets.  I was running out of money, so we stopped by Ralphs (a grocery store that is prominent down south.  Many of you might remember that Bakersfield used to have them, too) so I could get cash.  After that, we went to the hotel and picked up my dad, who was about to go to the Subway across the parking lot from the hotel.  My sister had already left because she had to go to work.  We then went to Claim Jumper and ate after a more than 30 minute wait.  The Claim Jumper was pretty good, but I'd prefer going to The Cheesecake Factory next time (we'd ate there the previous 2 nights, so it was time for a change).  After eating, we just went back to the room.  My dad fell asleep first, my mom second, and me third.  I tried to watch the IndyCar race from Motegi, Japan on TV, but my mom turned it on too late and caught only the post-race show.  And what I saw was both shocking and exciting.  Right when my mom turned it on to the race, they were showing Danica Patrick's car with many people surrounding it.  I thought, "Did she win!?!"  Turns out, she did!!!  I was very happy. After playing cards against myself (which I tend to do a lot), I finally fell asleep after a very long day, knowing that Sunday would be even longer. That's all for now, folks.  The final part, Part 3-Sunday, coming soon, so stay tuned! en-us