14 friends, three days, and one Ultimate NASCAR Bachelor Party. Think Days of Thunder meets the Hangover.
This is the story of what went down at the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte at my bachelor party. Festivities include going over 100 mph while riding in the pace car before the race, dressing up like Hulk Hogan and Jeff Gordon, moonshine, guns, America, freedom, dancing with strangers, all culminating in victory lane with a Jimmie Johnson selfie on SportsCenter.
To help the reality of the Ultimate NASCAR Bachelor Party come true our friends at NASCAR hooked us up with garage and pit passes so we could really see what goes down at a NASCAR race. Our day starts at around 11 am…
The first thing we saw at the track. I wish all buses came with a couch on the roof.
NASCAR fans really love America, freedom, and guns.
Look at them rims. I ride spinners (almost).
NASCAR totally hooked us up and gave us all a ride in the pace car before the race. I think the car got up to 130 mph and it was crazy how close it got to the side wall. It gave me a whole new appreciation for the skill of the drivers, especially since they are going significantly faster and have 40+ other cars on the track to deal with. It was without a doubt one of the coolest experiences ever.
I was able to ride twice so I also took a backseat POV of our pace car ride.
Victory lane and our crew. Who knew this wouldn’t be the only time today that we’d be here.
Pit Road.
A freaking Bazooka.
We thank all of those in the military that give up so much to protect our freedom. USA! USA!
Show me your mean face.
This couldn’t be scripted any better. NASCAR and Bacon Sports, both fueled by bacon!
Now we hit the garages.
Junior’s car.
Holla atcha boy Danica.
Who knew we’d see him later.
Look at Ditty getting in the NASCAR game. It’s all about the Benjamin’s baby!
To make the race more interesting we created a pool where each of us drafted two drivers (we did a snake draft). If you bought the shirt of a driver he was automatically your first round pick. What’s up Jamie McMurray!
Last thing we saw as we leave the track. UPS ballin!
We all took cabs to the race since we weren’t from Charlotte, and since we didn’t have a home base we had to get creative for where to put our stuff (ie. beer, coolers) while we were doing the NASCAR experience. We ended up storing our gear with a guy named Bobby who had a sweet RV who just so happened to be from Chicago. This was one of the many examples of NASCAR fan hospitality. We head back to the RV to drink some beers, do a costume change, and experience the other side of NASCAR. The party.
While at the RV we noticed a crew next to us that were really getting down. We decided to stop on over and make new friends. Jeff Gordon arrives and the crowd demands that he keeps the jumpsuit on.
NASCAR tailgaters do it right. Grillin’ up some wings and other meat goodness.
Dance party.
The guy on the right was a Bruins fan and loved Milan Lucic. He said that if he was on your team you’d like him too.
One thing our new friends went hard in the paint with was passing around the bottle. It seemed like it was never ending and came in all different forms.
…like moonshine. Because NASCAR.
Our new friends were another example of how hospitable NASCAR fans were. They welcomed us with open arms and we had an absolute blast. This is the way that all sporting event tailgates should be.
Now that’s a patriotic shirt.
Our first yinzer sighting.
More dancing.
We were coming in hot and our Bacon Sports Tecmo Bowl shirts were in high demand. My boy Pete ended up trading his shirt for a boys size medium Joey Logano tank.
Merica’
Time for the race. We were sitting in turn 4 and our seats were about 25 rows up. The view was phenomenal and we could see the entire track.
Boogity boogity boogity let’s go racing!
One of the best parts about attending a NASCAR race is that you can bring in a cooler and alcohol (no glass). Really. It can not be understated how awesome this is.
If you attend a NASCAR race I’d recommend renting the headsets so that you can listen to the TV telecast or the drivers frequencies. This allows you to hear who’s moving up, who’s having engine troubles, and make better sense of what you are seeing around the track.
Danica all by her lonesome.
Just your typical female NASCAR fans.
This guy rocking the Olajuwon Rockets jersey was the only hoopster I saw. The NASCAR jersey game is not strong.
I was super excited to see this guy rocking an nWo shirt. nWo 4 Life!
That’s a Geno Smith WVU jersey. Insert whatever West Virginia joke you’d like here.
Say hello to Jeffery David Bacon. He saw our Bacon Sports shirts and got really excited since his last name is Bacon. Bacon has to go down as the coolest possible last name.
The last random jersey of the day is this AJ Green Bengals jersey. Nothing about this makes sense at all.
NASCAR fans love bacon. That makes us happy.
Ya NASCAR!
Near the end of the race we decided to head down near pit road and see what’s going on. It’s crazy how close to the action you can get. This was directly behind the Miller Lite pit.
Outside of victory lane.
The Sprint model that stands next to the winning driver.
From inside victory lane. Your winner….JIMMIE JOHNSON!
The view from inside victory lane and Jimmie Johnson’s celebration!
To say that we were excited to be in victory lane a mere feet away from Jimmie Johnson is an understatement. It’s definitely something we’ll never forget.
What’s up Kevin Harvick.
This is how you cap off the Ultimate NASCAR Bachelor Party…with a Jimmie Johnson selfie!
After leaving victory lane we felt like a million dollars.
Hey there Austin Dillon.
This is now the official golf cart of Bacon Sports.
One thing we didn’t plan ahead of time was how we were going to get home from the race. The house we rented on Airbnb was about 4 miles away and the traffic was ridiculous so unless we figured something out we were gonna be walking. At the time there were eight of us who managed to stay together so the logical thing for us to do was convince this random Dale Jr fan to let us all jump into her Jeep Wrangler and hang off it like we were in a rap video. She was able to drive us from the infield, out of the track, and onto the main road where we could try and catch a cab.
There were absolutely no cabs in sight so we had to improvise again. We ran into a guest services guy that was driving a golf cart that had back row seating. We convinced him to take us in the direction of our house (there was one main road) and once again all eight of us piled in. To even further expedite our journey, since there was no traffic going in the opposite direction we ended up driving in the wrong lane and passing all the traffic. He was able to take us about a mile and a half from the track before he made us get out. We paid him handsomely for his services.
With about a mile and a half remaining we were once again on our own. That’s when we continued to use our good luck and stopped a random truck that was heading in our direction. We all hopped in the back and they took us the rest of the way.
The good samaritans that let us hop in the bed of their truck. I don’t believe that a police escort could have gotten us home from the track faster than we made it back. It was an incredible string of luck that capped off what was without a doubt the Ultimate NASCAR Bachelor party.
I can not express how much fun the 14 of us had attending the Coca-Cola 600. NASCAR races are more than just attending a sporting event, they are an experience. The people, the action, and the stories we now have will be with us forever. I’m looking forward to attending my next NASCAR race and strongly encourage everyone give it a shot (regardless of if you currently follow NASCAR). After attending a race I guaranteed that you’ll never think of NASCAR the same way.
UPDATE: We made it on SportsCenter. BOOMSHAKALAKA!
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