Rowdy People

Road America review

I was at Road America today for the Bucyrus 200 Nationwide race. For never being to a race besides the local track, nevertheless at a road course, it was a pretty good experience. You really couldn't find one specific spot that you could see the whole track (I'm sure pretty much all road courses are like that) but I did find one spot that you could see quite a few turns and such, if people aren't in the way blocking your view a bit. It is quite a big track, even for my taste, and even due to that, there was quite a bit to do and quite a few places to sit and watch. Heck, you could even move from area to area and nobody would care. There's no assigned seating, just general admission - sit where you want, move around as you please. CFS and Throttleneck might have a different opinion, but two of the best spots to sit to watch the race were: a concession stand where you could see turn 5 and part of 6, the straightaway between turns 13 and 14 (I think), turn 14, and part of the long straightaway; and the start/finish line area. I would highly suggest sitting by the start/finish line to start the race, or at any part.

I really enjoyed the track and race with the exception of a few things:
-if I had a radio broadcast to listen to clearly or a scanner, I would have been better off
-I was with my grandma, who knew absolutely NOTHING about racing and was asking me all these questions that sometimes I couldn't answer
-I was so badly sunburned from both Friday (yesterday) and today, that I didn't enjoy the race much at the end (of course, the red flag didn't help much)

There probably isn't much to change, except the few things mentioned in archidude's blog. It was a pretty good track and race with a few minor exceptions and may go back, if I was a road race person (which I'm pretty sure I'm not).

One of the highlights of the trip was actually getting to meet Rowdy's own checkeredflagstilettos, Throttleneck Racing, and Lexie. I also got to meet missouriracefan (of Rowdy and Twitter). All are very nice people and I am so glad that I got the chance to meet them. It made the experience a bit better. Overall, I would give a pretty decent grade to the race and track. I'm sure CFS will fill in anything that I missed.

Here's my photos that I took: Bucyrus 200 race weekend. The Playboy Mazda MX-5 and Trans Am series were running this weekend, so I took some pictures of them.

Road America reminder

Just a reminder for those who will be attending Road America (anybody besides Throttleneck and CFS???), there will be a tweetup Saturday afternoon around 12:30pm at the north end of the 4 Mile Mart. I will try my hardest to have a sign made but no guarantees, since I am already in the are and might depend on when I can get to the store for a poster board.

Road America Tweet Up Announcement

For those of you who will be at Road America next month for the Nationwide race (June 19th), I have an announcement! I am planning a meet up/tweet up to meet with other Rowdy folks and hang out for a bit before the race starts. I am thinking of meeting at the north end of the merchant mile (marked M in a purple box on the map and circled) at about 12:30pm or so the day of the race. I'm assuming that's where they'll have all the merchant trailers/haulers and we can go walk through those together or whatever. Back up plan is going to be the main gate at about the same time. If people are going to stick around for a while after the race, we can go do something afterwards as well (or maybe instead of).

Rowdy guys - would there be any chance you guys could post this info (with the map) on the homepage?

With that said, who's going to be at the race and wants to meet up? I know CFS and throttleneck will be, but anybody else? Let me know so I can get an estimate. Thanks and looking forward to it!

Kids Care About A Great Cause/Komen Race for the Cure

I did the Komen Race for the Cure 5K walk on Mother's Day and had a great time. I didn't have my digital camera with, so I had to do the best I could with the camera and video camera on my phone. I took this footage while at the event when they had tents up for a health event. I wanted to share this because it's great to see that kids do care about great events such as the Komen For the Cure Foundation.

Here's the video: Kids Care

Feel free to check out the pictures I took as well that I put up (I do apologize for the quality). It's such a great event and not only would I do it again (which I will), but I also recommend others to take part in an event like this. It's an unbelievable event that I don't think you can imagine unless you're a part of it.

Thank you (A TON)!!

I just wanted to say thank you so much to all of you helped me achieve my goal for the March of Dimes walk by donating. The walk was today, Sunday 4/25/10, and while it was windy and chilly, the rain disappeared by the time the walk officially started (11am CT) and the sun tried to come out. There was a great turnout for the walk despite the weather.

I ended up raising $715 and I can't thank all of you who donated enough. It was beyond what I had in mind for raising. I had the thought that even I didn't raise $500, whatever amount I did raise was great. I honestly don't know what else to say besides a HUGE thank you. It was a great experience and although I'm a little sore and stiff, I would gladly do it again.

As I said one time in chat (and in other blogs), I did it because I felt it was time to do something like the March of Dimes and since I know people who were born prematurely, it was a great time to do it. And as I found out just over a week ago on Twitter from Rowdy's own Jersey Joe (Rowdy's weather guy), his sister-in-law (I think) had her baby 3 months early or so. That was added incentive of why I decided to do the walk and raise money.

Help the Babies - March of Dimes walk

I'm doing one last push to try and raise as much money as I can for the March of Dimes/March for Babies walk that I'm doing. The walk is on April 25th and I'm raising as much as I can. I had my goal set at $500 but since I have reached that, I want to raise between $600 and $700. Any little bit helps. For those that have already donated, I am so very grateful. I truly appreciate it. I do have some more info in one of my recent blogs if you want to check it out. This video also gives a really good insight about March of Dimes and such.

To make a donation, please go to my page at marchforbabies.org/eringillis2 and donate as much as you can (even $10 helps if that's all you can do). And of course, please pass the info on to other friends if you can (and want). Every little bit helps, and there's only 11 or 12 days left before I do my walk.

Denny Hamlin trivia

Denny Hamlin had trivia tonight over Twitter and I want to ask you the same question he asked (exactly as he said it). I want to see how many of you actually now the answer. If you know it already, let others answer first and maybe provide some hints along the way. (One rule: don't check Denny's Twitter page before answering because the info is out there on the Internet)

With that being said, here's the question that Denny asked:
"in CHRONOLOGICAL order.. give me all the numbers that i have raced in nascars top 3 series ... hint.. 11 is not the last!"

Sorry...no prize for the right answer.

JJ #48 Easter Present

First of all, I want to wish everybody a Happy Easter, or whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year. I hope all are enjoying the day.

I don't know how many of you get Easter presents, but my mom got me one. She knows I'm into NASCAR (no secret in our household) and that I collect diecasts and such. Well, she added a piece to my collection. She got me a Jimmie Johnson crystal collectible race car. I know I've said I'm not crazy about JJ, but a) I didn't have the heart to tell her that I'm not crazy about him, and b) I actually like it. It's very cool and I'm glad that she got it for me. It's definitely going to be put in my room somewhere, I'm just not sure where (I have a bunch of stuff in my room of NASCAR stuff).

I hope everybody is enjoying their day.

March of Dimes

I posted this blog about a month ago, but wanted to bring it up again in case people missed it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

This is race related since Denny Hamlin runs a paint scheme for March of Dimes (Phoenix this year, right after Easter), but I wanted to do a quick blog about what I'm doing.

I've decided to the walk for March of Dimes in St. Paul, MN on April 25th. My goal is to try & raise $500, but any amount I can raise would be great. If you want to donate, I have a place to donate on my Facebook profile - on the left hand side underneath my photo/info/friends. If you don't use Facebook or can't see my profile for some reason, you can go to marchforbabies.org/eringillis2 & donate there, or you can send me a donation in the mail (send me a message here on Rowdy if you want to go that route). Any amount is greatly appreciated, so donate if you can. If you want to do the walk with me, let me know. You can also donate by clicking on the badge:

If you're wondering why I've decided to do this, it's because I feel like I want to give back to the community and help fund something that can help many babies. I'm sure Julie feels the same way with her breast cancer walk in a way. I want to feel like I'm making a difference and make sure there's a way to help babies born premature. March of Dimes/March for Babies helps find ways to make sure babies are born healthy from eyes, brain, spine, etc. Here are some of the ways donations help: where money goes. Nobody in my family that I know of where born premature, but I do have a couple friends that were. It's a great cause, so help if you can...it would be greatly appreciated.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I know a lot of fundraisers are popping up, but this is a great cause. I know Cheryl is doing the NASCAR Day fundraiser and Julie is doing the breast cancer walk as well. I'm half way to my goal thanks to quite a few of you Rowdy members donating (and some other friends), but I still need some help. I would greatly appreciate it if you guys could help out. I know times may be tough, but any help is appreciated.

March for Babies/March of Dimes Walk

This is sort of race related since I think Denny Hamlin runs a paint scheme for March of Dimes if I'm not mistaken, but I wanted to do a quick blog about what I'm doing.

I've decided to the walk for March of Dimes in St. Cloud, MN on April 24th. My goal is to try & raise $500, but any amount I can raise would be great. If you want to donate, I have a place to donate on my Facebook profile - on the left hand side underneath my photo/info/friends. If you don't use Facebook or can't see my profile for some reason, you can go to marchforbabies.org/eringillis2 & donate there, or you can send me a donation in the mail (send me a message here on Rowdy if you want to go that route). Any amount is greatly appreciated, so donate if you can. If you want to do the walk with me, let me know. You can also donate by clicking on the badge:

If you're wondering why I've decided to do this, it's because I feel like I want to give back to the community and help fund something that can help many babies. I'm sure Julie feels the same way with her breast cancer walk in a way. I want to feel like I'm making a difference and make sure there's a way to help babies born premature. March of Dimes/March for Babies helps find ways to make sure babies are born healthy from eyes, brain, spine, etc. Here are some of the ways donations help: where money goes. Nobody in my family that I know of where born premature, but I do have a couple friends that were. It's a great cause, so help if you can...it would be greatly appreciated!