My personal experience with racing goes back quite a ways. In April of 2015, I remember playing an old NASCAR arcade game at a restaurant, loving it, and asking for a NASCAR game that year for my birthday. From that point on, I was practically addicted to it. NASCAR The Game: Inside Line was all I played and all I did.
Then June came around, and I started getting into the actual sport of NASCAR itself.
And my parents thought I was addicted way back when…
It was all I talked about! I went from talking about baseball to talking about results from past races. I was a big fan of Dale Earnhardt Jr. as well as Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, and Carl Edwards.
In April 2016, I got to attend my first ever NASCAR race, the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. The race was won by Kyle Busch. He wasn’t exactly the fan favorite at the time, but I liked him, and I was happy. It was a birthday gift from my grandpa, who was also getting into the sport.
Later that season, Jimmie Johnson would win his record-tying 7th NASCAR Cup Series Championship, and I was so happy I was literally in tears, and I am not an emotional person.
In the summer of 2016, my love for both IndyCar and Formula 1 bloomed, and my grandfather and I attended the IndyCar race at Texas Motor Speedway. It was rained out and rescheduled, but still a great experience and fun to see once the action got underway. Since then, I have attended every IndyCar race that has been held at the track, not counting 2020. We had tickets, but TMS would not allow spectators due to COVID.
I have attended 2 Formula 1 races in my life: the 2017 and 2023 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX. At the latter, I watched my favorite driver, Max Verstappen, cruise to victory in front of almost half a million people. It was absolutely breath-taking.
Present day, I am literally watching a NASCAR race as I type this and have tickets to the NASCAR race at Circuit of the Americas later this month, and for the NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway next month. A little birthday gift for myself. I can’t wait!
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