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Photo: Elizabeth Blackstock
I have competed in auto races around the world in my fair shares. I was in London for Formula E and in Austria for F1. I followed IndyCar for most of a summer and met my husband on our annual hike to an IMSA event. During that time, I’ve done everything: I’ve worked with the media, camped in and out of the track, stayed in hostels, made questionable decisions, and undoubtedly spent too much money. And for some reason people just let go of their inhibitions on the track.
I don’t know if I necessarily get it, but I do know that loud cars and a little too much alcohol can go a long way in creating an environment full of opportunity. I finally did soaked up a couple of frankly horrible things on the track and got my fair share of gadgets. Today, however, I want to focus on the other legends, the people out there, doing things that I could only dream of.
Blender man
At the 2016 Canadian Grand Prix, a friend of a friend gave us grandstand tickets for one day, saving us from the misery that is general admission in Montreal. And I’ll never forget the other man in the stands who showed up with a cool box and battery operated blender to make some frozen drinks.
The whole platform was in awe of this man. Why didn’t we think of it earlier? If you can bring a cooler and some alcohol, why not bring a blender too? Why not make your own margaritas and piña coladas? Why not live like kings?
Unfortunately, it was only short-lived envy for Blender Man. The security people told him he was making too much noise and he was asked to dispose of the blender.
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A handmade Austrian bar
Every year at the Six Hours of the Glen, some friends set up the Sobriety Checkpoint, which is basically a few pieces of the same wood that are screwed back together at each race. But it’s nothing compared to what I saw at the 2015 Austrian Grand Prix.
I attended this event with two other Americans and one British. So it was an understatement to say that we couldn’t understand anyone who was scolding us. We hiked across the campsite on Thursday morning and met an Austrian family who, as we somehow gathered, hit the trail every year. The next day we went looking for our new friends and they had a whole bar set up.
I mean this thing was a bar. It was probably 12 feet long with a lot of table space. It also had a frame around the top on which these men proudly displayed a row of the empty liquor bottles from the weekend (and yes, those are the same men who delivered us homemade spirits). Apparently they make a brand new bar every year and then just leave it on the campsite for someone else to take care of.
Completely naked Austrian men in a handcrafted hot tub
I don’t know what made the craftsmen in my fellow campers in Austria, but we watched a group of guys somehow build a hot tub with a tarpaulin and a generator. As if that wasn’t sketchy enough, this group of guys got completely naked during their weekend baths.
They invited us to join them and for a moment I really thought about it as I only had one pair of jeans packed and it was very cold.
Photo: Elizabeth Blackstock
The other Americans celebrate July 4th at Silverstone
When my friend Remy and I decided to embark on a huge Grand Prix adventure in 2015, we knew we’d land at Silverstone on the weekend of July 4th. We did what any good American would do, bringing a flagpole and an American flag, which we dutifully drove through the colonizers’ land in full anticipation of driving some old British men crazy.
What we didn’t expect was to meet another American duo – complete with an American flag on a flagpole and all – at Silverstone. I think we were just pointing at each other and screaming incoherently and then taking a selfie.
Manor mechanics smoke
As a long-term certified Manor Marussia fan, the always friendly Graeme Lowdon invited me to the team’s WEC garage during Lone Star Le Mans after the team officially left F1. While I was taking a close look at the car and chatting with an engineer, a handful of Manor mechanics disappeared to the back corner of the garage, where the team had stored barrels of extra fuel and casually lit a cigarette. Apparently that’s just a thing because I’ve seen it many times since then, but that really blew me away.
Jean-Éric Vergne pees on a bathroom
At the very first New York ePrix, I did media for a Formula E fansite and found a place behind the garages to take photos. Jean-Éric Vergne went to the semi-permanent toilets, but instead of going into a cubicle, he just peed under the raised toilet platform. OK!
Daniel Ricciardo serves kimchi fries
I had told my friends about an Austin food truck called the Chi’Lantro that made incredible fries with coriander, kimchi, your protein of choice, sriracha, and another hot mayo. So, during the 2015 United States Grand Prix, I took my buddy to one of the local food trucks as it was two blocks away. There were team staff in Red Bull shirts … because Daniel Ricciardo was inside serving kimchi fries. Austin is great.
So many free toothpaste samples
I didn’t understand why so many people were joking about dentists being sports car drivers until I went to a Pirelli World Challenge race at the Circuit of the Americas in 2015 and saw how many drivers were actually dentists making their dentist money for races used and sponsored their own car. My favorite part was walking around the paddock to see which dentists are giving away free toothpaste samples. I didn’t have to buy toothpaste for four years.
Photo: Elizabeth Blackstock
The Cola Lot
If you know what the coke lot is, you are probably already shivering. If not, I’m sorry you had to learn that way.
The Coke Lot is a campsite in the Indy 500 that is notorious for its parties. When my friend Remy and I booked our camping tickets we had no idea what the Coke Lot was and didn’t learn it the hard way until a few months later.
At the Coke Lot, a man gave me a gin shot from a mop bucket that he sucked up with a turkey blaster. We stopped and there were people who just slept on the ground because they were too drunk to pitch their tent. There were mountains of beer cans and it was only Thursday. People drove around with couches in their pickup truck, and then we saw those couches on fire at the end of the night.
Worst of all, however, were the bathrooms, which weren’t bathrooms, just a single row of Porta potties, which were so impressively overcrowded by Friday morning that they were a huge sewer sump about ten feet in and around them. I’ve never seen anything so terrible. Yes, I brushed my teeth on the racetrack.
Urban Garbage Photo: Elizabeth Blackstock
Municipal waste
Municipal waste.
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https://jalopnik.com/some-of-the-funniest-things-ive-seen-at-the-race-track-1847966241
