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Story/Photography - Stephen Jones |
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Story/Photography - Stephen Jones |
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The World Cup weekend at MIR started off cold on Saturday morning...it was 29 degrees when I arrived around 6:00 in the morning...but quickly warmed up throughout the day and was even quite balmy on Sunday. Even at the early hour on Saturday, race rigs and cars were lined up 50 to 60 deep behind the ticket gates. By mid morning when the gates were finally opened, the line stretched almost to the highway that leads to Budds Creek and Leonardtown. Could have, should have the gates been opened a bit earlier to allow for quicker pit racer parking, perhaps, but in the end, everything worked out just fine.
There wasn't a lot of manufacturer's midway or food dispensers activity on Saturday as this day was pretty much set for testing the race cars on the track and qualifying for Sunday's continued qualifying and eliminations. This does not mean there wasn't lot going on Saturday as there was. Once everyone was parked and had their pit camps set up, they headed right to the staging lanes to get prepped for 2 days of intense racing. The U.S. Army, the major sponsor of this event, had a terrific set up on the midway including several BIG HUMMERS and a challenging wall climbing expo.
After a long day of walking and shooting, I left the track at about 10:00am as racing was still going on. Got to the Best Western in LaPlata...about 25 miles from the track...and, despite some noisy neighbors, got a good nights sleep knowing Sunday was going to be a long day.
Arrived at the track Sunday morning at about 8:00am and there was another long line at the gates, a line that would get longer throughout the morning. Most of the racers arrived the day before so the majority of these cars were full of racing fans and spectators.
Sunday is the BIG day of this event. The weather was VERY cooperative on Saturday and was even more spectacular today. Got to the mid 60's on Saturday and would get to the mid to upper 70's today.
The racing started early and was non stop all day long. Long time MIR starter Sam McGraw was again on the front lines as well as Fabian. These guys, along with Daniel and the rest of the starting line crew worked non stop all day long.
The track and the pits filled up quickly with spectators, fans, and vendors. The ARMY climbing wall was active all day long, the track souvenir stand was doing a brisk business, and the rest of the vendors in the pits were also doing terrific business. The line at Mike's BBQ...some of the best RIBS and BBQ anywhere...was backed up before they even opened.
The racing continued with well over 500 cars going for the World Cup trophy's. We had loud, but good music playing all day long non the main stage, an awesome car show, AND one of the best bikini shows with 13 gorgeous girls that MIR has hosted for quite some time.
Even though this 2009 edition of the WC Finals was in direct competition with the rescheduled Al Anabi "Shakedown At Etown" in New Jersey and a couple events in the southern part of the country, MIR did not suffer from a low car count. In fact, this particular event appeared to have more cars than last year.
Again, congratulations to Jason Miller and the rest of the MIR staff for putting on a well organized, well run, and competitive and successful event.
From Jason Miller
11-10-09
Thank you to everyone who
worked the World Cup Finals. The event went flawlessly and you all do
a great job. Racers and fans had a great time, and read for yourself
some of the comments from the event. You all should be very proud!
Thank you,
Jason Miller
Saturday Image Gallery
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