Access Broadway Nationals Competition - Waiting for Life

Amazing 9 year old sings "Listen" by Beyonce

July 15, 2009

Breakfast was at Ruth Chris Steak house at the Embassy suites and it was buffett style. I was a little hung over so food was not on my agenda. We all ate and then lined up for the days checkpoint card. Tony and I hoped in the back of the STI and were ready to ride along. We were now heading to Slocomb, AL. Todays drive was very strange. Almost all the Bullrunners were pulled over in groups because people on the road were calling in and complaining about reckless driving. The bad thing is that the ones who were driving crazy were already past the cop checkpoints so we all got lectured for their driving. When we got around 10 miles from the checkpoint about 6 of us were pulled over again. It was crazy because we were all doing the speed limit. The cops held us for about 20-30 minutes before they let us all leave, which put us towards the back of the pack. Rich from season 1 was at our stop in Slocomb with his mustang and he was driving with us to the days final destination, which was Destin, FL. Our hotel was right on the bay. Dinner was at the beach, right on the gulf! It was so prestine. The sand was like flour and very white. The water was warm and the air was just perfect for our event. The after party was to be at The Village Door. Several of us arrived there and the Bullrun crew ended up being 90% of the places customers. All of a sudden Claus said we needed to leave because they weren't letting some of our friends in. They weren't accepting their European Licenses. We all left and headed to Rum Runners. Village Door probably lost about $10,000 in sales, it was a bad move on their part.
Team Wu decided to punk everyone. There was 27 people that got in the F150 truck to go back to the hotel after dinner. They were pulled over by 9 cops, a few passengers slowly walked away and headed to the hotel but a few got stuck behind. Wu told everyone his girlfriend was arrested and they were impounding the truck. The truck wasn't registered to the girls driving it so they were freaking out. Finally about a half hour later. Wu shows up with his girlfriend and calls the Team Texas girls downstairs. They were in the room trying to figure out how they were gonna get their truck back!!

p.s . the dealership had called earlier in the day to let us know we had burned a hole in a piston in cylinder one. Since the banking was so severe on the track and we have a forced induction turbo car, when we were on the turns we leaned out the valve (starved it of fuel) If we would have put gas in the car it never would have happened!! Sucks!!

July 14, 2009

Everyone met at Loveless Cafe for breakfast. This was also going to be our starting point for the rally. Enjoyed the family style breakfast of eggs, bisquits & gravy, fruit, bacon, sausage -- it all tasted homemade and soooo good! Todays first checkpoint was Talladega Superspeedway!! We were so excited and hoped they would let us out on the track. Very few people get to drive this track. We arrived in apprx 7th place and lined up to enter the track. They were letting 4 or 5 out at a time. We were very low on gas but heard it was only 3 laps - 2 at speeds of 100-110 and the last one was "balls out". We were led out to the track by the pace car (which you can't pass) and took off. We were probably 5 ft from his bumper the entire time. This track has banked turns that are 33%. I could look out the drivers window and only see concrete. It was such a rush. The final lap we were doing 150mph and at the last turn we heard and smelled something funny. As we exited to the pit the car was just bogging out and smoking like a pig from the tailpipes. We pulled over and popped the hood. Tony saw oil on the top of the engine and said "that is real real bad". He checked the oil for any water contamination and none was found. He then disconnected the turbo to see if we just lost a seal. If that was the case we could just drive without the turbo the rest of the way. That wasn't the case either. The track tow truck had to come get us because the car had hardly any power and was still smoking. They were kind enough to tow us to the Pontiac Dealership in Anniston, AL for a diagnosis. The service dept said it would be a while but we already had a plan set up. Dave from DDMworks offered to pick up the car and bring it to South Carolina to be fixed up at a later date. So Team Grand National, who also had car problems the day before, came and picked us up in their brand new 2010 Camaro. We were now heading to Atlanta to catch up to the other teams and party. By now everyone on the rally had heard what happened and it was all over the internet. Several teams offered to let us ride with them all the way to Austin. So we knew we could still have a good time. We arrived at the W hotel and got ready for dinner at Maggianos - yum yum yum. One of my favorite Italian restaurants. The party after dinner was on the rooftop of the W hotel. Tony wasn't in that great of a mood and he was hoping to rent a car for the rest of the trip. The cost was going to be 1200-1500 so we decided just to ride with Team Subi. I went up to the party with everyone else while Tony was on the computer and helping Team Camaro put on new decals. Mike, from Team Subi, and the Lexus girls kept me company for a while and we drank the entire bottle of Grey Goose!! We headed to our rooms around 2am to get a few hours of sleep before wheels up time, which was 9:30!!

July 13, 2209

Another fun day doing Bullrun. We got police escort out of Staunton. The closed off all roads leading to the freeway at our departure time and then led us, at speeds higher then then posted limit, through the town and to the freeway entrance. This was a blast. There was people on the side of the road taking pics. I took a video of the drive through the town. The cops pulled to the side and let us enter the freeway, it was like the pace car moving out of the way at the track. All the cars just took off. We were now heading to Loretto,KY to visit the Maker's Mark Distillery. I had the address to our destination programmed into the GPS and all set. We get off the freeway and Tony desides he wants to go a different way (deja vu) I start freaking out and make him pull over so I can hear his rationale. Didn't make any sense to me so he finally turns around and goes the "correct" way. It was down a very narrow road through corn fields and different distilleries. We arrive and are 11th. Would have been 5th if Tony didn't decide to become the driver and navigator. Several of us toured the distillery and saw how they make their bourbon. This distillery ships out apprx 900,000 cases a year. Lots of drinkers out there!!
The whistle was blown and we all lined up for our destination cards. NASHVILLE, TN, honky tonk capital of the U.S. We arrived in Nashville in 9th place and 2 hrs before dinner so we freshened up and walked downtown. There was bars and shops all along the street and yes they were all playing Country Music. At the end of the "strip" you can see the football stadium, home of the Titans. I, of course, took a picture of this -- being the crazy football fan that I am. We had dinner at Jacks BBQ and it wasn't as good as I expected. Should have went and had Sushi with Team Subi. We headed to the bar for the Bullrun party and had couple of drinks and then called early. Needed to get some rest, and we heard rumor that the next stop was Atlanta. We wanted to party there instead!!

Rally On!!

July 12 Day 2

Wheels up was nice at late today, 12 noon. Thank goodness because the night before was a rough one!! We left the Omni Hotel in Pitts and headed to Thunder Canyon Raceway in West VA. This was a dirt go kart track. We were there for a while and had lots of fans show up for pics and autographs. Several Bullrunners got out on the track and showed there dirt go kart skills, or lack of:). This was a fairly short stop before we were off to our next destination -- Staunton VA. I had heard about this little town from a Bullrun a few years ago. It was said that the entire town shuts down and welcomes you. I was looking forward to this. We made our way to the 250 that leads us directly into Staunton. Let me tell you this about the 250 - if you do not like tight turns and twists for about 40 miles straight, don't ever drive it. Tony's philosphy is to at least double the speed limit that is posted on the warning signs. The turns were not regular twist and turns, they had banking and our tell end was all over the place. I had to become a rally navigator real quick. My job was to look at the GPS and let Tony know if we were coming into a slight, medium, hard or OMFG turn. There were several OMFG turns up and down the mountain. Tony has marked it on the map as a definite return road. We made it to Staunton and quickly realized there were cops everywhere. Tony slammed on the brakes when we saw them and the barricades. As we got closer we saw them moving the barricades and waving us in. They were yelling at us to HURRY, drive faster. It was a little different from all the other towns. We got to the hotel and the block was packed with people. It was like the whole town showed up. I jumped out of the car to run and punch my card and realized TEAM Solstice was FIRST!! It was the talk of the night! Everyone wanted to know what we have done to the car, how many rallies we have been on, do we race it. blah blah blah. Tony just wanted to show what we can do and earn a little respect!!
The party for tonight was at the Clock Tower Tavern and it was off the hook. I had a few shots of Patron, a Chocolate Cake shot, and some other stuff that my new STI friends bought me. I could not talk straight by the end of the night. Tony was also a little tipsy. When we left I just started walking down the street towards the hotel, even thought our car was parked right out front. Tony had to come pick me up. As we got to the front of the parking structure there was town fans and a few Bullrun Teams standing out there. They told Tony to show em what that car has so him and his ego went for it. He spun the tires in place for so long the cabin was full of smoke. We then turned into the garage and parked, tires still smoking. I look up and here comes 6 officers. They walk right up to him and ask for his license. I gathered my stuff and stayed back. They ran his license and told him not to do it again. Then one of the officers leaned in and said "that was pretty freaking awesome". I was out as soon as I hit the bed, at around 2am. Wheels up for the next day was to be at 8am UGH!!

July 11, 2009 Mayhem Begins

After a fabulous night of partying and meeting all the Superfans that came out to start the rally with us - it was time to get serious! We were out in front of the hotel around 9am and the streets were already lined with people. Kim Kardashian came out to take pics and officially drop the flag. 10:15 everyone was in there car and ready to take off from downtown NY. The paparazzi was everywhere and several people were shooting video (which can be seen www.bullrun.com and cardomain) We, of course, had to show off and rev the engine and do some tire spin. We got the checkpoint card and the drop of the green flag! First stop, Monticello Raceway in Monticello NY. This is a 3.4 mile road course for technical driving and training. One of the best in the US. This was our lunch spot and we were also told we could do a parade lap. Since it was just a parade lap I decided to ride with Tony -- this was no parade lap. We were doing full speed road racing with about 30 other cars. One of the scariest experiences that I have ever had - but it was a blast!!! Several of the superfans also ran the first leg with us and got out on the track. We then lined up to wait for the green flag and got our next checkpoint card -- Pittsburgh Baby!! We arrived at our final destination around 8th in line!! Not bad for virgin bullrunners with about 50 other cars that are all veterans!!
Tonights party was at the Zen Social Club and was open bar. I can tell you that we arrived and sometime after 2 am we got back to the hotel!!
Let me just tell you about the drives -- I am a Vegas native so this side of the country is all new to me. There are GREEN, yes GREEN trees everywhere. You can't even see the cities when you are driving through them. No cleared out valleys to see from one end to the other. I love the roads with the canopy of trees. Just beautiful!!