Finally...Friday!

(Val) Well, here it is, Friday again. Yay! Believe it or not, Spring and I will be heading out to the races for the second week in a row. Tonight, we journey 100 miles north and east to Jacksonville Raceway in Jacksonville Illinois and we will be accompanied by my Dad and my brother, Roger.

This dirt bullring is one of my favorite places for Sprint Car racing and the weather looks like it will be perfect for the show. Some of the reasons I like this track are the fact that it is the "old-school" fairground-type speedway with covered grandstands, a curfew because it's in the middle of town, and they serve up the best pork tenderloin sandwiches you will find anywhere. My brother calls them "big as your face" pork tenderloins because, well, they are as big as your face!
We will drive up and back tonight, which will get us home probably around 1 or 2 in the morning. Not a big deal for most of us, but Spring has another wedding to shoot tomorrow so she'll probably be pretty tired again. I always tell her she can sleep on the way home, but we're usually so psyched about the racing that we can't help but gab the whole way. For once, she will have the shortest journey, as we will pick her up on our way there and drop her off on the way back, saving her about a half an hour in each direction.

There are basically three ways to get to J-Ville from our area. The first, is to go up to Godfrey and take 67 north. The second, which is the way we usually go, is to hop on 61 north, cross the river at Louisiana, go through Pittsfield and then on over to Jacksonville. We'll do something similar tonight, only we'll be on 79 instead of 61. No matter what, the trip will take about two hours each way and we'll spend a lot of time on two-lane roads. Not my favorite place to drive because of deer and other critters, not to mention crazy drivers that cross center lines, which Spring knows way too much about, but we will drive safely and pray.

Spring and I will be in the pits talking to drivers and taking pictures. We will probably shoot some qualifying too if the light stays with us and the dust isn't too bad. After that, we will head up to the stands and watch the action from there. Look for an update tomorrow morning, although not too early, and pictures from me if any of mine are decent. Spring's will get up later.

With regard to Spring's photos from last weekend, we hope to bring those to you soon. Her hard drive crashed early this week and she's working like a fiend today to get her cards ready for her big wedding shoot tomorrow, and so she can go to the track tonight. She hasn't lost any photos, for which we are thankful, but it's been a long and stressful week.

For those of you who might be reading this and would like to know more about tonight's race, here's what I know: Pits open at 3, Grandstands at 5. They are running Winged 410 Sprints, Midgets and Pony Stocks. Admission prices are $30 for pits, $18 grandstands, kids 12 and under are free. For more information call the track at 217.243.5896.