Nascar All Star Race, Concord, NC (May 16, 2015)

Went to Concord, NC to see the Nascar All-Star Race with my son who still lives there (I used to back with my then wife and still current son). We got there in the early afternoon and toured some of the booths and sights around the track. Took this during qualifying; drivers did a couple of laps, had a four tire change and then a final lap. I had some great seats for this race...some of the  best ever for any race.  

This is some of the race action. There were four 25 lap segments and then a final 10 lap shootout. There were no crashes and the only real problem happened to Danica Patrick who had some mechanical issues. She came back out but was dead last and many laps behind. Of note, all the seats on the back side of the track are gone...it is now a half circle seating wise. Was told they did that around a month ago. It was a great night weather wise, a little humid but not blazing hot. I like that its a night race...cars look a lot neater.    

At the end of the race it was Denny Hamlin who won the race. His win was the first All Star win for Joe Gibbs and also Denny's first win. Neat thing is that Denny is from Chesterfield, VA which made it neat for me. This was Jeff Gordon's last All Star Race.
Getting out of the track is always fun but I got us back to my son's apartment around 1:00 AM. We made a late dinner stop at Cookout which is pretty good food. The one we ate at is in Kannapolis, there is also one here in Richmond which opened up last year.  

Sights in Richmond and Beyond (May 2,3 and 9, 2015)

 One of my favorite places to visit, which I did on May 2,  is the Malvern Hill Battlefield. Was the ending action of the effort of the Union Army to capture Richmond. Troops under Robert E. Lee (in the command of the army he called "The Army of Northern Virginia)  engaged the Union Army a number of times. General McClellan as retreating while Lee wanted to finish off the Union Army at this site. On July 1, 1862 the armies met here. Union forces had a large number of cannon and drove off the Confederate troops. Killed and wounded were some 5,650 for the rebels, some 3000 for the Union.  

 Made a visit to the Virginia Aviation Museum where among other aircraft I saw this F-14 Tomcat on display. The Tomcat was the plane made famous in the movie TopGun (though not this one) but was a famous aircraft in US Navy service.
The F-14 was a supersonic swingwing interceptor designed to protect the fleet from aerial attack. A very heavy aircraft it carried a variety of missiles and also packed a cannon.
Later in its history the F-14 was given a ground attack capacity and got the nickname "Bombcat" Still a very beautiful aircraft and flew with a crew of two.

On Sunday May 3 went to  Art in the Park in Byrd Park in Richmond. The event is held yearly and had some 400 booths with a variety of art in one of the best parks in Richmond. Byrd Park and nearby Maymont is a real treasure. Art in the Park brings artists from all over the country and presenting a variety of art.
I don't miss this event and really enjoyed it this year. In fact looking forward to seeing it again next year. Art in the Park is in my opinion one of the best festival events in the city of Richmond, and is well worth a visit.  Malvern Hill and the aviation museum were parts of motorcycle rides, took another one on May 9 and for the first time visited the city of Hanover. There I saw this colonial tavern; George Washington and Patrick Henry (among many others) has dined here. It has been added to over the years but remains one of the few surviing Colonial taverns in the US. Hanover was a lot of fun and very interesting. I will have some more photos from the rides in my Racing with the Wind Blog. A very good two weekends in the RVA.