Okay, first off I can state this without reservation: Sonoma was wonderful. Everything about it, really. From dinner with friends to three fantastic days at a jam-packed race track, to the Airbnb I reserved, and to all the wonderful “reconnections” I made with my racing family, it was all superb. It’s funny, in an oddball funny way, how I feel before I get there. I’ll admit there’s a bit of a worrisome “Will anybody even remember me?” thought floating in my head. And then I get there and everything is right with the world.
What’s also funny is the wide range of expressions on people’s faces when we see each other. Most are like “Hey, you’re back!” or “What are you doing here?” but others look more like they think I’d never left. Frankly, it is actually possible to spend a few races just somehow not running into certain people. In high school I used to wonder, “Would it be possible to spend a whole year, or even all four of your years, just missing one particular guy by a foot, or going around a corner, and never see them at all?” I think the answer to that is “No” but maybe it’s not. Maybe you can always just be right around the corner from someone but never meet in the hall. The same goes for the race track. It’s not that hard to spend a weekend at a race and never cross paths with someone. And that thought in high school is a pretty good example of how focused on the education I was. I had time to think about stuff like that, but not biology or calculus.
On Thursday night, after I drove down to Sonoma from Sacramento, I followed the emailed directions to experience the Airbnb thing for the first time. It was pretty cool! The place was cozy and quaint, and it had everything I needed plus more. I’m guessing it was a mother-in-law suite added on to that one-level home on the northwestern edge of Sonoma, because it had its own separate entrance, a full kitchen, a dining area, a full bath, and a living room. All the rooms were small, but with it just being me I had plenty of room and none of the space was wasted.
It was nearly two miles from Sonoma Square, so that was a bit too far to walk when it was 95 degrees, but the better news was that it was just a block from the road that goes right to the track. Coming in from that direction, you miss almost all of the backed-up traffic and I could go from starting my car to pulling in the reserved Media parking lot in 20-25 minutes. It was a breeze.
After I got settled, I went over to the square to meet Vince and Mary Bienek at El Dorado Kitchen, one of our “go to” places in Sonoma. As has been the case with each annual get-together, our meal was fabulous, the bottle of red they brought, from Kunde Winery was awesome, and the company was priceless. Lots of laughs, great stories, and wonderful memories. Good people? No, GREAT people! It’s hard to believe that Vince and I went so long without seeing each other after saying goodbye when our last game as Paintsville Hilander teammates ended, and now we make it a point to see each other every summer (this was our fourth such reunion.) If we can just get those two to come up to Minnesota, like say for Winter Carnival, we will know we have added a rich experience to their lives. What’s 10-below zero among friends? We have extra coats and gloves.
At the track, all was good. Fun to be back with Del, Chuck, the Finkster, and the rest of the guys, although it was a tough assignment for everyone with them running two cars with one crew. To make that happen, they had to alternate during qualifying, but both cars got in and then both cars won in the opening round on Sunday. Let that sink in. One team, with both a Top Fuel Dragster and a Nitro Funny Car, and they not only got both of them in they also got both of them to round two. And they somehow got both cars back to the starting line for that second round.
In terms of the event, it was one of the best Sonoma races I’ve ever attended, and that’s saying a lot because Sonoma Raceway’s “baseline” is off-the-charts good. This year, when I saw the huge main grandstand nearly full on Friday, I had the feeling they were on to something. When it truly was packed and full on Saturday and Sunday, it was a grand slam for everyone. Nothing short of huge crowds all weekend, but the staff there is so fantastic it all came off without a hitch.
Of course, being a Bruton Smith facility that also combines multiple styles of racing and all the big racing circuits in one multipurpose place, Sonoma Raceway has a staff that is unparalleled. If there’s a better staff anywhere on the NHRA Mello Yello tour, I’m not aware of it. There are some that come close, but no one is better. The Sonoma people, from the very top down to the people sweeping up trash nonstop in the pits, are truly second to none.
Diana Rose Brennan is their person in charge of media relations, and she’s the ultimate pro. Before I left I stopped her and said, “I want you to know that this is truly as good as it gets, and it’s not close. You and your staff are the absolute best I’ve ever worked with.” Everything from the work environment to the catering was one step beyond. And then I asked one of my PR colleagues “How many tracks do we go to where we never even see a staff member the whole time we’re there?” We named a few tracks like that in hurry, and his response was “I guess people work there, but I’ve never seen them.” In Sonoma, you can’t walk 10-feet without seeing a smiling face wearing a name badge. It’s fantastic.
And is there really momentum with NHRA? Is it an illusion? Are they using “tricks” to inflate the crowds? Well, if you’re one of those “the sport is dying” types, I’m going to disappoint you. This is very real. I’ve been around the sport for more than two decades and it’s impossible to miss. Bigger crowds, sell-outs on a regular basis, great racing, TV ratings that are higher than anything we used to see in “the good old days” and then there’s that very real “buzz” that’s surrounding everything. Other governing bodies are cutting back the number of seats they have and trying to figure out why their ratings are in a real slump, but just the opposite is going on here. I’ve been around during the days when it wasn’t like this. I’ve always supported NHRA but I’ll admit there were some years there when I wasn’t sure where things were going. I’m sure now. It’s a great time to be a drag racer and an NHRA fan.
After the race I made my way back up to Sacramento and spent the night in a hotel right by the airport. On Monday, back on a plane and back home to Woodbury. I missed Barb by a day, because that tends to be how it is when she’s commuting during the week and I’m going to the races on the weekends. Ships passing in the night. We’ll do it again tomorrow, when I leave at 8:30 in the morning and she arrives back from Spokane at 6:30 p.m. Been there, done that, and this time we’ll be smart enough to swap a car at the airport. I’ll just text her where I parked, and she can drive it back home.
It’s a good thing I got home when I did, because on Tuesday we started a major project here. By “we” I mean we hired some fantastic guys to do a major project and I got to watch. First step was to tear out the discolored and cracked concrete patio out back.
We’ve had real trouble over the years, since we bought this place, with a little thing we know all too well in the northern climate. It’s called “frost heave” and it can do all kinds of damage. If you live where the ground is wet, and you make it worse by having that soil be mostly clay-based, and then you add in subzero temps in the winter, things tend to lift when the ground expands. Then they sink when it gets warmer, but never back to level. It’s been particularly bad in the back of our house.
We’ve seen first-hand what it can do to 4-inch thick concrete pad. It lifts, it cracks, and it pushes whatever is next to it somewhere else. It’s not just a bother, it’s really quite destructive.
So, on the first day they took out the entire concrete patio. Somehow I envisioned a jackhammer being utilized, but instead they used a concrete saw and cut it up into big blocks. The guy operating the Bobcat then did an impressive job of picking up multiple blocks and carrying them through the trees to their dump truck parked on the road back there. Yeah, they’ve cut a pretty wide path through the trees, but they’ll fix it before they leave. I told the guy, “First day using a skid loader, huh?” He just laughed.
Nobody was laughing, though, when they got all the concrete out. These guys do things right, and they could not believe what was under our patio. What was it? Well, it was more of a “What wasn’t it?” There was no prep work done at all. The builder just slapped four inches of concrete right on the clay. No wonder it would rise and fall up to three inches in the winter. This crew just stood there, scratched their heads, and were nearly speechless. The team leader said, “When we’re done, you won’t believe the difference.
They excavated down about a foot or a foot and a half, and got to work yesterday. First a full coverage of barrier cloth, then aggregate and sand were added, tamped down, and added again until we were back up to grade. They smoothed it all out as if they were icing a cake, and then they got to work putting together the jigsaw puzzle that is a paver patio.
The photo at right is what it looked like when they called it a day last evening. Right now it’s all laid and in place. The final step will be to put in the grout and seal the whole thing. The guy in charge said, “The way they did the original job basically invited water to get in and then freeze and expand. Your days of having that happen are over, and if anything isn’t up to your liking, we’ll fix it.”
As for the boyz, they were both pretty riled up when this ruckus all started on Tuesday. Lots of noise and strange people around had them pretty jittery. They’ve gotten used to it, though, and now Buster just does what he does best, by sleeping, and Boofie stays right here with me watching the crew work. He’s a heck of a supervisor.
It’s not a cheap project, and there’s still a lot of landscaping yet to do, but you get what you pay for. These guys are pros and I’m thrilled we picked this company (Willow River out of Hudson, Wisconsin). Can’t wait to see the fully finished product!
That fully finished product will have to be something I see next week, though, because tomorrow morning I fly to Pittsburgh for our annual “roomies reunion” with Lance, Radar, and Oscar. Lance and I land within about 10 minutes of each other but the other two are driving in, because they like road trips. Once we get there, we’ll check in at our Airbnb townhome and settle in. We’ll each have our own bedroom and bath and we can share the kitchen and living room. On Saturday, we’re going to take a tour of PNC Park and then attend the Pirates game that night, when they play the Cardinals. Lots of other sightseeing to do, and on Sunday morning we’re going to hook up with Barbara’s brother Tim, for some local insight. I promise photos. After we tour around a bit with Tim, we’ll head up the road to Cleveland, and another Airbnb. We’ll see the Indians play on Monday, and they’ll be taking on the Twins. Perhaps you can see, now, why four guys with St. Louis roots and one guy with Twins ties picked these two towns and these two ballgames. Plus, none of us have been to either ballpark, so we’re excited about that. I’m not sure, but I’m willing to bet that we’re going to have some fun. Maybe. I mean, there is a longterm precedent to look back on. All the way back to college. We have a history, so to speak.
So that’s about it. We covered Sonoma, friends, demolition, construction, and an upcoming trip to The ‘Burgh and The ‘Land. Fun has been had, fun continues, and fun is in our future. Fun is a good thing, as are friendships.
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See you next week, with more nonsense and stories.
Bob Wilber, at your service and not at all qualified to do the sort of work these guys are doing.