Ahh, it's the first weekend in June 2008 and we all made it thru the long winter and finally made it to Pocono after almost another year of waiting. This year we have a bigger crowd with us than we have ever had in the past, 26 friends and family members with us. We arrived Thursday morning about 11:00 a.m. to some hot weather and lots more in the forecast. As we began setting up, our weekend neighbors Gino, A.K.A. "the Northern Hillbilly" arrived to say "hi" and see how things were going. We caught up on things and then went back to setting up our home for the next 4 1/2 days. Let me tell you I been awaiting this for almost a year now. The last month of my life kinda went upside down and did not know if I was gonna even make it here or not. I have a 20 month old daughter Emily that back on May5th 2008 was diagnosis with a brain tumor that required immediate brain surgery the next day. Well life changed real fast and this race weekend was something that just ended up in the back of my mind. But a lot of my friends stepped up, helped out and my little girl is doing better so a much needed weekend away has finally arrived.
Thursday at Pocono, well it is a day to get all set up and then just hang out and enjoy the NASCAR infield experience, no racing hits the track till Friday morning so we just hang out with friends, shot some horseshoes, play a few drinking games, eat lots of good food and hang out with friends made over the years. This year's weather is some of the hottest in my 9 years at Pocono for the June race, in the 90's all race weekend. We hung out all day long till Keystone Jukebox party time, around 7:00 we dragged out the DJ equipment and for a Thursday night the crowd was pretty good. Looks like it is gonna be a fun weekend.
Friday arrives with a slight hangover, but then again it seems to happen every Friday during race weekends, I always over consume on Thursday nights. The weather is brutally hot and the cars have hit the track. The new COT car has not been run at Pocono except for a test session the week prior so this is something new for us race fans here. The track temps are no where near where they were for the test session so things could prove to get interesting. First practice session goes off pretty smooth without much incident, so onto the games and time to crack a cold one till qualifying begins. Gotta try to beat the heat somehow! Kasey Kahne continues his hot streak as of late and takes the pole for Sunday’s race. This kid is on a roll.
Well racing is done for the day so the only thing to look forward to is Friday night’s party. The infield has really filled up good and the crowds should be pretty good. Before the partying starts, we meet up with some great friends from last years races; the NAVY boys from the Torpedo Division of the Submarine training school in Groton, CT. who made there annual voyage down. I was pretty surprised when they presented me and the Keystone Jukebox crew a plaque for last years party here. Thanks guys, you are the best and like I say all the time, makes me proud to be an American. I also met a few new friends that I talked with online prior to racing, Paul Meyers and his wife Mikala. Paul, one of NYPD finest and his wife, are some of the nicest people I have met and look forward to this friendship that we started. What great people. Well Friday night’s party kicks off and what a great time was had; good crowd, fun times, this is what Pocono infield party is all about.
Saturday rolls in and the heat is in the high 90's, not typical for our area but we will deal and have fun doing it. Saturday night’s party kicks into high gear and new faces with us this include our newest addition to Keystone Jukebox, Shanna. She is the voice behind our Karaoke part of the business. Her and her husband Joe made there first trip to the Pocono infield with us. Then there is Mae, our little soldier girl, who just got back from training and is on a few weeks off before her deployment to Iraq in July. She is a combat medic and one heck of a great American girl. Her and one of the Navy boys got into a push up contest. Gotta say the lady won this battle. Lots of fun was had by all on Saturday night. The boys from the Speed channel hung out with us and had some give aways. You guys rock! Look forward to more fun with you guys. Saturday night went off real well; lots of fun, lots of new faces, we played and had fun till well after 2:00 in the morning without any problems. Great job folks.
Sunday race day…ohhh what a hangover
here. I got onto the roof of the party bus
with the 5" chrome stacks, my head was
still spinning but hey it race time folks.
Depends on what you read or hear about
Pocono racing, some people say it is
boring and has no excitement, well to
watch Kasey come from the back after a
bad pit stop and continue his hot streak
was pretty exciting to me. This kid is on
fire as of late. Kyle Busch finally had a
bad weekend and ended up finishing last
which made the points chase somewhat
something of interest again.
Sunday night was kind of a take it easy night, on and off rain showers keep us from playing any music but most of us kinda just hung out and took it easy, hanging out with friends. Go and check out the photos @ Pocono Photos 08. August race is less than two months away, ready to do it all over again... Be good and we will see you next PoconOOOOOOOO weekend.........
Joe Donovan
Keystone Jukebox DJ Service
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