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Mini-me racing
Arenas aren't just for basketball anymore
Between Lowe's Motor Speedway, The NASCAR Hall of Fame, Speed Street, and The Richard Petty Driving Experience, Charlotte is -- whether we like it or not -- essentially NASCAR's home garage (not to mention home base for most of the drivers). And now there's an additional form of racing based in town: Arena Racing at Cricket Arena.
Arena Racing, which is in its first season, is like the minor league of NASCAR. It's a mini-NASCAR race ... literally; the top of the car comes to my knees (and I stand a mere 5'2"). Arena Racing follows the same format as a NASCAR race, starting with a green flag and ending with a checkered, but it's more like go-cart race cars; power wheels with horse power (those bad boys can go up to 100 miles per hour). When they wreck, it looks like bumper cars on speed. "Interesting" and "cute" are perhaps the best adjectives to describe it. It's a kid-friendly form of racing with its fast micro-machine appeal. But don't get me wrong -- it still has the drinking prevalence of a NASCAR race. It's just not Woodstock for rednecks like a big boy race; it's more PG-13 racing.
Last Friday, Cricket Arena hosted the Saludo Latino Americano 250 with Latin music Spanish announcers, and this little Latina taking a lap in the mini-me racecar. Ondalay, Ondalay, Ariba Ariba!
Arena Racing has a 13-year-old racer, a 70-year-old racer, and lots of racers in between with sponsorships and teams just like in NASCAR where car decals equate to money.
The Charlotte Bobcats represent their arena with their own car decorated with their logo, but don't expect to see one of the players driving it -- if a person could even fit into one of the cars, his or her head would hang three feet out the sunroof.
There was a "Git-R-Done" car, Tony Stewart live on Sirius Radio car, and the No. 51 car that is sponsored by the driver's wife's sex therapy business. Meanwhile, the driver of the 96.9 Kat Country car, Chrissy Wallace (Mike Wallace's daughter and Rusty Wallace's niece) is the reigning Arena Racing champion with five season wins, including the past three consecutive races.
There was a crowd of 2,000-plus packed in the arena to watch mini racecars race on a mini one-tenth-of-a-mile track. You too should get to Cricket Arena on March 31, the last race of the season -- tickets are only $5 and beers are only $2!
For more racing action, stay tuned for coverage of the turtle racing at Ed's Tavern ... no, seriously!
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