Sunday, July 22, 2018

Live from the media center

New Hampshire International (now Motor) Speedway was my first real taste of big time sports. I put in for credentials for a race quite a few years ago and came down every year for quite a while. I missed a few years here and there, but I have been coming to Loudon at least once a year for at least a decade now.
The first year was fantastic, mainly because it was my first experience in a major sporting event and I was a big NASCAR fan. I came down for much of the weekend and had a ball walking through the pits and seeing the drivers and crew members at work.
It remains to this day one of the coolest feelings I've had while doing this job, that feeling I got the first time I drove through the tunnel and out into the infield of the speedway on a race day Sunday morning.
I still enjoy the NASCAR weekend because it's a chance to add to the regular high school coverage I do all year long. Going from the Granite Kid Triathlon on a Saturday morning to a legion baseball game on Saturday afternoon to the largest sporting event in New England the next day definitely shows the wide variety of events that I get to cover. And that's one of the biggest joys of this job.
As I sit here this morning, it is absolutely pouring outside the media center. I made a quick trip outside when I first started this morning, walking through the pits and garages. Perfect timing meant that I saw Patrick Chung get out of the pace car after he turned a few laps. Then I came back inside and attended a couple of press conferences, including Chung and Mike Reno, the lead singer of Loverboy, who did a pre-race concert at the speedway.
But otherwise, I've been using the time to get work done. I've written a couple of stories, wrote up my radio report for tomorrow morning and prepared pages for a couple of papers. It's basically a normal Sunday, except that I'm doing it in the comfort of the media center instead of sitting in my office.
No word yet on whether the race will be run (doesn't look good right now), but I'll continue to get work done until a decision is made or until the race is over.
Patrick Chung shows off the pace car with his name on it after taking a few laps.

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