Carolyn Brewster: Coca-Cola Family Track Walk offers unique perspective while promoting family fun

By Carolyn Brewster

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

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FANZONE COMMENTARY

I stood in line to step onto the race track. It was chilly but that is to be expected at 8:45 on a spring morning.

The neon green wristband I been given when registering the day before was now my ticket to the Coca-Cola Family Track Walk. Just me and 3,500 fellow NASCAR fans taking advantage of this free opportunity to see the drivers and pound the Atlanta asphalt in a program designed to encourage active family fun.

I was excited, which is saying a lot since I had to get up early and drive an hour and a half to be there the morning of the Kobalt Tools 500. We hadn’t even begun to walk when I decided it was already worth the effort.
We finally began to move at a pace that was probably the slowest speed ever witnessed on one of NASCAR’s fastest tracks. But we weren’t in a hurry. We were there enjoying the moment and the occasion.

A mobile stage led the way and even briefly hosted drivers Joey Logano and Bobby Labonte of the Coca-Cola Family of Drivers. Music played while fans cheered and answered questions in hopes that someone would toss a NASCAR T-shirt their way. Meanwhile we continued to step our way around the track.

I was too far from the front to ever be in serious contention of landing a T-shirt, but that didn’t matter. No one around me seemed to mind as fans were busy taking pictures to make their own personal mementos of the day.

And unique picture opportunities did abound. It’s not hard to get a photo of the track from the grandstands but to be on the track with the frontstretch grass and pit road in the background is a unique prospective for any die-hard fan.

Walking the track, a fan can garner a whole new respect for the high banking that drivers race on. Viewing Atlanta Motor Speedway on television can hardly produce the feel for how amazingly vertical the cars are when they race through the turns. But standing on the apron and glancing up, it’s like looking at a wall. This is probably why we were instructed to stay off the banking before the walk started.

But, if there’s one thing we NASCAR fans appreciate, it’s the determination to bend the rules to achieve the greatest advantage. I’m sure this is why a few fans crawled up the “off limits” banking in attempt to get the ultimate photo. The poor track workers with the job of shooing everyone back onto the apron certainly earned their wages.

The walk around the 1.5-mile track was nice. Before I knew it, we were in Turn 3 with not much farther to go. A good way to start the day, no doubt.

Other tracks hosting the Coca-Cola Family Walk include Richmond International Raceway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway.

The Coca-Cola Family Track Walks are part of a season-long program to promote active family fun. They certainly accomplished that goal at Atlanta.

However, along the backstretch, I wanted to ask the lady wearing three-inch leather boots if she was still enjoying the walk.