Soaking up Culture at the Pocono 500

When a NASCAR race goes to rain delay, it’s not hard to find something else to do: activities in that chaotic realm beyond the grandstand tend to run the gamut from merchandise shopping to mud-wrestling. After getting rained out at Pocono, I didn’t have to wander far before stumbling upon the Jack Daniel’s 07 Chevrolet that raced earlier this season in California, here serving as both a hard-lemonade stand and an opportunity for Suzy Bruisy to heckle a team technician. The 07 is driven by Clint Bowyer, who became my new favorite person back in February after crossing the finish line at the Daytona 500 upside-down and on fire, then coolly pulling himself from the inferno, tossing his driving gloves back in through the window, and foregoing the lucky-to-be-alive clichs to gripe instead about the let-down of finishing “only” 18th. Clearly, Bowyer is one hard individual, but at this Sunday’s race he did a good job of behaving himself and keeping the 07 car shiny side up. Rain was bigger problem here than fire, and if I’d been to more than one race I might’ve been feeling more disgruntled and riot-prone over the early ending and Jeff Gordon’s default win. But it was a great time and I was just happy for the chance to see the 07 run against my other favorite cars, however briefly, between thundershowers at Pocono.