the ark of mark

I have one quick follow-up to my recent post about my NASCAR extravaganza-rama-palooza-fest.  Well, besides the fact that a friend of mine took my last NASCAR post and photo-shopped my head onto the body of the random guy standing next to Miss Sprint Cup.

I will not be sharing said photo.

Here’s what I wanted to add.  I took two quick photos at the race that I wanted to use as a compare and contrast feature.  Unfortunately I managed to misplace one of them, but it wasn’t the important one.  Just imagine the biggest, fanciest, most expensive recreational vehicle you have ever seen lumbering down the interstate.  I took a picture of one like that.

And then I took a picture of this one:

Who says today’s NASCAR is only a rich man’s sport?  Just for fun, I decided to see how many interesting things I identify in this re-purposed school bus.

1. It’s a re-purposed school bus.
2. It was painted red and lovingly given a sporty white stripe.
3. Window A/C units near driver and in back door.
4. Electrical generator mounted on rear extension.
5. Propane tank at-the-ready (sitting in the foreground).
6. Viewing platform on top with “safety” railing.
7. Ladder for handy viewing platform access.
8. Obligatory Dale Earnhardt “3” and Dale Earnhardt Jr (throwback) “8” on rear (kind of obscured by the ladder).
9. Painted windows for privacy in living quarters.
10. Curtains in mid-section windows, presumably to give an airy feel to the breakfast nook.
11. “His and her” (or perhaps “his and his drinking buddy”) stools for maximum comfort while sitting and watching 3.5 hour race.

I pretty much love that bus and would be willing to wager its owner has more fun at an average race than the guy in the fancy RV.  I could only think of one obvious suggestion for him to add during his next upgrade.

Considering that he is watching race cars from inside the oval track, I think those stools need improvement.  He should somehow work a swivel onto those stools.  And then he should add an electric motor with a variable speed controller.  Once the race starts, he could play around with the controller until he finds just the right speed that would allow him to rotate in sync with his favorite driver.  If he wanted to get fancy he could add programmable settings so that he could also rotate at caution-flag speeds.  Then again, if he wanted to get fancy he probably would be driving something else.