The main reason Courtney and I were in Texas was to be part of the Beretta Clay Shoot.  It benefits Bobbie’s Speedway Children’s Charity, and a number of “celebrities” got together to help raise money.  There were around fifteen celebrities, ranging from baseball players to bass fishermen.  It was quite the crowd, “The Bass Assassin” himself even showed up.  Each of us were joined by five “common folk” to make up a team of six and then we headed to the shooting stations.  There were ten stations in all, with each person shooting eight clays.  The goal is, of course, to break all eight, and then add up all of your totals at the end of all ten stations to get your overall team’s score.  My team, made up mostly of my family, did pretty well in the end.  Out of eighteen teams we came in eighth.  Very respectable considering we hardly ever get any practice.  The charity also had a very successful week, with this event, along with a few others, raising over half a million dollars!

The week was rounded out with NASCAR three ways.  On Friday night we toured the garage, very cool, and then watched the truck race from a suite overlooking the finish line.  On Saturday we watched the Nationwide Series from a condominium overlooking turn two, a great spot to watch all of the crashes.  Bill and I snuck out early and went for a bike ride with NASCAR driver and huge cycling fan, Bobby Labonte.  We really enjoyed riding with him and learning all about his sport.  It also made watching his race the next day a lot more interesting having that connection.  And finally on Sunday we watched the big race from the stands and had an awesome view over the finish line.  The cars were so loud you had to wear ear protection the whole time, and you could forget about trying to have a conversation.  Overall, I was blown away by how big this sport is.  Thousands of campers were parked there the whole week, and the fans are as diehard as they come.