going to NASCAR in an RV

Good info here. We go to Loudon, NH twice a year but camp a few miles away for the hookups plus quiet. My DW has been heat intolerant ever since chemo a few years ago. In July we went to the track on Saturday, then watched Sprint Cup on TV Sunday. Best seats ever!

Allworth wrote:
If God intended for me to put up with the crowds at Daytona, he would not have put the races on TV.

Lol. There's nothing like being there tho. All of your senses take it in. You can feel the thunder of the horsepower when they roar by. The smell of stale beer from the guy in front of you who has been drinking for 48 hours straight and spilled it all over himself.

The in field block parties are cool and the people are nice for the most part. Its pretty much the biggest party you can attend. I'd definitely do it again.

If God intended for me to put up with the crowds at Daytona, he would not have put the races on TV.

I'm back!

Something oil-related began leaking BAD on the way home, but I'll figure it out.

Here's my experience/advice. I camped in the "Family RV Camping" section, which is outside of turn 3. You can't see the race from this section, but you can get pretty close to the grandstands. I set up pretty close (but not too close) to the bathrooms and showers, which also was a shuttle stop.

When I pulled in, I wondered why so many people were lined up along the back fence rather than close to the track - there was tons of prime real estate available. Seemed like close to the track would be cool. Once time trials started I realized why. It's LOUD. You can't carry on a conversation outside when the cars are running. Next year, I'm going to head for the back.

The spots are just wide enough for a camper and awning. The guy next to me had his generator running at night for his a/c without a Gen-turi. When we got up for breakfast we were sucking in exhaust trying to cook and eat. I had a spare pipe that the previous owner kept on the roof for the generator. I hooked it up to his pipe. He was cool about it and shut the generator off. My Gen-turi worked great, but my neighbor pointed out that I must have an exhaust leak because you could smell it. Nice guy with an '82 Airstream motorhome. He had the same generator and told me the probable leak point. He had been camping at the raceway since 1982 and was a wealth of knowledge.

What a lot of people do is bring little Honda generators to keep their batteries charged and to run small appliances. This is very wise so you don't have to run the big, permanently mounted generators. The Hondas are very quiet and you can set them away from people and plug your power cord into it.

The Family RV Camping section is fairly quiet. The Infield camping looks insane, and the fenceline campers seem more rowdy, too. There are concerts and all kinds of stuff going on in the infield. There's a shuttle to bring you in and out.

I went in with a full tank of water (45 gallons). Dudes used the raceway-provided facilities, women use the RV. Cooking, washing, flushing used about half the water. Holding tanks aren't anywhere near full. There are guys that drive around that will pump out your holding tanks, and other guys that will fill your water tank.

Get there Thursday if you can. The masses start arriving Friday afternoon and the RV registration gets pretty backed up.

Security is really tight. Everyone in your party has to have a wristband and vehicle pass - no exceptions. In the Family RV section, everyone in your party has to have a Sunday grandstand ticket in order to get a wristband. If you have people coming just to party but not go to the race, it's very difficult to get them in.

It was my first totally dry-camping experience and it went well.

Made it no problem. It got a little warm on Rt 80 but not too bad. I brought no provisions whatsoever because a friend was supposed to pick me up. But he's late and I'm hungry and thirsty! I figured concessions would be open. Nope.

jauguston wrote:
If you have a motorhome with a on-board generator you intend to run you should install a Gen-Turi exhaust extension that directs the exhaust gasses up over the roof of your rig. Some places where the motorhomes are crammed tight together REQUIRE them. There have been deaths at events from carbon monoxide poisoning from generator exhaust gasses enter there RV from a ajoining RV running their generator late at night. Camping World and many other places have them. When we setup in any campground where we intend to use our generator it is automatic I put ours up. Takes less than 5 minutes.

Jim

Thanks for the tip. I installed the Gen-Turi today. It was really easy and is great for peace-of-mind. No more generator exhaust smell wafting into the rig or the neighbors.

I'm leaving in a few hours. Have some stuff to button up before I get on the road. The usual pre-trip checks and adjustments. I hope to beat the west-bound water gap rush-hour traffic. We're camping in the "Family Grandstand" section, not the infield. If we like it, may move to the infield next year.

We have friends that live a few miles away so we'll probably be staying there at night. Unless we have too many Diet Cokes on Saturday, in which case we'll stay in the RV. I had intended to use it as a tailgating base-camp. The weather looks sketchy so it will be nice to have shelter at the raceway.

I'm throwing caution into the wind and taking I-80 the whole way. It was heating up a bit on the last trip, but this one is shorter and less hilly. Plus I made some modifications to the cooling system that I hope will help. The previous owner had all sorts of NASCAR stuff - decals, old tickets, etc. I think this rig has spent quite a bit of time at the Pocono Raceway.

Yes it is. Should get there around 5 Thursday afternoon.

This is the big weekend, correct?

Have a great time and post some pictures! I'll be watching from my rig parked somewhere!

I'm going to the GoBowling 400 the weekend of 8/1-8/3. I plan to get there Thursday after work (say 7 PM). I'm worried about a ton of traffic. My old rig doesn't like the stop and go traffic. When is the big influx of RVs into the Family Grandstand Camping (outside, not the infield)?

Same question on the way out on Sunday. I'd like to wait out the traffic. I'm told you can stay until Monday, but I need to get to work (though I work from my house so I could technically work from the RV).

I get the full water, empty holding tanks thing. I've got a full propane tank, too. I have friends that live close by that will be joining us. I figure I'll get the RV set up Thursday night and sleep at their place. Work out of their house Friday and then spend the weekend (Friday night through Sunday) in the RV.

Great tips in this thread so far.

The previous owner made his own "periscope" for the generator exhaust, but I'll look into the Gen-turi thing.

Any advice around when to arrive from those that have done it would be appreciated.

One last tip -

Take notes - seriously.

If you're going to do this with any sort of regularity, noting what went well and what didn't will just help you make improvements each time you go back out. It also will help you get better and more efficient at preparing for these sorts of weekends.

Personally, Ive started to use Evernote. Now that I've cycled through a few race weekends I basically already have menu's planned, grocery lists made, etc so I don't have to reinvent the wheel every time out. I also use it to snap pictures of little details I see or ideas I steal from other setups in order to improve our weekends.