My Trip To: The Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway

Good evening and welcome back to a special edition blog as I take you on a detailed journey to Kansas City, Kansas where I went to see the 2014 Hollywood Casino 400 at the Kansas Speedway on Sunday October 5, 2014. I was able to go because it was a graduation gift from my Uncle Samuel and Aunt Cheryl Boyer. Although Cheryl did not go, my Uncle Sam and I were able to have a great time and enjoy ourselves. And I had some valuable guy time as well. The weekend would start out on Friday October 3 as I rode in the car with my mom to meet my Uncle in Eolia, Missouri (not sure if I spelled that correctly, its a difficult word to spell) at a gas station. I then rode home with my Uncle Sam to his house, where I would spend the night. We awoke Saturday morning and headed out for Kansas. My Uncle drove, and it was about a 3 hour drive in his Ford Mustang. We only made one stop at a QuikTrip gas station. Then we made it to Kansas.

The "Welcome to Kansas" sign

 I took a picture of the "Welcome To Kansas" sign and I barely got it.


Then we made it to the hotel we were staying at. It was called, "Microtel". Cool name if you ask me. My Uncle and I checked in and packed our belongings to the elevator, and made it upstairs to our room. Uncle Sam then unlocked the door and we walked in. The room was a little small, and it wasn't real fancy, but it was a decent room and we did ok. We settled in and watched the NASCAR Nationwide Series race which was also held at the Kansas Speedway. Our TV was a nice flat-screen, although it wasn't as big as the one I have at home. But it was a nice TV and the hotel
had cable, but a lot of channels to go along with it.

A photo of outside our hotel

Another photo of the outside of our hotel

The "couch" bed as I called it. That is my pillow but my uncle slept there and I slept on the bed. He didn't mind sleeping on this though.

The TV that we watched

The view from our hotel room

Now keep in mind, the hotel was only about 15 minutes from the racetrack, so that was cool. I even listened to see if I could hear the Nationwide cars racing around the track, but I don't that we were THAT close. So as my uncle and I relaxed in our hotel room, I asked him if we could go look around town and maybe we could do something since I had never been to Kansas before. He said, "Well bud, there's not much to miss here." I don't know how I came up with this but I said, "Is it like Quincy, IL??" He agreed and said it was basically just like that. So he asked if I wanted to see a movie. There was a mall not that far from us that had a movie theater in it. There were two movies that Uncle Sam wanted to see, so he let me choose between them. The choices were The Equalizer and The Maze Runner. He showed me the previews of both movies and I chose The Equalizer. Denzel Washington starred in the movie and let me say it was, INSANE!!!!! At first, it was a calm movie, and then towards the middle it started getting crazy. And when I mean crazy, I'm talking knives slashing through peoples throats, eyes getting cut out, and drills being drilled into the back of a persons head. Yeah now you know what I mean by "crazy". So before we went to see the movie, we were trying to decide what to have for supper. Uncle Sam mentioned Pizza Hut, but I wasn't interested because I have a Pizza Hut in Vandalia where I live. So we had this pizza place instead that we both had never heard of, so we were pretty unsure how the pizza was going to be. It turned out to be delicious and we pigged out. It was yummy. So after the pizza and the movie, we relaxed for a bit more. My uncle hooked up my PlayStation 3 that I had brought for us to play. I had created him a character on my WWE '13 wrestling game that I have played. He really liked it when I showed him. I also had a custom theme song which was one of his favorite songs by Five Finger Death Punch called, "House of the Rising Sun". So after that, he went to sleep so he would be well rested for the day on Sunday. I went to sleep shortly after. So then Sunday came. Finally it was race day!!!! I was excited, but nervous as well. We awoke and went downstairs and had breakfast. We both had Rasin Bran cereal and it was good. Then we went back upstairs, packed up our belongings, thanked the hotel personnel, and were on our way to the racetrack in my Uncle's Mustang. Yay!!!! 

The Kansas Speedway sign as we entered the track

Here is a photo from outside the track. 

Another photo outside the track

As we arrived, the track was beautiful. It was 1.5 miles long, so it was a good sized track. My uncle and I parked and had a long walk to inside the track. I had $100 from my Grandma Kim as graduation money to spend at the race. And I did spend it, every dollar I had, but it was worth it. I bought some die-casts and a Carl Edwards t-shirt and hat. Edwards is my favorite driver. My uncle bought me the program that also came with a die-cast car also. And he also bought a Carl Edwards shirt. 

Here is the view of Turn 1 from our seats

Nice seats!!!!! We could see the finish line and almost the whole frontstretch.

Here are the cars sitting on pit road waiting for the command!!!!!

The cars are gone!!!! They have rolled off pit road!!!!!

After we shopped, we then made our way to our seats, which were very good by the way. Then it was time, the command was given, "Drivers Start Your Engines!!!!" and then the cars rolled out of pit road. It was chilling just seeing them roll out of pit road, but then the green flag came out and it was LOUD!!!! Every time the cars raced by, the grandstand rattled and boy was it a rush. Jimmie Johnson wrecked on the backstretch so that was nice. I don't like loud noises because of my autism I have sensory problems and I hate loud noises and it makes me have anxiety. So I had to take a break after the first 70 laps since a caution had come out at that time. After I stood up behind the grandstands and calmed down for about 30 laps, I was able to sit through the rest of the race. I had a great time after my break. Took lots of photos and videos of the race. I don't know how to post them on here, as I recorded it on my iPod device. If you are friends with me on Facebook, you can see the photos and a couple of the videos I have posted. Then the race ended with Joey Logano picking up the victory with Kyle Larson finishing second and hometown boy and my favorite driver Carl Edwards coming home fifth. A top five is not a bad finish in you're hometown. Then my Uncle and I took the long walk back to his car and we headed to Mexico, MO where we would meet my mother at Walmart. I really enjoyed my time with my Uncle and if you haven't been to a race, then you have to save your money and go to a NASCAR Sprint Cup race. It is awesome. That was my first Cup race I should mention, and I had a blast. I had been to a couple nationwide races with my mom at the local Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis in Madison, IL. The last race I went to was in 2007 and it was to a then named Busch Series race. I hope you enjoyed this in depth, detailed look at my trip to Kansas. Thanks for reading. Don't forget to leave a comment. 

Stewart Hits and Kills Sprint Car Driver

Good evening everyone and welcome to a special article from Captain Josh! I apologize for my absence and I will try to once again post great articles. I recently graduated from Van-Far High School and let me say, it was well worth the struggle, because on October 5th, 2014, as a graduation gift from my Uncle Samuel Boyer, I get to travel with him to the race at Kansas Speedway for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race for my first ever trip to a Cup race. I am very excited and I will for sure try to post about the experience on here. Now, back to this story. This past Saturday night, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Tony Stewart was racing at Canandaigua Motorsports Park just an hour away from where the Sprint Cup race would be held at Watkins Glen in New York. Stewart was battling Sprint Car driver Kevin Ward Jr. into the first turn, where Stewart would make contact with Ward's car, thus sending him into the wall. Ward would climb out of his car, which had came to a halt against the wall in turn two. After Ward climbed out of his wrecked car, he would walk onto the track, just slowed down by a caution. Now you probably have an idea who Ward was looking for right. Of course the man who made contact with him and potentially took him out of the race Stewart, who Ward walked in front of Stewart's car as Stewart made his way around the track. Ward came out in front of Stewart and he hit Ward, flinging his body about 20 feet across the track. Ward was pronounced dead just moments later in a local hospital. 

So the question remains, Did Stewart hit Ward on purpose? There have been many opinions and view from different people. Videos have been posted on YouTube to try and prove whether Stewart purposely hit Ward or not. As of Sunday, there are no criminal charges pending at that time as it was and still is under investigation by the Ontario County (New York) Sheriffs Office. He may not be charged yet, but will he be? What do you think of this story? Did Stewart purposely hit Ward? Due to the incident, Stewart did not race on Sunday in Watkins Glen, and Nationwide Series driver Reagan Smith (Driver of the #7 Chevy for Jr Motorsports) replaced Stewart. Smith would crash out late in the race and would finish 37th. I will have more on this story and will keep everyone updated on this situation. Tell me what you think. Leave a comment below. Thanks for reading.