Over the weekend I had the chance to go to the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois to see both the Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series races. The above photo was taken during the Sprint Cup race on Saturday evening. Nothing like some good racing and a wonderful Illinois sunset. So many of you may question why old Billy Yank is attending a “southern” sport. Well, it is not so southern anymore. Although, I must admit there were about 6-7 confederate flags in the parking lot on the south side of the track I did not see a great deal of Southiness in the people who attended despite the fact that when I reenact in Illinois it is not uncommon for there to be more rebs the Yanks.
The atmosphere though of beer drinking, hanging out without much else to do does conjure up the myth of the idle south, sitting on the front porch sipping mint juleps waiting for the horse races to begin.
