Shootout's a great time. Pretty much a family reunion for me. I used to go every year, but I've started alternating to every other year. 20th anniversary will probably be epic, but this is the year I miss out. Couple ideas for the new guys, though...
BOOK YOUR HOTEL ROOMS NOW. They don't charge your card until you check in, so call up and get the rooms booked now. They tend to sell out months in advance. When the Shootout comes to town, we fill up every hotel room for something like 50 miles in every direction. All the action happens in the north end of town, by Best Western, Econolodge, All-American Inn (where I always stay), but there used to be a smaller motel on the far side of town called the Norwalk Inn, which was quieter, less expensive, and equally close to the track. Figure out where you're staying now and make sure you've got rooms.
The hotels are going to be retardedly expensive. $50 for Thursday night, $150+ for Friday night, almost $200 for Saturday night, and maybe $75 for Sunday night, but split 3-4 ways, it's no big deal. (You spend WAY more on booze anyway.) That's how we roll.
Rather than trying to reserve parking spots everywhere, you guys ought to plan to meet up at a certain place/time in town and all roll to Buschur's and/or the track together. It's hard to do, with some people drinking until dawn and others staying in Milan or Sandusky, but it would make quite a statement if a dozen GVR4s rolled onto the scene in a caravan. Just a thought.
Maybe I'll get 195/2000 back together in time to make the drive in 2013. I've only missed the SO twice since something like 2003, but I've never made the drive. Need a co-driver to share in the fuel costs and share the driving. I just don't have enough vacation time available to spend a full week on the road around a weekend drinking in hotel parking lots.
