Road Cuisine

When you’re on the road chasing races, it’s a given that you don’t get to eat in quite the same nutritious or timely manner as you would at home. I spend the majority of time in ‘Matilda’ – aka, the WoO LMS hauler – and my choice of cuisine is limited mostly to frozen dinners. I eat from the likes of microwaveable items from Swanson, Banquet, Stouffer’s, Boston Market and Red Baron. Occasionally we have the time and get close enough to park near, and eat at, a Mickey D’s, Burger King, Wendy’s or, if I’m really lucky, my personal favorite, a White Castle!

Here I am digging into some leftovers.

Sometimes, though, you hit food paydirt. Such was the case for me during last month’s Commonwealth 100 weekend at Virginia Motor Speedway.

When the weekend began with a qualifying program on Friday, I was cordially invited by track owner Bill Sawyer and his staff to indulge in the plethora of goodies offered in the VMS suite – we’re talking pasta salad, BBQ ribs, potato salad and lemon chicken. That worked for the racing portion of the night; once the action was done and our post-race work was complete in the pit area, it was time to head over to Mike Hubbard’s compound in the pits for the ‘Brian Daugherty Birthday Bash,’ which – go figure – included more food! This time it was chopped pork, pork loin, potato salad and cole slaw. After that feast, it was off to Brent Robinson’s trailer, where his mom Elaine had delicious fruit, brownies, chips, drinks, etc. Needless to say, that Friday was a success all the way around.

Saturday brought heavy rains, storms, wind, hail, lightning and tornadoes to VMS and its surrounding area, so the evening’s scheduled racing was put on the shelf until Sunday. What was there to do after rainout, you might ask? Eat! We piled in Robinson’s SUV, and along with about five or six other vehicles we headed up Virginia Highway 17 to Lowery’s Seafood Restaurant in Tappahannock for the all-you-can-eat buffet. Now this was pure heaven for an eater like me, as they offered fish, clams, oysters, hushpuppies, shrimp, fried chicken, ribs, mashed potatoes, salads and pies of all kinds. I definitely got my money’s worth on that trip.