This year NASCAR held their first race ever at an active military base. “Race the Base” took place at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego over a 3.4-mile, 16-turn street circuit and was such a huge success that they’ll be returning again next year. We attended Saturday and Sunday and really enjoyed both the racing and the venue. The military setting and personnel presence added an interesting formality to the event, and everyone we met from the base was friendly, professional and highly enthusiastic about the race weekend.

Between the military and NASCAR, a diverse collection of vehicles were on display. We especially enjoyed talking to several military pilots who were on site with their aircraft.

Security was quite tight at the event, partly because this is an active military base, but also because US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attended the race and was seated in the same stand as we were.

Our credentials gave us access to most areas of the venue, and we spent much time in the NASCAR garages throughout the weekend, watching the teams prepare the cars and speaking with the crews when they had time.

We toured pit lane as well, as the teams were setting up their pit stalls and rolling out the cars for practice, qualifying, and race day. We’ll often find a crew that is not too busy, who can explain some nuance or technology that we’re not familiar with. James even had a go at handling one of the wheels.

We also got a chance to meet many drivers and other NASCAR personalities, including Jennifer’s favorite driver, Ross Chastain, his Trackhouse Racing teammates former V8 Supercar driver Shane van Gisbergen and former Formula 1 driver Kevin Magnussen, and NASCAR legend Richard Childress.

Amazon Prime Video was broadcasting the event, and the crew gave us a tour of the TV compound on Saturday. We’ve had the opportunity to tour the Prime Video broadcasting facilities at Thursday Night Football and The Masters golf tournament and have been blown away by the depth of talent and the size of the team it takes to bring together an industry-leading sporting event. The mobile production facility that travels to these events is absolutely massive, with trailer after trailer of mobile production facilities. We really enjoyed learning about the details required to put a production like this together. We also were astonished at the amount of cabling required :).

Next up was a tour of the Prime Video broadcast set on the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier flight deck, where we got to meet the TV film and production crew and try out as announcers (no such luck :-)). The carrier deck, with the island visible in the background, was a spectacular setting for the broadcast. The logistics required to arrange it, however, must have been fairly daunting.

Our final Saturday event was watching the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series supporting race. We had a great view of the pits from our seats, an aspect of NASCAR racing we really enjoy. Unlike Formula 1, where there is no limit on the number of crew that can service a car and 20-22 crew members typically are waiting as the car enters pit row, NASCAR allows only five people over the wall during a stop, and no foot or equipment can touch the pit lane until the car is within one pit box away. This makes a NASCAR pit stop an exciting and often eventful team sport.

As the car pulls into the pit box, a jackman sprints around to the outside of the car carrying a 30-pound jack and lifts the car. Joining him are a front and rear tire changer, and a person carrying two tires. The final crewmember is the fueler, who hoists a 12-gallon (45L) 95lb (43kg) up to gravity feed the fuel in. When the outside tires are changed, the four crewmembers dash around the car to repeat the process on the inside. Strength, agility and speed are essential to a successful pit stop, and most NASCAR teams now include former top-tier college athletes who possess those qualities.

We really enjoyed the race, especially with the scanning radio and headset that we’d rented on-site, allowing us to listen to communications between the driver and their crew. The race was red-flagged (stopped) twice, for 18-minutes when a manhole cover came loose and tore through the grill of Corey Day’s Corey Day’s No. 17 Chevrolet and for 43-minutes when a 23-car pileup shifted one of the retaining walls several feet and replacement had to be brought in.

The main event, the Anduril 250, took place on Sunday afternoon, with more great racing and exciting pit stops. There was plenty of passing and action, and listening to the crew communications with a scanning radio again added a lot to the event. Cory Heim won his first race in only 13 starts, and Jennifer’s favorite, Ross Chastain, finished 7th.

In a final bit of excitement, we returned to the USS Carl Vinson to watch the live Prime Video post-race show, where we met broadcasters and former NASCAR drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Corey LaJoie. We’ve watched both race many times, and were longtime “Number 3” fans, the number for Jr.’s father, 7-time NASCAR Cup champion Dale Earnhardt. We also got a chance to meet Anduril 250 winner Cory Heim.

What a location for the post race interview, where the back ground was full of sailors enjoying the interview, an F/A-18 and the air craft carrier island dominating the scene beyond. Once the broadcast was complete, the crew began tearing down the set with amazing efficiency. We also witnessed an FOD (Foreign Object Debris) walk, where a large group of sailors span the deck and walked from end to end looking for any loose items that could get sucked into a jet engine.

We had an exceptional weekend. Thanks to the Prime Video crew for such a memorable and exciting event!