Travel Notes - Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg

Travel Notes - Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg: I left at 8am on Sunday. Took I4 to 275 to the Tropicana Dome. It took two hours. No traffic snarls. I parked at the Trop for $30. Took a shuttle bus to DT. Paid $70 for an actual printed out out general admission ticket. A random guy wanted $60 for a ticket with an actual seat somewhere on the course. I just wanted to walk around, so, I declined. Didn't need issues for $10 savings. It was great. They arrange it around the Rowdies' stadium and Dali museum. They had a lower level race before. You could walk to most of the track. Towards the finish line, they block it off with grandstands. Their is a garage in the middle where you can get a bird's eye view. I bought a $7 brat with a $6 Coke (by far the cheapest option) from a food truck called The Schnitzel's. Left after around 60 of the 100 laps to beat traffic. Each lap took around a minute. I think I heard that they had two other races (Mazdas?) after the Grand Prix. They have other races on the days before this. Walked the ten blocks back to the parking lot. A bit of traffic through Tampa. FYI - it is twenty two miles from Tampa to St Pete. Of course some drug addict in an tinted brown Corolla almost clipped me as I exited to see the Fairgrounds. It roared past every car in the three lanes to the left to pass us all on the right (exit) lane. Around thirty miles of slow going to Plant City. A few more log jams. A snarl at Disney. Nevertheless, it's a nice and easy event to attend in the free state of Florida. Weather was perfect. I heard some people comparing it to the Miami race in May. This is much more low key. I called 727-898-4639 for info. If I had more initiative, I could have done the Strawberry Festival too on the way back.