Argentine racer makes 10,000-mile trip to Bristol (cont'd)

Now, I knew di Palma raced in Argentina's national stock car series -- the "Top Race" for V6 "silhouette" cars using the same engine; wearing bodies supplied by Chevrolet, Ford, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Renault and Citroen.

The cars are cool -- a cross between a Sprint Cup car, a Grand-Am Rolex Series GT car and an Australian V8 Supercar. And they race like wild dogs on a variety of South American road courses.

“

I hope to watch with my own eyes how these guys can drive so close, door to door, at 120 mph, in such a small place.

”

-- MARCOS DI PALMA

Norberto Fontana is the current championship leader and a former Formula One driver. He brought up 76,000 references, which is cool enough. But what did Marcos di Palma register? Try 837,000. Hmmm, I thought -- this might be fun.

Marcos is just as psyched, I've found. And it wasn't hard to understand why Bristol was at the top of his list.

"I'm following NASCAR since many years ago but because of being a racing driver it was impossible for me to race here in my country and to attend a race outside Argentina," di Palma said. "Since I've been watching NASCAR, Bristol was one of the most exciting places to see.

"This year I'm only racing at the Top Race series, so I have more free time, when I had my 2010 race schedule ready I found that the Bristol race was a free weekend for me. I didn't think too much to decide to go."

The trip came together in a rush -- less than two weeks from the decision point to the departure -- from Buenos Aires to Miami, an 8.5-hour flight covering 4,373 miles.

Daniel Dopazo, a fellow Argentine race driver who lives in Miami, waited in Miami with a motor home, both the group's conveyance and its home-away-from-home for four days. Marcos arrived on Thursday with his 4-year-old son, Luis.

Put yourself in the Marcos' shoes. How would you feel?

"I hope to watch with my own eyes how these guys can drive so close, door to door, at 120 mph, in such a small place," di Palma said. "Here the tradition is road racing. The oval culture has no roots in Argentina, but I hope some day people here can understand that you don't need a 3-mile road course to have a good race.

"Also, it will be something strange for me to have all these drivers almost face to face [to see and meet some of them]. I always love auto racing and my father teach me since I was a kid to love what I do now.

"I drive since I have memory and for sure NASCAR is the best expression of real racing in all the planet -- so I'm sure I will have four days that I would never forget in my life.

"I want to feel the sensation that many friends told me about being at the track, that your heart [almost] stops. You can't realize that there are 43 850-horsepower race cars going side-by-side and you feel something unique from your feet to your head -- all your body is shaking because of the power and the noise is louder than any other track in the world.

"I'm used to having my body shaken and my ears full of noise, but for sure this will be something totally different. Also making the trip from Miami to Bristol will be fun. I was told that the route has great landscapes, so I want to enjoy it -- every mile."

So "Hola, amigos." Let the trip begin.

Editor's note: Dave Rodman is traveling with di Palma to Bristol to share his NASCAR experience. Dave will be filing updates throughout the weekend for NASCAR.COM.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.