It used to be a spinach farm. Walking around Pocono Raceway these days, one has a hard time imagining the land being home to anything but racing.
Excitement surrounds the track, even on non-race days.
A stroll down the main straightaway, which you might expect would seem like wandering an abandoned parking lot, actually becomes a privileged experience probably similar to a baseball fan standing at home plate in Yankee Stadium. A ride around the track in an ordinary street truck is exhilarating. Trees fly by as the vehicle climbs the curves and accelerates coming out of them. Somehow, mere driving becomes racing a glance at the speedometer indicates only 55 mph, though it feels closer to 200. Two weekends every summer stock-car racing s finest drivers return to the mountains to do battle on this strip of macadam.