To arrive at the race track by helicopter is to appreciate the weirdness of the location.
The track nestles in the dense New Hampshire forest like a stranded space ship. The arena seats no fewer than 100,000. And the fields around it play host to what looks at first like a giant refugee camp. The crowd is immense, but cheerful. The men wear their hair either very short or very long.
The women look remarkably like the men and no-one can resist acting up to the camera.
You can smell the barbecue even from the air. What greets you on the ground is a combination of Top Gear, Easy Rider and the Crusades.
Almost every RV has an array of flags planted in it that range from the obligatory Stars and Stripes, to the Confederate Flag, to the owner’s state flag and the coat of arms of their favourite drivers, which in this case are numbers.
The ones you see most often are the famous eight and three. The latter belonged to Dale Earnhardt Senior who was known as the Intimidator for the way he bumped up against rival cars at 190mph (305km/h).
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