Before, no one ever had a second thought about those cones
that sit along the road or near construction sites. None of the NASCAR TV
commentators ever mentioned anything about the orange cone by pit road, and
when something happened to it, they didn’t make the comments they do now. Then
the Orange Cone started tweeting late July of 2011.
Ever since, the commentators make note of the “Cone”, and
when he gets hit by a car who didn’t quite make pit road entrance right, they
say something like “Hope the orange cone is alright. He took a hard hit there.”
Now whenever I see an orange cone, I always point it out with a smile, or when
I see one that has been run over, I think “ Oh no! They crushed him!”
It’s been a lot of fun, from an inanimate object turned
NASCAR “Star”, but I think one moment topped them all. During the All-Star
race, somebody had moved Cone right on top of the outside SAFER barrier wall,
just after the start/finish line! For the first few laps of the first segment, the
field of 22 cars zoomed by just inches from where he stood! He never even
flinched! Finally, after the first caution, Cone was “saved” by an official,
and the race continued on. Twitter loved it! Many people tweeted him, asking
about the crazy experience. An epic moment in cone history!
The Orange Cone has become another fun part of NASCAR,
between the jokes, adventures, and sightings. I’ve had a lot of laughs from it,
and it has forever changed my view of an orange traffic cone.