Camping areas, parking lots and the infield at Texas Motor Speedway have filled up quickly this week as fans get ready for NASCAR's AAA Texas 500.
Like most people at the track Friday, the Kunkels were there for racing.
"NASCAR fan for most of my life," said Victor Kunkel, who drove his family to the speedway from Webber's Falls, Okla.
Racing, for them, is a family affair.
"Just everything about it," said wife Jessica Kunkel. "You get to go and have a good time."
"I do like to see them wreck every now and then," she added.
The days leading up to the race are a social event at Texas Motor Speedway, filled with the roar of engines, the smell of food, exhaust and burning rubber. Fans began arriving earlier this week, and many say they won't leave until Monday, well after the race is over.
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Funny thing -- there might not even be a Kunkel family, if not for racing.
"Our first date together, I was trying to figure out whether I wanted to go out with her again," Victor said of wife Jessica. "And she said, 'Oh, my dad's a big NASCAR fan.'"
Nineteen years and three kids later — including boys with appropriate racing names, Chase and Elliot — they're a true racing family.
