Race Day Gourmet -- or Road Race Road Grub

New feature on Vondari Racing — if you've ever met me in person, it's pretty obvious I'm not one to pass up food. So I thought it might be fun to feature each race weekend's winning recipe or unique taste sensation.

Track Pizza - Pizza on a grill

I have a few to catch up on. VIR in June was definitely challenging. Camping out the entire weekend with VonDoggie wasn't easy, and I definitely wasn't getting enough sleep with her letting me know when someone was going to the bathroom at 2, 3, and 4 am. So I wasn't entirely sure I wasn't hallucinating when I spotted Andy Young putting peanut butter on a hot dog. It bears repeating so you understand that I am totally not making this up: hot dogs and peanut butter! Lucy was repulsed by the very thought, and initially I was tentative at best. However, Andy swore up and down that it was tasty. Without further hesitation I grabbed the knife and dug out a scoop and slathered up a hot dog bun, and despite Lucy's horrified face, I took a huge bite, a full 1/3 of that dog. That's right, go big or go home! It was either going to be a very gooey disgusting mouth full, or a bold adventure.

I admit I liked it. If you're brave enough, try it. It really is good!

Also at VIR, Lucy knocked out some fantastic grilled pizza. She'll happily share the secret: Wegman's premade pizza dough, found in the dairy aisle with the cream cheese and bagels. Kept in the cooler, it had risen quite a bit overnight, just in time for lunch. She's pretty inventive, and used a metal folding chair with some aluminum foil for a cutting board/prep table. It goes fast, so have the other ingredients prepped and at least room temp. Grill some onions and peppers (or sauté them in a pan with some mushrooms and a dab of butter), or use leftovers from the night before. Corn and peas are actually remarkably tasty on pizza. Make sure any meat you want on your pizza is cooked through — turkey pepperoni is good, as is sausage or leftover bacon from breakfast, or even some shredded barbecued chicken leftovers. She used a roll of fresh mozzarella instead of shredded cheese because there's not enough time for cheese to really melt on the grill — that and fresh mozzarella's just better, anyway. At the track we used salsa and barbecue sauce, because that's what we had leftover, but any jarred tomato sauce will do too. You can tell that this is a great way to get rid of your leftovers after a weekend at the track!

Stretch out some pizza dough till it's very thin, slather with olive oil, and throw on the grill plain. It won't cook but 2-3 minutes, depending on how hot the grill is, so keep an eye on it. Flip the pizza dough uncooked side down onto your work area, and top the cooked side of the pizza — sauce, some strips of fresh mozzarella, veggies and meat. Put it back on the grill and watch carefully because the crust will burn. If you have a second tier on your charcoal grill, use it, or have your gas grill set on an area for "low and slow." Keep the mozzarella to a minimum, use lean meats, load up the veggies, and it's actually very healthy.

It's just as simple as that. You can get fancy and use a pizza stone for a pizzeria style pie, but when we're at the track, we're all about quick-and-dirty and easy to eat — no need for plates with this one. A smaller 4-6" snack is great for a racer, or track day star, so they don't fill up and get sluggish. Plus, there's another one waiting for them when they hop back off.

I'll let you know what unique idea we come up with this weekend!

Grilled Buffalo wings

We scoff at that racing track food show. Seriously, those guys show up with their million dollar car trailers pulling their charcoal smokers. What kind of racing involves the ability to lovingly slave over food all day? They should follow a motorcycle race team – the art is to juggle the schedules of sprint races with the need to fuel both body and mind. Try cooking for ten or more, listening for calls, leaving the grill to rip tire warmers, shouting for someone to watch the grill while you head out to race. THAT'S a challenge!

Between Danny and Lucy and Marea, we never go hungry and we eat REALLY good food. Our traditional breakfast is, of course, the Angry Snoman Breakfast Wrap (it's important to use the multigrain or whole wheat tortilla). When we're in a rush, there's nothing like a few burgers and dogs to grab and go between races. We've even been known to take the crockpot to the track; Marea makes a spectacular shredded Buffalo Chicken sandwich, and on hot days no need to fire up the grill. There's even been discussion of a deep fryer for tater tots.

However, we are going to report on the latest Vondari Race Team creation: grilled wings. Lucy, ever on the look out for finger foods and easy to cook and eat items for the track, was wandering the aisles at a race team's best friend (Costco) and happened upon a huge bag of chicken wings. Some quick arithmetic showed it would be a nice afternoon snack, and it was already frozen, which meant it would survive the long trip from Northern Virginia to extreme Southern Virginia and VIR.

It was hot, really hot, and Danny's body was still recovering from his arm pump and leathers issue, so Lucy pushed him towards the XS Energy drinks and out of the way of the grill. After a spray of Pam (or toss with olive oil) and some S&P, she threw them on a medium grill. Some experimentation later, happy super crispy skin without frying, fat melted off into the grill pan, and off the grill, into a pan. A quick toss with our favorite Buffalo wing sauce (hot, of course), or a thin BBQ sauce, and voila. Grilled buffalo wings – crispy but healthy, and a great snack. For those keeping track at home, you could use any sauve on hand -- Teriyaki, Mesquite, Jerk, anything.

For the record: 10 pounds of wings. And they didn't go to waste. Might want to get some of those wet wipe things they give you when you eat ribs though; our fluid sponsor BG probably would be appalled at the use of the famous Tub O Towels for the cleaning of greasy buffalo chicken fingers.

Stay tuned for more trackside creations from your favorite race team. Lucy is bound and determined to figure out how to grill tater tots...