Sometimes when Pat Nearhoof goes to Pocono Raceway to party, a race breaks out.

Sometimes when Pat Nearhoof goes to Pocono Raceway to party, a race breaks out. The Lewistown resident laughed at his little joke from the confines of the wobbly deck that rests on the roof of the school bus he and his son Bart altered into a traveling tailgate station 15 years ago.

A few hundred yards in front of him, stock cars roared towards the third turn of the raceway in the last NASCAR Sprint Cup practice before the Sunday race. Whether that race is even held is up to a questionable weather forecast. But on a muggy Saturday afternoon at the Nearhoof site, there's no worry about rain.

“We’ve dealt with it before,” Nearhoof said. “It wouldn’t be the Poconos without some rain.”

It’s not that Nearhoof and his friends aren’t looking forward to the race — it’s that, in three consecutive days of grilling, drinking, lounging, eating and laughing, the race could switch from headline act to an added bonus.

It doesn’t hurt to have a great set-up like Nearhoof has — or at least be near one. For whatever it is that makes them appealing, the biggest parties often go back from years at the raceway, consistently draw visitors, and carry out motives outside of watching a weekend of races. Here’s five of the best tailgates in the Long Pond infield this weekend.

The Lewistown Bus

Nearhoof first took Bart to the raceway when he was two years old, 45 years ago. It was always something of a guys’ trip, with anywhere between four and 22 people in a caravan of assorted vehicles making the three-hour trip. Eventually, gas prices rose and the group chose to economize their annual weekend trip — they got a school bus.

The Nearhoofs purchased a former school bus for just $500 in the early 2000s, and in short time put $5,000 worth of repairs into it. The end result was an RV-esque vehicle with a cherry red paint job, checkered flag border and white roof that holds a tented platform well enough. Inside, the Nearhoofs gutted out all but four of the bus’ seats and installed bunks, a table, a shower and bathroom.

It gets about eight miles to the gallon and can still reach about 75 miles per hour. Driving uphill, Bart said, is its own battle.

What makes the bus more economic isn’t its fuel intake, but its capacity. Before the days of registered wristbands granted access to anywhere in the raceway, a couple of friends would sometimes hide in false walls of the bus at check-in, Nearhoof said. They got caught in the act three years ago and paid their dues, but Nearhoof has no regret.

“That was half of the fun, seeing how many guys you could get in,” he joked.

With a canopy set alongside the bus — which a guy once fell onto off the bus’ roof while trying to catch a frisbee — an amplifier hooked up to a stereo system on the dashboard and grilled steak planned for Saturday night, Bart said there were no plans for the six friends to leave in the case of Sunday rain.

“I eat better up here than I do at home,” Bart said.

The Lifer

Thirty years ago, Steve Trimber was watching four wheelers and cars try their luck through an old mud bog that was just offsite of the raceway. It was tradition, he said, for the vehicles that couldn’t churn their way through the deep mud to be set on fire by looker-ons.

Trimber watched "some idiot kids” try to body surf through the bog while holding onto ropes attached to their friends’ all-terrain vehicles. After a while, he recognized one of the idiots — it was his son.

Trimber has a story for every race weekend he has spent at the Poconos — which is essentially all of them. He recalls watching Indy cars and 18-wheeler cabs race on the track in its first year with his dad. They would camp out at a former site where the raceway’s welcome sign is currently located. Before that, the father and son would hunt in the same plot of land that once was a spinach farm.

In the mid-1980s, he was invited to drive his limited edition 1983 Mustang GT in the race’s parade lap. He came back to the raceway that night and got to run three laps in his GT, and he remembers reaching 138 m.p.h. Both of his sons’ high school graduation parties were held in the infield. He befriended a group from Wisconsin that usually set up in a lot near them in the infield, and the neighbors would always bring some of their state’s famous cheese for Trimber and his family.

He also became close to a cattle rancher from Ontario, who would hook his family up with steaks for every day of the race weekend. He sees friends at Dover and Daytona and he remembers nightly fireworks on the infield. He’s got the tailgate experience locked down.

Tucked back near the tunnel entrance, Trimber, his wife Linda Pellegrino, their four friends and three dogs among them situated two fully furnished RVs apart ten feet apart from each other. The group showed up Thursday, as they always do, and set a canopy over their small alley. A flatscreen television was hooked up to one of the RV’s DirecTV satellites and propped facing a long table. On the border of the shelter were little snowmen and a line of Christmas star lights.

Every lot needs a theme, Trimber said, and they chose Christmas to mock the Pocono’s unpredictable weather. Though he hasn’t seen a track delay due to flurries before, Trimber’s seen pretty much everything else.

The "Compound"

Tucked between a couple pickup trucks and RVs is a long stretch of yard reserved for a party of 10 — or five couples, Tom Coyle said. The group of friends from Lake Hopatcong, NJ carried over their experience of partying on boats for an infield tailgate last year and had a blast.

They returned this year, bigger in number and in ambition. It’s Coyle’s 44th birthday weekend, and a large bar under a tent in the middle of the yard has a “Happy Birthday” banner running across it. The bar was made from scratch by a friend on Thursday, and the group will sell it off at the end of the weekend — they expect they’ll need a bigger one next year.

Despite missing an outside shower, Coyle had been hearing compliments on the self-described “compound” all weekend. Six full racks of ribs smoked throughout Saturday with filet mignon planned for Sunday. The main RV was rigged with strobe and disco lights, and some prepared watch the Saturday practice race atop the roof with simulcast and headphones.

No kids were allowed for the getaway Coyle projected to have cost each couple about $500 in ticketing, food and cocktails.

“But it’s money well-spent,” Coyle said.

Chubby Buddies

Justin Yerdon brought work with him to the weekend tailgate, though there were no complaints.

Yerdon co-owns the Ballston Spa, NY-based catering service Chubby Buddies BBQ, and his weekend spread drew interested customers to his groups’ tailgate.

“People have been coming by, and they want to buy food,” Yerdon said. “I just tell them to come back later.”

Yerdon and his family, along with four other families, took the three-to-four hour drive to Long Pond for the first time this weekend after having previously going to the Dover International Speedway. Though it was their first time, they came well-equipped. A large grill and a smoker with a 4’ x 3’ grill were stowed away with the RV.

A couple hundred dollars worth of pork butts and brisket cooked on the grill Saturday afternoon, with the group having enjoyed ribs the night before. They also came packed with cases of beer, two bottles of vodka and a 4.5-liter bottle of Jameson Irish whiskey — and no intention of leaving until Monday.

The Hillbilly Hilton

Len Coyman recounted the rations brought along with his 24 friends for the three-day tailgate, occasionally pausing to laugh at the numbers. By his and others’ count, the group had brought 260 beers, 18 pounds of ribs, 15 pounds of sausage, 6 pounds of steak, 10 cases of water, dozens of eggs, and a few large boxes filled with snacks. They had pheasant, partridge, venison and bacon — oh, how much bacon they had.

Not counting for bottles of liquor and beer bought after the had arrived, the group of New Jersey firemen put something between $1,000 and $1,500 into their food for the weekend. It was all necessary for an 8-lot space dubbed “The Hillbilly Hilton.”

A full kitchen with decorative lights was situated against an RV, with a large fire pit set to its left. On the other side, a tented area with two televisions — one for the race, the other for kids movies — ran on satellite. Tents filled with some men still sleeping off the “previous night’s festivities” were left undisturbed away from the fracas. Though the name was a joke, the men had managed to create a hotel setting with camping furnishings.

“We’re some high-tech rednecks,” Coyman said.

The tailgate began 15 years ago, when Coyman took his son to the raceway for his birthday. It became an annual affair for them, and within five years hosted 52 people. It became so big to them they started a Facebook group called the "Pocono Crew” and informally elected a president and vice president to help organize the event.

Their policies are simple — they’ll “cook any carcass,” and anyone’s welcome. They made friends with their usual neighbors at the infield when, a few years ago, the people forgot to pack some meals. No matter — the Hillbilly Hilton fed them all.

It’s the kind of friend-making that every one of the tailgaters had an instance to call upon. Trimber said there’s always been a strong sense of community at the raceways, nothing that “If you get stuck in the mud, 18 people will be helping you before you get out of the RV.”

The race gets the headline, but the infield makes more memories for the fans. That’s why so many keep coming back in the first place.

“I wish I kept a diary of everything that’s happened,” Nearhoof said.