Tag: Nascar

Race weekend at Talladega Super Speedway

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We had had little to no internet for the weekend, so here is the update for the McCleary Tribe since Friday.

October 23, 2015

We started the day near Atlanta, Georgia. On our list for things to do on the trip we had the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Alabama.  So, we headed that direction. The Unclaimed Baggage Center is a place that purchases stuff that isn’t claimed from the airport baggage area.

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When we got there we all split up and looked around. There were mainly clothes, but there was other stuff too –  like cameras, IPads, IPhone cases, shoes, etc.. There were two buildings with different things.   We went to both then Dad, Hannah, Burka, Buche and I decided we wanted to go back to the RV. A little bit later Grace and Mom came to the RV.  We found a few treasures.

After the Unclaimed Baggage Center we drove to Talladega, Alabama and slept there for the weekend

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-Greta

October 25, 2015

We went to the Camping World Truck Race at the Talladega Super Speedway.  It was a 250 mile race to get us warmed up for Sunday’s race.  In the evening we took in an infield concert featuring Easton Corbin.

October 26, 2015

We woke up and went to the Talladega Super Speedway church service.  It was put on by a Baptist Church from Alexandria, Alabama.  We almost felt like we were at home in Alexandria, Minnesota.  It was neat to worship at the base of the race track.

Rachael and I were able to get some pit paces, so we walked around the pits before the race.  It was pretty neat to get up to the cars in pit row before the race started.  Then the race started!  It was fun to see all the lead changes and shuffling for position.  It was interesting to listen to the headsets and how much work the spotters do as they are constantly instructing the drivers as to what is happening on the track and where their best lane may be.  The end of the race had a couple of crashes and unfortunately they were out of the view of our seats so we watched it on the TV that is across the track, just like everybody at home.  It was a great experience and we all had fun.

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Ryan

 

Race City USA

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We woke up north of Mooresville, North Carolina.  Mooresville is known as “Race City USA” as over 30 race teams call this area home.  The girls needed a day to catch up with school work and Grace needed a day for her foot to be elevated so this day became all about me as Rachael and the boys and I toured several race shops. (Grace is doing much better by the way… thanks for your concern with her foot)

We decided to start our day with the race shop furthest away from our campground which was the Hendrick Facility.  The Hendrick campus was quite overwhelming and we clearly discovered that this is a VERY big business.  We were told that each team has 72 cars for the season so that is 288 cars for Hendrick and they build over 700 motors a year!  The cost of a NASCAR engine was approximately $120,000 each and when a hauler is loaded up and ready to go to the track with the cars, engine, spare engine and parts is is approximately 2 million dollars rolling down the road to the track!  To run a competitive team it costs between $35 and $40 million a year.  That averages out to be about $1 million dollars per race weekend.   One of the guys who works at the Hendricks shop on Kasey Kahne’s team is from Willmar, MN.  I actually knew him when we were in college.  Unfortunately he was not at the shop yesterday.  After seeing the Race Shop we went the the gift shop and museum.  It was fun to look at many of their past cars and buy and few souvenirs.

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After leaving Hendrick Motor Sports we went to Joe Gibbs Racing.    This was another very impressive facility and another 4 team operation.  It was cool to see Joe Gibb’s football trophy case which included his SuperBowl Rings  After viewing the Race Shop we went to the gift store and the boys found their favorite part of the day – an arcade racing game that was free and they could play as long as they wanted!

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Our last stop for the day was Michael Waltrip Racing which we had heard gave the best tours, however we were unsure what we would find as we heard they were laying off over 200 employees at the end of the season.  This was a great facility that had a catwalk that went out over the Race Shop and out of the gift store their were different areas that you could view their shock and suspension room, their rear-end and gear room and their water jet fabrication room.  We then went on our tour of the grounds.  We looked inside the chassis fabrication facility and their hauler bay.  We were told that everything that we saw was “for sale” because at the end of the season this racing operation will be shutting down.  I am very thankful we were able to see this facility prior to that happening.  An interesting fact that we learned at Waltrip Racing was that their tire bill alone for the season is $1.5 million.

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I have to say, touring these facilities was one of my funnest things on this roadtrip!  The people at each facility were very nice and if you are in any way a race fan I would recommend you add this to your “to do” list.

Below is a great video that Grace put together for me of the day.