Guest Post: Megan Leben is a Middle School student from Georgia and an avid NASCAR fan. She's also contributed to SBNATION and you can read Megan's other article here.
During summer vacation
most kids choose to go to the beach or Disney, but one year I chose to go to
NASCAR country! I spent weeks researching and planning our visit. I thought the day would never arrive, but
eventually we were in Charlotte! There’s
so much to do and see for NASCAR fans that we couldn’t fit it all in. We did our best, driving around from dawn to
dusk and it will always be one of my favorite summer vacations!
Our visit to Charlotte couldn’t be complete without a trip to Hendrick Motorsports! When I was there, Dale Jr and Mark Martin shared one shop while Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon shared the other. When I say shop I don’t mean the kind people have in their backyards! These buildings were clean and shiny with car after car lined up with people preparing them for the racetrack! Each building also showcased trophies that the teams had won and each driver’s show car. The gift shop had everything NASCAR you could imagine! We got lucky and got to watch one of the pit crew practices. We were the only people out there so when they finished practicing they let me get in the car! They even started the car for me and the roar of the engine was music to my ears! The racecar they were practicing with was one of Mark Martin’s that he actually drove in a race!
Charlotte Motor
Speedway didn’t look anything like it does during race weekend! We signed up to
ride in a van through the infield and around the track! While our speed wasn’t
anywhere close to 200 miles per hour, it was so cool to feel what the drivers
feel like while they are on the track during a race. I felt like I was sitting
sideways in the seat! We even got to go in Victory Lane!
Where else but
Roush-Fenway Racing can you see the Cat in the Hat himself? We were looking through
the glass at the guys working on Greg Biffle’s car and next thing I knew Jack
Roush walked up and started looking at the car and talking to the crew! We went
in the museum at the complex which had everything from trophies from wins to
part of the plane from one of Jack Roush’s plane crashes. We saw Matt Kenseth’s
pit crew practicing their stops.
We went to Penske
Racing, Kevin Harvick Inc., Michael Waltrip Racing, and JR Motorsports too!
They had a cool viewing deck at Penske above the floor where they worked on the
cars! It was towards the end of the week so the cars for the race that weekend had
already left for the track, but many people were still hard at work! At Michael
Waltrip Racing, we took a tour that went around the outside of the building to
show us where the pit crew trained and the haulers. The tour also went inside
and we saw where they work on the cars. After the tour ended, we spent a lot of
time in the museum. They had racecar seats you could sit in, part
of Michael McDowell’s car that he crashed in 2008 at Texas qualifying, and you
could see into many of the different sections of the raceshop where people were
working. When we walked in the door at Kevin Harvick Inc. a giant vase of
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups was sitting on the front desk! We asked the
receptionist about it and she told us that every time a Kevin Harvick car won a
race, their sponsor sent candy! At JR Motorsports you could only go in the gift
shop, but there was a window where you could see in the shop and right behind
the window was the #3 Wrangler car that Dale Jr. won in at Daytona that
year….Victory Lane confetti and Gatorade included!
We went to Richard
Childress Racing and toured their racing museum and saw their shop. This was my
dad’s favorite shop. Dale Earnhardt was-and always will be- his favorite
driver! I liked this shop a lot too! It really told the story of Richard
Childress Racing and the famous #3 car! In the museum they had lots of cars and
pictures from past years. There was also a wildlife section that had things
from hunts Richard Childress has been on. They even had the car Dale Earnhardt
won the 1998 Daytona 500 in!
Our last stop was the
NASCAR Hall of Fame. It was AWESOME! There were lots of old racing things and
it was really interesting! I liked the interactive section the best! You could
change a tire, hold a gas can (it’s heavier than it looks!), call a race, and
even wave flags from a flag stand!
Whether you’re a
NASCAR newbie who knows only a little about racing or a veteran fan that knows
every track, every owner, and every driver (and their numbers!), a visit to
NASCAR land is a trip you must take! Every time a driver wins a race he thanks his
team, but he’s not just thanking his pit crew. Going to the shops made me
realize how many people it takes to run a race team. Receptionists, engine
builders, decal experts, PR staff, and so many people that I didn’t even see
are essential parts of a successful race team!
I’m already planning my
next trip to Charlotte! Hope I see you there!
You can follow all of Megan's Nascar adventures on twitter at
As well as her new blog at : http://flagtoflag.blogspot.com/
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