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NASCAR Days
Wednesday was spent in Mooresville and Concord doing Christmas shopping and touring some race shops. I’d been dying to check them out for a while. Finally did it. Yay me! Especially considering I only had directions to two of the shops. Thank you DEI and Roush for recognizing that people are coming to your area from I-85 and not just I-77.
The Shops
The shops I went to were DEI, Roush and Penske. Due to time constraints and the fact that I was basically stumbling around looking for these places, I couldn’t fit in more (although if I’d wanted I could have gone in Yates – I just knew at that point that the Penske walk was closing soon and the timing just wasn’t working).
1. Roush – Probably the biggest facility. We’re talking three to four separate buildings spread down a street. Unfortunately, Roush is the one place that had signs at the very end. They weren’t big on identifying where visitors were to go. So I drove past several of these buildings getting frustrated until I came upon the right one. Inside the fan portion of the building was the mini-museum with a few cars (the only Nextel car being Kurt’s) and some signage and info on their drivers. Basic information. The shop had tons of product, but we’re talking product for every driver, not just Roush drivers. And Biffle was sorely underrepresented for a guy that came in second in points. The kicker is that the fan portion is completely separate from operations, so you can’t see anything.
2. Penske – Huge new facility in a new location, but getting there is hard. Most directions are from I-77, so if you come in via I-85 you have to backtrack to I-77, which is four miles out of the way, if you’re following the directions. Signage on site is good, so it’s not hard to find your way around. Their shop is fairly antiseptic and the product is fairly boring. And the employees I interacted with? Yeah. I wouldn’t have been there if it hadn’t been for Kvapil, and those folks really made me not want to come back. On the plus side, they have a Fan Walk that kicks butt. And there’s a big window in the gift shop looking into the garage. The Fan Walk is above the garage and runs the length of the garage. Rusty’s cars come first, then Newman’s, the Kvapil’s. Behind the cars are offices in what is essentially small buildings in this space. And this is where I saw Matt Borland, working in his office. Borland! Squee! (Give me K-naus in conjunction with Borland and I’d be all atwitter.)
3. DEI – Let it be noted that I don’t singularly go with a specific race shop. I don’t automatically root for a driver based on who their teammates are or who they race for. Up until recently folks assumed I was a DEI girl because of my Mikey and Junior love. I could be called a Yates girl because of DJ and Ellyut. So while DEI was the first place I was headed, I’m not very partial to DEI. Folks, DEI ROCKS. It takes the best of the other shops and adds to it, and is obviously something for the fans. The architects and designers were really thinking about creating a complete facility. The museum has color and depth and packs a lot of info into a small space. There are cars and suits, video and trophies, history and pictures. In the midst of it is a view into a garage area where work may be done during the season. And the fan shop is stock full of a wide range of merchandise. My only complaint about DEI? The name isn’t on the outside. It’s weird, because you’re driving in the middle of nowhere looking for what you know will be a huge facility, and suddenly there it is…and there’s nothing to identify it. The people were nice.
The Booty
Of course I spent money and bought things. Merry Christmas to me! LOL
1. Dale Jr. hooded zippered sweatshirt, red.
2. Greg Biffle baseball tee in green and white
3. Elliott Sadler baseball cap
4. Travis Kvapil car decal
5. Greg Biffle car decal
6. Dale Jr. antennae topper
7. Dale Jr. antennae topper for sister
8. Dale Sr. antennae topper for brother-in-law
9. Kevin Harvick replacement car decal
10. Kasey Kahne replacement car decal
11. Travis Kvapil mug
12. Travis Kvapil keychain for Bubbles
Wednesday was spent in Mooresville and Concord doing Christmas shopping and touring some race shops. I’d been dying to check them out for a while. Finally did it. Yay me! Especially considering I only had directions to two of the shops. Thank you DEI and Roush for recognizing that people are coming to your area from I-85 and not just I-77.
The Shops
The shops I went to were DEI, Roush and Penske. Due to time constraints and the fact that I was basically stumbling around looking for these places, I couldn’t fit in more (although if I’d wanted I could have gone in Yates – I just knew at that point that the Penske walk was closing soon and the timing just wasn’t working).
1. Roush – Probably the biggest facility. We’re talking three to four separate buildings spread down a street. Unfortunately, Roush is the one place that had signs at the very end. They weren’t big on identifying where visitors were to go. So I drove past several of these buildings getting frustrated until I came upon the right one. Inside the fan portion of the building was the mini-museum with a few cars (the only Nextel car being Kurt’s) and some signage and info on their drivers. Basic information. The shop had tons of product, but we’re talking product for every driver, not just Roush drivers. And Biffle was sorely underrepresented for a guy that came in second in points. The kicker is that the fan portion is completely separate from operations, so you can’t see anything.
2. Penske – Huge new facility in a new location, but getting there is hard. Most directions are from I-77, so if you come in via I-85 you have to backtrack to I-77, which is four miles out of the way, if you’re following the directions. Signage on site is good, so it’s not hard to find your way around. Their shop is fairly antiseptic and the product is fairly boring. And the employees I interacted with? Yeah. I wouldn’t have been there if it hadn’t been for Kvapil, and those folks really made me not want to come back. On the plus side, they have a Fan Walk that kicks butt. And there’s a big window in the gift shop looking into the garage. The Fan Walk is above the garage and runs the length of the garage. Rusty’s cars come first, then Newman’s, the Kvapil’s. Behind the cars are offices in what is essentially small buildings in this space. And this is where I saw Matt Borland, working in his office. Borland! Squee! (Give me K-naus in conjunction with Borland and I’d be all atwitter.)
3. DEI – Let it be noted that I don’t singularly go with a specific race shop. I don’t automatically root for a driver based on who their teammates are or who they race for. Up until recently folks assumed I was a DEI girl because of my Mikey and Junior love. I could be called a Yates girl because of DJ and Ellyut. So while DEI was the first place I was headed, I’m not very partial to DEI. Folks, DEI ROCKS. It takes the best of the other shops and adds to it, and is obviously something for the fans. The architects and designers were really thinking about creating a complete facility. The museum has color and depth and packs a lot of info into a small space. There are cars and suits, video and trophies, history and pictures. In the midst of it is a view into a garage area where work may be done during the season. And the fan shop is stock full of a wide range of merchandise. My only complaint about DEI? The name isn’t on the outside. It’s weird, because you’re driving in the middle of nowhere looking for what you know will be a huge facility, and suddenly there it is…and there’s nothing to identify it. The people were nice.
The Booty
Of course I spent money and bought things. Merry Christmas to me! LOL
1. Dale Jr. hooded zippered sweatshirt, red.
2. Greg Biffle baseball tee in green and white
3. Elliott Sadler baseball cap
4. Travis Kvapil car decal
5. Greg Biffle car decal
6. Dale Jr. antennae topper
7. Dale Jr. antennae topper for sister
8. Dale Sr. antennae topper for brother-in-law
9. Kevin Harvick replacement car decal
10. Kasey Kahne replacement car decal
11. Travis Kvapil mug
12. Travis Kvapil keychain for Bubbles
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