North Carolina, USA

I know, it's about time. In early October, we took a trip to Charlotte, NC to see our first NASCAR race. We decided in July to take the opportunity to watch race #5 of the Chase at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Yes, Lowe's was chosen due to discounts that could be given due to Bryan's employement there. Alas, the cheap seats are in turn 2, and Bryan had his heart set on the start/finish line. So much for deals. We planned a long weekend visit, arriving Wednesday evening. As there was no racing on Thursday, I routed out an American war tour. We drove out to Greensboro and visited a Revolutionary War battle site. From the information we learned, it sounds as if this particular scuffle was a run up to the turning point for "U.S." the Americans. There were several memorials. One was of General Nathaneal Greene who commanded the deep respect (more like fear) of General Cornwallis. We then headed towards a Civil War military cemetary. At this location are 11 trenches filled with thousands of Union soldiers who died during their imprisonment by the Confederates. The cemetary has been expanded to include the dead from all American wars. One of the most recent headstones was from a soldier who gave his life in Iraqi Freedom. He was only 18 years old. May we never forget the sacrifices given by those who want to ensure our freedom.
Friday morning we went out to a small plantation (should have been called a farm). The area was beautiful, and the house was striking, but all of the other out buildings were replicas. I thought I would feel a sense of hope lost, as several slaves had worked the land, but there was nothing of the sort. I chalk it up to the size; I can't imagine the life here was pleasant. Into the afternoon we headed to the first of our two main events, the Nationwide series race. Bryan wanted to arrive extremely early, but I made him wait until 2 pm, which ended up being good. The race didn't start until 8 pm, and as you have a reserved seat, there are no lines waiting to get in. We arrived so early, we got to watch qualifying for the race, 2 Sprint Cup practices and much boredom. We went somewhat cheap on these seats. Still at the start/finish line we sat up in the nosebleed section. It was a good choice as it did rain that night some, and we were under the box seats, which kept us from getting wet. It also allowed for the best angles of picture taking. We could get the start/finish line and all 4 turns at a bird's eye view. Jimmie chose to participate in this event and drove the Lowe's #5 car. He didn't fare well, and ended up wrecking out. We were able to get some shots of him on the large screen while waiting in rain delay. By the 2/3 point, Kyle Busch was leading the race and was definitely going to win. Since Jimmie was no longer in the mix, we decided to head out early.
Saturday was the BIG event! Once again we headed to the track extremely early. This time we spent forever outside the gates waiting for the clock to hit 2 pm so we could put our pit passes to good use. We were hoping to get a glimpse of Jimmie, if not a signature from him, Chad Knaus maybe, and even try to get Jr. Once into the track, we had the displeasure of finding out pit passes are for that only, the "pits". Meaning where the cars stop to get fresh tires, fuel and wedge adjustments. It was the biggest waste of money ever spent. To see the drivers you had to purchase a garage pass. DO NOT FORGET THIS IF YOU CHOOSE TO GO TO A RACE!!! We tried to make the most of our unfortunate event, and took several pictures of Jimmie's pit, and some of Jr.'s and even got one of Elliot Sadler's (Bryan wanted to meet him to ask his "cousin" to give him a job). I grew bored of the pit pass quickly and we headed to our seats. We got to sit in the multi-colored chairs on row 13 across from the start/finish line. The lady who sat next to us was from Knoxville and was the friendliest stranger I've ever met. She let me borrow her People magazine to help with my boredom and kept a constant stream of chatter with Bryan. She took the picture of us on the track, which turned out really nice. We also got to enjoy a free concert of Jessica Simpson. Southerners love her, but I found her to be definitely ditzy, out of breath after just a few lines of song, and the biggest idiot at trying to raise awareness of breast cancer. Her show should have been a comedy tour. After her performance the race finally began. Jimmie didn't do very well; he seemed to be extremely loose the entire race. On the final laps he did give a shot for the lead with Jeff Burton, but his heart just didn't seem to be in it. It's amazing, during those 5-10 laps, I found myself becoming extremely agitated and realized I was shouting and cheering him on as loudly as possible. Who would've thunk?! I tend to be so quiet and reserved. Bryan preferred the nosebleeds as pictures were hard to get down at the racetrack. On the last few laps, we watched Matt Kenseth get turned around. The whole scenario played out right in front of us and was amazing to watch. While at home, you have to rely on the network to get lucky and be on the right camera. We'll never get a better view of a car wreck. We did stay until the last lap, but once Jeff Burton took the checkers, we skedaddled out of there. We didn't want to watch the festivities of one of our least favorite drivers, and didn't want to be stuck in traffic with a million drunk rednecks. We spent maybe 20 minutes in line waiting to get out. It was perfect!
Sunday we headed to the Appalachia mountains. I was expecting hilly grandeur but was greeted with the most ridiculous set of hills I've ever seen. There was no "smoky" mountains as the weather was too hot for mist to form. The traffic was ridiculous, and we ended up having to head our way out through the Tennessee side. Just so everyone knows, on the TN side of Great Smoky Mountains Nat'l Park is Dollyland, meaning Dolly Parton. Bryan and I haven't laughed so hard in our lives. There are amusement park rides along the strip, the most common being NASCAR go-cart thrill rides. It honestly was Dolly"HELL"land. We finally did escape and were even more disappointed once we realized we hadn't seen any wooden buildings (this park is meant to have the largest concentration of 1800s structure than anywhere else in the south; what a joke).
Monday was our last day, and once again we headed over to Hendrick's. Donny, the driver who came to Utah in July to do the Logan car show with the #48 show car, had invited to give us a personal tour of the shops. He had Robert, a gentleman who had worked with Hendrick for over 30 years. He took us through the engine shop, machine shop, the #24, #48, #88, and #5 shops, the rear end and car build shops, the show car shop, and even practice sessions for pit crews. He tried to snag us a ruined alternator cover, but another employee saw us about to walk out with it and had to take it back. There are no cameras inside the engine and machine shops, and nothing leaves without special permission. Bummer. While we were in the #88 shop, we got to touch Jr's helmet (ooooohhhhh!). We even got to see Jr.'s wrecked car from Saturday night's race. They had already cut out all the good sheet metal. In the trash, Robert rounded up a couple pieces of the race cars for us to have as souvenirs. We also saw Steve LeTarte in the #24 shop, and the back of Chad Knaus' head (although at the time we had no idea who it was). He was a goldmine of information, and we will be ever grateful to him for our experience.
We flew home on Tuesday and were happy to be home. The Rocky Mountains are majestic, and we appreciate them so much more now after having such a dismal experience with the Appalachias. If you ever find yourself in the position to enjoy a NASCAR race, DO IT! It is an experience you will be happy you did.

2010 Camaro at SEMA

Here are some versions of the new Camaro for SEMA. Notice the 70-81 style spoiler. The LS7(427) will be showcased as a GMperformance parts option for the car reminiscent of the Yenko and COPO cars of 1969. GM has put a lot of focus on their stupid fuel efficient V6, so far 84% of the Camaros that have been pre-ordered have been V8 SS models. Once again it is apparent they focused on the wrong thing. No matter mine will be outfitted with the LS7 unless something better comes along before then.