Hey, blog readers! LP with you again, still from Lincolnton, still at the shop. I have lived in this great state of North Carolina for 10 months now, and today marks a special occasion. This is the first time in these 10 months I have been home for more than eight days in a row. Crazy, isn’t it? So you dream about having a job in racing? Would you like being home for six, seven days at the most before heading out again? Well, I had the dream, now I’m living it, and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. How many days until Vegas??

As a Sports Management major at Lenoir-Rhyne College, sometimes my classes present pretty cool opportunities. Dr. Dale King, one of my professors, taught a gentleman when he attended LR, and wanted us to meet him. As it turns out, Mike Arning, her former student and current PR guru, handles all of the public relations duties for a former Nextel Cup Champion and current Chase contender. Listening to his story was not only entertaining, but informative. Certainly lots for a PR rookie like myself to take in! We got to take a look at the Media Center for the Speedway, too, and I have to say I was blown away. Some of the tracks we go to on the POWERade tour have top of the line, A-plus facilities. But this place? Wow. He talked to us from the auditorium where they hold press conferences. Yes, I said auditorium. I kid you not. It was great to see how “the roundy-round side” lives, and at the same time made me appreciate what we have on the “straight” side of things: where every ticket is a pit pass, where fans have the opportunity to talk to living, breathing drivers, where families can not only watch racing, but participate in it together. What a great sport we have!

Doug went out to the track on Saturday for the big to do, and here is a little of what he had to say about his latest NASCAR experience:

The NASCAR race was fun! Carl from Snap-on got our buddy Wally McCarty over at Penske Racing to hook us up with hot passes, and I had a fun time seeing the guys in the pits. I was really surprised at how many people I knew, and even more surprised at how many of the crew guys used to work at the drag races on fuel cars. One crew guy I talked to said working on a Cup car was like being on vacation compared to working on a fuel car! That was funny!

While Doug was enjoying his day at the track, a friend and I indulged in a little football action. Being from Kentucky, I’m simply ecstatic that we have a football team. A real, true, football team. Sure, there has always been football at the University of Kentucky, but it has never been much to write home about. Until this season. And just in case you missed it, UK beat the number one team in the country, LSU, in the THIRD overtime, 43–37. Go Big Blue!

On the racing side of things, we at Doug Herbert Performance Parts and Racebricks want to send a big congratulations to A.J. Thomas for winning the 2007 Junior Track Championship at Firebird International Raceway in Phoenix. A.J. won the track championship during the semifinal round of the last race, and then went on to win the whole race. He cut on awesome light in the last round -- .001 of a second! Congratulations, A.J. and everyone at JR Thomas MotorSports. We will see you soon!

I went down to the race shop a few minutes ago, thanks to Donna’s call for help. Oh, nothing was wrong, but she was kind of sick…because Allison’s husband Larry is such a sweetheart! He was driving down the road, thinking about his sweetie, and sent her a dozen pink roses, just because. Kudos to Larry, and a lesson for all you other fellas out there: flowers are ALWAYS a good idea, especially when it’s just because.

As I was standing there talking to Shannon, Dave, and Big Ed, trying to keep Allison’s head from getting too big because of her “because flowers,” a deer ran out from the trees beside the shop, and stood in the middle of the road. I didn’t have my camera on me, and couldn’t get a decent shot with my phone. Now, Lincolnton isn’t exactly a major metropolitan area, but we aren’t exactly in the middle of the sticks, either. Seeing a deer run out of nowhere was a bit of a surprise. The deer made it safely across the way, and I learned a valuable lesson: a good blogger should never be too far from her camera.

Until next time, be good,

LP