Okay, so I got a phone call the other day from NHRA asking me if I wanted to go to Charlotte for a press announcement. Talk about being caught totally off guard, but I do have to say I was very excited. At first I didn’t know what it was about because I was not informed during the first phone call. I figured it was something about the new drag strip, but I didn’t know that until the day before when I got the email. And needless to say when I got the email I was pumped. I started reading it to Angie and my sister, Amanda and they got very excited as well.

So, the next morning I got ready to go to Charlotte for the big announcement. Amanda took the day off work and went with me. She told me that the NASCAR Sprint Series Media Tour was going on at Lowes Motor Speedway, so she figured there were going to be around 250 media people there. We both figured, hey what a better way to look for a sponsor. So we loaded up and took some of my portfolios with us.

We got down there and saw where they had basically just grazed the ground for the new strip, and it definitely got me pumped. We got inside one of the NASCAR garages, which was where the announcement was going to be made. There were already a lot of media there, but they were waiting on about three bus loads worth of people to show up. So, we just socialized with a bunch of people hoping that something may come out of this and we could find a sponsor.

At around 11 a.m. we finally took our seats at the front of the media conference. It was Doug Herbert, Ron Capps, Jeg Coughlin and myself. Bruton Smith and Tom Compton were there as well. When Bruton started talking they unveiled the plans for the strip, and it was awesome. We each got a turn to speak and then they showed some B-roll footage from the 2007 season. It was cool. The media that were there got excited. You could tell that NHRA coming to North Carolina is going to be huge for this area. A lot of people are very excited, including myself. Before the closest NHRA track to my town was Atlanta. This track is going to be a little over an hour from my house, so you can imagine my excitement.

Now all we have to do is just find the sponsor and hope we get to race there with the rest of the NHRA tour in September, because it is going to be the best racetrack on the tour, hands down. Bruton Smith himself said, “This track will be the Bellagio of all of the drag strips.”

Anyway, hope you guys are checking the releases on it out and buying your tickets cause it’s going to be amazing.

***I do want to say that my thoughts and prayers are with Doug Herbert and his family through this incredibly tough time. I want to send my condolences to them all. Please pray from them!***