Last week I went to North Carolina as I said I was going to do. The first place I went was to Mooresville to visit my KB Racing teammates. I was not surprised to find Greg Anderson, three-time POWERade champ testing. The facility is right next door to the shop and they make laps down the track as often as possible. Greg, Rob, and the guys were there testing when I got there on Wednesday and they were there testing on Friday when I left. Greg said that as long it’s not raining and the air temperature stays above 60 degrees, they run the car. The day I took this picture it started raining so they were forced to stop.
Other than a little rain on one of the days, the weather was unseasonably warm in North Carolina. I didn’t mind at all. The temps were in the high 70s and set records. It was so warm that the KB Racing Christmas Party dinner was outside. We went to Red Rock Café in Huntersville and had dinner out on the patio. Ken Black, the KB Racing team owner, treats the team to a Christmas party/dinner every year. I was glad that I happened to be in town. I don’t get to hang out with the Pro Stock team a whole lot. When I do see them, it’s usually at the track and obviously everyone is pretty focused on racing. It was nice to go to dinner with the team, be in a relaxed setting, and hang out. We took up three big tables. I think there were about 35 of us. I didn’t get a picture with the entire group. This one is Jennifer Sandlin who works in the on the left, Kim Anderson, me, and Cindy Line.
The next day I went with Ken to Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord. The track is owned by Bruton Smith and we got a tour of the main building that overlooks the NASCAR track. There are a lot of offices and banquet rooms. Jeff, one of the engineers who works for the track, took us over to the site where they plan to build the dragstrip. They have not begun construction yet but there are big plans. Jeff laid out the actual written plans for us to see. It looks like it’s going to be a great facility. They want it to be as good as or better than Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which is a tall order. I think he said Smith has a $60 million budget for the new track which will seat 18,000. They are aiming to have the new facility finished in time so they can host a big event in September. They have a lot to do but I think it will be great if they can get it done in time. Good weather will help. I took a picture of where the strip will go. They said that the track will go right through where those white boxes are now.
I left Charlotte on Friday morning. I’m really glad I went. I stayed at Greg and Kim’s house. It was nice of them, their daughter, Brittany, and son, Cody, to let me stay with them. They were very welcoming. Kim has the house decorated for Christmas and it looks great. I feel so fortunate that I have the opportunity to be around them and the whole Pro Stock race team. I think there is so much I can learn from being around them and talking to them.
I flew back to Michigan and spent the weekend there. Most weekends I end up traveling somewhere, but this time I just stayed around. It was nice to hang out with some good friends and have fun. The only thing that wasn’t fun was when a huge snow storm came in on Saturday night. It looked like a blizzard. On Sunday morning the news was telling everyone to stay home and not drive anywhere. That bothered me too much to be trapped in my house so I ventured out and improved my snow driving skills. I really haven’t had very much experience at it. As long as I don’t text and drive, I do alright.
Instead of playing in the snow I should have been working my Christmas cards. I’m sending them late, again. At least the blog got done though. As promised, I’ll write again on Thursday.