I know we race all over the country 23-plus weekends a year, but when I get a chance to experience other forms of racing, I can't wait to jump at the chance. This past weekend, we were invited by Wiley X to attend the "Wiley X Winner's Circle 2007" at the NASCAR race at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte. What an awesome experience it was for me and my family.

Maybe I should start at the beginning.

On Friday morning, Toni, Melissa and I took the rig (with the racecar) to Lowe's Motor Speedway. We arrived at the exit to the track just about the same time as a few thousand Busch fans so it took me a little longer to find a parking spot for the rig than I had anticipated. You can only imagine the sight our tractor trailer weaving in and out of the hoards of fans running for the grandstands and the massive lines of cars jockeying for parking spots as we made our way to the outskirts of the track to park our rig.

We were scheduled to unload the racecar Saturday morning and display it in the Wiley X hospitality chalet, but for now, it was parked safe and sound away from the masses of fans preparing for that night's Busch race. Jamie and Cynthy arrived in the GMC Denali and we headed to the hotel. That is when the fun began.

Myles and Dan Freeman, the owners of Wiley X, had invited about 50 of their top dealers to share a VIP weekend of food, racing, and fun and I don't think that anyone was disappointed. Everyone was hosted to a great dinner Friday night, a chartered bus to and from the racetrack, a hospitality chalet complete with driver appearances (including Richard and Kyle Petty!), unlimited food, goodie bags, grandstand seats, complimentary scanners to hear all of the race talk, and of course our Wiley X GTO on display.

Some of us had "Hot" passes and were able to walk around the garage area and watch the racing from behind the scenes. I met up with my good friend Dave Ferroni (he used to do our PR during the McDonald's and Splitfire years) and he and Myles took Jamie and I to the NASCAR Driver's Meeting. Though I was just a spectator in the meeting, I still had the chance to chat with some of my NASCAR friends after business was completed. We had a blast!

The race was exciting, especially the end, the weather could not have been any better, and believe it or not it didn't take our bus very long to exit the very crowed racetrack and make it back to the hotel. Many of our friends were catching early morning flights so we said our good byes in the wee hours of the morning and called it a night. We would pick up the rig in the morning and head back to the shop.

While driving home, Toni, Melissa, and I talked and recounted the fun times we had during the weekend. We laughed at the sight of us pulling the racecar with the golf cart around the perimeter of the racetrack on Saturday morning, especially with the fans yelling for me to "start 'er up" as we towed past. We talked about the new friends we had made and the old friends we had gotten to see again. Of course, none of this would have been possible without our good friends at Wiley X and for that we are very grateful. Thanks guys.

Well, it is time to close this blog and head back out to the shop to work on getting the rig ready to leave for our last trip out west for the year. I figure if I leave Sunday, I should arrive at The Strip by Wednesday with no problems. From that point we have an exciting, non-stop week of racing at Vegas, the SEMA show, and then Pomona. It is hard to believe that the season is almost over. Where has the time gone?

By the way, you will have to keep checking back with me as we have had some really exciting developments here at Jim Yates Racing and we are hoping to be able to tell everyone more about it in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned…

Jim