Last month IZ and I went to visit Michael Waltrip Racing while the older kids were busy with standardized testing. I've been to a couple of racing shops (DEI, Hendrick, Gibbs). Most are free get in and you can take a step or two into a fab shop or watch a few rooms behind glass. MWR is different. You can get in the souvenir shop and see some uniforms and bio films for free but for 15 bucks ($8 for kids) you can see pretty much EVERYTHING. While the price was a bit much to take everyone, IZ and I were able to go for pretty cheap (I had a coupon too). It was GREAT!
I AM biased since Michael is my favorite driver. I don't know every detail of his life but I know he's goofy and likes to joke around. He also loves the Lord, his wife and kids (sound like someone I'd root for? YOU BET!!)So this was pretty much racing paradise for me. You could watch them do everything from building shock absorbers to putting decals on the body. The REALLY cool thing was every half hour or so, they have guides that will also take you inside areas that you normally can't see. You can walk into the haulers (unless they're busy loading 'em for Sunday's race), watch pit crew practice (see the pics below) and pretty much see the whole operation. (even Michael's motor home and pickup truck!)
We happened to be there when Michael's pit crew was practicing out back. They have a small set of bleachers that you can watch them changing tires and gassing up from about twenty feet away. Very cool. Before they started, one of the pitcrew came over to IZ and gave him a package of earplugs 'cause they run the car into the pit space and tear out of there
quickly (12 seconds or less). The practice car wasn't as loud as I thought but it was a very considerate gesture.One of the things I learned was that the tires from Goodyear come with the lug nuts (yellow or pink --easier to see at night) glued on. When they got done with the tire change practice, there were lug nuts on the ground and they gave us some as a free gift! (sweet!)
2 comments:
Fun! We've only been to Hendrick's shop. We'll have to visit MWR one of these days. Thanks for the info!
Glad they were able to get up there. I also went to RYR once, with a few of the children, when they were located off of Rozzelles Ferry Rd.
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