Our President

I want to tell you about the hospitality shown by Nichole and Mindy from the National Office during our trip to the Daytona NASCAR Coke Zero 400. They were our hostesses; they gave great directions & were waiting when we arrived. Shirts and hats were given to Ken Weas, me, and our attendants. That was great, we had something for drivers to sign when we met them. Then, Mindy went through the hassle of getting an extra parking pass, because neither Ken’s truck nor my van accommodates two wheelchairs.

After a short glance around the back of the speedway we went to meet the drivers at their motor coach. It wasn’t a quick, “Hi, sorry, we’ve got to go,” thing. We were accorded time to take pictures; ask questions, we even heard some inside jokes. We left of our own accord only after exhausting all our queries.

Nichole gave us a “Back Lot Tour,” through the work areas and the car qualifying area and explained the nuances of the order of placement at Daytona versus other tracks. While there, we were able to view the “Mission Able” paint scheme on the #43 car which is driven by A.J. Allmendinger. This seemed to be the order of the day, good things kept happening.
We visited the pit where we would watch the race and then given some free time to explore. We were able to roll out on the infield and the track and experience the ambiance of the race culture and the enormity of the speedway.

Back at the truck we met Richard Petty. As I was told, he is a complete gentleman. He posed for pictures, signed our hats, spoke to us individually and drew a crowd that was approaching a hundred before he left. Then it was off to the Drivers Meeting where we heard a lot of technical talk. However, the fun part was picking out all the VIP’s of the racing world. Jack Roche, Bodie Parker, Juan Pablo, Richard Childers, Dale, Jr., Tony Stewart, Darien Grubbs, and Ryan Newman were the drivers we recognized. Of course the most important people there were the Congressional Medal of Honor winners.(see page 7)These six men, have more in common than the medal, they're all Nam vets.

I was beginning to get hungry when Nichole asked, “Ready for some food?” Again, it wasn’t plop a little on your plate and finished, it was, “Take all you want, there’s plenty.”
The driver’s introductions came next but we were hiding from the rain in the pits. This was nice because it cooled things down. A stirring rendition of our National Anthem was followed by a flyby of F-18 Hornets from California, timed to the nanosecond.

After the jet dryers did their thing, the race began. We were sitting a few feet the pits. The proximity was amazing, but so was the hospitality. They gave us head sets connected to small video screens so we could listen to the crew chiefs and drivers and protect our hearing. I discovered why shoes and pants are required. They use a torch and a putty knife to melt the already scorching hot rubber off the tires. The flaming stuff was dropped at my feet. I was truly impressed at all the data that is collected and processed.

When A.J. Allmendinger wasn’t able to do any more laps the Official in the pits pointed at me and motioned to the wall. As I rolled forward he did the same to Ken. We had an excellent view and got to see pit stops on each side of us. Not many people get to see that from a few feet away. It was a great opportunity which I enjoyed immensely. A big thank you to the National offices, and especially to Petty Enterprises for a great time.

Steve Kirk

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