We Have a Winner from Lowe's Motor Speedway!

We had such a great time at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Saturday with all the NASCAR fans! We felt right at home with all of the Harley Davidson and Sturgis shirts we saw, too. We had great conversations with folks about their motorcycles, ATVs and even bicycles. It was a great day. Ok, it could have been better if Jeff Gordon pulled out a win, but it was a good night for him in the points and he even lead for a bit to get those all important 5 bonus points!

If you stopped by to see us...thanks! You couldn't have missed us, right? We were directly in front of the main, Speedway Blvd entrance. We just thought that was cool!





We also were running a contest which tons of people entered. We are giving away a New York Chain, New York Disc Lock, Evolution Mini and a Superman padlock along with an Ingersoll Rand Thunder Gun. No, we are not giving away the Club Car...sorry. We'd like to have that ourselves, but it was only on loan and is already back at its home at Club Car.

So....we have picked a winner.....could be you.....

Drum roll please.....

Our winner is.....

Kevin Powell from California!!!

Congratulations Kevin. I'm still traveling, but when I get back on Friday I'll give you a ring and make sure you get your prize next week.

Thanks, again, to everyone who stopped by. We hope you enjoyed the race and having a safe place to park your motorcycle at the track.

Come Visit Kryptonite at Lowe's Motor Speedway

We're back at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina for the Bank of America 500 Saturday night! We sponsor the motorcycle parking area so you'll have a great place to park your motorcycle when you are at the race. I just looked at the weather and it's supposed to be a beautiful night tomorrow. Perfect to ride to the race.

We'll be in the yellow Kryptonite tent just to the left of the big office tower/front of the track. C'mon by and visit. You can also enter to win a security package (all kinds of locks) along with a Thunder Gun!

Eric, Don and I look forward to seeing you.

Don and Eric checking out the motorcycle parking area in front of the track today.

The motorcycle parking area in the infield was filling up today.

Thanks to Club Car, one of our sister companies, for loaning us this great vehicle!

Don enjoyed looking at the monster Toyota.

Happy Birthday to Dale Earnhardt Jr! For his birthday, Dale Junior announced a new sponsorship with Unilever at LMS. That means you'll see Dale Junior in a few Nationwide races next year!

Who's going to win tomorrow night? The birthday boy...well, that would be ok, but my bet is always with the 24 of Jeff Gordon, of course.

sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY...and Saturday night

Tomorrow's the first race for the Chase at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in New Hampshire. If you don't know what I'm talking about...it's NASCAR, of course! Yes, this self-proclaimed NASCAR Nut will be at the race. As long as Mother Nature cooperates, we'll be cheering from the grandstands in Loudon, NH.

Going to the race tomorrow reminds me that there is another race coming up in the not too distant future where you can see the Kryptonite folks. Like in the Spring, Kryptonite is the Official Motorcycle Parking Area at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, NC. The Bank of America 500 will be held on Saturday night October, 11 and the Kryptonite folks will be there.

If you live in the area and ride, bring your motorcycle. There's a special area in the front of the track for you to park. How do you find it? Look for the big yellow Kryptonite banners, of course.

So, cheer for your favorite driver tomorrow (and all through the Chase) and c'mon out and see the Kryptonite folks in October at LMS!

Go Hendrick Motorsports!!!

Craig's Theories 101

by Craig Glab, Central Regional Manager

Donna seems to have posted a lot about the NASCAR race, but not the shenanigans that went on behind the scenes.

After leaving the track on Friday, and visiting the Bass Pro Shop in Concord, we picked up Nicole and headed out to Dick’s to get a cooler for the next day and apparently, Donna wanted some candy and ended up with Hot Balls.

Then we went to dinner where I had to explain my broccoli theory to Roby, Nicole and Donna. My theory is that every restaurant uses broccoli as the filler vegetable. It’s the cheapest vegetable to buy so they offer it with everything. Have you noticed that restaurants offer it with steak, fish, chicken…whatever. They will throw it on every plate, unless you ask for something different. Why is that? Because the restaurant makes the most money from broccoli. I love broccoli, but I refuse to get it at a restaurant. I always ask for a different vegetable or side.

We even explained this to our waiter who then arrived at the table with a birthday treat for Roby because I told them it was his birthday at the beginning of the evening. The treat? It was a little dessert dish with a candle in a middle of 2 pieces of broccoli. Roby didn’t know exactly what to make if it all since it really wasn’t his birthday, it was a prank.

Roby, Nicole and me at the tent

The next day at the races, I decided to mix the Hot Balls with my beer. Why? Because the Hot Balls are hot and the beer was nice and cold. Donna didn’t seem to get that logic.

Got my first piece of NASCAR apparel, which was a Dale Jr. hat. Makes me enjoy my Mountain Dew that I drink every day! It made me part of Dale Junior’s crew/posse/fan base. Since I’ve spent so much money on Mountain Dew over the years I must have one little, tiny piece of the quarter panel of his car. Do you know that in convenience stores, Mountain Dew is the number 1 pop seller? At least it is at the corner store near my house.

And there you have it. We all had a great time.

And The Winner Is.....

The big day has arrived! While we were at Lowe's Motor Speedway this past weekend, people signed up to win a very cool raffle prize from Kryptonite - a New York Fahgettaboudit chain, a KryptoLok series 2 Mini, an Evolution series 4 Disc Lock, a Superman padlock and an Ingersoll Rand Thunder Gun!

One of our category managers, Don Warren, is a huge Tony Stewart fan, but wasn't able to make it to the race with us. So I asked Don to draw the winning name when we got back yesterday....are you ready race fans?? Are you feeling lucky?

And the winner of the Kryptonite lock package and the Thunder Gun is........
JIMMY HUNSUCKER from North Carolina

Woo-hooo! Congratulations Jimmy! We appreciate you stopping by and will be calling you soon about your prize.

Below are some more photos from our day at the track. Enjoy!

You have no idea how happy I was to see our banners at a NASCAR track!!! You can ask Craig and Roby, but I believe I squealed in delight when I saw this for the first time.

I was equally as thrilled to have our tent up so close to the track we could touch it! What a great location! Craig's doing a good job of holding down the grass don't you think?

As soon as we got the table set up people were right there. This is about 10am.

Before you knew it, there was hardly space to walk by the tent because so many people were lined up to see us. This was about noon-ish.

Nicole signed about 300 posters and posed for tons of photos with fans.

This was around the time Nicole was in the tent. This was around 2-ish. It was like this all day!

How clever was this? Not only were there Kryptonite banners in the motorcycle parking area, but John had each pole stickered! He just ROCKS!!

This is a Dale Earnhardt Junior motorcycle done by OCC. No, it wasn't in the parking area, it was under very watchful eyes.

This was a section of one of the infield motorcycle parking areas. Notice the cool Club Car in the photo, too. Yup, that was our 'baby' for the day. Thanks, Club Car!

Motorcycles in the Kryptonite Motorcycle Parking area at the front of the track.

There were motorcycles for as far as you could see!

The National Guard was protecting Dale Earnhardt Junior's Citizen Soldier car sponsored by our friends at 3 Doors Down. The band also did a pre-race concert for the fans inside the track.

That's the crowd about a half hour before the green flag trying to get to the track. It was an amazing sight!

The view as the sun went down from our seats in turn 2. Time to go racing!

What a great day for Kryptonite!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and congratulations to Kasey Kahne and Jimmy Hunsucker on their big wins!

NASCAR, Birthdays and Full House

I'm back from the weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway. We had a great time, met some wonderful folks and then watched a good race (congrats to Kasey Kahne on a great win!). I'm pooped, but wanted to post just a few photos before I'm done in for the evening. Don't worry - many more coming...and, on Tuesday, we'll announce the winner of the prize package right here!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by our tent. Roby, Nicole, Craig and I enjoyed meeting you all!

The tent was packed all day! We never felt lonely once.

Nicole joined us for half the day and signed autographs, including for the lady on the right. It was her birthday! I am so sorry, but I'm not sure I got her name, or if I did, I don't recall after such a busy day, but, sincerely.....Happy Birthday!

We met so many people who had Harley shirts, Sturgis shirts and even Myrtle Beach 2008 shirts. We talked about motorcycles with people from Connecticut, North Carolina and just about every other Eastern US state. We felt right at home! Here's one of the parking areas for motorcycles in the infield.

Race Day!

Happy Race Day, NASCAR fans! It's time for the All-Star Race here at Lowe's Motor Speedway. If you are coming to the track tonight and live in the area, bring your motorcycle and park it in the Kryptonite Motorcycle Parking Area right in the front of the track! And, don't forget to stop by the Kryptonite tent and say "hi", as well as enter to win some great locks and an Ingersoll Rand Thunder Gun!

See you there!

Let's go racin'!

Lowe's Motor Speedway Here We Come!

Ok, this is a huge week here at Kryptonite. Seems like just about every member of our team is out and about. Dave Perewitz is down at Myrtle Beach Bike Week with his new cool '66 Shovelhead. I talked with him the other day and he's pretty excited about it.

Eric is off to Bike to Work Day in Washington, DC. We've been a proud supporter of this event for years and year. This will be Eric's first time and he's looking forward to it. If you are going, please see him under the yellow Kryptonite tent and say "hi".

But, I think I have the best end of the deal. As a friend said to me this week, "Talk about combining work and pleasure ... it's your dream trip!" She's known me a long time so she's right.

Don't get me wrong, we all love what we do here at Kryptonite. I don't think we could do our jobs as passionately as we do if we didn't. But, my friend is right....guess where I'm going? Guess...Ok, the title of the post gives it away. I'm like a small child right before Christmas.

Roby, Craig, Nicole and I are going to be at Lowe's Motor Speedway this weekend for the NASCAR All-Star Race! We are the official motorcycle parking area for the speedway this year and we are all stoked about that.

Our ad in the Fan Guide

If you are going to the track on Saturday night c'mon down on your motorcycle. There's plenty of room to park and the Kryptonite Krew will have a yellow tent near there (you can't miss us) so come by and say "hi".

On Saturday afternoon from 1-3pm Nicole Hoffman Roesch will be signing autographs. All day we'll be taking entries for a cool prize pack, too. A Kryptonite security package that includes a New York Fahgettaboudit chain, Evolution series 4 Disc Lock, a KryptoLok series 2 Mini and a Superman padlock. On top of that.....we've also got a Street Legal Thunder Gun! I'm not kidding....ok, it hasn't arrived yet so I might only have a photo at the tent...but it's on order and I have my fingers crossed...but, regardless, whoever wins will get it next week. Winner announced right here on Tuesday!

We'll also have lanyards and stickers and one of the new cool Club Cars to display (and ride around in....beep, beep).

I'm so excited I can barely contain myself!!! Do come by and say "hey" to this fellow NASCAR fan...and let me know who you think is going to win the All-Star Race. I already know who (hint below) but you can weigh in, too.

Ride safe and see you at the track!

Look for this ad in the Lowe's Motor Speedway program!

#24

Rock Stars in Georgia

With all the talk of tattoos, I've been a little behind in the news this week. Just saw this morning that the Rock Stars will be at the Tour of Georgia! Yes, Rock Racing will be there, in full on Monday. Yes, Yes, YES! Finally, some sensibility to this cycling season.

I don't usually do this, but I feel so strongly about this topic that I'm pasting their press release:

Fulton County, Ga. — Professional cycling fans will get their wish after all: Rock Racing will be a part of the 2008 Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T after reaching a settlement with race organizer, Medalist Sports, LLC.

The overwhelming favorite pro team in a recent online poll by Bicycling Magazine, Rock Racing will be a part of the six-day, 660-mile stage race that begins Monday, April 21. The team’s roster for the race will be announced in the coming days.

“The fans told us they wanted us to be there,” says Team Owner Michael Ball. “We are pleased that we were able to work with Medalist to come to a mutually beneficial decision. Now the race will truly field the best of the best of international and domestic pro cycling teams which will only build on the momentum created for domestic cycling at the Tour of California.”

Today’s decision was made after ProTour team Saunier Duval-Scott announced they would not be racing due to numerous injuries of key riders. Rock Racing had filed an injunction earlier this month to be allowed entry into the race.A hearing in the case was scheduled for earlier today but the two parties settled out of court.

Ball said a flood of e-mails, letters and phone calls from fans in support of the team could not be ignored.“The team is ready to race. Santiago Botero’s win and the team’s performance at Redlands is a clear indication of what to expect next week in Georgia,” said Ball.

Rock Racing’s Botero convincingly won the Redlands Bicycle Classic by 54 seconds in his first ever race in the United States. In capturing the overall, Botero also won the King of the Mountains classification and one stage of the four-day race.At the Amgen Tour of California in February, Rock Racing was equally impressive by scoring seven top 10 finishes during the seven-stage, 650-mile race. To date in 2008, the team has won six races and registered 15 podium finishes.


Way to go Michael Ball!

Rock Racing brings with it all the flash and marketing of a well-oiled NASCAR team. Now, I know that's probably a bad analogy for the cycling world (lots of gas, pollution etc), but marketing-wise, it's a good one. Cycling needs that NASCAR feel - it needs that flash, it needs personalities, it needs a boost and, if you'd like to think of them this way (I don't), it needs some "bad boys" (in a good way, of course).

Now, I will whole-heartedly say - GO, support the Tour of Georgia! GO out on the roads, watch the race, chalk the road, cheer your hearts out. This is going to be one heck of a race. I can't wait to watch it unfold every single day.

To Tyler and all the Rock Stars - Allez! Allez!

Oh, just one thing....again, Rock Racing...where's your gear!? C'mon - we can't wait to get our hands on it.

A Buzz Around Lowe's Motor Speedway

In March I was able to do something pretty darn cool. I was taken around Lowe’s Motor Speedway, in the pace car. Yea, me (!) buzzing around the track in the pace car. How? Well, that’s way cool, too.

We have recently become the official motorcycle parking area of Lowe’s Motor Speedway! How cool is that?! Seriously – when you go to the track for either of the May races or the fall race, we’ll be there. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me!

Ever since I’ve been at Kryptonite (8+ years), I’ve tried to get us involved in NASCAR in some way, shape or form. Why? Because I go to the tracks and I know that there are a lot of Kryptonite locks there already and plenty of opportunities for more to be there. In New Hampshire, people lock their wagons all along the fence, many with Kryptonite cables. At all the tracks there are plenty of reasons in the parking and camping areas for cables and padlocks.

Then there are the golf carts and, of course, the motorcycles. Tons of motorcycles.

When Roby and I went to the speedway last fall with some of our customers we had a great meeting with John down there and continued to have conversations as we came into the new year. One thing led to another and we were good to go by early this year. The motorcycle parking area will be branded Kryptonite and we’ll have a tent there for the race on May 18th. Guess what? Nicole Hoffman (now Roesch, by the way), will be with us, too.

The outside of the motorcycle parking area in the infield (for the teams & crews). Picture a Kryptonite banner right there!

So, all of that brought me down to the Speedway recently. Met with John, scouted out some areas for banners and a tent and such and then he took me for a buzz around the track. Seriously, for a NASCAR fan, it doesn’t get too much better than that, right? Not only that, he then took me over to The Dirt Track and I got to see some of the construction going on for the drag strip, too. I saw some drawings of what that baby is going to look like come fall. Let me just tell you – if you are an NHRA fan, get your tickets to the September opening of the new facility. It is first class all the way. You don’t want to miss it.

More to come on some of the cool things going on at the Speedway when we are down there. I can’t wait!!!

A view from the track!

Dale Earnhardt, Jr's new ride

I was in North Carolina yesterday for a meeting. It wasn't too far from Hendrick Motorsports so I took the opportunity to take a quick run to their complex. I hear they have a "new kid" racing for them and I wanted to get a look at his car up close. (ok, seriously, do you really think I could be that close to HMS and not stop by??)

What do you think? Kinda stands out, doesn't it?

Maybe you've seen it on the track. I think the "new kid" might just turn out ok for the Hendrick bunch. What do you think?

I Spy....

At the end of last week we had a full team meeting where most of the guys who work out of the office were in. It was like old home week - and lots of fun.

Since you hear about the gang here often, I thought I'd snap a few pictures and post them. I'll preface this with saying that none were too happy about my being a shutterbug, but hey...it's all in good fun.

Don Shipman and Craig Glab came in and went right to work in the cube across from me.

Gustavo and Roger saw each other for the first time in 5 years! How is that possible? Roger is our Director of Sales for our residential & commercial sales based here in New England. Gustavo was head of action sport sales in Europe until the end of the year. He's now in the States again, working to develop some different areas for us. We have a new, fantastic guy, Paul, in Europe. You'll be meeting him here soon....

I tried to sneak up on Neil McDaid and Craig, thinking they were working hard. Turns out Neil was practicing for the Kryptonite beauty pageant and Craig was giving him pointers. Hmmm...maybe one pointer would have been to decide which NASCAR driver he's going to be a fan of...he's a little confused (Stewart or Montoya?). But, as an aside, congrats to Juan Pablo Montoya for his win in the Rolex 24 Hour this weekend!

Sandy, Donna, Joe, Eric and the jokesters gather for a meeting. Let me just tell you, if the jokesters on the right are ever in a meeting you are conducting...beware...heckling will ensue. But, it's all in good fun.

It was good to have the gang in the office. It was kind of festive and fun. Come back again soon, gang.

Sharing November 15 with Richard Petty and Jeff Gordon

A few weeks ago the NASCAR guys were in Atlanta where they celebrated the 15 year anniversary of a major milestone. It was at that track 15 years ago where King Richard Petty made his last NASCAR start and a young guy named Jeff Gordon made his first NASCAR start. Talk about a baton pass – wow! Of course, nobody knew then about Jeff Gordon’s career what we all know now….4 championships later. But, still, it’s pretty poignant.

The actual date of that race was November 15. When I looked at that date I realized that another significant event happened that day. No, not to the world at large, but in my little world. It’s the day I started at Kryptonite. Yes, 8 years ago today I walked into the doors of a funky, fun family business. The air was electric and dynamic – and sometimes held balls that sailed by your head when you least expected it (affectionately, of course).

Day to day you didn’t know what might happen – a pick up flag football game in the back yard, movie clips played over the intercom system, a dog wandering the hall or practical jokes orchestrated by quite a few pranksters on just about anyone (nobody was immune). The one thing that you were always guaranteed to find was passion and hard work. We had fun, sure, but we all worked really, really hard. It was a magical time and I couldn’t believe my good fortune at being picked to work at this great company (thanks Peter, Gary and Karen).

My dog Chauncey (RIP) goofing off in my first office shortly after I started.

She spent many days at the office with me and loved all the attention from her friends!

Through the 8 years I’ve traveled around the US, to many different countries (I highly recommend Lago di Garda in the spring) and met some incredible people along the way. Some I consider more friends than colleagues or business associates – a couple I’d consider just about family even. I think that’s just the nature of the business we are in, though. The people in the bicycle and powersports worlds are nice, down to earth, fun people. People I really enjoy spending time with. I’ve been lucky, very lucky.

In 8 years the building has changed (we moved), my office has moved (5 different ones and counting) and many things along the way are now different. But, the passion for the brand is still very much alive by everyone here. And the fun? I haven’t had a ball wiz by my head recently, but the practical jokes? They still happen – just ask Roby about the Snowball (cupcake-like desert) and his car......
So, happy NASCAR anniversary, Mr. Gordon and to all those who have made my time at Kryptonite special...thank you.

Check out the new faces on Kryptonitelock.com

So, we made a pretty significant change to the Kryptonite website this week. We changed the home page to show 4 different people and hear, in their words, why they are bonded to their lifestyle. We’d like to thank Tim Masiguy Jackson for being the official greeter to the site for so long as well as Jody Perewitz, Kate Cross and Rob Zuraski for being the illustrious first group on the site. But, when we debuted the site it was with the understanding that the group on the front would be ever changing every 6-8 weeks or so. Ok, so it’s more than 6 weeks since April, but hey, we finally got there.

We’re pumped to have this next group of folks on our site. They represent Kryptonite through either their employment here or their great partnership with us. Not to mention they are darn cool people. Here’s a little more on each of them.


The Bike Tab
Roland Burns is the co-founder/owner of R.E.Load Bags in Philly. Have you seen the exquisite custom bags that come out of there? No? Go look. Right now. I’ll wait…..Did you check out the custom stock? No? Seriously, these are some kick *ss bags. Go back…I’ll wait….

Roland with his custom Bilenky and one of his custom bags

Not only does Roland create art, he’s also a blogger. Check it out – he puts up some photos of the total custom bags there. Sweet!

Out and about in Philly

Ro organizes messenger races in Philly, too, and he couldn’t be nicer to work with- The Rocky races, North American Championships and a bunch others I’m sure I don’t know about. He’s a man on the move – all the time. But, he did slow down long enough to come visit the booth at Interbike where he and his friends got a sneak peek at his new page. I think it’s great that he’ll be the welcoming face to Kryptonite for the next couple of months.

The Motorcycle Tab
Jeff Clark’s from North Carolina and is the co-founder/owner of The Cycle Xchange (TCX), a custom motorcycle shop. They both build and service all kinds of custom bikes – one of which you see on the front of our website. Jeff is also the driver of the TCX/Budweiser Burnout Bike. It’s a TCX built bike that has a NASCAR back tire that they do burnouts with…and then the crew changes the tire and Jeff goes at it again. It’s kinda fun to watch. Check it out.

Jeff at TCX in January when I had a chance to hang out with him for a bit.

Not only does he put in more than a full week at The Cycle Xchange, but he’s a pretty busy guy on the weekends, too. He’s a proud dad of very active kids who are off at one sporting event or another and then on Sundays it’s all about racing. Not in front of the TV or in the stands like you and me….he’s a member of Dale Earnhardt Junior’s pit crew! He’s the guy that keeps Dale Junior fueled up during the race. You can see Jeff, Dale Junior and Brandon Bernstein together in this new video from Sturgis this year.

The TCX showroom. To see more, hit their MySpace page

The Ski/Snowboard Tab
Chances are that if you have visited Perewitz Cycle Fab you’ve met Kory Souza. If you’ve brought your motorcycle in for service, he’s worked on it and ‘made it all better’, I’m sure. He’s the behind the scenes guy that gets it done. He works hard on all the motorcycles that come in, he loads and unloads the haulers going to the shows and he’s part of the road crew that makes sure all those gorgeous bikes get where they are going safely.

Kory racin' to the max

When he’s not in the shop, you can find Kory racing around on one of his “50s”, mini bike. I’ve seen the impromptu races in the parking lot on a slow day, which are too fun. Last year he organized an inside 50s bike race inside at a local go-kart track. All the proceeds went to the National MS Society. Kory has a heart of gold for sure.

Getting ready to ride

With all this powersports action, why the ski/snowboard tab? Easy….it's hard to keep any action sports person quiet for too long. When there’s too much snow on the ground to ride motorcycles, Kory heads for New Hampshire to snowboard, of course. He's equally as passionate about that.

Specialty Tab
Eric Anastasia is truly a member of Team Kryptonite. He’s our Eastern Regional Manager and resident hiking and climbing nut. All of that gear that you see in the photo isn’t staged or borrowed; it’s all his. The guy has toys – something tells me that this isn’t all the gear either. It’s just a feeling I have. And, I’m not talking about the motorcycle either (yup, he’s got one of those, too).

Eric hanging out in the mountains of New Hampshire

Eric started in the marketing department here, but recently "defected" to sales. We tease him about that all the time, but it’s been a great move for him and he’s good at what he does. I think he likes traveling around the East Coast to find more places to hike and camp…just a theory.

If you are on the East Coast and own a bicycle or powersports shop or frequent one, chances are you'll meet Eric.

Thanks to all of these guys for participating in the fun. Now, if you haven't been over to the site, go check it out and read, in their own words, why they have an unbreakable bond to these sports.

At the Races!

As I mentioned, I was in Charlotte over the weekend for the NASCAR races. As you know by now, I'm a complete NASCAR nut - that's no secret. My friends send me tires, for goodness sake, because they know I'll think it's darn cool.

But, this weekend I was able to see NASCAR through the eyes of some 'rookies' and it was even more fun. Roby and I were able to take some of our customers to the race this weekend - one was a NASCAR fan just like me and we hit it off great. But, I wasn't so sure how Roby and the other three guys were going to fare. Roby has been to one NASCAR race, but that was a few years ago and hasn't really seemed interested to go again. The other guys hadn't been to a race but were game to give it a go and see what it was all about. Turns out they were all fabulous race companions and I think everyone came out of there with an interest in the sport, which is cool to me.

The view from 7 stories above the track

Roby and I went out to Lowe's Motor Speedway on Friday morning to get the lay of the land and have a meeting with one of their sales folks, John Cox. We chatted about some programs and then John was nice enough to take some time out of his extremely busy race weekend to give us a tour of the facility via his Club Car. John....you ROCK!

Roby saw things he's never seen before like converted buses and the most loyal fans in sports showing pride in their favorite drivers. When I say to him, "there's nothing like it," he's now a believer.

Our customers arrived Friday afternoon. We were fortunate that Craig and Tom from Western Powersports were able to join us as were Alan and Ed from Tucker Rocky. I met them all for the first time and we boarded the bus out to the track for the Busch series race. A big kudos to Craig who had just arrived back the day before from half way around the world - but after spending a weekend at the track with him, I now know that not much would have kept him from these races! He's a pretty big Greg Biffle fan.

The race on Friday night was good, but I'm not sure good enough to make fans out of the 'rookies'. Saturday, however, was a whole different ballgame.

We were able to take a stroll through the pits, see some cars, converse with some guys on the crews and just generally soak it all in. I think I started to see some NASCAR fans emerge in our group....it was great to see the guys getting excited about where we were and what we were seeing. Made me excited to be there and be one of the people to show it all to them. I wish we'd had a little longer in the pits, but soon it was time to exit and hit the suite to get situated, get some food and watch the race. Apple carmel pie...that's all I'm saying about the food. Yummmm....

Personally, I thought the race was awesome, but then again, I'm a Jeff Gordon fan. I've been to a bunch of races, but never saw him win live before. That was just awesome! I felt badly that Craig's driver didn't have a good night, but not that badly as I watched Jeff do his celebratory burnout.....

Here are photos of the weekend. Enjoy.

The things you see in front of the speedway....

Just about every team hauler had bicycles with them.

Tom and Alan wondered if they should attend the Rookie Meeting.

The view from the suite. It was right between turns 1 and 2.

Tom found Tony Stewart's car heading for inspection. Later Tom was sporting a #20 hat. Shhh...I even saw him wearing it on Sunday morning! Do I sense a new Stewart fan???

Alan seemed to like Denny Hamlin's car.

Ed found the Hendrick gang with the #5 car.

Craig not only inspected Greg Biffle's car before it went out on the track....

..he and Ed also seemed to be getting some race strategy secrets from the crew.

Roby found the stash of spare parts for his favorite car. This isn't unusual since each team has full kits ready to go for every on track possibility.

Craig did an excellent job making sure everything was just right in the 24 car before the race! So good, in fact, that this ended up being the winning car! Thanks, Craig!

These tires went on to win the race!

Notice that the best teams partner with the best companies (see the Club Car logo on the pit box)

Check out the special 'guest' down on pit road!!!

Roby the Race Fan!