Charlotte Race

Well for those of you that follow racing know that this week's race is in Charlotte...
 

I have lost count on how many times I have been to the Charlotte race. For years it was one of the weekends I couldn't wait to get here. We would always go Memorial Day weekend with the wives and in October it was always a guy weekend...tons of fun both weekends. Ted would always bring a group of about 10 guys from Maine. Most were Hannaford managers or buyers. Bruton Smith and the drivers loved to see these guys come because each one would spend about $500 on souvenirs. When they stopped coming our economy went down the tubes! Once we moved to Charlotte I had to start working (entertaining customers) so after a while it lost some fun.
 

As always after time things change and the group weekends stopped. We also had changes at work and stopped the customer events. As they say on TV (or some where)...sooner or later all good things must come to an end. In recent years we have started going again when we have guest in town and it has been fun showing people around.
 

The pictures today are from 2009 when Tom, Darlene, Henry Sr, Lizzy, Barbara and I went to the races. The guys went to the Nationwide race on Friday night also while the girls went out to dinner with Stephanie and Melinda.
 

On Saturday all six of us went to the cup race. Barbara scored some driver introduction tickets and pit passes so we were able to see a lot of the drivers and see some behind the scene action. As usual with Darlene we had to hold her back! I know I mentioned a Hall Pass in an earlier email but come on Darlene this obsession with Jimmie Johnson is getting a little out of hand. When a driver has to put out a restraining order to keep a fan away I think it is time to back off...just saying.
 

Anyway a very cold day but a fun time for everyone.