| | My garage area and pit pass. | |
| | | Right after the garage area opened to the teams at 7am. | |
| |
| | Ditto. Look how long the shadows are! The sun had just come up. | |
| | | Looking the other direction, down the row of owner luxury suites. | |
| | | Our hauler was parked at the cool end of our row. | |
|
| | Another view of the just opened garage area. | |
| | | My buddy Gary, the team transporter/hauler driver. | |
| | | Gary and engine tuner/builder Earl. | |
|
| | Setting things up in the garage. | |
| | | Someone awaiting Busch tech inspection, next to our hauler. | |
| | | Finishing up final tuning before tech inspection and qualifying. | |
|
| | Looking down the row from our garage stall. | |
| | | Kasey Kane's Busch car awaiting tech inspection. | |
| | | Elliott Sadler, Jimmie Johnson, and Kasey Kane awaiting Cup tech inspection. | |
|
| | Gary on the observation deck on the roof of our hauler. | |
| | | Fans crowding the tunnel where the cars get to the pits from the garage area. | |
| | | The garage area filling up with fans (allowed in after noon). | |
|
| | Johnson, Kahne, and Rusty Wallace awaiting tech. | |
| | | Last minute work on Kane's car prior to tech. | |
| | | Rusty waiting for cup tech inspection. | |
|
| | Look at the shadows now. :) | |
| | | Sadler's car failed inspection... | |
| | | So they make adjustments and try again. | |
|
| | Jimmie Johnson failed inspection too. | |
| | | Gary from the observation deck on the transporter... | |
| | | ...with team owners Chip Ganasi and Ray Evernham talking below. | |
|
| | Gary and I on the observation deck on the transporter. | |
| | | Our backup car parked on the top level of the transporter. | |
| |
| | | Looking the other way, where the other car will go after the race. | |
| | | View down pit row from the roof of our owner's luxury suite. | |
|
| | Ditto. Looking the other way. | |
| | | | Ditto. Looking back towards the cup car garage area. | |
|
| | Ditto. You can see our hauler in the middle of the picture. | |
| | | Ditto. This is the same shot without using the zoom lens. | |
| | | The trailer to the left is the Good Year truck, where the teams buy their tires. | |
|
| | Our driver, Kevin Hamlin, talking with fans. | |
| | | Looking at the owner luxury suites from our hauler. | |
| |
| | Earl taking a break before the race. | |
| | | Engine tuner Earl is one of the best at what he does! | |
| | | Our driver Kevin Hamlin talking with a few fans. | |
|
| | Our hauler, and a few fans hanging out. | |
| | | The big man! This is team owner Fred Biagi. | |
| | | On lap 10, Kevin blew a tire and hit the wall. | |
|
| | Everyone went to work on the car as soon as it was brought to the garage area... | |
| | | | But the damage was too severe, so we called it a day. | |
|
| | This was the left front tire after the wreck. | |
| | | I got to keep the parts we cut off the car, including the trunk lid... | |
| |
| | Part of the quarterpanel... | |
| | | And the rear bumper panel... | |
| | | Which Kevin autographed for me. It was his 1st crash ever in a Busch car. | |
|
| | These are pictures of some of the beer in one of Fred Biagi's warehouses'... | |
| | | He asked Gary to stop and pick up a couple pallets of beer and water... | |
| | ...on the way back to North Carolina. I've never seen so much beer...
| |
|
| | ...in one place before, so I took some pictures. | |
| | | There were over 1 million cases of Corona... | |
| | | ...and Corona Light, as well as... | |
|
| | ...a few hundred thousand cases of Pacifico Beer. | |
| | | | In one end of the warehouse was this refrigerated unit... | |
|
| | ...which was HUGE in itself. | |
| | | It was filled with Anheuser-Busch products (Budweiser, Michelob, etc.)... | |
| | | ...which must remain chilled... | |
|
| ...as well as a few kegs.
| |
| | |
