My little 7-year-old hot rod.
I can’t make this stuff up: my middle-child is named after his daddy’s ’66 Mustang.
So, when I was given the amazing opportunity to see the world of Nascar behind-the-scenes at RIR last Saturday with Ford Racing, my husband suddenly became very interested in my blogging career. He took one for the team and volunteered for the tough job of touring the inner-workings of a world which I knew almost nothing about.
The day started out sunny and cool and we met to get our fancy credentials (notice the word 
HOT. That was a nice ego-boost and diversion from my typical name tags reading “Mrs. Hall” courtesy of the elementary school office.) We were off an into the inner-workings of a race track on the day of the Capital City 400 at Richmond International Raceway.
We met with Dan, our incredible host who took us to the media room, where tons of bloggy/television/radio-type folks gather (tightly) for a weekend of fast-paced racin’ and writin’.
Jack Rousch, a clear legend 'round these parts.
We stood in the burger line with the legendary Jack Roush, Roush became the only professional drag racer to venture into NASCAR, SCCA Trans-Am, and IMSA road racing and sports car racing – with success in every series.
Right away, we were given an amazing opportunity riding with Brett Bodine, former Nascar racer, around RIR, and as he sped up, I thought this isn’t so fast and then he SWOOPED left and showed us how a real pit stop worked. We’ll never know exactly, but I’m pretty sure my heart caught up with us a good thirty seconds later. Brett explained that the car we were riding in, although it allowed passengers, had the exact same engine as the cars racing on the track that very night.
We were lucky enough to spend time with the brilliant minds behind Ford Racing who shared the new vehicle designs, much more sleek and streamlined, that apparently will appease the frustrated minds of Nascar fans everywhere, who seek more styling on the track.
Speaking of fans, I learned that Nascar fans are some of the most loyal of any sport, and at almost ninety bucks for an average ticket
Serious swag for some serious fans were sold from this truck, including to yours truly.
and often traveling great distances to spend a day at the track, they’re willing to show their love via their wallets.
Seeking out some statistics to share with you (my own Kate Hall Nascar for Dummies), I found some great Nascar statistics:
- The average race has over 99,000 fans
- Annually over 3.6 million fans are at the track each year, and there are an estimated 75 million Nascar fans
- 66% of Nascar fans are extremely brand-loyal and are willing to pay for the sponsor’s product
- And one of the most surprising, validated by what I saw on the track: 40% of Nascar fans are women
It's pretty neat that this thing needs to be plugged in prior to racing around the track.
Brett Bodine had also shared that he would be driving the pace car in the race, and it was a vehicle that would be making Nascar history: it would be the first electric vehicle ever to kick-off a Nascar race, the Ford Focus E.
When we were able to see it up-close later in the afternoon, it appeared ordinary and remarkable at the same time. Running at a maximum of 110 miles per gallon, I have to admit I was salivating imagining all the potential savings on fuel if I traded in my Explorer for this little baby, but that’s not possible until later this year unless I traveled to another market.
As fuel prices climb to $4 per gallon, it definetly had my wheels turning.
Apparently I’m not the only one considering a fuel-efficient vehicle. According to USA Today a Ford study reveals that 61% of Americans are interested in buying a hybrid or electric vehicle, but until gas reaches $5 a gallon, few of us will ever truly consider buying one.
The other interesting aspect of this vehicle is that unlike Chevy, Ford is marketing mainly to eco-minded consumers through target vehicles such as social media, and on a smaller scale than the highly-awaited Chevy Volt.
It was cool to see and hear the differences between electric vehicles, because like me, most Americans don’t understand the differences between hybrids and electric vehicles.
I have no idea what all of that stuff in there is, but it's loud and seriously fast, and pretty fun to be around.
My head was spinning with all of this new-found knowledge, and although it’s surely less than 1% of what’s in my husband’s head, I was proud of stretching my interests into a world in which I knew nothing about.
We added bringing my kids back for a Nascar race to the bucket list, and with the new Kids Zone that we featured earlier this month I’m pretty sure they’d love it.
