a little birdie told me...: NASCAR

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Let’s go racing!

Sunday was a first. Our first NASCAR race in Kansas City.

Ronny and I have become NASCAR fans because our friends, Dustin and Shelley, got us started in a fantasy racing league. Ronny may have been a fan before that, but it kick-started us I guess. I wasn’t excited about doing this, but I wanted to learn more about NASCAR as part of my job is promoting ethanol and the NASCAR racecars have been running on E15 for the last two seasons. I wanted to know more about the sport so I could do a better job promoting it.

We took two buses of corn farmers and people in agribusiness from Lincoln down to KC on Sunday and my sister, Emily, met us there.

I hung around the American Ethanol tent in the midway for awhile, then met up with one of my best friends and avid race fans, Bailey and Michael. |

The racetrack buzz was really amazing. All of the people – I’m usually not a crowds person, but I felt fine and not claustrophobic walking around. We rented scanners and headphones so we could listen to the drivers and race announcers during the race. This was probably one of the highlights and I definitely recommend it if you are going to a race!

American Ethanol was featured on the back of the track.

And Ronny was pretty much just like a kid in the candy store at the race. :)

It was a beautiful, warm day and fun experience!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Charlotte and NASCAR

Right after the CommonGround Conference in Charleston, I flew up one state to North Carolina to the city of Charlotte – home of ALL things racing – for the NASCAR Communicators meeting with nine other corn state and national communicators.

In preparation for the upcoming NASCAR season, I represented the Nebraska Corn Board to discuss the National Corn GrowersAssociation's (NCGA) partnership with American Ethanol.

The purpose for meeting in North Carolina was for us to to learn more about NASCAR, the RAB Racing and Richard Childress Racing teams, and to discuss activation events promoting American Ethanol and E15 to consumers.

What is exciting for the 2012 racing season is that American Ethanol will be sponsoring two drivers - Kenny Wallace (@Kenny_Wallace) with RAB Racing and Austin Dillon (@AustinDillon3) of RCR Racing. Dillon will be racing the black No. 3 car in the Nationwide series and Kenny will be hoping to qualify in the upcoming Daytona 500 to race in the Sprint Cup series in the No. 33 car.

And yes, I got to meet Austin Dillon and Richard Childress both at the Richard Childress Winery. Austin graciously let me take a picture with him. :)

As part of the tour in Charlotte, we got to tour both RAB and RCR racing shops where the cars are made, and learn more about what it takes to be a driver and part of the crew. The in's and out's of racing are amazing! Here are just a few of the pictures: