Monday, April 5, 2010

"Gypsy" Race Shop Tour (April 5, 2010)

Finally the planets aligned, and got out on the motorcycle this fine day (as can be seen by the photo at left) in Concord, NC and visited some of the local race shops in Concord, NC. At left is the first of the bunch; Hendrick Motorsports. Actually much to see in a collection of buildings you can see people building the cars, the cars, awards, and all sorts of items. Many such as Hendrick show in detail items that go into the cars, how they are assembled, and tell the stories of many of them on display. Most are right off the race track; damage, rubber and dirt included. They also have gift shops where you can purchase items, but admission (at least to these three is free to everyone.
The second photo was taken at Roush Racing. Roush has a very interesting shop, and this shop also has a small movie theater in addition to all the features of the other shops which shows a history of the racing team. Great variety of items including some aircraft parts from Jack Roush's 2002 plane crash are on display. As with Hendrick race teams at work can be seen, and as with Hendrick its a massive collection of buildings. The race teams have certainly gone a long way from the old "Garage teams of old" but are now multi-million dollar operations employing hundreds of employees per race team. They are something to see.
The last photo is the race shop where the cars are built at Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing. It is a big area and many of the teams cars are assembled here. As you will note, they build a number of cars to meet different needs, replace crashed cars, and for other uses for each driver. I have put a number of photos on my Flickr page from today's ride, and I hope you enjoy those. If you want to see these shops in Concord, all can be found within a mile or so of each other at the Concord Regional Airport in Concord, NC. All are also very close to Charlotte Motor Speedway (formerly Lowe's) which is actually located in Concord, NC as well.

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