View Point

Sweepstakes winner Robert Blanton and his wife Penny.

By Megan Cullingford
Truckers Connection

12/31/2007

This year’s Perfect NASCAR Weekend sweepstakes was held by Trucker’s Connection and Barr-Nunn Transportation. Barr-Nunn offered us the unique ability to access the NASCAR scene by way of their sponsorship they had with Roush Racing this year. In light of that awesome opportunity, we partnered up and decided to give one lucky driver and his guest the NASCAR experience of a lifetime—a trip to Miami for the final race weekend of the season. Our winning duo would stay in a plush, comfortable hotel, attend the Busch race from behind the pits after touring the garage area and also attend the Cup race from choice seats in the stands. For a truck driving NASCAR fan, it’d be a dream come true.

We randomly chose five semi-finalists from the hat and called to verify that they did indeed qualify to win. All five were in the running but only one could win and that lucky duck was Robert Blanton from Lead Hill, Ark. And boy was he ecstatic. This relative newcomer to the trucking industry (he’s worked for PAM Transport for just six months) also happened to be an enormous NASCAR fan, along with his wife, Penny. Their drivers of choice? The irresistible orange, Tony Stewart, and the driver with a few fans to his name: Dale Earnhardt Jr. I liked these folks from the first phone conversation!

After working out some tricky logistics to get them from their small town to a major airport, I arranged for their air travel to Miami on Friday of the race weekend. The good news was that the flight from Memphis to Miami was a direct one; bad news was that they weren’t seated together. And it was Robert’s first flight ever. Luckily it was uneventful and I arrived in Miami later that same evening.

Our entire group stayed at the very nice, very interesting, historic hotel called The Biltmore in Coral Gables. This cool location has been around since the 1930s and has seen many a famous face staying there. It was gorgeous.

Saturday morning we all joined up with Barr-Nunn’s Jim Pardoe, the company’s NASCAR host and resident keeper of all NASCAR ins and outs to making a race a great experience. After a superb breakfast at a local diner, we headed south for Homestead Speedway. With pit passes in hand, we perused the souvenir trailers and then finally cruised inside the track.  The set up at Miami is pretty cool because it does offer some food/beverage stands inside the infield, and there is private seating above the garages as well. Once there, we made our way to the Busch garage area and began strolling around, taking in the sights, checking out how the pre-race day goes for the teams. Robert and Penny soaked in every sight and had dual digital cameras snapping shots at every cool opportunity, of which there are a lot in the garage area of a NASCAR race. We spotted some familiar faces and the Blantons got some autographs. Jim Pardoe navigated us throughout the area, swinging us by several of the Roush trailers and meeting folks who were all beyond kind and welcoming. A couple hours into the day, the Cup drivers were in their practice time slot and because of the way the track is set up and because we had coveted pit passes, we were able to stand right where the cars were pulling back onto the track. If you think the adrenaline rush during the start of a race is something, you should experience the rush of the cars driving close enough to you to reach out and smack. I didn’t, of course, but the temptation was there…ha.

Afterwards, Jim with his all-access pass pulled one of his tricks from his hat, sneaking the Blantons into the Cup garage area where they obtained more autographs and saw close ups of those trailers, crew and drivers.

Later we all walked out to the track and watched the driver introductions, getting to see that from a unique vantage point that revealed the behind the stage scene and all the drivers milling about as they waited their turn to be introduced.

And then it was time—the drivers loaded up, the fly-by brought tears to my eyes as it always does, and the racers were told to fire the engines. We decided to set up camp just behind the pits of Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle, which were separated only by a vacant pit stall, which was extraordinarily convenient and gave us a great view of the track.

As always, the Roush teams did not fail to impress. We soaked up the pit stops and marveled at the teamwork that allows them to perform vital car maintenance in 14 seconds or less. Atop one of the pit boxes was the Cat in the Hat himself, Jack Roush. His vantage point was the same as our own so we felt we were in the best position to catch all the good stuff.

Too soon the race was over and the excitement died down to exhaustion from a very busy but fun-filled day. We trudged back to the vehicle to head back to the wonder of the Biltmore, with a pit stop of our own at a restaurant for dinner and a good time reliving the day.

After a solid night’s sleep, I sent the Blantons back to the Homestead Speedway to enjoy the pre-race activities, milling around the souvenir stands, enjoying good old fashioned track food and finally, seats for the final Cup race of the season. There, the pair took in Jimmy Johnson’s sealing of his second straight Championship from super start/finish line seats. It was yet another incredible day in a perfect weekend of NASCAR.

Thanks to the Blantons for being tremendous winners—their appreciation, enjoyment of the experience and gratitude certainly made the trip for me that much better. I loved seeing it all through the eyes of a first time race attendee. Thanks to all the drivers who registered to win. I wish I could’ve brought you all. Perhaps another time…

And last but hardly least, my most sincere thanks goes out to Barr-Nunn Transportation—a class act operation. I greatly appreciate this opportunity that was given to me and to our loyal readers. Jim Pardoe as our host was second to none, a real gem of a guy. If you see him on the road, be sure to say hello for me.