Internships

The past few days I've been really focusing on looking up internships and doing my research on the opportunities that are available to me with my major. I am a Communications and Media Studies major and I have several media outlets that I can look into with Atlanta having Turner Broadcasting, CNN, The Weather Channel, etc. There are several radio stations based out of Atlanta and I would love to be an intern at 94.9 The Bull or Kicks 101.5. I listen to those stations nonstop and love country music. I've always been told that if you love what you do, you will succeed. I feel if I narrow down the kind of internships that I am interested in, then I will do my best at that type of internship. The internships that I've been emailing the most about are with NASCAR race teams and other affiliated associations like different driver foundations, Speedway Children's Charities, and a couple of racetracks. I know most of the race teams probably get emails asking about internships probably everyday. I just pray to God that someone will take a chance on me and at least email me back! That's all I can ask for. I don't like waiting in the dark and not being responded to.


I've always been taught that if you have a passion for something, you need to pursue it. I've had a passion for NASCAR since the 7th grade. There wasn't anything else that I felt stronger about and I wanted to work in the sport. I didn't know how exactly I could do that until about my freshman year of high school I was looking in this NASCAR magazine at my best friend Whitney's house that her brother Joey had gotten. In the magazine there was a page where it focused on one person and their job within NASCAR. I want to say that it focused on the Public Relations Representative for Jeff Burton and his number 31 Caterpillar Chevy at the time. Her duties were to promote a positive image for Jeff Burton and his team and be the communicator between himself and his sponsors. I was extremely influenced and intrigued by this woman's profession. She worked in an office throughout the week and then traveled with the race team every weekend. I thought to myself, what better way to work in the sport that I love and get to travel all over the country. It was just a dream job that I had to pursue.


If you're not passionate or enjoy what you're doing as a job or career, you're not going to perform at the best of your abilities. I know a handful of people that hate their job. If you hate your job, why work there? Those people that are working there still aren't sure what they're doing with their lives and years have gone by and nothing has been done to improve themselves. Those are the types of people that are working for the bare minimum and living pay check to pay check. I know for myself that I can not do that. Right now I can, because I'm in school trying to better myself with getting a degree and am going to move on from my current job. Working at O'charley's is not going to become my career. If anything, that place gives me motivation to do well in school because that kind of work is too hard to be dealing with the small amount of pay that I may or may not get.


I know that internships lead to jobs and in this economy right now jobs are scarce. So in order for me to apply to these internships I have to narrow my choices. I really need to get the internships with either Atlanta Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Speedway Children's Charities, or the NASCAR Diversity internship. I'm just going to do a pros and cons list because they pretty much are the easiest way to do things.


Atlanta Motor Speedway PR internship

Pros-20 mins. from my house Cons-non paid internship

-can still live at home

-can keep my part time job on the weekends

-get to drive the Chevy Camaro pace car

-achieve the public relations experience I need

Who wouldn't want to drive this thing?





Charlotte Motor Speedway PR internship

Pros-achieve the public relations experience I need Cons-find a place to live

-In Charlotte, NC "the hub of NASCAR" -take out loans :(

-Network and meet people in the sport -far from home and the people
I know

(best way to get a job is through who you know) -non paid internship

Speedway Children's Charities Internship
Pros-The same ones I have for AMS because it's at AMS Cons-non paid internship

These three internships are pretty much the most realistic ones that I can get a hand on but I'm not giving up on any of the ones that I do apply for.

I know with my major and the degree I'm pursuing I can work my way up and make a lot of money in the public relations/media industry. I feel like I can't be picky in what opportunities I get with an internship because I need to start somewhere. But I know what my dream is, I know the path I need to take to get to that dream, and I need to focus on it.

Tuesday....finally Race Day

So yesterday (Tuesday) was FINALLY race day. My ticket said that my seat was in the Earnhardt section way up top the stands. I was not going to sit there. There were so many empty seats on the frontstretch in the Champions grandstand that I decided I was going to sit there. I bypassed one of the ushers and just sat right down. I sat right in front of Dale Jr's pit stall.

Here's where I sat compared to the start/finish line

They got the cars rollin out on pit road and started at 11 and raced for a good bit...and then the rain/mist/nastiness came. It was freezing outside! I couldn't believe how cold it was. I knew that it was going to get really chilly when they started racing, so I wore my Amp Jacket, and hoodie, and t-shirt. I was pretty warm compared to the idiots who were wearin flip-flops, t-shirts, and shorts. It was pretty much one of the longest races of my life. They had to keep throwing the caution out, run a bunch of laps under caution, and then they'd get the track dry and go back racing. One time during the race they had to stop the cars on pit road and cover them up. That shower only lasted for about 10 minutes.

This is my not so happy face sitting in rain and I look like a boy...eww.

The racing was pretty good throughout the race. Gordon was the class of the field for the most part of the race and he won. Him and Jimmie's battle throughout the last part of the race was awesome! Side by side racing for the last twenty laps. It was great. Overall a great weekend. Until next year....

Dale Jr.

Kasey Kahne...nom nom nom Gordon's burnout Check out this dude in the red...I think he's more happy than Jeff Gordon.

Race Week to Race Weekend to Race Week...

So it's Monday (Labor Day) and I'm chillin at the house. Bout to eat me some pizza and study some Spanish for my test on Wednesday. But let's rewind back to Friday.

Friday, I got out of class early bout 2:15. My game plan was that I was going to head to Atlanta Motor Speedway's ticket office buy my truck ticket for that nights race, go to Discount Tire where Brad Keselowski was supposed to be signing autographs at 4, and then head back to the track to volunteer for Speedway Children's Charities. Well, when I was passing Discount Tire I saw that there was already a line out there so I pulled over to go check it out.

Apparently he was already out there signing! So I got in line and a Discount Tire employee gave me a goodie bag. Hell yeah free stuff! I got 2 koozies, 2 chapsticks, a tire gauge, a pen, a decal, and a hero card (a card that has the driver's stats and bio). So I got up to Brad and congratulated him on his Bristol win last week and asked how his ankle was. (A few weeks ago he crashed hard at Road Atlanta and hurt his ankle) He said his ankle was a little sore but getting better. So I asked for a picture with him and told him good luck. He was such a nice guy! I have a really good feeling he's going to great when they do race because he's on fire right now and was fastest in the first practice session. Anyways here's a picture of me and the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion and driver of the number 2 Miller Light Dodge.

After I met Brad I headed to the track, bought my ticket, and volunteered with Speedway Children's Charities. I had like two in a half hours before the race and figured I ought to do something to pass the time. Speedway Children's Charities benefits local charities around each race track that their at. I sold raffle tickets to race fans around the track. There weren't many people there at the time I was trying to sell so I didn't sell many. I was sweating like crazy and wondered if I could get in the infield. The group of friends I had staying in the infield wouldn't mind if I came and hung out a little bit. I just didn't have the credentials to get in...

The track has a shuttle service with golfcarts and school buses. So luckily I found this guy that was able to take me in the infield without gettin checked for credentials. So I hung out with basically my whole fantasy racing team for bout an hour and a half for cup practice and then went to the stands to watch the truck race.

This is how I enjoyed my Friday night. :)

So Saturday I head to the track about three and walk around and got a ton of free stuff as usual. My sister Megan came after work with me to the track. It was her first NASCAR experience and we had a good time. I told her she should've came in her Hooters outfit and gotten me a Hooters shirt and I could've played her PR rep and we could've gotten in the infield and maybe have met Dale Jr. It could've worked though. That's free publicity and promotion for Hooters I'm tellin you! But anyways, we sat in traffic forever and that was bout the end of the night. Oh and Carl Edwards won the Nationwide race. woohoo. (sarcasm) I wanted either Kasey Kahne or Harvick to win but at least it wasn't Kyle Busch. I despise him.

Sunday was when it all went downhill...the forecast all day was cloudy, gloomy, and rainy from that hurricane or tropical storm. My aunt and I got to the track around 2:30. We walked around for a bit and it started drizzling... I try to always get to the track early cause you never know what the traffic is going to be like. When we were walking around some of the drivers were making appearances at some of their sponsors events outside the track and we randomly meet David Ragan driver of the number 6 UPS Ford. He didn't have a line at all for people to meet him. There was just a couple people crowded around him so I went and got his autograph and picture with him. He was really nice too.

After we met David, my aunt and I go to one of the campgrounds where they have some vendors out. They usually have a lot more selection of driver merchandise and random RANDOM things to purchase. I spot this table that has different kinds of hats...and I see it. This one vendor has I call it an Asian rice picking hat. It's made out of some kind of straw. I've always wanted one of these. I ask the man how much it is and it's only five dollars! Out of the purchases I made this weekend, this has to be my favorite. The guy sellin it said if you buy that you're going to be wanting chicken chow mien. I said well I am half Asian so I've got to stick to my heritage! He just started crackin up!

I took this picture because my sister Ashley wanted me to pose like this. I was glad to do it.

My aunt and I sat in the truck for a little bit waiting and then we went back out in front of the track. Well not even five minutes of the leavin the truck it started pouring! Luckily I brought a small umbrella but still. It sucked. We went and sat up in the stands and our seats were so high that they were being covered so we didn't have to sit in the rain thank god. When we sat down the Lynyrd Skynyrd concert had just began. They were pretty awesome not gonna lie. Freebird was the last song that they did and it was badass. I always think of Forrest Gump when I hear that song cause that's the song that's playing when Jenny's about to jump off the hotel balcony. That movie's a staple of my childhood tellin you what.

The rain had stopped and pre-race ceremonies began but something was not right. The cars weren't on pit road and none of the pit crews were on pit road. The jet dryers weren't even running. They started those up after driver intros. So we waited....and waited....and waited....the track was almost dry and I was thinkin they were gonna bring out the cars on pit road so I went to go get me a turkey leg. Yes a turkey leg. They're amazing. The minute I go down there the clouds opened up and it started pouring for about ten minutes and stopped. It soaked the track. NASCAR had lost all the work they had done drying it. It would've taken them three hours to dry it again so Mike Helton and the NASCAR officials called it for Tuesday at 11 am. The couldn't run today (Monday) cause it was %100 rain, and it sure damn was today.

So tomorrow I'm getting up early and going to watch the race at 11 am. Thank you Clayton State for not having class for us students. I greatly appreciate it. Let's hope we get this race in!