The Daytona Trip That Could Change My Life

This past weekend I had the opportunity of a lifetime. Teamwork Online, NASCAR's job board hosting site put together a networking event at Daytona International Speedway. Very important people within the sport were represented and I knew as a Communications and Media Studies major, these are the types of events that I need to attend. Early Friday morning, two of my sisters and myself packed up and drove the seven hour trip to Daytona.

We got to our sorority sisters house at around 1:30 in the afternoon. As a side note, I can not tell you how important it is to make connections with sisters around the country. Stef Fussell, one of the Alpha Tau Chapter's alumnae opened her home to us and I could not be more grateful. Once we arrived to the house we decided to walk to the beach. It was 85 degrees and beautiful!

My meeting started at 6:00 so we headed back to the house. The awesome ladies of Alpha Tau came and picked up Lena and Emily while I went to my meeting.

It was very surreal for me on the way to the track driving through Daytona by myself. It really hit me when I was downtown passing the boardwalk and turning on to International Speedway Boulevard. This opportunity could change my life forever. Just the feeling of being in Daytona and knowing how much history was made in this town because of Bill France. His dream was to build a racetrack that could be a home for racing and create a series that would be the foundation of what all racing series strives for. His dream evolved into even more than he could imagine. My dream is to be able to work in the sport that he was able to help create and that I love. I know this seems a little stupid but I started to tear up when I pulled up to the track. I could not wrap around the fact that I was at Daytona International Speedway during Daytona 500 race weekend. It blew my mind.

The parking lot that I parked in was right across from the track. Right beside it was a huge glass building that was the corporate offices for NASCAR, ISC (International Speedway Corporation), and the Grand-Am Road Racing Series. I thought hopefully my future will one day be in that building. I made it to the meeting at just the right time I wanted to get there. I was a little bit early but wasn't late. When we got started, there was a speaker who introduced who he was and who the important Daytona and NASCAR officials were and then we were on our own to meet them throughout the suite. I made a lot of great connections and traded business cards with many of the officials. A lot of the important people I met were vice presidents of marketing for either the track, ISC, sponsor relations in NASCAR, and NASCAR itself. Just people that I really needed to meet in order to get my foot in the door for public relations type work.

After the meeting we received a ticket to the Camping World Series truck race and were allowed to sit anywhere in the grandstand. At first I decided to sit near start finish line until I got a text from a buddy that said he could get me into the infield. Let me tell you, it's great to have friends. So we got into the Sprint Fanzone and watched the truck race. It was amazing to see what a world class facility DIS really is. We were able to watch most of the truck race on top of the garage stalls. When the race was over we were allowed to go into Gatorade Victory Lane and take pictures and just be engulfed in the winner's circle celebration with the driver and team. While were waiting we saw Austin Dillon coming out of the 500 Club and I got his autograph and a picture of him. I also got a picture with Ron Hornaday Jr. and his autograph after the race.

In Gatorade Victory Lane with first time winner John King

The next day we were up early to pack up and go to the track for the Nationwide race. I'm always so excited to broaden and share an experience that I love and I got to with Emily and Lena this past weekend. Everything is so much bigger than just what you see on tv. They had a blast and I really hope they enjoyed themselves this past weekend. We had to leave for home after the race because I had two midterms on Monday and could not stay for the 500. It's a blessing we didn't anyway because the Daytona 500 was postponed to Monday due to rain. All in all it was an amazing experience and trip that I will never forget.

Us being silly with Deebo the 3M mascot

NASCAR: Who Makes the Rules?

In my Media and Culture class we are reading about cultural norms of societies and groups of people. We read an article about how Americans are obsessed with taking care of our appearance with the way we dress, caring about of our hygiene, and wanting to improve what we look like. Who gives us this image of what we're supposed to look like? What is idealist? With my mind always thinking about NASCAR, I drifted off and started to relate this to NASCAR. Go figure.

In the culture society of NASCAR, one of the social norms is that a fan usually die hard for one driver. They've got every kind of memorabilia you can think of and will purchase anything with just the driver's number or sponsors on it. But what if you're a fan of multiple drivers? You hardly see fans dressed up that have a Kurt Busch backpack with a Kevin Harvick hat and a Jeff Gordon t-shirt. Personally I would look at you like you were crazy. It's a social norm in NASCAR for fans to express their passion to one driver but not to many. It's acceptable if the drivers that they are pulling for are all apart of one organization or they all drive for the same manufacturer. Who creates these social norms in NASCAR? What constitutes what is right and what is wrong?

I am a fan of several drivers but I only feel acceptable to favoritism to a small group of drivers, narrowing it down to maybe two or three. I'm not sure why I feel that way. I like to be diverse and like many different drivers, but yet I limit myself to only those few. I am a NASCAR fan in general and support many other drivers whether it be on Twitter or watch them make guest appearances on television and so on and so on. I'm not sure why I limit myself to only publicly displaying that one driver that I pull for. Is it because I feel socially pressured to like the one driver that most all fans like?


Recently I have really started to like Brad Keselowski. I pulled for him when he was driving for JR Motorsports back in 2009. Once he moved to the Sprint Cup Series I didn't pull for him as much because he was driving for Penske Racing. I have always loved the Chevy drivers and did not feel very open to like another organization or manufacturer. I'm pursuing to work in NASCAR doing public relations and I need to become more diverse in the atmosphere opening myself and allowing myself to accept other drivers and learn about their organizations. I know this might be off topic but I relate this a lot to my sorority and the National Panhellenic Conference. NPC is our governing body and umbrella head while there are twenty-six organizations that fall under the NPC regulation. In NASCAR, NASCAR is the sanctioning body and there are several different teams and organizations within NASCAR. It's recruitment week for my sorority so that's been on my mind lately.

I really believe in breaking the barriers in the sport and creating new social norms and being more acceptable and diverse. If you want to wear multiple drivers paraphernalia, go for it. I shouldn't be the one to make judgement on if you like multiple drivers. I should encourage it so NASCAR can become more of a melting pot of diversity.

NASCAR is Back with Daytona Testing

The longest not even two months of my life are over. You know why? Because NASCAR is back with Preseason Thunder at Daytona with testing! Those of you who have been anxiously awaiting this week since the NASCAR banquet ended in November, can finally get your NASCAR fix other than reading what drivers have been doing in their off season on Twitter and Facebook. I have to give credit to Twitter though because it has kept me in the loop on many major off season changes that has happened since the NASCAR season ended.



Now this is what I'm talking about!

Daytona Preseason testing started January 12-14. This in particular test is always crucial but more now because NASCAR is trying to eliminate the two car tandem racing. I hate this style of racing. Driver's are doing it because it's the fastest way to get around the track and it eliminates the factor of whose car is the best in performance. Doesn't even matter if your car is crappy, as long as you can push the other car in front of you it's going to go faster. So NASCAR is doing it's job to get back to the "old style" of racing at these super speedways.

It really bothers me when the racing is more strategy now with this style of racing than the racing itself. Of course we won't be able to see how this test really works out until The Budweiser Shootout but NASCAR did mandate that the drivers draft in a pack today. When they did run in a pack they were somewhat spaced out and the cars did not have any problems with over heating or air pressure. The cars were actually getting swirly and the drivers were excited to finally get racy. Jeff Burton said it best today, the two-car tandem racing won't go completely away but NASCAR is trying to minimize it. The speeds are about the same now with the two car tandem as they run in packs so they're making progress. As long as they get back to drafting in big packs I'll be happy and so will a lot of other NASCAR fans.

There's only 44 more days until the Daytona 500 which will go by fast and be here before you know it. In the mean time Barrett-Jackson and the Rolex 24 race are coming up and will by my racing fix till then. There is this other thing called school and work that might keep me busy for a while.

Kyle Busch Parked Texas Style

NASCAR has had it's fair share of bad boys over the years. Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, and Kurt Busch have all held the title at one point in their career. These days the only title that Kyle Busch will hold is the title of trouble maker. Kyle Busch's actions in Friday night's truck race at Texas Motor Speedway may have cost him the Sprint Cup Series championship. Kyle deliberately wrecked Ron Hornaday under caution and cost Hornaday his fifth Camping World Series truck championship. NASCAR parked Kyle Busch for the whole weekend not allowing him to drive in the Nationwide Series race that took part on Saturday and the Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday.






Looks like no winning in Texas will happen this week for him




The one thing in life that you don't do is mess with the law, in this case the law being NASCAR. Kyle Busch has had several run ins with the sanctioning body and has met several times in the NASCAR trailer for his behavior. When will his behavioral issues ever stop? Of course drivers will always get heated in midst of competition, that's competitive nature. But with Kyle Busch they seem to never go away. NASCAR has the power to either make it or break it for a driver. When you push the buttons on the ones who are allowing you to race, the consequences are detrimental. Usually you hear either fines or suspensions when NASCAR hands out punishments to crew chiefs, drivers, or team owners but you never hear drivers being parked individually for their own behavior.




It has to be embarrassing for the crews, sponsors, and Joe Gibbs to have a driver that can not control his temper. The crew members back in the shop probably don't appreciate his actions while they're working on making his car the best when he's not even going to drive it this weekend. Joe Gibbs especially is not one to put up with any type of that behavior. He is one of the most respected in the garage and surely will keep that title.




As far as competitors go, Tony Stewart said it best last week at Martinsville, "It's easier for driver's to handle it back in the garage. Don't take it out on everybody that works on these things." These million dollar machines are worked on every day to perfection to be the best car out on the track. For someone to wreck another competitor under caution gives no excuse. Kyle is an owner himself. He knows the things that go into getting a car prepared for each weekend.




The fact that gaining respect from other drivers has become a big issue in NASCAR these days, Kyle Busch has minimal respect from anyone after this weekend. Kevin Harvick is one who has thrown respect for Kyle Busch out the window a long time ago. Kevin and Kyle have had their on going rivalries in all three series that they both run and have teams in, quite frequently. Ron Hornaday's truck is a Kevin Harvick Inc. team that will be shutting down at the end of the season. Kevin Harvick Friday night came out with a win in the truck series and a championship win in the manufacturer's championship. Harvick was pleased with his results but was not pleased with Kyle Busch. That night on Twitter Harvick said, "Great night for the 2 truck!!! Just watched the race replay and saw what I already knew Kyle Busch is a bitch..." Now to say that Harvick has no respect for Kyle Busch is relevant. It's going to take a good long while for Kyle to build back up his credit that he has lost. We know how Harvick feels about Busch but what about his other competitors? How will Kyle Busch gain his respect back? Surely not by doing what he is doing now. Some good advice for him would be to stay out of the radar. Drawing bad publicity is not the way to go. He has the wins to prove he can be a champion but will he ever have the mindset to be a champion?

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!