NASCAR HALL OF FAME DRIVERS VISIT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY – NASCAR legends Bill Elliott and Rex White visited the Charlotte Motor Speedway media center Saturday to talk about how life has changed since being elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
“Everything has changed, nothing is normal now,” said White, the 1960 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion. “It’s unbelievable how life has changed; my popularity has grown. The fan mail is unbelievable. It’s just a great honor to be inducted. I get mail from Germany and from soldiers in Afghanistan. A lot people want to talk to me for some reason.”
A 16-time Most Popular NASCAR Driver winner, Elliott was no stranger to the fans before being inducted, but he too has seen a surge in interest.
“You get a lot more mail,” said 1988 Champion Elliott. “A lot more people know you because you have been elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. There were several years where I have been out of the limelight. There are so many other things that have come along because of your involvement with the Hall of Fame. It’s just changed so many things.”
TOYOTA UNVEILS 2015 CAMRY RACE CAR – Officials from Toyota unveiled the newly redesigned 2015 Toyota Camry NASCAR Sprint Cup car Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. NASCAR drivers Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer and Brett Moffitt helped introduce the new machine, which intentionally resembles the Camry street car more closely, especially in the front grill.
“I knew when we saw the photos of the 2015 Camry, it was going to be a challenge to put those features into the race car,” said Andy Graves, Toyota Racing Development Vice President of Chassis Design. “And at the same time we had to maintain the performance we were looking for on the race track. What you see here and what was approved was actually the fifth design.”
The new design process, which began near the end of the 2012 season, went through five design changes before final approval was given. There will be on-track testing of the new car before the 2015 Daytona 500.
“This was really a huge task trying to take what’s here (street car) and put it into what’s there (race car),” said Kevin Hunter, president of Calty Design. “There are a lot of performance parameters, the aerodynamic issues and then NASCAR’s requirements. We are trying to amp up the aggressive nature of this car.”
KURT BUSCH IN HOT WATER AGAIN — Used to be in “hot water” with the media, Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway Kurt Busch turned the tables. As part of a special event with sponsor State Water Heaters, Busch allowed media members and sponsors to dunk him in a tank full of hot water.
“I’m giving media the chance to take their aggression out on me with a ball and me as a target, rather than with their ink and a send button,” said Busch. “That’s what this is all about. So I challenge the media, see if you can get me in hot water in the fun way, instead of the normal ways where you press send.”
Each participant had three chances to hit the target and send Busch swimming. As luck would have it, the first three shots were spot-on.
“I was born ready, but obviously I was not ready for that,” said Busch, laughing as he was caught off guard with the first dunk.
GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING SINGER ASHANTI TAKES A RIDE – GRAMMY Award winning singer, songwriter, producer and actress Ashanti spent all of Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, taking in the full NASCAR experience before singing the national anthem before the start of the Bank of America 500.
“I rode around the track in the pace car with Clint Bowyer,” said Ashanti. “I actually like to drive very fast, so it was fun. It was really cool. I have learned about the pit stops, which is awesome. “
WINNER’S CIRCLE WEDDING BELLS – Victory Circle at Charlotte Motor Speedway is a special place, which is why Britany Brooks and Josh Owens, from Delaware, chose it as their wedding venue. The couple tied the knot Saturday morning in a ceremony performed by David Hix, a chaplain with Motor Racing Outreach.
“This all came about because we are both big NASCAR fans,” said Brooks. “We love the atmosphere down here at the track. If we could, we would probably move here tomorrow. That might happen. We decided on this and it was either here (Winner’s Circle) or the start-finish line, but we decided Winner’s Circle would be better. It’s a cool atmosphere.”
“It had always been an awesome track for us to come to.” said Josh, “We really enjoy it.”
The happy couple will be cheering for different drivers, however, as Brittany is a Kasey Kahne fan, while Josh is a fan of Tony Stewart.
Following the ceremony and the usual photo taking the couple was still beaming.
“It was wonderful, absolutely everything we could have hoped for,” said Brooks. “I am so excited and blessed to be here.”
After changing out of their formal wedding attire, the couple will change and watch the race.
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