I went out to TMS yesterday for the sole purpose of getting a good look at the Texas Tech themed car. The access that fans got yesterday was unprecedented in all of my years going to races there. The track opened the gates to the infield, pit road and the garages. I went to the pitbox for the car initially. There were a number of Texas Tech fans taking pictures of each other in front of the pitbox with the Tech colors/images.
After checking that out I went to the garages to look for the car. I figured I could get a picture or two of it and that was good enough. Finally finding the garage that contained the car I walk up and see Amy Heard is there talking with the pit crew guys. That seemed really odd to me initially. After talking with her a bit I found out she had been at the track on Friday watching it qualify and was there on Saturday to watch it go through inspections.
I have never seen a car go through inspections at a NASCAR event. The pit crew guys (and Amy) started to move the car towards the first of 5-6 different spots around the garage to get it inspected. It didn't pass inspections the first time through (I think it was too low to the ground or something) so we ended up having to make the circuit a second time through. The whole time Amy Heard is there watching and following the car. She stayed with it until it was pushed into place on pit road prior to the race.
The sponsor of the car is a 1995 or 1996 graduate of Tech so he would be relatively young. I didn't recognize his name but I would love to buy him a beer or two for doing something so cool for the school. I don't know how many Tech folks came by the pitbox and car throughout the day but there were several pictures taken with the car.
I came away with tremendous respect for Amy's efforts and the folks involved in the whole project. The car ran like it was on 7 cylinders all night. I think it finished 38th or so. Amy said that 2-3 other teams did not qualify for the race so its inclusion in the series event was legitimate.
Here is a picture of the car and Amy Heard pushing the dang thing to the first inspection tent.
After checking that out I went to the garages to look for the car. I figured I could get a picture or two of it and that was good enough. Finally finding the garage that contained the car I walk up and see Amy Heard is there talking with the pit crew guys. That seemed really odd to me initially. After talking with her a bit I found out she had been at the track on Friday watching it qualify and was there on Saturday to watch it go through inspections.
I have never seen a car go through inspections at a NASCAR event. The pit crew guys (and Amy) started to move the car towards the first of 5-6 different spots around the garage to get it inspected. It didn't pass inspections the first time through (I think it was too low to the ground or something) so we ended up having to make the circuit a second time through. The whole time Amy Heard is there watching and following the car. She stayed with it until it was pushed into place on pit road prior to the race.
The sponsor of the car is a 1995 or 1996 graduate of Tech so he would be relatively young. I didn't recognize his name but I would love to buy him a beer or two for doing something so cool for the school. I don't know how many Tech folks came by the pitbox and car throughout the day but there were several pictures taken with the car.
I came away with tremendous respect for Amy's efforts and the folks involved in the whole project. The car ran like it was on 7 cylinders all night. I think it finished 38th or so. Amy said that 2-3 other teams did not qualify for the race so its inclusion in the series event was legitimate.
Here is a picture of the car and Amy Heard pushing the dang thing to the first inspection tent.
