First weekend of the Chase Playoffs


This will always be one my favorite trips.  We won a trip to spend the weekend with Steve Arpin, driver of the Mike’s Hard Lemonade truck.

From the moment we arrived, we were treated like VIPs.  We arrived at the track on Friday and were escorted over to the team truck to watch practice from up on the top of the trailer.  We had scanners to listen to Arpin communicate with his team.  After practice, Arpin introduced himself to us and we went to his Motor Coach to meet his parents.

Aprin qualified on the pole, his first ever.  We spent the day with them, having a pre-race meal, attending the drivers meeting and even being out of the track for driver introductions.  Arpin took a photo with us on the front row, right before jumping in the truck for the start of the race.  Week’s later when we returned home, that photo was sent to us with a personal message to us from Arpin.  A photo that still hangs in my office today.

The race was our first time sitting up on the pit box, my favorite place to watch a race.  You get to hear the crew, watch the screens, weather, lap times and more.  This is as close to the action as you can get.

The race was over, but we still had races on Saturday and Sunday.  We spent the rest of the weekend touring the garage, gathering photos and autographs of the various drivers.  We even headed out to a promotional appearance with Arpin on Saturday evening.