She now works for Dale Earnhardt Inc in Mooresville, North Carolina, which is what brought Lee and I here. I wanted to see Sarah, and Lee was happy to come along to see DEI. Mooresville is north of Charlotte and the Charlotte Speedway, and the area is steeped in car racing history. Sarah, the Curatorial and Museum Specialist at DEI, gave us a fabulous behind-the-scenes tour and explained some of its history. Lee got a close-up look at several cars that won big races. He said he liked the smell of the cars, of "oil and steel". Here is a photo of Sarah and I:
Sarah took this photo of Lee and I standing in front of one of Dale's winning cars, at the entrance of the public showroom of DEI:
Thank you, Sarah, for giving us so much of your time yesterday! I know it is difficult when you have piles of stuff stacked up on your desk, waiting for you. I so enjoyed seeing you again, and Lee was very appreciative of the behind-the-scenes view of DEI, Dale Earnhardt, and the Earnhardt family. What a special afternoon it was for us.
I unfortunately didn't take any photos other than the two above, but don't worry, I have plenty of photos for the blog.
Later in the day, we drove by the Charlotte Speedway, and sort of on a whim bought tickets for the late afternoon and evening races. It was spontaneous and unexpected, and not particularly on my bucket list, but I am glad we went. It was an "educational experience". I am not crazy about racing, because I think of it as crass materialism that adds all kinds of pollutants to our environment (including noise). (Sounds like the RV we are driving?) Even so, it was kind of fun to watch for an evening. We saw things they never show on TV, such as the drivers who trail at the rear of the pack all they way because they are just learning the ropes. We also saw the qualifying runs for Jeff Gordon, Jimmy Johnson, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Biffle, and all the other big names in the racing world.
Lee took a short video of one of the truck races, which I have uploaded on YouTube. What amazed me most was how LOUD those cars are. I wore ear plugs, and they were still loud. I had no idea. Here's the link for the YouTube video. Turn up the sound on your computer for maximum impact, although even then it's nothing like being there. Lee and I couldn't talk to each other, it was so loud when the cars came by.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqwm6AUmdhU
Today we explored Lake Norman and some of the surrounding towns. We also visited the "Memory Lane Museum", which houses a private collection of many different kinds of vehicles - cars, bicycles, motorcycles, roadsters, and racing memorabilia. The first photo below is for my cousins Ed and Wes, because they are both retired firefighters. This car belonged to the "Chief" of a firefighting unit somewhere, and has been meticulously cared for:
The photo below is taken of the museum from a staircase. Lee is in the middle holding up his arms - see him? Apparently, movie makers borrow cars from this collector when filming in North Carolina, because he has such a huge collection. Several of the cars had labels indicating which movies they had been used in.
For nature lovers, I hope you aren't getting bored! More vehicles, below. I learned here that Lee has always wanted to restore a Model T. Who knew? My Uncle Larry had one for years in his garage.
The collection included crashed race cars, including one that was so far gone it was compressed into a cube:
Another crashed race car, not quite a cube. Why?? What can I say, other than "To each his own"?
To end on a more natural note, here is the view out the front of our motor coach window this morning. It was so beautiful it was almost magical:
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