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Post by indy on Dec 29, 2013 17:44:42 GMT -5
Got a quick work trip, in Monday then back out Tuesday. But wanted to know if there were any recommendations for hobby shops or racing things to take in. I'm really going to try to take a tour at the Penske racing shop but really that's the only thing on my list right now. Any other IndyCar stuff in the heart of NASCARland?
Jordan
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Post by indy on Jan 2, 2014 17:18:32 GMT -5
To avoid hijacking the thread of Ralph's beautiful Montoya Penske testing car, I thought I'd follow up here.
Turns out Penske Racing only lets fans look out over the NASCAR garage as the IndyCar garage is off limits. They do have banners up in the walk way over the NASCAR garage for all the wins they have been amassing (Indy/ALMS/NASCAR/Etc) and then large wall panels to honor different previous drivers (Donohue, Allison, Wallace, etc). I knew a bit about Penskeland before going but it was still very impressive to take in for myself. I actually met up with a guy I knew from a NASCAR modeling forum there so that made it fun to discuss all the various things we saw - each sharing different things the things that attracted our eyes. We picked out details that told us some cars getting ready for Daytona testing, then ones from the recent Charlotte aero tests, some under tarps were fun to guess at (Nationwide Challenger, Mustang, previous generation cars, etc).
In the gift shop, there was a nice assortment of memorabilia including a few scale models - an '85 Al Unser Ampersand/SMTS and an '88 Danny Sulivan Tameo builds caught my eye. Was confused to see a case on the side with a few things that didn't fit (C1 of Old Calhoun??) Didn't spend a ton of time there and avoided buying any merchandise... though it wasn't easy! The nice receptionist/gift shop cashier where you came into the NASCAR shop at Penske was really impressed by IndyCars as all they had to do to change a car from oval to road courses was just change that "fin." LOL I thought about correcting her but just left it alone to not come off the wrong way. She told us that there was a Will Power showcar we could get see by going in another side of their building but that door was locked. Could be that it was 4:30pm on New Year's Eve and they closed up early...!?!?
Also, I got multiple photos of the Lola T8900 in the NC Motorsports HOF Museum run by ex-Penske big wig Don Miller. If you guy are interested in those then I can put them on Photobucket, the pics are mostly of suspension, gearbox, and cockpit details as the car obviously was used for showcar duties last as it wore Rahal MGD colors which I do not believe is accurate.
Jordan
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Post by Calvin on Jan 3, 2014 0:52:57 GMT -5
Thanks for the story on your trip to penskeland!
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