Well we did not meet "the MAN" but
we did get a chance to go to "garage mahal" as Daryl Waltrip called it. This is the Dale Earnhardt Inc.
shop. We went early Friday afternoon and the place was packed full. It was a fabulous looking place.
My only disappointment was that the Dale Earnhardt Jr. "Superman" car was there but not easily seen
in the veiwing area. 
We attended the race
with Carquest the sponsor of the Busch race on Saturday. They plan your whole weekend, which
includes a reception on Friday evening with some drivers. The suprise guest's car is usually in the
room. This year this was the car. Last year there was a "Chromolusion" car
there.
This year, other commitments prevented Mark from showing up. However, Ken Shrader, Ken Wallace and Dave Blaney had discusions with the fans and did an autograph session. They were great guys and Wallace and Schrader appear to be great friends and have tons of fun. One fan during the autograph session asked Ken Shrader why he did not help Dale Earnhardt beat Gordon in the Daytona 500. Ken seemed suprised at the question as he replied "WE DID!!! We tried everything to help him, the 24 car was too good." They signed 2 of everything for my boys so Ed was very happy!!! Steve Hmiel and Ward Burtons's crew chief were also there.
Part of the Carquest
package was hospitality in the hospitality village. Coca Cola, Mobil, Catipillar and many other major
sponsors were also in the village. Here is a couple of pictures of Jeff Burton talking to the Coca - Cola
group.
Here is Jeff with his
publicist as he left the Coke tent. Security is real tight and they had not organized a way to get the
drivers to the other hospitality areas without walking them through the crowd. As he approached us he
took out his pen and asked for us to walk with him. All I had was my ticket to the race which he
signed. Pretty neat as he won the race!!! 
Jeremy Mayfield and Bill Elliott also spoke to the crowd for about
15 minutes. They however, did not come through the people so no autographs. They did wave and pose
for pictures. All in all they were very nice to the fans
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