George outside the Richard Childress Racing Museum We headed out early to drive over to Welcome, North Carolina to visit the Ray Childress Racing Garage, Museum, and Winery. A little history about Richard Childress Racing for all of us who are "non-NASCAR" groupies. RCR has earned more than 150 victories and 10 NASCAR championships, including six in the NEXTEL Cup Series with the legendary Dale Earnhardt. It was the first organization to win championships in the NEXTEL Cup Series, Busch Series and Truck Series. Its 2007 NEXTEL Cup Series lineup includes Clint Bowyer (No. 07 Jack Daniels), Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell) and Jeff Burton (No. 31 AT&T). Its Busch Series lineup includes Clint Bowyer (No. 2 BB&T), Harvick and Timothy Peters (No. 21 Autozone) and Burton and Scott Wimmer (No. 29 Holiday Inn).
2007 NEXTEL Cars driven by Bowyer, Burton and HarvickThe RCR Racing Museum, located on the RCR campus, is a 47,000 square-foot facility that encompasses the original No. 3 race shop and the original RCR Museum. Inside there are dozens of race cars, nearly two dozen of which are the black No. 3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolets driven by the legendary Dale Earnhardt, including the car he drove to victory in the 1998 Daytona 500. Also on display are Richard Childress' first office, photographs, and memorabilia as well as all six NASCAR Winston cup championship banners and owner's trophies.
Transporters used to take cars to races
Dale Earnhardt's 1998 Daytona 500 Winning CarThe center section of the facility is dedicated to Childress' devotion to wildlife and outdoor conservation.
Stuffed Animals at RCR MuseumBefore we took our tour of the museum, we walked over to the RCR race shop. There we watched the mechanics work on the cars and even got to see how they added the number and name to a car. They were doing the Camping World car while we were there. The number and names are printed on huge sheets of sticky laminate of some type which is placed over the car exactly where they want it. Then it is heated by using a small torch similar to one used for creme brulee(except a bit larger) and it melts everything down on to the car. It took them about 25 minutes to finish the Camping World car. Sure an improvement over having to paint the advertisements.
Stable of cars at RCC main shop. These are cars currently being raced.
Jeff Burton's car being prepared with Camping World AdvertisementWe headed over to the Richard Childress Winery after having a lunch of North Carolina barbecue(which by the way is totally different from our Texas Barbecue. The three restaurants we have eaten in always served only pork - sliced, chopped, or pulled - with a vinegar based thin sauce. No ribs, no chicken, no brisket. East of I-95 in Carolina, they serve a "pulled pork"sandwich with a clear vinegar based sauce and cole slaw on it. West of I-95, the sandwich is still pork with a vinegar based sauce, but it is red in color and still has the coleslaw. Very unusual, but very good.) Still, I'm ready for some good old ribs with sticky, red, thick Texas sauce.
The winery is styled like an Italian Renaissance Tuscan Villa. It was opened in 2004 so it is a very young winery. They make both red and white wines and use oaken wood barrels to age the red wines. The wines stay in these barrels from 12-18 months. There are 100 acres under vines with 12 varietals (wine using dominant grape name from which it is made such as Merlot and Chardonnay. In the US, it is a requirement to have at least 75% of the wine made from the grape variety named on the label.). The wines are made with 50% of Childress grown grapes and the remainder is sourced from other growers in North Carolina. Harvest occurs from August through October and all grapes are hand harvested. In addition to wine tasting, shopping, and the tour, they also have a Bistro in the building and an outdoor area for relaxing, drinking a bottle of wine, and on weekends, listening to the entertainment. All in all, it is a very beautiful building and the grapes will hopefully produce some very good wines.
Richard Childress Winery
Oaken Barrels used to age the red wines.Tomorrow will be spent winding down and getting ready to hit the road again as we travel over to Lexington, Virginia. We may not have access to Wifi for a while, but we'll keep track of what we are doing and will publish as soon as we can. Until then, keep tuned into our blogspot - you never know what we may be up to! We miss all of you. "Life is Good"!
1 comment:
Let me guess....this Childress character has more money than he knows what to do with! That was an auto shop??? You could eat off the floors! George must be flying high with you hitting not one, but two NASCAR places! You two are having wayyyyy too much fun! How have you found out about all these places? Are they in the book you bought at Camping World? Interesting about the BBQ, too. Once you've had good TX BBQ, it's hard to appreciate anything else. Keep up the good work, and thanks for passing all the news to us poor slobs who are still landlocked (for the time being...).
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